SharePoint deployments generally stay fairly consistent from one to the next. This makes it relatively predictable to plan and deliver a SharePoint deployment project. It also makes planning a new deployment project quite straightforward and simply a matter of fine tuning the tasks and effort estimates.
For my projects, I use a general template that lists the main tasks involved in a deployment, and for the most part, my deployment project plan template has held pretty consistent for several years now, aside from minor updates to accommodate product changes.
I like to simplify every SharePoint deployment into a phased approach that leads up to a pilot with a group of users using default SharePoint sites (free of any custom components or UI designs). I break down a deployment project into these phases:
- Phase Zero: Prerequisites & Project Planning
- Phase One: Design Infrastructure Architecture
- Phase Two: Deploy Test Farm
- Phase Three: Deploy Production Farm
- Phase Four: Conduct Pilot
- Phase Five: Plan Rollout
The output from the final phase is a project plan for any customizations and rollout phases to on-board additional users, all delivered in follow-on project iterations and phases; yet I plan the effort following the pilot phase when I have a clearer understanding of the requirements and effort required.
The following table lists the tasks involved as well as my general effort estimations for each task activity (these are just starting points to estimate effort and I adjust them to fit a specific project’s needs). You should be able to copy and paste these tasks into your Microsoft Project plan’s Gantt chart.
| Task Name | Duration |
| Phase Zero: Prerequisites & Project Planning | |
| Project Delivery Kick-Off | 0.25 days |
| SharePoint Functional & Architectural Overview Presentation | 0.5 days |
| Finalize Project Roles & Responsibilities | 2 days |
| Identify SharePoint Service Owners & Ongoing Operations Team | 2 days |
| Identify Product Keys | 0.25 days |
| Envision Solution & Project Approach | 2 days |
| Plan SharePoint Farm Install Tasks & Task Coordination | 2 days |
| Phase One: Design Infrastructure Architecture | |
| Analyze Capacity Plan | 2 days |
| Analyze & Design Infrastructure Architecture | 2 days |
| Document Infrastructure Architecture | 3 days |
| Document SharePoint Server Build Guide | 3 days |
| Document Office Web Apps Build Guide | 1 day |
| Conduct Design Review with Security Teams | 0.5 hrs |
| Confirm Hardware Specification | 0.5 days |
| Procure Hardware | 1 day |
| Procure SharePoint & SQL Server Licenses | 1 day |
| Provision Production Farm (Physical/Virtual) Servers | 0.5 days |
| Provision Test Farm (Physical/Virtual) Servers | 0.5 days |
| Install Base OS on Servers | 1 day |
| Identify Web Application Naming Convention for Collaboration, Search, My Site, Portal, and Central Administration | 0.5 days |
| Create DNS Entries for Web Applications | 0.25 days |
| Create Farm Service Accounts and Admin Security Groups (Domain Accounts) | 2 hrs |
| Grant SharePoint Farm Admin Account Admin Privileges | 2 hrs |
| Create & Install SSL Certificates on Servers | 0.5 days |
| Planning Session – Operational Roles and Responsibilities | 0.5 days |
| Planning Session – Scheduled Jobs | 0.5 days |
| Planning Session – Backup and Restore | 0.5 days |
| Draft Base Operations Plan Document | 2 days |
| Deployment Prerequisites Complete | 0 days |
| Phase Two: Deploy Test Farm | |
| Review Farm Infrastructure & Prep Environment | 1 day |
| Install SQL Server and Patches on Database Server | 0.5 days |
| Install SharePoint Prerequisites | 0.25 days |
| Install SharePoint and SharePoint Patches on Servers | 0.5 days |
| Install Language Packs | 0.5 days |
| Configure Application Servers and Establish a SharePoint Farm | 0.5 days |
| Install & Configure Office Web Apps | 0.5 days |
| Provision Test Web Applications | |
| Provision Collaboration, Search, My Sites, and Portal Web Apps | 2 hrs |
| Configure Web Application Quotas | 0.25 hrs |
