BDD 2007 is Microsoft’s best
offering for high-volume Windows Vista deployment projects. It reduces
complexity and increases standardization by allowing you to deploy a
hardware and software baseline to all users and computers. With standard
baselines, you can more easily manage the computing environment and
spend less time managing and deploying computers and more time on
mission critical tasks.
BDD 2007 provides automation tools and guidance
that help reduce labor and increase reliability by producing
standardized configurations. It provides fully developed processes for
you to do the following:
Document the project’s business case.
Take
an inventory of the existing production computers to determine the
installed application base and the types of hardware currently deployed.
Determine
which applications can be redeployed on new systems, and start a
process for packaging or scripting those applications so that you can
reinstall them quickly and consistently without user intervention.
Define a strategy for addressing applications that cannot be supported on the new platform.
Determine
which types of hardware will be reused as part of the new computer
deployment and which types might need to be retired.
Create
an imaging process to produce a standard enterprise image of Windows
Vista to aid in configuration management and to speed deployments.
Establish
a process for capturing user state from existing computers and for
restoring user state on the newly deployed computers.
Provide a method for backing up the current computer before deploying Windows Vista.
Establish a network map of the client computers, servers, and other networking equipment to assist in planning for deployment.
Provide
an end-to-end process for the actual deployment of the new computers.
The guidance includes Lite Touch and Zero-Touch installations.
Create a plan for training users to use Windows Vista.
While you can certainly undertake a high-volume
deployment project without BDD 2007, that approach is discouraged. This
is because without BDD 2007, you must develop your own planning,
development, and deployment processes. You also must define your own
best practices and develop your own automation. By using BDD 2007 as
your deployment framework, you save potentially hundreds of hours that
you would otherwise spend writing scripts, writing answer files,
developing images, and so on. BDD 2007 handles most scenarios
intrinsically, and you can easily extend BDD 2007 for additional
scenarios. You can even use BDD 2007 with most third-party deployment
technologies. In fact, many third-party deployment vendors will be
extending BDD 2007 in their own product lineups.
Planning Guide
The Plan, Build, and Deploy Guide
describes how to plan, manage, and complete the desktop-deployment
project. It includes guidance for project planning, developing
schedules, building teams, and so on. Everyone participating in the
project should read this guide to better understand the project as a
whole. Your management team should use its guidance to manage the daily
activities of the project, however.
As illustrated in Figure 1, the Plan, Build, and Deploy Guide
divides deployment projects in to five phases: Envisioning, Planning,
Developing, Stabilizing, and Deployment. It provides a scheduling
template that includes the five phases that you can use to build your
own schedule and estimate the required resources and time.
Each feature team guide in BDD 2007 also
acknowledges the five deployment phases. Each guide contains a top-level
section for each phase that describes the tasks and deliverables that
each team must complete for that phase. Performing the technical work
around the five deployment phases ensures that the work each feature
team performs remains synchronized. The following sections describe each
phase.
Envisioning
The initial phase of the planning process
involves envisioning the deployment project and determining goals and
expected outcomes. The Envisioning Phase includes
several key steps, for which BDD 2007 provides job aids to help
complete:
Set up teams The initial task is to define the teams that will plan, design, and perform the deployment.
Perform a current assessment
This step includes identifying existing systems and applications,
determining existing operating systems, and identifying deficiencies in
the current environment that the Windows Vista deployment will address.
Define business goals
Concrete, quantifiable business goals should drive your need for the
deployment. Rather than simply planning to deploy the latest technology
for technology’s sake, identify key deficiencies in the existing system
that Windows Vista will address as well as process and productivity
gains that the deployment will make possible.
Create vision statement and define scope
Create a vision statement that defines how planned technology changes
(including the Windows Vista deployment) will meet the defined business
goals. The scope determines the extent of the vision that can be
accomplished through the Windows Vista deployment.
Create user profiles Develop an accurate and complete picture of users’ functions, needs, and wants. Refine these into user profiles
that accurately identify the types of users in the organization.
Understanding the users and what they need is the first step in
determining how to structure the deployment to benefit the most users.
Develop a solution concept Create this high-level document to define how the team will meet the requirements of the project.
Create risk-assessment documents
In this step, evaluate the overall deployment with the intent to
anticipate, address, mitigate, and prevent risks associated with the
deployment. Risk assessment and documentation is an ongoing task
throughout the project.
Write a project structure
This document describes how the team manages and supports the project
and describes the administrative structure for the project team. This
document should define standards that the team will use, including
methods of communication, documentation standards, and change-control
standards.
Approve milestones When you complete the initial planning and documentation, identify and schedule key milestones for the deployment.
Planning
The Envisioning Phase creates the framework for the Windows Vista deployment. The Planning Phase
serves as a transition between vision and implementation, laying the
groundwork for the actual deployment. The Planning Phase uses the
documents and processes created in the Envisioning Phase to add
structure and content to the deployment plan. Key steps in this phase
include the following tasks. BDD 2007 provides job aids to address many
of these tasks.
