CGS Technology Outsourcing
Project Management Best Practices; Modernizing Enterprise Infrastructure
presented by
Michael Brandi, Vice President
16 September 2015
TODAY’S AGENDA: PMI
INTRODUCTION INDUSTRY DRIVERS
PROJECT MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES LESSONS LEARNED
CGS CONFIDENTIAL - RESTRICTED ACCESS
This document and the confidential information it contains may only be distributed, routed or made available to authorized persons within your organization having a need to know, except with the prior written consent of CGS.
• Experience
–15+ years working in technology
–Over 10 years Managing Infrastructure Teams and Projects
–Currently Vice President Technology Solutions at CGS
• Education
–MBA in Finance Fordham University
–MBA in Information Systems Fordham University
–BA Stony Brook University
Contact info
Twitter: @mbrandi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbrandi
Email: [email protected]
L E A R N I N G O U T S O U R C I N G A P P L I C A T I O N S
MANAGING FUNDAMENTAL INFRASTRUCTURE
• Managed Cloud
• Application Development
• Remote Monitoring & Maintenance
• Infrastructure Solutions
• eMail Archiving
Technology Outsourcing
• Stay current with new & emerging
technology
• Cost of IT infrastructure, labor
• 24x7 system monitoring, support with
limited IT resources
• Flexibility to scale capacity on demand
Q: WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE?
A: The hardware, software and networking required to deliver an application including: Servers Switches Storage Operating Systems Databases
60% of CIOs say they will use automation and infrastructure as primary tools
to address the speed and sprawl of mobile, cloud, and open source applications
UNPRECEDENTED PACE OF CHANGE
IN TECHNOLOGY & BUSINESS NEEDS
STREAMLINING IT SERVICES
TO MEET BUDGET CHALLENGES
73% of IT leaders indicate that operational objectives present the biggest challenges:
improving efficiency, consolidating, reducing costs, standardizing and streamlining
Gartner IDC Research Network
Top 3 Infrastructure Priorities for CIOs:
1. Application modernization including cloud 2. Virtualization and mobility
3. Disaster recovery / business continuity planning
70% of CIOs identify delivery business outcomes through IT services as the most important element of their job
CIO.com Deliotte CIO Survey
GETTING THE FUNDAMENTALS RIGHT!
MAINTENANCE, MIGRATIONS, CONTINUITY
ALIGNING TECHNOLOGY
MARKET INSIGHTS – Infrastructure Project Drivers
71
%
65
%
48
%
36
%
28
%
APPLICATION IMPROVEMENTS
to better fit business processes & technology changes
LOWER IT INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS
reallocating time and cost saving for innovation
CLOUD SOLUTIONS
for servers and data
OPTIMIZED IT DELIVERY MODEL
with improved agility
NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES PLACE TREMENDOUS PRESSURE ON INFRASTRUCTURE
Analytically driven, stream-oriented, privacy protected, application platforms
Mobility and Omni Channel Analytics Cloud Platforms Social Mobility ERP Hosting Security Architecting for Scale
Tuned to meet organization’s growth and individual requirements Technology Trends BI and Analytics C Y B E R Cloud Platforms
INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
Common infrastructure projects
1. New software deployments
(a component of an ERP deployment)
2. Operating system updates 3. Mobility initiatives
4. New database technologies 5. Cloud migrations
6. Big Data / Analytics projects
Each one of these projects are either actual changes to the infrastructure
or are a component of a larger project
that has a significant infrastructure component
DEFINING SUCCESS
Traditional Project
• Delivers expected functionality
• Project is delivered on time
• Project is delivered on budget
• Minimal change control
• Minimize scope creep
Additional considerations with infrastructure projects
• NEVER LOSE DATA
• Minimize down time
• Minimize custom configurations
- Use standard methods for system configuration - Use standard methodologies for integration
Top Most Underestimated Challenges for Projects
Sticking to the work plan
Managing timelines and milestones
Managing the teams workload
Communicating project benefits
Making and sticking to decisions
INFRASTRUCTURE: CONSIDERATIONS AND BEST PRACTICES Modernizing Legacy Systems First-time new technology integration Downtime End of Life Concerns Customization Legacy Systems Support Risk Mitigation Core Project Management Skills
STAKEHOLDERS
Stakeholders vary significantly based on project:
• Tech. Dept. / Tech Team: Often aware
of project risks, impact
• End Users: Rarely aware of infrastructure project scope / impact (plumbing)
• Line of Business: Aware of project criticality / LOB impacts, may not realize organizational impact (ex: new DB required for core application)
• Senior Management:Infrastructure often seen as ‘cost of doing business’ not as competitive advantage (agility cloud, mobility productivity)
One of the top reasons for project failure Technical resources and PM’s don’t speak the same language
•Provide the technical teams with the organizational overview and importance of the project
•Ask technical resources to explain any issue from a higher level
•Ask a technical what is the impact to the project
•Request status updates from Engineers when updates are not being received frequently enough
•Provide engineers with frequent status updates- The challenge is not to just make this meeting notes but to be relevant to the individual/teams portion and the overall project status
• Designed and engineered based on the priority objectives
• Integrated via open communication
• Enable with necessary decisions authority, training, direction and tools
•Reassured that their project experience will be a career building one
UNIQUE RISKS Dependency risk: Estimation risk: Integrations: Delivery timeline: Downtime: Compatibility issues:
Improperly identifying dependent systems
Engineers typically estimate 50% faster completion Identifying current (and future) integration points
Infrastructure engineers may encounter production related issues which can delay project work
System failures can potentially cost
companies $$ millions
Hardware & software products may have
undocumented compatibility issues
RISK MITIGATION
Dedicate sufficient time to project plan for:
• Incorrect/over aggressive estimate
• Project disruptions due to late task delivery
Spend sufficient time identifying dependencies
• Clearly identify dependent tasks
• Double and triple check dependent systems with business units and adjacent business units
Create multiple testing phases inserting additional milestones for the completion of independent testing
Speak with vendors to identify “undocumented features” ie bugs / compatibility issues
Any changes to production systems ensure a rollback plan is created
•Create a hard stop time for task where rollback will need to be implemented BACKUP DATA before any change even if minor
LESSONS LEARNED AND DOCUMENTATION
• Lessons learned is the most often neglected area of an infrastructure project
• Take time to complete this step and document it well
• Review previous project’s ‘lessons learned’ documents prior to start
Cloud Migration Example
• Business case
• Develop a business case for why the Cloud for the application
• Evaluate 3-5 years worth of costs
•Technical Scoping
• Is the application suitable for the cloud?
• Does the vendor support cloud Deployments?
• Are there latency requirements?
• Does this change the way users interact with the system?
• Does the application interface with other systems?
• What are the security requirements for the application?
• Sizing Requirements?
• Vendor Selection
• Does the vendor have experience with this type of application?
• Is the Cloud Managed or Un-Managed?
Cloud Migration Example Continued
• Planning
• Re-evaluate Business case
• Identify stakeholders, Goals of the project, timeline, resources etc
• Identify secondary stakeholders or adjacent parties- not system
owners but downstream or adjacent parties that may be impacted
• Define Migration methodology: hot cut, go forward, go forward with
back fill,
• Define tasks and timeline (increase engineers time estimates)
• Execution
• Try to identify potential issues early on
• Adjust timelines early in the process
• Perform testing at each Phase
• Systems integration Testing
• Quality Assurance Testing
