Microsoft Software Assurance
Skype for Business and Exchange Deployment Planning
Services
Skype for Business
Server 2015 - Findings
and Recommendations
Prepared for
. <<Customer>>
Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Version 3.0
Prepared by
. <<Consultant>>
Contributors
S&EDPS Delivery Partner
Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Revision and Signoff Sheet
Change Record
Date
Author
Version
Change reference
Initial draft for review/discussion
Reviewers
Name
Version approved
Position
Software Assurance | Skype for Business and Exchange Deployment Planning Services
Date
2
Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Table of Contents
Document Purpose .............................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Session Participant Record ............................................................................................................................................................... 6
Business Drivers .................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Current State Review .......................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Network Topology ............................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Active Directory Environment ......................................................................................................................................................... 7
Backup and Data Recovery............................................................................................................................................................... 8
Disaster Recovery ................................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Administration Model ........................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Compliance ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Conferencing.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Enterprise Voice .................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Office 365 ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Management and Operations ......................................................................................................................................................... 9
Service and Data Availability ......................................................................................................................................................... 10
Requirements....................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Business Requirements .................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Operational Requirements ............................................................................................................................................................. 11
Technical Requirements .................................................................................................................................................................. 11
S&EDPS Technical Presentation Findings ................................................................................................................................. 12
Environmental Dependencies ................................................................................................................................................. 12
High Level Conceptual Design ............................................................................................................................................... 12
Conceptual Design Findings ................................................................................................................................................... 13
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Skype for Business Server 2015 Deployment ......................................................................................................................... 13
Deployment Module .................................................................................................................................................................. 13
Skype for Business Server 2015 Migration and Coexistence: Lync 2013 or Lync 2010 .......................................... 14
Migration and Coexistence Module..................................................................................................................................... 14
Skype for Business Server 2015 Management and Admin Experience ........................................................................ 14
Management and Admin Experience Module ................................................................................................................. 14
Skype for Business Server 2015 Remote Access .................................................................................................................... 15
Remote Access Module ............................................................................................................................................................ 15
Skype for Business Server 2015 Bandwidth Management ................................................................................................ 15
Bandwidth Management and Call Admission Control Module ................................................................................ 15
Customer Deployment Challenges / Risks ............................................................................................................................... 16
Customer High Level Deployment Plan .................................................................................................................................... 16
S&EDPS Objectives And Documentation ................................................................................................................................. 16
S&EDPS Engagement Results ....................................................................................................................................................... 17
S&EDPS Engagement Schedule ................................................................................................................................................... 17
Next Steps ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 18
APPENDIX .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 19
Deployment Planning Concepts ............................................................................................................................................ 19
Envision ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Plan.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Developing/Build ......................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Stabilize ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Deploy .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Tools and Best Practices Reference ............................................................................................................................................ 21
Document Guidance – Delete before Providing to Customer
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Note to S&EDPS consultant: any text in italic blue highlighted in cyan is there to assist
you in determining how to answer a question. You should delete that text, and any areas
which are in this blue text..
At the beginning of each numbered section you will see if the section is required or
optional with a large blue text such as this:
<<REQUIRED SECTION>>
It will also provide you with any additional comments for the requirements of that
section. This document is intended to represent your effort and accomplishments at the
customer. Feel free to delete anything (other than required sections) and add any sections
necessary to reflect the engagement.
Remember to delete all blue text.
Note to xDPS consultant: any text in italic brown highlighted in pink is there to
highlight areas that you need to fill with data. In many areas we provide you examples of
the type of information that should be in each section. If data is provided it is provided
solely as an example. Although you can leverage provided items, anything provided is not
a complete list and you should definitely not limit yourself to only that sample data.
Remember to delete or replace all brown text.
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Document Purpose
<<REQUIRED SECTION for all engagements>>
The following document is a summary of the X-day <Platform – e.g.Skype for Business > Deployment Planning Session (S&EDPS) held
for <<Customer>>. It documents the findings and tasks accomplished during this engagement. <<Customer>>can use this document
to engage internal IT teams, partners and vendors in deployment planning discussions and proposal or statement of work generation.
Session Participant Record
<<REQUIRED SECTION for all engagements>>
The following table lists the participants of the engagement.
Name
Role
[Name1]
[Role]
[Name1]
[Role]
[Name1]
[Role]
[Name1]
[Role]
[Name1]
[Role]
[Name1]
[Role]
[Name1]
[Role]
Session Participation
Business Drivers
<<REQUIRED SECTION for all engagements>>
Organizations are subject to external forces that shape what products or services are delivered, in addition to how the organization will
operate. The responses to these trends are the “business drivers” resulting in business strategies and the IT initiatives to support them.
The S&EDPS consultant and <<Customer>> have determined the following primary business drivers for deployment of Skype for Business
Server 2015:
 Business Driver 1
 Business Driver 2
 Business Driver 3
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
S&EDPS Consultant: A business driver should be high level. Some common examples would be improve communications, reduce costs,
improve business integration, etc. Make sure to address how Skype for Business assists with these business drivers in the business requirements
section of this document.
Guidelines for writing a problem statement:



Provides a business description of the customer’s situation that will become the focus for the rest of the engagement. This could
include actual technical problems or other business drivers. A business driver should be high level. Some common examples would
be improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, improve business integration, reduce risk exposure, etc.
Be as detailed as necessary to describe the problem / driver
Be as clear as possible
<<Customer>> is facing the following challenges in their existing environment….
Current State Review
<<REQUIRED SECTION for all engagements>>
S&EDPS Consultant: This is a summary of what the customer’s environment looks like. This is intended to be a summary of the highlights
only. Please mention all changes planned for short term. Add / remove sections as needed to describe the environment.
The current environment consists of…
S&EDPS Consultant: Insert here a diagram of the current Lync topology if the client has one available. Describe the customer instant
messaging environment. Provide information that is useful to gauge the complexity of this deployment and would assist in scoping or SOW
generation. Include information such Lync products and versions, type and number of servers, users per server, server role, physical location,
clusters, SAN, etc…
Network Topology
S&EDPS Consultant: Briefly describe the network topology.
Insert a copy of the network diagram, if available.
Active Directory Environment
S&EDPS Consultant: Briefly describe the Active Directory environment.
The table below lists the Active Directory forests of the environment:
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Forest name
Forest Functional Level
Lync Server installed in forest?
contoso.com
Windows Server 2003 Native
Yes
adatum.com
Windows Server 2003 Native
No
User accounts are located in the following Active Directory Domains:
Domain name
Number of Users
europe.contoso.com
8500
Comments
Backup and Data Recovery
S&EDPS Consultant: Briefly describe topics such as: How often are backups executed? How often do they need to restore data? What are
the SLA’s regarding data recovery (from single server restore to complete disaster scenario)? What programs/agents are used to perform
backups? What is the backup media (disk/tape)? What is the data retention policy? Does the client implement Operations Level Agreements
(OLAs) for instant messaging? If so, what are they? Has recovery been tested and practiced? Is the process documented? Are backups verified?
Disaster Recovery
S&EDPS Consultant: Briefly describe topics such as: Account recovery – what does the client do? Full server failure - what does the client
do? Data-center failure - what does the client do? Has DR scenario ever been tested and verified?
Administration Model
S&EDPS Consultant: Briefly describe topics such as: Is the LYNC administration centralized or decentralized? Do LYNC administrators
require domain admin privileges? Is there a separation between AD and LYNC administration? Are there read-only administrators? Is a
resource forest in use? What political or delegation of privilege requirements led to that decision? Who manages the LYNC servers? Is it the
same people that manage the main organization directory (Active Directory)? Are the LYNC servers managed separately or does a single
group manage them all? Or is there strict segregation of responsibilities (like Network, hardware, OS, applications…) Describe roles,
responsibilities and processes for provisioning. Are there policies for configuring new employees and terminating employee? Attach if
available.
Compliance
S&EDPS Consultant: Briefly describe topics such as: Are there existing archiving solutions? Is it compatible with Skype for Business Server
2015? Is there an existing e-Discovery solution, and if so, what is it used for? Is it compatible with Skype for Business Server 2015? Are there
ethical walls between departments of the organization, such that one department is not allowed to communicate with another department
on certain topics? If so, how is this enforced? Is the solution compatible with Skype for Business Server 2015? Are messages inspected for
content prior to leaving the organization? If so, how, and is the solution compatible with Skype for Business Server 2015 Are there rules in
place about how long instant messages can/must be retained? How are these rules enforced? Is the client subject to any set of compliance
regulations, such as HIPAA?
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Conferencing
S&EDPS Consultant: Briefly describe topics such as: What do you use for conferencing today? Are hosted web conferencing services in use
such as Live Meeting or Webex? What capabilities of these platforms are used? Can Skype for Business Server 2015 provide these
capabilities? What size meetings do they require and what types of conferencing is used during different meeting types? Audio, Video,