Create the development and testing environment
Build a testing lab that adequately embodies the target deployment
environment, using virtualization to reduce the cost of lab creation. In
addition to resources such as servers and sample target systems used to
develop and test the deployment, the lab should also include the
resources that the Deployment feature team will use to prepare and
accomplish the final deployment.
Develop the solution design
This document builds on the solution concept, project structure, and
other documents created during the Envisioning Phase to define the
conceptual, logical, and physical solution designs for the planned
deployment. This document serves as a roadmap for the Deployment feature
team to begin building the deployment.
Create the functional specification
This document defines the requirements of all stakeholders targeted by
the deployment and serves as a contract between the customer and the
project team. It should clearly define the goals, scope, and outcomes of
the deployment.
Develop the project plan
This document is a collection of plans that address the tasks the
Deployment feature team will perform to carry out the project as defined
by the functional specification. Each plan in this document covers a
particular area, such as facilities and hardware, testing, training, and
communication.
Create the project schedule This schedule compiles individual schedules created by team members for the purpose of planning deployment activities.
Complete a computer inventory
During the Planning Phase, a complete computer inventory must be made
to identify existing systems and applications that the deployment will
affect. In addition, the server resources to be used for deployment must
also be identified and evaluated for suitability.
Perform network analysis Diagram network topology and identify and inventory network devices.
Developing
The Developing Phase is the period during which the team builds and unit-tests the solution. The Developing Phase includes seven key tasks:
Start the development cycle
In this initial step, the team creates a lab server for development
work and begins the process of creating images, installation scripts,
and application packages. The team should also create an issue-tracking
system so that team members can communicate about and coordinate
solutions to issues.
Prepare the computing environment
In this key task, the teams build a deployment environment with
facilities such as servers, networking, system backup, and data
repositories (such as Microsoft Visual SourceSafe) with separate
workspaces (computers and network shares) for each feature team. This
environment provides the infrastructure for teams to work both
independently and jointly as necessary to complete their development
tasks.
Develop the solution scripts
In this step, the teams begin the process of packaging applications,
creating computer images, and developing remediation steps for
application-compatibility issues. The teams also plan how and what user
data will be retained and migrated during the deployment and validate
that network infrastructure (shares, credentials, and other components)
are in place and functioning properly prior to deployment.
Develop deployment procedures Using
the documents, processes, and other resources created to this point,
begin creating the documents that the teams will use to accomplish the
deployment and post-deployment tasks. These documents include training
materials for users, administrators, and others who will maintain
systems and applications after deployment; a plan for communicating with
users about the upcoming changes; and site-deployment procedures to
simplify and standardize the deployment of solutions across sites.
Develop operations procedures
This document describes the operations procedures to support, maintain,
and operate the solution following deployment. Key processes to
describe include maintenance, disaster recovery, new-site installation,
performance and fault monitoring, and support and troubleshooting.
Test the solution
Perform test deployments and remedy any issues that arise, using the
issue-tracking framework created during the Planning Phase to monitor
and address these issues.
Stabilizing
The Stabilizing Phase
addresses the testing of a solution that is feature-complete. This
phase is usually when pilots are conducted, with an emphasis on
real-world testing and with the goal of identifying, prioritizing, and
fixing bugs. Key tasks in this phase include:
Conducting the pilot
At this stage, the teams use a small pilot deployment to test the
deployment and identify any remaining issues. Procedures, resources, and
personnel should be in place to assist in addressing any user issues
that arise during the pilot deployment. This key task should also
include obtaining user feedback as well as review and remediation of
issues identified during the pilot.
Operational-readiness review
All teams at this stage perform a complete operational-readiness review
to determine that the deployment plan is ready to move forward to
full-scale deployment. The solution is frozen at this stage, and any
remaining issues are addressed.
Final release
This task incorporates all fixes and issue resolutions to create the
final release of the solution, which should now be ready for full
deployment.
Deploying
During the Deploying Phase, the team deploys the solution and ensures that it is stable and usable. The key tasks involved in the Deploying Phase include:
Deploying core technology
Based on the plans and procedures developed in the Planning Phase,
install, configure, and test deployment servers at each site. Also,
train administration staff in preparation for deployment.
Deploying sites
Teams perform the deployment of Windows Vista at each site using the
procedures and resources developed during the Planning and Building
Phases. Team members remain on site to stabilize each site deployment,
ensuring that users can move forward with reliable systems and applications and that the goals of the deployment plan for the site have been met.
Stabilizing the deployment
At this key step, the Deployment feature team ensures stabilization
across all sites and addresses any remaining deployment issues.
Completing the deployment
This step marks the transition from deployment to operations and
support. Ongoing operations are transitioned from the Deployment feature
team to permanent staff. Reporting systems are activated and support
processes are fully operational.
Feature Team Guides
In a BDD 2007 project, a feature team
is a cross-organizational team that focuses on solving a particular
problem, such as security. Feature teams divide the work into discrete
parts that are easier for you to manage. Figure 2
illustrates the relationship between feature teams in BDD 2007. These
teams help you to apply specialized expertise to necessary areas. Most
important, feature teams foster ownership of specific problem spaces by
empowering the team to complete the work and holding the team
accountable. The solution provides a feature team guide for each feature
team that BDD 2007 defines.
