Microsoft Solution Framework (MSF) Development Phase Overview

During the developing phase the team accomplishes most of the building of solution components (documentation as well as code).

Note that some development work may also continue into the stabilization phase in response to testing.

Note also developing phase involves more than code development and software developers. The infrastructure is also developed during this phase and all roles are active in building and testing deliverables. 

Major Milestone

The developing phase culminates in the scope complete milestone.

All features are complete and the solution is ready for external testing and stabilization.

This milestone is the opportunity for customers and users, operations and support personnel, and key project stakeholders to evaluate the solution and identify any remaining issues that must be addressed before the solution is released.

Recommended Interim Milestones

Proof of Concept Complete

The proof of concept tests key elements of the solution on a non-production simulation of the existing environment. The team walks operations staff and users through the solution to validate their requirements.

Internal Build ver. n Complete, Internal Build ver. n+1 Complete

Because the developing phase focuses on building the solution, the project needs interim milestones that can help the team measure build progress.

Developing is done in parallel and in segments, so the team needs a way to measure progress as a whole. Internal builds accomplish this by forcing the team to synchronize pieces at a solution level.

How many builds and how often they occur will depend on the size and duration of the project. Often it makes sense to set interim milestones to achieve a visual design freeze and a database freeze because of the many dependencies on these. For example, the screens that are needed to create documentation and the database schema form a deep part of the overall architecture.

Deliverables

The deliverables of the developing phase are:

• Source code and executables
• Installation scripts and configuration settings for deployment
• Frozen functional specification
• Performance support elements
• Test specifications and test cases

Team Focus

The following table describes the focus and responsibility areas of each team role during developing phase.

Product Management

Customer expectations

Program Management

Functional specification management; project tracking; updating plans

Development

Code development; infrastructure development; configuration documentation

User Experience

Training; updated training plan; usability testing; graphic design

Testing

Functional testing; issues identification; documentation testing; updated test plan

Release Management

Rollout checklists, updated rollout and pilot plans; site preparation checklists