Data? Do they use a current audio conferencing service or ACP? How many minutes a month do they consume and for how many users.
What are their requirements for an audio conferencing solution including local dialin numbers, security, and attendance policies? Do they
use third party video conferencing solutions today? If so, do they want those integrated into Skype for Business and what types are they?
What kind of video conferences do they require – desktop, room, telepresence – a combination?
Enterprise Voice
S&EDPS Consultant: Briefly describe topics such as: What do you use for telephony today? Do you have older TDM PBX systems or newer
IP PBX’s. How many and where are they? What are complimentary services such as voice mail and call center services? Do they user RCC
today with Lync? Do they plan to use Call Via Work? If so to what degree and what capabilities? Do they use any client PBX plugins today
like CUCIMOC or CUCILync (Cisco) or ACE (Avaya)? Do they integrate with PBX systems today with Lync? If so how do they do it – direct
SIP via gateway, direct SIP to IP PBX or SIP trunking? Other? How do they do PBX integration and phone number or DID management?
Are they using simultaneous ringing on clients or PBX? What is an overview of their dialplan? Do they want to replace current PBX’s with
Skype for Business? When and in what locations? What other voice requirements do they have including E-911, Call Admission Control
(CAC), Call Park, Response Groups, etc.
Office 365
S&EDPS Consultant: Briefly describe topics such as: Is Office 365 in use today? Which of the Office 365 services are being used? Exchange
Online? Skype for Business Online? Has a hybrid deployment already been configured? Has Exchange Server been configured for a hybrid
deployment? Has Skype for Business been deployed in a Hybrid configuration? The configuration should be described, including user
distribution between online and on-premises, ADFS and single sign-on configuration, which SIP domains are part of the hybrid
configuration.
Management and Operations
S&EDPS Consultant: This should include data from the “Management and Operations” section of the pre-engagement questionnaire.
Briefly describe topics such as: Is the messaging administration centralized or decentralized? Do messaging administrators require domain
admin privileges? Is there a separation between AD and Messaging administration? Are there read-only administrators? Is a resource forest
in use? What political or delegation of privilege requirements led to that decision? Who manages the messaging servers? Is it the same
people that manage the main organization directory (Active Directory)? Are the messaging servers managed separately or does a single
group manage them all? Or is there strict segregation of responsibilities (like Network, hardware, OS, applications…) Describe roles,
responsibilities and processes for provisioning. Are their policies for configuring new employees and terminating employee? Attach if
available.
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Service and Data Availability
S&EDPS Consultant: This should include data from the “Service and Data Availability” section of the pre-engagement questionnaire.
Briefly describe topics such as: High availability implementation. Monitoring implementation. How often are backups executed? How often
do they need to restore data? Which kind of data? Are streaming backups used, snapshots, or brick-level? What are the SLA’s regarding
data recovery (from single item restore to complete disaster scenario)? What programs/agents are used to perform backups? What is the
backup media (disk/tape)? What is the data retention policy? Are deleted item recovery and deleted mailbox recovery configured, and if so,
what are their values? Has environment recovery been tested and practiced? Is the process documented? Are backups verified?
Requirements
<< REQUIRED SECTION for 3, 5, 10, and 15 day engagements >>
<<Customer>> has the following requirements that were identified during the <Platform – e.g. Skype for Business> Deployment
Planning Session (S&EDPS) workshops and will therefore be addressed and reflected in the architecture and recommendations.
Requirements will be divided into several types. Each type and its accompanying requirements are detailed below:
S&EDPS Consultant: Requirements identify what the solution must deliver. We have provided example requirements to help you
understand the type of requirements desired for each section. They are only samples and should be replaced with the ones discussed during
the S&EDPS engagements. Be sure the requirements address the problems / drivers listed earlier in this document.
Business Requirements
<<REQUIRED SECTION>>
Business requirements are the most important drivers for a project and the solution architecture. Following are the business requirements
discussed during the engagement:

