Our Deployment Process

Our 3D Deployment Process (Design, Deliver, Deploy) is a clear, transparent, and practical change management process that is focused on your needs, so we can help you implement collaborative project management with BrightWork.

Introduction

Note: If you are new to SharePoint and BrightWork, we recommend that you complete the Team Member Training Guide before this guide.

If you need to be more directly involved in managing projects, we recommend that you complete the Project Manager Training Guide before this guide.

Introductory Call Agenda

  • Introductions

  • Review the meeting agenda and objectives

  • Review Desired Outcomes and Value Expected

  • Introduction to the Project Management Success Strategy

  • Review the BrightWork 3D Deployment Process

  • Make high-level deployment decisions: Length of deployment, Configuration approach, Training planning and Team roles

  • Introduce the Project Management Process Assessment Questionnaire

  • Discuss Next Steps

BrightWork 3D Deployment Process

Make it easy for you and your group to get to … “Project Management Success, on SharePoint” using 3D, a clear, transparent change management process.

Project Management Options

Use a BrightWork Deployment project site: (preferable). Alternatively you can use Microsoft Project.

How Long Does Deployment Typically Take?

An iteration may take between 4 and 12 weeks. Factors that influence duration are

  • Project Management in use today versus what will be implemented.

  • Infrastructure readiness.

  • Speed of process/management level decisions.

  • Resource availability and skill levels.

  • External and organizational constraints.

It’s typically preferable to take on less rather than more in the first iteration.

Configuration, Customization or Both?

As BrightWork is built on SharePoint, a highly configurable and customizable platform, customers have the option to choose configuration, customization, or both, to deliver on project management requirements.

Configuration Planning – What is your Desired Role?

You and BrightWork Configure, You Maintain – You are a very active part of the Design and Build team and take an equal to greater share of the configuration work. You will complete more training up front, and will be empowered to learn as we configure together.

You Supply Requirements and BrightWork Configures – Your organization has defined and documented a set of requirements for the BrightWork deployment manager to build. Training is limited to the demoing of features to instigate design. Giving your BrightWork consultant remote access to your BrightWork environment is strongly advised.

Training Planning

  • During the Design stage, we advise completing the BrightWork introductory training.

  • If you decide to actively contribute to template configuration, alongside your BrightWork consultant, then it is recommended you also complete the BrightWork configuration training, early in the Deliver stage. There will also be plenty of opportunity to enjoy learning as you and your consultant work hands-on with your project management templates.

  • In the Deploy stage, we will work with you to plan BrightWork role-based training for Project Managers, Team Members and Senior Executives.

  • If you or your colleagues would like additional training updates, sign up for our Customer Success Mailing List.

Assign Project Team Roles

  • Project Manager (Customer) Drives the overall deployment project for the customer and is from the customer. This is the all-important manager and cheerleader role.

  • BrightWork Consultant (BrightWork) Provide services including advice, product training, design and configuration support and consulting.

  • BrightWork Trainer (BrightWork) Provides training of the configured templates to end users during the Deploy stage.

  • SharePoint Administrator (Customer) Responsible for the BrightWork installation and deeper SharePoint technical support on site.

  • BrightWork Designers (Customer, BrightWork) Responsible for mapping the local project management process to BrightWork templates on SharePoint.

  • Senior Stakeholder(s) (Customer) Departmental or functional managers whose support is necessary for a successful deployment. May run the first set of projects.

  • Executive Sponsor(s) (Customer) Funds, approves and directs the BrightWork implementation in the customer organization.

What's Next?

  • Complete the Project Management Process Assessment Questionnaire

  • Schedule Requirements Session

1. Design

Use Best Practices for the following design steps:

  • Requirements – Complete Handover, Understand Vision, Portfolio Assessment Review and Document Requirements.

  • Evolve Plan – Build Evolve Plan, Protect Evolve Plan and Approve Evolve Plan.

  • Design – Select Templates, Outline Site Hierarchy and Decide Template Configuration.

Requirements

  • Complete Handover – Complete any remaining items for the handover from the BrightWork Solutions Specialist.

  • Understand Vision – Work with your senior project management Sponsor to capture your organization’s project management vision. Review other BrightWork customer case studies and examples to observe possibilities. Complete the Portfolio Assessment questionnaire. Use BrightWork Sample Area as necessary to very lightly train for this visioning and requirements discovery process. Consider completing the BrightWork introductory training.

  • Document Requirements – Explain and discuss all known short and long term needs. (including infrastructure).

The project involves training in project management and establishing a standardized approach within a single site, covering key elements like charters, tasks, resources, risks, and basic reporting. It will later expand to a more structured process using MS Project, support multiple small projects and departmental work tracking, and include a central Project Office with dashboards and a project intake process, with some items deferred to the backlog.

Evolve Plan

  • Build the Evolve Plan – Requirements for this iteration. Requirements to be placed on the Backlog. (ideally prioritized). An associated measure of success or way of validating that the requirement was implemented effectively.

  • Stress Test the Evolve Plan – Talk through and document issues and risks which could affect this iteration and make adjustments to the Evolve Plan. Check this iteration of the Evolve Plan against the project management maturity and appetite of the target group and make adjustments to the Evolve Plan as necessary.

