Chapter 17. Developing an Implementation Plan

An Active Directory project has several phases, each of which influences the outcome of the project. Active Directory design, in which Active Directory is defined so that it meets your organization's requirements, is a pivotal phase of the Active Directory project. If Active Directory design does not meet your organization's requirements, no matter what is done in the other phases of the project, Active Directory will come up short of fulfilling its promises. The implementation plan is another pivotal phase of your Active Directory project. Although you have a beautifully designed Active Directory, if it is not implemented properly, the design never allows Active Directory to meet you organization's requirements. Therefore, it is important to carefully plan the implementation of Active Directory. This includes proper project management from a Project Manager, realistic timelines, communication, organization, and well-defined user and management expectations.

Unfortunately, there is no simple cookbook implementation plan. Each implementation is different because each organization is different. This chapter touches on some of the components and approaches that can help you define a successful implementation plan.