Transitioning to ongoing support - the icing on the project management cake part 3

Proper Ramp Up Planning

Most projects then to run to a specific deadline where the end point is the project deployment date and stabilization. Stabilization is generally a 2 week period on the whole but can vary from project to project. Naturally this can also vary from industry to industry but the main concepts are ideally the same. In IT projects the stabilization period allows the project team to ensure any defects or errors that may have slip passed the initial IT and business user acceptance testing (UAT), are addressed. In the construction industry they would also have a similar period for home owners etc to lodge defect reports where the builders or construction company will be liable to fix.



After this period, the support for the final project is handed over to the ongoing support team who would be a separate organization. This period should be set dependent on the type of project and the issues that arise. Although a there may be a standard guide like 2 weeks, this should be only a guide and not a rule set in stone. It is important to bring all the pieces together to ensure completeness of the project.


  

Things to consider would be:
  • Critical outstanding issues - have they been resolved ?
  • Readiness of ongoing support teams to be able to support the project after it has been handed over
  • Are the support team sufficiently equipped to handle the support role ?
  • Is the escalation path for support in place ?
  • Have the necessary SLAs been agreed on ?



With a little bit of thought and planning, unnecessary ongoing support issues can be averted.

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