University Data Center @CRB Communication Plan Last revision date: December 3, 2009 This communication plan describes our strategy for keeping the project s stakeholders sufficiently informed to avoid any disappointment regarding cost, schedule, or quality goals. We will work through existing governance and stakeholder groups to present regular updates and obtain input about move schedules. We will also provide predictable updates about the project activities. Contents Approvals... 1 Assumptions... 1 Critical Success Factors... 1 Stakeholder Information Needs... 2 Stakeholder Communication Strategies... 4 ITS Information Needs/Strategies... 6 Project Tracking... 7 Schedule... 8 Approvals Brad Englert or the project manager will approve all external communications, including progress reports, Web site content and service descriptions. Brad Englert will approve all communications targeted to customers. Assumptions Ongoing project communication efforts, such as periodic meetings and recurring publications, may be reassessed during the course of the project and adjustments may be made to frequency or format. Changes to the project schedule will affect the timing of events, especially for the physical move. It is assumed that the communications schedule will be adjusted as the project schedule is adjusted. UT System Office of Facilities Planning and Construction (OFPC) is responsible for ensuring that all campus staff are trained on building systems in a timely manner so that the building can be commissioned and maintained. The documentation and training plan deliverable will reiterate that assumption. Critical Success Factors Create opportunities for input and generate buy-in on the migration schedule. Identification of costs for customers, as early as possible. February 1, 2010 is the critical deadline. Campus awareness that services will be affected by some moves. A complete inventory of everything that will be moved, regardless of who owns it. Understanding of physical equipment from the customer perspective so that we ensure we realize the impact. A point person to be responsible for this. Development of standard information about the data center (service description, features, benefits). Development of standard processes for move preparation and execution for ITS and customers. Filename: Communication Plan v D.doc 1 of 10 December 3, 2009
Thorough engagement from and communication with all levels of ITS. Coordination with governance process and other customer interactions. Stakeholder Information Needs Careful coordination with regular representatives will be necessary for meetings with standing committees. We must also make sure we are aware of and coordinating with staff if other services meetings are occurring. Stakeholder Information needs Campus Governance/Leadership Groups Deans Council, Vice President s Council Business Services Committee, Administrative IT Leaders Committee, Research and Educational Technology Committee, IT Architecture and Infrastructure Committee Overall timeline Benefits of data center When it s available to them How it will support them Overall timeline Benefits of the data center (focused on specific committee interests) Plans for moving the mainframe and IQ systems (timing, details, implications on related activities like batch processing and tape backups). How they can keep up on what s going on with the planning. Support for future IQ service plans Communications plans Tech Deans Overall timeline Benefits of data center to them How migration planning is being handled What services will be available to them How they can keep up with what s going on with the planning. Communication plans Data Center/Server Customers Current Co-Location Customers (12 Units) How we plan to facilitate their move Filename: Communication Plan v D.doc 2 of 10 December 3, 2009
Stakeholder Civil Engineering Cockrell School of Engineering College of Natural Sciences College of Fine Arts Elect.&Comp. Engineering Liberal Arts /Economics Jackson School of Geosciences Office of Accounting Office of the Registrar University Health Serv. University Libraries University Operations ITS Managed Co-Location Customers (12 Units) Blanton Museum College of Education Continuing Education Financial Affairs Information Technology Services President's Office School of Social Work University Operations Future Co-Location Customers (see project plan for complete list) Information needs Whether their current hardware is compatible Cost or other requirements for them to move, if any. Options & available time if they want to move additional equipment not currently co-located. Service disruptions What we need from them Impact on their roadmaps Provide input on migration plans Service description/sla Detailed process description Necessary lead time for moves Available move slots Whether their current hardware is compatible Cost to them to move, if any How we plan to facilitate their move Whether their current hardware is compatible Cost or other requirements for them to move, if any. Service disruptions What we need from them Impact on their roadmaps How we will communicate with them Provide input on migration plans Service description/sla Detailed process description Necessary lead time for moves Available move slots Whether their current hardware is compatible Cost to them to move, if any Service description/sla Detailed process description Necessary lead time for moves Available move slots Whether their current hardware is compatible Cost to them to move, if any Filename: Communication Plan v D.doc 3 of 10 December 3, 2009