The feature team guides
provide information about specific technical areas, such as application
management or computer imaging. By separating the technical content from
the planning content, you can focus on the documents that are most
appropriate for your role. Feature team guides lead you through
planning, building, and deploying specific tasks within a larger
deployment project. For example, the Computer Imaging System Feature Team Guide is specific to using BDD 2007 to build disk images, although the project includes many other technical areas.
Each feature team guide contains checkpoints that refer to milestones in the Plan, Build, and Deploy Guide.
These checkpoints ensure that activities occurring among different
teams remain synchronized. The feature team guides also separate
step-by-step processes from conceptual content. This separation helps
you to jump straight to the technical content, assuming that you’re
already familiar with the concepts and processes contained in the body
of the guide.
BDD 2007 provides the following feature team guides:
Application Compatibility Feature Team Guide This guide focuses on inventorying the current computers and testing the compatibility of applications with Windows.
Application Management Feature Team Guide
This guide targets the team responsible for assisting in the planning,
deployment, and migration of applications. It includes one technical
sub-guide, the Office Deployment Guide, which describes how to deploy the 2007 Office system as part of a large Windows Vista deployment initiative.
Computer Imaging System Feature Team Guide
This guide focuses on creating computer images of Windows Vista. It
includes comprehensive guidance on how to implement, customize, and
operate the automated imaging process included in the BDD 2007 solution.
Deployment Feature Team Guide
This guide targets the team responsible for executing computer
deployments. It provides information on server placement and capacity
planning as well as specific information on deployment tools and
processes. It includes six technical sub-guides: Deployment Configuration Guide, Deployment Configuration Samples Guide, Lite Touch Installation Guide, Volume Activation Guide, Zero Touch Installation Guide, and Zero Touch Installation Management Pack.
Desired Configuration Monitoring Feature Team Guide
This guide describes how to monitor desktop computer settings after
deployment and report differences. Using this guide requires a Microsoft
Systems Management Server 2003 infrastructure.
Infrastructure Remediation Feature Team Guide
This guide describes how to assess the current computer hardware to
determine hardware upgrade requirements and how to analyze the network
for any limitations or constraints that may affect the deployment.
Operations Readiness Feature Team Guide
This guide targets the people who manage the IT operations environment.
It provides guidance for integrating the IT operations requirements
into the overall deployment process.
Security Feature Team Guide This
guide focuses on how to assess computer security requirements. It
provides guidance for integrating security requirements into the imaging
and deployment process.
Test Feature Team Guide This guide describes how to test the solution and set up a test lab for it.
User State Migration Feature Team Guide This guide describes how to identify users’ state data, save it, and restore it after deploying Windows Vista.
Solution Framework
You use the solution’s framework (technology
files) to set up the imaging and deployment servers. This framework
helps you create standard desktop configurations. It includes tools to
build and deploy custom Windows Vista images with a variety of special
needs, such as backing up the destination computer prior to deployment,
capturing and restoring user state, enabling BitLocker Drive Encryption,
and so on. By using the solution framework as your starting point, you
can take advantage of the deployment best practices that Microsoft and
its customers have developed over several years, most of which are
manifested in the framework’s script code.
Note
The solution framework
does not contain copies of Windows Vista or the 2007 Office system. To
use BDD 2007, you must acquire licensed copies of this software and
other hardware-specific software such as DVD-player software and
CD-creation software. Each feature team guide in BDD 2007 describes
requirements for using the guidance as well as the tools. |
Job Aids
BDD 2007 provides job aids (document templates) as starting points for project deliverables. For example, where the Plan, Build, and Deploy Guide
indicates the need for a functional specification, the solution
includes a job aid that shows what type of content to include in the
functional specification. You can customize the job aids to fit your
specific needs. The following list describes each job aid in BDD 2007:
Application Knowledge Sheet Provides a template for recording application information
Assessment Template Provides a template for recording infrastructure information
Client Build Requirements Provides a template for recording the required client configuration, including operating system and core applications settings
Communications Plan Describes how to communicate project status and information within the organization and outside the organization
Current State Assessment Template Describes and assesses the current infrastructure
Functional Specification Provides an overview of the project’s requirements
Inventory Template Provides a template for recording software and hardware inventory
Migration Plan Describes what will be migrated during the deployment
Network and Workstation Hardware Upgrades List Provides a template for recording the necessary network and computer hardware upgrades
Pilot Plan Describes how to pilot-test the project in the organization
Risk Template Tool Describes and assesses the top risks to the project
Site Deployment Project Plan Provides a scheduling template for Office Project
Test Cases Workbook Provides a template for recording the results of test cases
Test Plan Describes the methodologies and tools to use for testing
Test Specification Describes how to test the project
Training Plan Describes how, when, and what types of training will be provided
Vision Scope Outlines the overall project objectives and responsibilities