Maintain regulatory compliance <<Customers>> compliance and governance requirements are met by built-in security,
encryption, archiving, and call detail records. By using your own servers and network, you maintain control over sensitive data
that would otherwise be transmitted over public telephone networks and third-party conferencing platforms.

Control costs Voice over IP (VoIP) enables communications among geographically dispersed company locations without long
distance charges. Integrated audio, video, and Web conferencing helps reduce travel costs as well as the cost of third-party
conferencing solutions.

Gain operational efficiencies <<Customer>> improves operational efficiencies by integrating Unified Communications and
rich presence into business workflows, latency and delays can be reduced or eliminated. For geographically dispersed teams,
group chat can enable efficient, topic-specific, multi-party discussions that persist over time.

Improve productivity Rich presence information helps <<Customer>> employees find each other and choose the most
effective way to communicate at a given time. Instead of e-mailing documents back and forth for approval, workers can rely on
real-time collaboration through enhanced conferencing with desktop, application, and virtual whiteboard sharing—or contact a
collaborator from within Microsoft Office or other applications. The Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 client provides
access to enterprise voice, enterprise messaging, and conferencing from one simplified interface.
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations

Support the mobile workforce <<Customers>> mobile workers get access to rich Unified Communications tools from
practically anywhere with an Internet connection, no VPN needed. The updated Skype for Business mobile client makes joining
and managing conferences, searching the Global Address List, and viewing presence information easy.

The Skype for Business mobile client is available for Windows Phone, iPad, iPhone and Android.
S&EDPS Consultant: Verify that your business requirements address the business drivers from earlier in this document.
Operational Requirements
<<REQUIRED SECTION>>

Operational requirements describe the supportability and usability of a solution. They are formulated from the perspective of
those who will administer or support the solution in addition to end users who will utilize the solution. Following are the
operational requirements discussed during the engagement:

Skype for Business Server 2015 technologies will enable <<Customer>> to

Centralized Management: <<Customer>> requires a deployment that is centrally managed but allows granular delegation.
Skype for Business Server 2015 will help meet these requirements by implementing features such as…

Full Skype for Business Server access without VPN: <<Customer>> has a large remote workforce that needs full client
access without the requirement of establishing a VPN session. Skype for Business Server 2015 will help meet these
requirements by implementing features such as…

Data Center Resiliency: Split pool approach, The front and back end of Skype for Business Server 2015 may be split across
two data centers, or pools can be paired as primary and backup across data centers.

Branch Resiliency options: Branch resiliency options provide voice capabilities in the event of an outage enabled by
survivable branch appliances or survivable branch servers.

SLA, RTO and RPO definitions: Skype for Business Server 2015 can be designed to meet stringent SLA. Recovery options
vary by workload.
Technical Requirements
<<REQUIRED SECTION>>
Technical requirements specify the technical parameters and feature characteristics of the solution. They are formulated from the
perspective of the IT personnel. They are secondary to and dependent on the business requirements. Following are the technical
requirements discussed during the engagement:




Skype Connectivity: <<Customer>> requires a deployment that can …
Federation: <<Customer>> requires a deployment that can
Platform Extensibility: <<Customer>> requires a deployment that can
Conferencing: <<Customer>> requires a deployment that can …
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Enterprise Voice: <<Customer>> requires a deployment that can …
Cloud Enabled: <<Customer>> requires a deployment that can …


S&EDPS Technical Presentation Findings
<< OPTIONAL FOR CUSTOM ENGAGEMENTS >>
Environmental Dependencies

Environmental Dependencies Module
The environmental dependencies module discusses the pre-requisites that must be in place before deploying any Skype for Business
Servers into your environment. Topics that are discussed include:

Name resolution requirements

Active Directory requirements

Certificate requirements

SQL requirements

Hardware Load Balancer requirements

Cleanup tasks
The following is a summary of the findings during this module.
Environmental Dependencies Findings
The following items were identified during the S&EDPS engagement:
Item
Comment
Item A
Describe
Item B
Describe
S&EDPS Consultant: Place any specific items discussed that would aid in defining the scope or complexity of this deployment effort. For
example, the client needs to raise the forest and domain functional level, the client needs to upgrade DC’s to the latest service pack, the
client will evaluate their AD sites and services layout, the client needs to purchase a SAN certificate, etc.
High Level Conceptual Design

This section encompasses the findings from the following three modules:



Skype for Business Server 2015 - What is New
Skype for Business Server 2015 - Edge Server Remote Access
Skype for Business Server 2015 - High Availability and Resiliency
The findings are combined because the results of the modules were high level architectural decisions leading to a high level conceptual
design. All recommendations here are “as-of-today” which means they have been decided only with information available to the team at
the time of writing this document.
Decisions made during S&EDPS must be validated in a formal Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 engagement with a full envisioning
and scoping phase.
This following conceptual design is NOT a full design and cannot be used to build against or to purchase/budget with.
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
The purpose is to illustrate the topology discussed during S&EDPS sessions, and serve as a starting point for further discussions and
considerations. A full design would be part of a formal Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment engagement.
S&EDPS Consultant: Insert a HIGH LEVEL simple Visio diagram here showing the discussed Skype for Business topology
Conceptual Design Findings
The following is a summary of the findings during this module.
Conceptual Design Findings
The following items were identified during the S&EDPS engagement:
Item
Comment
Item A
Describe
Item B
Describe
S&EDPS Consultant: Place any specific items in regards to the design findings that would aid in defining the scope or complexity of this
deployment effort. For example: The customer would like to deploy x number of backend servers, the edge servers will be combined or
dedicated, SQL Always On, X number of Frontend and backend servers in X location, Edge server in perimeter network, etc... PBX/PSTN
integration in X location to X PBX’s. etc… Keep it at a HIGH LEVEL, with the goal of explaining the provided diagram.
Skype for Business Server 2015 Deployment
Deployment Module
The Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 - Setup and Deployment module discusses Skype for Business Server 2015 setup and
deployment topologies. Topics that are discussed include:
 Changes in Setup and Deployment in Skype for Business Server 2015
 Overview of End-to-End Setup and Deployment process
 Central Management Server and Store
 Planning Tool and Topology Builder Demo
The following is a summary of the findings during this module.
Deployment Findings
The following items were identified during the S&EDPS engagement:
Item
Comment
Item A
Describe
Item B
Describe
S&EDPS Consultant: Place any specific items discussed in the Deployment module that would be of benefit to document and would aid in
defining the scope or complexity of this deployment effort. For example: The customer has multiple AD Forests and is a complex
environment, requires directory synchronization with another entity, all roles will be combined on one server in a simple topology, what
order servers will be deployed, etc…
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Skype for Business Server 2015 Migration and Coexistence: Lync 2013
or Lync 2010
Migration and Coexistence Module
The Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 - Migration and Coexistence module discusses Skype for Business Server 2015 transition
and coexistence strategies with Lync 2013 or Lync 2010. Topics that are discussed include:
 Approach for migration and support boundaries
 What do we migrate?
 Demo: How do we migrate?
 Migration and Coexistence Topologies
 Demo: Client Interoperability
 Interoperability during Coexistence
 TAP Migration Lessons Learned
 A typical Migration Guidance
The following is a summary of the findings during this module.
Migration and Coexistence Module
The following items were identified during the S&EDPS engagement:
Item
Comment
Item A
Describe
Item B
Describe
S&EDPS Consultant: Place any specific items discussed in the Migration and Coexistence module that would aid in defining the scope or
complexity of this deployment effort. For example: The customer has an existing Edge design, the Skype for Business environment is
complex, etc…
Skype for Business Server 2015 Management and Admin Experience
Management and Admin Experience Module
The Skype for Business Server Management and Admin Experience module discusses Skype for Business Server 2015 management. Topics
that are discussed include:
 Skype for Business Server Control Panel
 Skype for Business Server PowerShell
 Management Experience
 RBAC
The following is a summary of the findings during this module.
Operations and Management Findings
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
The following items were identified during the S&EDPS engagement:
Item
Comment
Item A
Describe
Item B
Describe
S&EDPS Consultant: Place any specific items discussed in the Management and Admin module that would aid in defining the scope or
complexity of this deployment effort. For example: The customer does not have a dedicated operations team to manage Lync infrastructure,
The customer would like to integrate user provisioning with existing provisioning system, etc..
Skype for Business Server 2015 Remote Access
Remote Access Module
The Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 - Edge Server Remote Access module discusses Skype for Business Server 2015 Edge Server
Architecture and deployment scenarios. Topics that are discussed include:
 Edge Scenarios
 Interoperability Federation
 Plan for Edge
 Manage Edge
 Architecture
The following is a summary of the findings during this module.
Remote Access Findings
The following items were identified during the S&EDPS engagement:
Item
Comment
Item A
Describe
Item B
Describe
S&EDPS Consultant: Place any specific items discussed in the Remote Access module that would aid in defining the scope or complexity of
this deployment effort. For example: The customer will deploy multiple Edge Servers, etc…
Skype for Business Server 2015 Bandwidth Management
Bandwidth Management and Call Admission Control Module
The Skype for Business Server 2015 Bandwidth Management and Call Admission Control module discusses the problems of oversubscribing network bandwidth and how CAC helps protect the network against unexpected spikes. Cover topics including voice, video,
conferencing, and impact of hybrid deployment.
 Solution overview
 Differentiators
 Planning and Provisioning
The following is a summary of the findings during this module.
Bandwidth Management Findings
The following items were identified during the S&EDPS engagement:
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Item
Comment
Item A
Describe
Item B
Describe
S&EDPS Consultant: Place any specific items discussed in the Bandwidth Management and Call Admission Control Module that would aid
in defining the scope or complexity of this deployment effort. For example: The customer will deploy CAC due to constrained network in
these locations and will apply restrictions and rerouting of both Audio and Video calls, etc…
Customer Deployment Challenges / Risks
<<OPTIONAL FOR CUSTOM ENGAGEMENTS>>
This section lists the deployment challenges that are specific to the environment. These may include operational constraints, SLAs, network
or bandwidth issues, hardware availability, mobility or security requirements, or any other issue that may slow down or block deployment or
use of Skype for Business Server 2015.
The following key deployment challenges and risks were identified during the session:
 XYZ
 XYZ
 XYZ
S&EDPS Consultant: create a list of issues that may be significant for the customer. Add any additional items that may be required and
delete those that do not apply. Obviously, there are many other potential challenges; these are simply some of the more common issues and
questions that arise. If this is a customized engagement you may not have a deployment plan as part of your deliverable, in that case you
should delete this section.
Customer High Level Deployment Plan
<<OPTIONAL FOR CUSTOM ENGAGEMENTS>>
The following is a preliminary high level Skype for Business Server 2015 deployment plan:
S&EDPS Consultant: make sure you provide some value in the description of the deployment sequence. Specify which locations will probably
go first, which servers in the locations, etc. The idea is for the customer to understand at a high level what the flow of the deployment may
look like in their organization.
S&EDPS Objectives And Documentation
<<REQUIRED FOR CUSTOM ENGAGEMENTS>>
The Skype for Business deployment team has determined the following objectives to be part of the S&EDPS offering:

XYZ

XYZ

XYZ
These objectives will be met by completion of the following tasks/documents:
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations


Task/Document name and description
Task/Document name and description
Note to S&EDPS consultant: Here you will define any CUSTOM objectives and additional documentation that is part of this engagement.
If this is 10/15 day or a customized engagement this section is required. If it is a 3 or 5 day engagement and you are using the standard
offering, you can delete this section. Anything not part of the baseline 3 or 5 day content should be here.
List any additional documentation with the document name and a description. Any documentation that is not a separate document should
be defined as a task. The actual task results or content (for example a lab environment diagram) will be placed under the “S&EDPS
Engagement Results” section of this document. It is preferable to try to keep all documentation as part of this single deliverable. Nevertheless,
in some cases (such as a full Vision/Scope document), it is impractical.
Please not that customer feedback forms will refer to these objectives and tasks. Make sure your customer is aware of what is and is not part
of the engagement and what tasks you are working on.
S&EDPS Engagement Results
<<REQUIRED FOR CUSTOM ENGAGEMENTS>>
Note to S&EDPS consultant: Here you will provide any recommendations, results, diagrams, or additional documentation that supports the
custom scope and documentation for this engagement. For example, if you decided to build a lab environment the description of the lab and
diagram should be here. If the documentation does not fit well into this deliverable (such as a full Vision/Scope) it can be a separate document
but must be referenced in the section entitled “The Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 - Migration and Coexistence module
discusses Skype for Business Server 2015 transition and coexistence strategies with Lync 2013 or Lync 2010. Topics that are discussed
include:
 Approach for migration and support boundaries
 What do we migrate?
 Demo: How do we migrate?
 Migration and Coexistence Topologies
 Demo: Client Interoperability
 Interoperability during Coexistence
 TAP Migration Lessons Learned
 A typical Migration Guidance
The following is a summary of the findings during this module.
Migration and Coexistence Module
The following items were identified during the S&EDPS engagement:
Item
Comment
Item A
Describe
Item B
Describe
S&EDPS Consultant: Place any specific items discussed in the Migration and Coexistence module that would aid in defining the scope or
complexity of this deployment effort. For example: The customer has an existing Edge design, the Skype for Business environment is
complex, etc…
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”. If this is 10/15 day or a customized engagement this section is required. If it is a 3 or 5 day engagement and you are using the
standard offering, you can delete this section. Anything that is not part of the baseline 3 or 5 day content should be here.
S&EDPS Engagement Schedule
<<REQUIRED FOR CUSTOM ENGAGEMENTS>>
The following is the summary of the project schedule and tasks that took place during the S&EDPS engagement:
Note to S&EDPS consultant: Here you will provide a breakdown of the work performed each day and what task was being worked on.
Please note that customer feedback forms will refer to this schedule and ask if these events represent the effort of the engagement. Make sure
your customer is aware of what tasks you are working on each day.
Engagement Day
Tasks
Day 1
Describe task/deliverable worked on and work performed this day
Day 2
Describe task/deliverable worked on and work performed this day
Day 3
Describe task/deliverable worked on and work performed this day
Day 4
Describe task/deliverable worked on and work performed this day
Day 5
Describe task/deliverable worked on and work performed this day
Day X…
…
Next Steps
<<REQUIRED FOR ALL ENGAGEMENTS>>
Note to xDPS consultant: Here you will provide a summary of the next steps. These items should help summarize the scope of a followon engagement. An example is provided below:
The following next steps are recommended:
1.
Create full design covering the following topics
a.
AD integration
b.
Languages
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
c.
Role based access control
d.
Server roles and placement
e.
Storage
f.
High availability / site resiliency
g.
Edge connectivity
h.
Office Web Apps Servers
i.
Hybrid deployment requirements
j.
Compliance, Archiving, and eDiscovery
k.
Sizing
l.
WAN impacts
m. Client configuration
n.
Client access
o.
Application dependencies
p.
Federation
q.
Backup, Restore, Disaster Recovery
r.
Monitoring
2.
Create a full upgrade / co-existence / migration strategy
3.
Create a test lab specification
4.
Write test plans
5.
Write build documents
6.
Etc….
APPENDIX
The text highlighted in yellow is only to be included if this DPS was a Microsoft
Consulting Services delivery.
Deployment Planning Concepts
Consistently delivering high-quality technology solutions on time and on budget is challenging for any business. The Microsoft Solutions
Framework (MSF) provides people and process guidance—the proven practices of Microsoft—to help teams and organizations become
more successful in delivering business-driven technology solutions to their customers. MSF is a deliberate and disciplined approach to
technology projects based on a defined set of principles, models, disciplines, concepts, guidelines, and proven practices from Microsoft.
