To explain the work involved in the Deployment discipline, the activities and work products are organized into a
capability pattern for the discipline.
Deployment is about making the software product available to the end-user and is the culmination of the software
development effort.
Deployment planning (Activity: Plan Deployment) starts early in the project lifecycle and
addresses not only the production of the deliverable software, but also the development of training material and system
support material to ensure that the end-user can successfully use the delivered software product.
Support material (Activity: Develop Support Material) covers the full range of
information that will be required by the end-user to install, operate, use and maintain the delivered system. It also
includes training material for all the various positions that will be required to effectively use the new system.
The Deployment Discipline places a great emphasis on ensuring the product is well tested prior to its release to the
customer base. The activity Manage Acceptance Test covers to two kinds of test environments. Firstly, the
build needs to be sufficiently tested in the development test environment (Activity: Manage Acceptance Test), and then re-tested at the target site (Activity: Manage Acceptance Test for Custom Install). The 'test environment' should
be an 'instance' of the target environment.
Once the product has been tested at the development site it needs to be prepared for delivery to the customer. The
release can created for the purposes of beta-testing, a test deployment to the final users, or depending on it level of
maturity for the final product. Activity: Produce Deployment Unit describes the logistics of creating
a product release that consists of the software, and the necessary accompanying work products required to effectively
install and use it.
A beta-program refers to the process used by an organization to solicit feedback from a subset of users on products
that are under development. The feedback is used to augment the product. Activity: Beta Test Product describes the activities to enable
iterative deployment of a product, and systematic customer engagement in creating the final product.
For 'shrink wrap' software, Activity: Package Product describes the activities to take the
software product, installation scripts and user manuals, and package them for mass production like any other consumer
product.
You could have your software installed for you by the developing contractor, or you could buy the software over the
counter, or download it over the internet. Activity: Provide Access to Download Site refers to the product
being made available for purchase and download over the internet as a software distribution channel.
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