Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/74024
www.iltanet.org • Designating resources and a process for post-cut coverage When transitioning a public IP network, one must also account for the added challenge of addressing other changes like DNS propagation, updates to VPN clients and site-to-site VPNs. Define testing timelines. The testing plan should include the testing day, time and duration. Additional hardware (T1 cards) had to be secured to perform testing without disrupting the current environment, particularly considering that any downtime would have impacted existing users. This affected our proposed testing timeline. Failure to meet all specifications/requirements. It remains essential to define when and how to roll back from a new version to a previous working release should something critical fail. One of the objectives was to perform database replication between the primary and secondary sites. Due to fiber delays and the need to implement a temporary lower-bandwidth solution, this important requirement was put on hold and implemented after the permanent solution was deployed. 5. Communicate and Get Buy-In The key to safeguarding against surprises and unmet expectations is clear and consistent communication among the project team members, with stakeholders and with users. 4. Build a Contingency Plan Any project that has the potential to impact users and/ or significantly affect existing functionality must include a contingency plan to address "what if" scenarios. The contingency plan must address things like: Failure to meet timelines. Unexpected issues and third- party resources play a big role in the ability to meet the timelines associated with many projects. As a backup, we would deploy a temporary lower- bandwidth solution. We negotiated a no-penalty upgrade with the carrier to ensure that we had a fallback position should the fiber implementation be delayed beyond the move date. Communicate with your project team. All project team members must be informed and in agreement on all aspects of the project. From agreement on technical documents and implementation timelines to the testing and contingency plans, it is essential to make sure that everyone has read all documentation and has agreed to the plan. Here it was essential for the third-party hardware vendor to review, confirm and sign off on the technical specifications of the circuits and associated call routing to make sure we didn't run into any issues during the testing process or cut-over. The responsibility of creating and maintaining clarity for project team members lies squarely with the project 40 ILTA White Paper