What is it?

Microsoft provides the Sure Step Methodology to Microsoft Dynamics partners in order to provide a complete and scalable model for implementing Microsoft Dynamics technology projects. It is based on best practice and offers a series of tools and components that partners may choose to use within Microsoft Dynamics projects. The key to Sure Step is that it is scalable – therefore it is applicable to projects of any size.

In short, Sure Step is a software implementation model which provides a series of components:

Static content of HTML content, Visio diagrams and templates
Source content of HTML, Visio and Office templates
Methodology editor which is used as a tool to add, delete or modify source content and to generate new static content

The key benefits to partners and consultants are as follows:

Building a consistent solution delivery model for clients and team members
Better management of risks within implementation projects
Better collaboration within consulting teams
Development of repeatable and reusable consulting services
A model which can be customised to the partner or consultants needs
A more professional approach to selling Microsoft Dynamics consulting services

The Sure Step model divides a complete Dynamics project into the following phases:

Diagnostic

This is described as the transition from the sales cycle to implementation. This phase consists of high level planning and analysis of the client’s environment. The goal of this phase is to form a high level project scope in order to put together a proposal for the remaining phases.

Analysis

The objective of the analysis phase is to help identify the decisions which the customer must make to guide the implementation. The distinction with the diagnostic phase is that this phase must go deeper. An interesting component in the analysis phase is the training exercise in order to ensure that client representatives are well versed in the ‘out of the box’ functionality.

Design

The design phase builds on the deliverables from the analysis by identifying the design for the overall implementation and custom solutions which are required to meet the needs identified from the analysis phase.

Development

The objective of the development phase is to build the features and customisations which have been specified and agreed from the design phase. It is important that development testing in this phase is carried out both by the developer and analyst team. This phase also includes the customer testing activity which in some models is shown as part of the deployment phase.

Deployment

The key objective of the deployment phase is to deliver a functioning system for the client. The important activities that go to make up this phase include: end user training, environment configurations, data migration and validation, load testing and preparation of the go-live plans.

Operations

Operations is the phase in which the project is closed down and the customer is supported as they transition into the new live environment. Negotiations may be ongoing at this stage to provide formal support but at the very least there should be a go-live and transition support model.