Through the Skype for Business Server & Exchange Deployment Planning Service engagement, you have begun the process of following
the MSF for your Skype for Business Server transition, starting with the Envisioning process. The next step for your company is to take this
document, prepare a detailed plan, and then begin the Build phase.
Let’s discuss the main steps of MSF and how they apply to a Skype for Business Server migration.
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Envision
The envisioning phase addresses one of the most fundamental requirements for project success—unification of the project team behind
a common vision. The team must have a clear vision of what it wants to accomplish for the customer and be able to state it in terms that
will motivate the entire team and the customer. Envisioning, by creating a high-level view of the project’s goals and constraints, can serve
as an early form of planning; it sets the stage for the more formal planning process that will take place during the project’s planning
phase.
The primary activities accomplished during envisioning are the formation of the core team (described below) and the preparation and
delivery of a vision/scope document. The delineation of the project vision and the identification of the project scope are distinct activities;
both are required for a successful project. Vision is an unbounded view of what a solution may be. Scope identifies the part(s) of the vision
can be accomplished within the project constraints.
Risk management is a recurring process that continues throughout the project. During the envisioning phase, the team prepares a risk
document and presents the top risks along with the vision/scope document.
During the envisioning phase, business requirements must be identified and analyzed. These are refined more rigorously during the
planning phase.
Plan
The Planning phase is when the bulk of the planning for the project is completed. During this phase the team prepares the functional
specification, works through the design process, and prepares work plans, cost estimates, and schedules for the various deliverables.
Early in the Planning phase, the team analyzes and documents requirements in a list or tool. Requirements fall into four broad categories:
business requirements, user requirements, operational requirements, and system requirements (those of the solution itself). As the team
moves on to design the solution and create the functional specifications, it is important to maintain traceability between requirements
and features. Traceability does not have to be on a one to one basis. Maintaining traceability serves as one way to check the correctness
of design and to verify that the design meets the goals and requirements of the solution.
The design process gives the team a systematic way to work from abstract concepts down to specific technical detail. This begins with a
systematic analysis of user profiles (also called “personas”) which describe various types of users and their job functions (operations staff
are users too). Much of this is often done during the envisioning phase. These are broken into a series of usage scenarios, where a
particular type of user is attempting to complete a type of activity, such as front desk registration in a hotel or administering user
passwords for a system administrator. Finally, each usage scenario is broken into a specific sequence of tasks, known as use cases, which
the user performs to complete that activity. This is called “story-boarding.”
There are three levels in the design process: conceptual design, logical design, and physical design. Each level is completed and baselined
in a staggered sequence. The results of the design process are documented in the functional specification(s). The functional specification
describes in detail how each feature is to look and behave. It also describes the architecture and the design for all the features.
Specifically for Skype for Business, the final output of the planning process will identify servers, their locations, their uses, the feature
matrix that will be used by Skype for Business, the operational and management infrastructure that will be used or that will need to be
built (in the case of provisioning systems), as well as client and management expectations.
Developing/Build
During the build phase, the team accomplishes most of the building of solution components (including documentation and infrastructure,
as well as code). However, some development work may continue into the Stabilization phase in response to testing. The 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.
The build phase culminates in the scope complete milestone. At this 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.
Typically the build phase includes a proof-of-concept non-production implementation of the project result and the POC platform is used
for testing intermediate results and for developing deployment scripts and operational guidance.
After the proof-of-concept implementation is complete, it is time to deploy the infrastructure to support a pilot group roll-out.
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
Specifically for Skype for Business, the Build phase is used to identify, develop, and test any custom programs, scripts, etc. that are required
for the Skype for Business Server implementation. At the same time, the Build phase is used to acquire knowledge and usage experience
of the solution within the support and operational groups of your enterprise and to determine how to meet the requirements that came
