Deployment phase

The objective of this segment is to bring together the best project management organizational practices and technical team deployment knowledge to successfully deploy the customer’s TDS solution. The

deployment implements the design defined for the solution according to the System Architecture and Design Document. The deployment follows the sequence of tasks defined by the project task plan.

The input and output items listed in Table 6 highlight the components of the Deployment phase:

Table 6. Deployment phase items

Figure 19 outlines the process flow of the Deployment phase:

Advanced administration TDS usability, configuring profiles, publishing views, adding components to the topic map

Customization workshop Modifying calculations, adding flex fields, creating new cube and report templates

End-user workshop Use of the Discovery Interface including drill-through and adding dimensions

Deployment Phase

Input

Tivoli deployment guides

Initial customer requirements questionnaire

Tivoli Decision Support requirements questionnaires Technical proposal

System Architecture and Design Document Detailed project task plan

Output Tivoli TDS solution, ready for testing

Workshops Description

Formal Tivoli training is offered by the Tivoli Worldwide Education department. Information about Tivoli Customer Education is available at http://www.tivoli.com/services/education/

Note

Figure 19. Deployment process flow

For most Tivoli product deployments, Tivoli management software

deployment guides are provided to the technical consultant to assist with all installation, configuration, customization, automation, and maintenance tasks. These guides contain a wealth of information by providing in-line tips and hints and Web-based links to online documentation, technical papers, and useful Web sites. The important topics of a TDS deployment guide are shown in Table 7:

Table 7. TDS deployment guide Reference

TDS Information Available on TDS CD

http://www.support.tivoli.com/Prodman/html/AB.html

The phases of the Deployment Segment include:

• Preparing for deployment

• Installation and customization

• Configuration

• Advanced configuration and customization

• Training

3.2.4.1 Preparing for deployment

A few important steps need to be performed before deployment can commence.

1. Hardware prerequisites

Prior to deployment, the customer should have all the necessary hardware in position and ready to be rolled out with the TDS applications. The consultant services team should have information on all the machine access passwords with appropriate permissions to make configuration changes.

2. Software prerequisites

It is necessary to verify that all prerequisite software installations and network configurations have been completed prior to the deployment of TDS. Some of the items to be checked include:

• 32-bit database client software is installed on every TDS client and the TDS Administrator PC.

• 32-bit SQL database connectivity has been verified on each TDS client and the TDS Administrator PC.

Configuration and

Customization

Discovery Administrator

Refer to TDS Administrator Guide, TOC

Discovery Interface

Refer to TDS User Guide, TOC

Server Refer to TDS Installation Guide, TOC Maintenance Troubleshooting

& Optimization

Refer to TDS Administrator Guide, TOC Reference

Type

Subject Information Pointer

• The shared source path (the file service where the cubes, reports, models, and administrative databases will reside) has been mapped to the TDS Administrator and client PCs.

• Network connectivity between the TDS Administrator PC, client PCs, and the shared source path has been successfully tested.

• The TDS Administrator PC and TDS Client PCs have READ and WRITE access to the shared source file server.

• In order to optimize SQL processing time, database maintenance and backup has been recently performed, indices have been rebuilt, inactive records purged, and appropriate data archived.

3. Gathering documentation

The deployment team should have all the necessary documentation on hand. This includes, but is not limited to, the input elements identified below:

• Tivoli deployment guides

• Initial customer requirements questionnaire

• Tivoli Decision Support requirements questionnaires

• Technical Proposal

• System architecture and design document

• Detailed project task plan 3.2.4.2 Product installation

This section describes the method for an installation in Network Mode. The following tasks are accomplished in this phase:

Tivoli Decision Support file server example macro-tasks

• Installation of the Tivoli Decision Support Server Components on the Shared Source file server.

• Install the TDS Discovery Guides required to meet customer requirements as established in the systems analysis

Tivoli Decision Support administrator example macro-tasks

• Installation of the following components on the TDS Administrator PC:

• Tivoli Decision Support Administrator components

• Cognos Administrator components - Transformer, On-line Books, and Help files

• 32-bit Crystal Reports 6.0

• 32-bit ODBC driver (if not already installed)

Tivoli Decision Support client example macro-tasks

• Installation of the following Tivoli Decision Support client components:

• Tivoli Decision Support Client

• Cognos Standard - PowerPlay, On-line Books, and Help

• 32-bit ODBC driver (if not already installed) 3.2.4.3 Product configuration

The Discovery Administrator needs some configuration in order to work with the chosen guides and configured data source. The Discovery client needs to be configured for each user to enable their job-specific data and views to be available to them. The following tasks are accomplished in this phase:

TDS administrator

• Importing the required guides

• Adding the respective Data Sources for the cubes associated with the guides that have been imported

• Configuration of TDS Administrator options including cube parameters and date ranges, as well as other guide-specific parameters for the cubes.

• Review the cube build schedule and use the Tivoli Discovery Scheduler to automatically build the cubes after business hours as specified in the design document.

TDS client

• Selecting the Guides that the user will require

• Setting up the appropriate user roles

3.2.4.4 Advanced configuration and customization

The customer requirements not fulfilled by TDS now need to be integrated into the solution. This is a technically-intensive stage during which the following customization tasks are accomplished:

• TDS calculations are modified.

• Flex fields are added as dimensions to cubes.

• Flex fields are added as parameters to Crystal reports.

• Terminology in PowerPlay or Crystal reports is changed.

• Existing reports are integrated.

• New Crystal and PowerPlay reports are created.

3.2.4.5 Training

Customer personnel involved with the development, implementation, testing, transition, administration, or operation of the TDS solution require training based on the individual's respective responsibilities.

For details on the type of training available, refer to the workshops identified in Section 3.2.3.4, “Decision Support training plan” on page 46.