for Unified Communications Lync Operational Assessment Checklist

Transcription

1 for Unified Communications Lync Operational Assessment Checklist 1

2 Many organizations are already embracing the power of Microsoft Lync, whether it is purely for internal Instant Messaging or has expanded to include Lync Conferencing solutions, Lync is changing the Unified Communications landscape. If your organization already uses Lync or if you are considering a deployment, this checklist will highlight some critical areas to consider. The one common thing with all successful Lync deployments (or indeed, any large project) is that each is broken down into phases, with lessons learned from one phase applied iteratively in the next. The approach and names of phases here can vary from company to company, depending on the particular goals and niches you are addressing. Typically they align to the critical areas of the project; considerations before you begin, during installation, and perhaps most importantly (and often overlked) during sustained activity and normal usage. Common phases of a Lync rollout: z Project Scope z Prf of Concept z Pilot z Enterprise Rollout (Phased) z Run State 2

3 Lync s architecture presents unique challenges for network professionals trying to identify problems and detect their rt causes. -Gartner Deployment Considerations Project Scope Define Lync goals High Availability/ Disaster Recovery: What level of criticality will Lync services have in your organization? What would be the impact of a Lync Outage? Are there specific groups, sites, or regions that would benefit from early access to Lync? Which business scenarios will most benefit from Lync? Which Lync features will your organization deploy, and in which order? Will your organization use Lync for: Audio and Web Conferencing? Lync voice features? Video? Will you connect Lync to: Existing UC/VoIP/PBX/Rm-based Video Conferencing systems? The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)? SIP Trunk providers? Third Party applications and Lync customizations? Which enterprise users, if any, will your organization want to enable for external access to Lync without a VPN? Will you enable Lync Federation with other enterprise deployments? O365? Skype? How will your organization support the (inevitable) requests for Lync clients on Mobile Phones? Lync Qualified Device validation/acquisition/roll out strategy: Who will provide the device needs segmentation? Who will select the devices, manage the acquisition, etc.? Which categories of devices will your organization require? Video devices: º º Personal? º º Conference Rm? 3

4 Successful Lync monitoring requires a combination of Microsoft and third-party tls. - Gartner º º Telepresence? º º Lync Rm Systems? Standalone IP phones: º º Common area? º º Reception/attendant/high call volume? º º Executive? º º Conference rm? º º Knowledge worker? Headsets/Handsets: º º USB º º Bluetth º º DECT Personal conference/speakerphone devices Prf of Concept Test technical deployment & network architecture Do you have the tls and resources to set up a test environment? Which tls and techniques will you use to ensure the proper provisioning of the underlying network? Can your organization take baseline measurements with existing usage, prior to deploying Lync? Is the test environment scalable to test larger or more complex deployments? Which existing systems (for instance, ticketing, monitoring, etc.) will need to be updated or reconfigured to account for Lync? Evaluate Lync as a viable solution to meet organization s needs (lab/testing scenario only) Who will specify the expected behavior or performance of the Lync PoC? How will you validate that Lync will meet the needs and demands of specific departments or groups, as well as enterprise-wide? What will be the success criteria for the PoC? How will these criteria need to be expanded for the pilot and subsequent roll out phases? 4

5 Through % of UC projects will fail to meet their objectives. - Gartner Pilot Validate Lync, resources, and rollout plans with users in preparation for broad rollout (client loaded on actual desktop) Are your users ready for the testing phase? Are they willing to provide you with the feedback you need? Have you put in place a system (and timeline!) for Iterative feedback/user satisfaction surveys? Who will own the plan to address issues with end user satisfaction (which is the primary driver of user adoption/ rollout success)? Enterprise Rollout (Phased) Launch of Lync across initial locations, departments and/or user groups Have the lessons learned in the pilot (or previous rollout phases) been applied? Have you created an iterative feedback and evaluation process, which will allow your organization to adjust the rollout plan for each new site or group? Have you reviewed your scalability assumptions and High Availability and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) planning? Is the rollout plan scalable for an enterprise-wide implementation? Run State Follow operations plan for all key phases/focus areas, increase user-adoption Have your users been properly trained and prepared for sustainability? Do you have a support staff or help desk to answer questions or provide troubleshting capabilities? When problems arise, do you have the tls to quickly pinpoint and resolve them? 5

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