out of the planning phase. The Build phase is typically executed in a pre-production or Lab environment that closely mirrors production.
System testing is completed during the Build phase.
Stabilize
The Stabilizing phase conducts testing on a solution whose features are complete. Testing during this phase emphasizes usage and
operation under realistic environmental conditions. The team focuses on resolving and triaging (prioritizing) bugs and preparing the
solution for release.
Early during this phase it is common for testing to report bugs at a rate faster than developers can fix them. There is no way to tell how
many bugs there will be or how long it will take to fix them. There are, however, a couple of statistical signposts known as bug convergence
and zero-bug bounce that helps the team project when the solution will reach stability. These signposts are described below.
MSF avoids the terms “alpha” and “beta” to describe the state of IT projects. These terms are widely used, but are interpreted in too many
ways to be meaningful in industry. Teams can use these terms if desired, as long as they are defined clearly and the definitions understood
among the team, customer, and stakeholders.
Once a build has been deemed stable enough to be a release candidate, the solution is deployed to a pilot group for production use.
A minimum Skype for Business Server pilot requires a Standard Edition server and an Edge Server. Integration testing is completed during
the deploy phase, typically followed by a production pilot against the full production build out to validate features and functionality.
The stabilizing phase culminates in the release readiness milestone. Once reviewed and approved, the solution is ready for full deployment
to the live production environment.
The release readiness milestone occurs at the point when the team has addressed all outstanding issues and has released the solution or
placed it in service. At the release milestone, responsibility for ongoing management and support of the solution officially transfers from
the project team to the operations and support teams.
Deploy
During this phase, the team deploys the core technology and site components, stabilizes the deployment, transitions the project to
operations and support, and obtains final customer approval of the project. After the deployment, the team conducts a project review
and a customer satisfaction survey.
Stabilizing activities may continue during this period as the project components are transferred from a test environment to a production
environment.
The deployment complete milestone culminates the deploying phase. By this time, the deployed solution should be providing the
expected business value to the customer and the team should have effectively terminated the processes and activities it employed to
reach this goal.
The customer must agree that the team has met its objectives before it can declare the solution to be in production and close out the
project. This requires a stable solution, as well as clearly stated success criteria. In order for the solution to be considered stable,
appropriate operations and support systems must be in place.
The final deliverables from the Deploy phase include:
 Operation and support information systems
 Procedures and processes
 Knowledge base, reports, logbooks
 Documentation repository for all versions of documents, load sets, and code developed during the project
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Skype for Business Server 2015 – Findings and Recommendations
 Project close-out report
 Final versions of all project documents
 Customer/user satisfaction data
 Definition of next steps
In a Skype for Business environment, the deployment phase for small to medium operations typically only involves moving account
operations for one-to-a-few servers and then decommissioning of the Lync environment (assuming an in-place upgrade was not used).
For large organizations with many sites and many servers, the deployment phase may consume an extended period of time, as each
individual site must go through a deployment and approval phase. Large organizations can incur significant hardware and software
upgrade costs and time, as well as significant man-hours of implementation team expense.
Tools and Best Practices Reference
This section provides links to some of the tools and best practices.
There are many resources available on the Internet to assist in the planning and deployment for Exchange server. The list below is by no
means a complete list. However, most of the guidance in this document was acquired from the locations named below, and you can
find the latest up-to-the-minute guidance available from Microsoft in these locations.
Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators/msf/default.mspx
MSF Process Model
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e481cb0b-ac05-42a6-bab8-fc886956790e&DisplayLang=en
Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF)
http://www.microsoft.com/mof
Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 - Planning
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn951427.aspx
Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 - Deployment
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933893.aspx
Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 – Manage
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933922.aspx
Office Blogs
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/gg213847.aspx
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