Stakeholder All ITS Services customers (service owners) Campus/Other General Audience Admissions/orientation activities Event planners Off-campus users of administrative systems (UT System, other UT institutions) Information needs Explanation of how they will be affected by Systems moves, if at all Service-by-service explanation Downtime? (we may have redundancy) Understanding of how downtimes are being planned Possible downtime windows and ability to provide input Official notification message: Need to plan for next summer; set expectations General updates at each major milestone: Now, Construction complete, Move begins, critical services complete (8/2010), all services moved (1/2011) Periodic project updates Need to plan for next summer; set expectations Need to plan for next summer; set expectations Depends on impact assessment (October) Stakeholder Communication Strategies Item Customer Steering Committee Executive Message Kevin s Monthly Message Description A small group (~7) of customers who can provide input on migration plans, communication strategies, cost model, and other issues. We will provide information in advance, but the general order could be: 1 st Meeting: Overview, where we are, where we are going 2nd Meeting: Discuss rates and what went into building them 3 rd Meeting: Review strawman migration plan, plan for managing individual moves 4 th Meeting: Monitoring progress; managing issues and future needs In addition to tactical considerations, this group could transition to a standing advisory board that feeds the Infrastructure and Architecture Committee, if it seems appropriate. Communication to campus from executive sponsor informing them of the project, key benefits, mitigating risk via planning, pointers to further information and potential impacts on events next summer. Executive communication to other UT institutions that use our resources (depends on impact). The focus of one of Kevin s monthly messages will be the data center. Filename: Communication Plan v D.doc 4 of 10 December 3, 2009
Item Customer Move Coordinators Existing Committees/Councils ITS Web site Progress Report Face-to-face meetings News articles Description ITS representatives to act as a point of contact for co-location customers before and during their moves. Managed co-location: Use existing site contacts Co-location: 3-4 people A customer representative to act as a point of contact for the ITS coordinator. Review plans with existing stakeholder committees. Deans Council (K Hegarty) VP Council (K Hegarty) BSC (F Friedrich) AITL (B Englert) Tech Deans (B Englert) IT Architecture Infrastructure Committee (G Sitz) Research and Educational Technology Committee (Joe TenBarge) A general channel for sharing information about the new facility and project progress. Documentation, multimedia. Strategic, customerfocused, engaging content that explains why we are doing this work. Benefits (from customer perspective) Visual, engaging content Updated processes, procedures and forms Focused on providing updates to internal and external stakeholders. ITS staff outside the project, customers, managed co-location customers. Bi-weekly beginning January 2010. Integrate information from monthly DPR, OFPC project updates. What groups meetings have occurred, where we are in customer move planning. Decisions, standards, etc. Introduction of new processes, procedures. For individual customers interested in the new facility, set up planned meetings to review the benefits and discuss their needs. We will work with the customer to identify the right people to be in the meeting. Publish news articles on the ITS web site at key points: Rates set (only after they have been reviewed with customers) Migration strategy and timeline established Others as identified Creation of a spotlight as the new data center is ready to be occupied. Filename: Communication Plan v D.doc 5 of 10 December 3, 2009
Open House Item Change Management and Move Communications Data Sheets Documentation (Process, procedure and policies) Description Once the new facility is complete, hold an open house for the customer steering committee and the co-location customers to tour the facility. Prior to systems moving in. Develop a change management process for scheduling, coordination and communication around the actual move schedule. Integrate maintenance schedule into the UDC and ITS alerts pages. Processes and procedures related to the Change Control Board Add/Move/Change request form Procedures for ITS and external staff Leave-behind materials for customers when we meet with them. Create an overall picture of integrated ITS services (not just a data center). Requires developing agreement and coordination between different ITS groups so we can present a single picture to campus Clear descriptions of services, benefits, integration with other ITS services, references Processes, procedures, reference material, and forms will be created from a customer perspective. Server standards Processes and procedures for Data Center staff, ITS staff, customers Access request, entry/exit procedures Develop standards for documentation (application to use, document control) Outside of items covered by DPR, identify training and documentation for new tools Create complete inventory of required processes/procedures Assess vendor-provided documentation. Integrate, modify, and simplify as needed Document processes and procedures ITS Information Needs/Strategies Stakeholder Information needs Medium Project Team Schedule Progress Issues Decisions Impact of construction on responsibilities Participate in appropriate activities during all project phases Weekly meeting Progress reports E-mail Topic-specific meetings Action item list SharePoint site Filename: Communication Plan v D.doc 6 of 10 December 3, 2009