  • Approve the Evolve Plan – Obtain the Evolve Plan sign off by the deployment project’s most senior executive. Save the Evolve Plan in a place it can be accessed and changed in a controlled manner.

Identify Deployment Risks and Mitigation

Identify conditions that could cause delays or issues for the deployment and discuss mitigation activities to help prevent the risk from occurring.

Typical Risks and Mitigation:

Risk: Lack of executive sponsorship BrightWork.

Mitigation: Explain benefits to executives and secure involvement early on.

Risk: Absence of project management champions.

Mitigation: Appoint an individual or team to drive project management improvement and allow for it in their job specifications.

Risk: Discrepancy when defining the problems or challenges to address first.

Mitigation: Gather the relevant people and together to decide the most important problems to fix and those for the backlog.

Risk: Ambiguous solution definition.

Mitigation: Align and involve the relevant project members in creating a crystal clear path of workable solutions.

Risk: Poor stakeholder engagement or user adoption.

Mitigation: Listen and address users needs and requirements from the outset. Provide adequate Team Member and Project Manager training during Roll-out phase.

Design

  • Select Template – Select in-scope templates as determined by this iteration’s Evolve Plan.

  • Outline Site Hierarchy – Decide the project site hierarchy.

  • Decide Template Configuration – Decide and document the main configurations required per template, as required for this iteration. Decide the configuration environment – on-premise, with built-in Training & Sample areas or BrightWork Staging.

Select Templates Needed in this Iteration

BrightWork Project Management Templates Spectrum:

Sample Project Hierarchies

2. Deliver

Use Best Practices to deliver with Configurable Templates with these steps:

  • Configure – Train for Configuration, Configure Templates and Create Hierarchy

  • Verify – Identify Stakeholders, Verify Design and Prioritize Feedback

  • Adjust – Adjust Templates, Configure – Verify – Adjust and Final Verification

Configure

  • Train for Configuration – If it’s your decision to contribute actively to template configuration alongside your BrightWork consultant, then it is recommended you also complete the BrightWork Configuration training.

  • Configure Templates – Feel free to request and enjoy on-the-job configuration training as we make our way through any needed template changes. Understand the “Support Boundaries” in the Configure steps.

  • Create Hierarchy – Create a preliminary project site hierarchy based on the previously documented draft.

Train the Design Team

Train the Design Team: Train the Customer design team using the relevant set of BrightWork configuration training guides:

For each selected template you can: Configure Process / Lists, Configure Reporting and Improve the overall look and feel.

Support Boundaries

BrightWork Support covers break/fix problem resolution, including issues such as errors, unexpected behavior, or service interruptions. Users can submit a ticket or email support@brightwork.com to get assistance. The support service also provides access to useful information, including the latest releases, role-based training and configuration guides, webinar invitations, and on-demand recordings. However, BrightWork Support does not include the actual delivery of training.

BrightWork or Partner Billable Deployment Services are needed for training, including courses available in the BrightWork training catalog, as well as consulting on design, rollout, and related activities. These services also cover the configuration of BrightWork, such as setting up new reports, creating new metrics, and building workflows, along with infrastructure setup and configuration.

Verify

  • Identify Key Stakeholders – Senior Executives, Project Managers and Team Members

  • Verify Design – Verify the template design with key stakeholders at this stage to review and validate the latest design work before continuing. Ensure the amount of project management process being implemented is feasible in your environment.

  • Prioritize Feedback – With key stakeholders, determine requirements to be adjusted immediately, and those to be added to the Backlog.

Adjust

The process begins with adjusting templates to align with project needs, followed by configuring, verifying, and adjusting as necessary. In some cases, it may be necessary to cycle through the configure–verify–adjust process multiple times to increase the likelihood of project management success. Finally, the process concludes with a complete verification carried out in collaboration with stakeholders.

3. Deploy

Use Best Practices with Training as Needed to deploy theses steps:

  • Train – Create Rollout Plan incl. Training, Prepare Training and Deliver Training

  • Go Live – Go Live, Feedback and Adjust

  • Support – Check and Share On-Demand Resources, Survey Post-Deployment and Review Next Steps for Deployment

Train

  • Create a Rollout Plan including User Training – Determine the initial set of projects to manage. Consider training tailored to your environment: Collaborative Project Management training – access the BrightWork Collaborative Project Management Handbook. BrightWork role-based training: Team Member, Project Manager and Senior Executive.

  • Prepare Training – Prepare training materials for each of the key roles. (Team Member, Project Manager, Senior Manager). Grant user access to the BrightWork sites with appropriate permissions for the current set of users.

  • Deliver Training – Use prepared user training material. Consider individual 1:1 follow-up training after the group sessions.

Go Live

The process begins with going live, followed by gathering feedback through a session with the team after some initial usage. Based on this feedback, adjustments are made to templates, and decisions are taken on which items need immediate changes and which should be added to a prioritized backlog for future improvement.

Support

Looking for templates on Microsoft 365?

BrightWork 365 lets you plan, manage, and collaborate in Microsoft 365.

See BrightWork 365