| Configure Self-Service Site Creation | 0.25 hrs |
| Create My Site Host | 0.25 hrs |
| Create Search Portal | 0.25 days |
| Configure Firewall Proxy Server | 0.5 days |
| Provision Service Applications | |
| Configure Services on Server | 0.5 hrs |
| Provision Managed Metadata Service | 0.25 hrs |
| Provision SharePoint Search Service | 1 hr |
| Provision User Profile Service | 0.5 hrs |
| Configure Profile Fields for My Sites and Profile Import | 1 hr |
| Configure Profile Synchronization | 1 hr |
| Configure SharePoint Search and Schedule Content Indexing | 1 hr |
| Install & Configure Backup Software for SharePoint to Backup Test Environment | 0.5 days |
| Schedule SQL Server Backups & Monitoring | 2 hrs |
| Document Test Server Farm Setup and Configuration Details | 1 day |
| Knowledge Transfer and Test Farm Setup Debrief | 1 day |
| Test Farm Deployment Settings | 1 day |
| Conduct Security Review & Assessment | |
| Assess Security Architecture | 0.5 days |
| Assess Data Sensitivity | 0.5 days |
| Verify OS Hardening | 0.25 days |
| Configure Intrusion Detection Monitoring | 0.5 days |
| Conduct a General Vulnerabilities Assessment | 0.5 days |
| Stabilize Farm Deployment | 1 day |
| Test Farm Complete | 0 days |
| Phase Three: Deploy Production Farm | 1 day |
| Review Farm Infrastructure & Prep Environment | 1 day |
| Install SQL Server and Patches on Database Server | 0.5 days |
| Install SharePoint Prerequisites | 0.25 days |
| Install SharePoint and SharePoint Patches on Servers | 0.5 days |
| Install Language Packs | 0.5 days |
| Configure Application Servers and Establish a SharePoint Farm | 0.5 days |
| Install & Configure Office Web Apps | 0.5 days |
| Provision Web Applications | |
| Provision Collaboration, Search, My Sites, and Portal Web Apps | 2 hrs |
| Configure Web Application Quotas | 0.25 hrs |
| Configure Self-Service Site Creation | 0.25 hrs |
| Create My Site Host | 0.25 hrs |
| Create Search Portal | 0.25 days |
| Configure Firewall Proxy Server | 0.5 days |
| Provision Service Applications | |
| Configure Services on Server | 0.5 hrs |
| Provision Managed Metadata Service | 0.25 hrs |
| Provision SharePoint Search Service | 1 hr |
| Provision User Profile Service | 0.5 hrs |
| Configure Profile Fields for My Sites and Profile Import | 1 hr |
| Configure Profile Synchronization | 1 hr |
| Configure SharePoint Search and Schedule Content Indexing | 1 hr |
| Install & Configure Backup Software for SharePoint to Backup Test Environment | 0.5 days |
| Schedule SQL Server Backups & Monitoring | 2 hrs |
| Document Production Server Farm Setup and Configuration Details | 1 day |
| Knowledge Transfer and Production Farm Setup Debrief | 1 day |
| Test Farm Deployment Settings | 1 day |
| Conduct Security Review & Assessment | |
| Assess Security Architecture | 0.5 days |
| Assess Data Sensitivity | 0.5 days |
| Verify OS Hardening | 0.25 days |
| Configure Intrusion Detection Monitoring | 0.5 days |
| Conduct a General Vulnerabilities Assessment | 0.5 days |
| Stabilize Farm Deployment | 1 day |
| Production Farm Complete | 0 days |
| Phase Four: Conduct Pilot | |
| Plan Training Strategy | 1 day |
| Develop Training References | 5 days |
| Develop Quick Reference Guides | 3 days |
| Design Service Request & Support Procedures | 2 days |
| Train Service Desk Team | 1 day |
| Identify Pilot Users | 0.5 days |
| Train Pilot Users | 1 day |
| Drive Pilot Adoption & Collect Feedback from Users | 5 days |
| Pilot | 5 days |
| Conduct Pilot Debrief & Review Feedback | 0.5 days |
| Identify Functionality Gaps | 2 days |
| Stabilize Pilot | 1 day |
| User Acceptance Testing (UAT) | 0.5 days |
| Pilot/UAT Complete | 0 days |
| Phase Five: Plan Rollout | |
| Review Branding Policies & Guidelines | 1 day |
| Analyze UI Design Requirements | 2 days |
| Design Wireframes | 3 days |
| Design Mock-up Drafts | 3 days |
| Review Wireframes & Mock-ups | 0.5 days |
| Design UI | 7 days |
| Develop UI Package | 7 days |
| Plan User Adoption and Rollout | 5 days |
Steve Goodyear 