It is a best practice recommended by Microsoft. The Sure Step methodology is divided into the following phases:
| Phase | Tasks during phase |
|---|---|
| Diagnostic | Evaluate a customer’s business processes and infrastructureAssist the customer with their due diligence cycle, including ascertaining requirements and their fit with the solution, and assessing the resource needs for the solution deliveryPrepare the project plan, proposal, and the Statement of Work |
| Analysis | Analyze current business model and finalize the Functional Requirements documentFinalize the fit-gap analysisDevelop the Environment Specification documentation |
| Design | Develop the Functional Design, Technical Design, and Solution Design documentsFinalize the data migration designEstablish test criteria |
| Development | Finalize configurations and setup of the standard solutionDevelop and finalize the custom code that is required to support the solutionConduct functional and feature testing of the solutionCreate the user training documentation |
| Deployment | Set up the production environmentMigrate data to the production environmentConduct user acceptance test of the systemTrain users and finalize the user documentationConduct go-live check and promote the system to production |
| Operation | Resolve pending issuesFinalize user documentation and knowledge transferConduct a post-mortem of the projectProvide on-going support (activities that continue through any future involvement with the customer after the project is closed) |
The Sure Step methodology also provides guidance for the following areas:
| Activity area | Actions performed |
|---|---|
| Optimization | Leverage Review Offerings to determine proactively if the system is being designed and delivered optimally to meet the customer’s requirementsAnalyze the system to determine how it can be optimized for the best performance based on customer’s needs |
| Upgrade | Assess the customer’s current business processes and solutionDocument the requirements for new functionalityUpgrade the system to new release—including the addition of new functionality, promotion of existing customizations that are required, and elimination of custom code no longer required |
Please refer below diagram which clearly specifies the Sure Step Processes and phases –
GM Dynamics Consulting 