Stakeholder Information needs Medium Senior Management Managers Staff Weekly progress report with status by project phase Issues Budget changes Schedule and potential impacts Schedule Progress Key dates that affect services, e.g., configuration freezes, planning for service changes Expectations for communicating with customers Change control processes Items that must be coordinated between groups Communication strategy with managed customers Impact on services Key dates that affect services, e.g., configuration freezes, planning for service changes Any expectations around vacations, weekend work for summer 2010 What input is needed to complete specific deliverables Weekly meeting Status report Action item list Managers meetings, mailing lists One-off meetings/e-mails as needed E-mail Web site Managers/Directors Staff meetings (by group) Project Tracking Progress The team will report weekly against the project work breakdown structure and on outstanding action items. The team will generate a high-level status report of issues, accomplishments and ongoing work that is reported to senior management. The project manager, coordinator and communication staff will meet weekly with Brad Englert and other directors as needed to discuss project issues and status. Issue Management As we communicate with campus about the new data center, issues and questions will arise that must be responded to. These issues will be: 1. Captured on the project SharePoint site (https://sharepoint.austin.utexas.edu/udc/data_center/) Questions and Discussion Points section and assigned to the Communication category. 2. Items will be reviewed weekly and further assigned if technical help is needed to resolve the question. Items that involve a change will go through the change request process. 3. Resolution will be entered in the Comments section and status changed to Resolved. 4. Resolution will be communicated back to requester. Action Items There is a team action item list and an executive action item list. The list is reviewed weekly. Filename: Communication Plan v D.doc 7 of 10 December 3, 2009
Schedule Year-Month Internal Activity External Activity 2009-August 2009-September Done: Communication Plan completed and approved Done: Draft service descriptions Done: Research on other institutions web sites Done: Monthly ITS CRB technical meeting Done: Web site updated 2009-October 2009-November 2009-December 2010-January Canceled: Monthly ITS CRB technical meeting Postponed: Completing executive communication In progress: Complete technical and executive data sheets Canceled: Monthly ITS CRB technical meeting Begin documentation plan: inventory of processes, procedures, forms, tools, etc. Change management process documentation/communications. Roll out change control procedures. Speak at Systems monthly meeting. Continue documentation plan Preparation for CSC meetings Preparation for committee presentations in advance of budget season. Support rollout of CRB change management within ITS Speak at Applications monthly meeting. Meet with councils, co-location customers Review Systems Impact Statement with Tech Deans, BSC/AITL Executive communication to campus Executive invitation to current customers to join the Customer Steering Committee. 1 st meeting of the Customer Steering Committee (CSC). Overview. 2 nd CSC meeting. Review cost and rate information Schedule meetings with committees and governance groups to outline rates, project benefits, plan: VP, Deans, BSC, AITL, Tech Deans. First bi-weekly progress report (end of month). Filename: Communication Plan v D.doc 8 of 10 December 3, 2009
Year-Month Internal Activity External Activity 2010-February 2010-March 2010-April 2010-May Documentation of move processes, procedures, forms. Preparation and support for customers moving to CRB change management Participation in CCB weekly. Documentation of processes, procedures Participation in CCB weekly. Documentation of processes, procedures Operators trained on systems by DPR/UT System. Test/validate procedures Participation in CCB Documentation of processes, procedures Occupancy move documentation for ITS 3 rd CSC meeting. Review strawman migration plans and plan for managing individual moves. Customer communication regarding CRB change management process. Meet with committees and governance groups to outline rates, project benefits, plan: VP, Deans, BSC, AITL, Tech Deans. 4 th CSC meeting. Continue review of migration planning. Change management form complete 5 th CSC meeting. Move mock-through. 6 th meeting of the CSC. Discuss change management. 2010-June 7 th CSC meeting. Final regular meeting of the CSC. Communications/ wrap-up. May need ad-hoc meetings as the moves start up. 2010-July Open House for ITS. Open House for customers, CSC. 2010-August Integrate maintenance/outage information directly in UDC subsite. Filename: Communication Plan v D.doc 9 of 10 December 3, 2009
Year-Month Internal Activity External Activity 2010-September 2010-October 2010-November 2010-December 2011-January Operationalize the move schedule for new co-location customers Continue with practices until any remaining services are done Close out project. Filename: Communication Plan v D.doc 10 of 10 December 3, 2009