Introducing Skype Operations Framework

The Skype Operations Framework (SOF) is a comprehensive guide and

toolset for implementing and managing a reliable, cost-effective
communications service based on Skype for Business. It covers the
entire customer lifecycle, including planning, delivery, adoption,
operations and migrations. It is a multi-faceted approach to the
successful deployment of and migration to Skype for Business Online,
incorporating four key elements that have customer success firmly at
the center. These include:

 The SOF framework provides a standardized approach to

successfully plan, deliver and operate Skype for Business by
incorporating practical guidance, tools, assets and recommended
practices that can be leveraged by both new deployments and
migrations from On-Premises deployments.

 The SOF readiness via Skype Academy provides targeted

training to educate customers and partners on Skype for Business
products, services and best practices, while providing theoretical
training along with internship and guided deployment opportunities to
apply learnings to real-world customer engagements.

 SOF provides the foundation for customers and partners to

accelerate their Skype for Business Online journey. We are providing
the delivery methodology in SOF to guide customers and partners on
when and how to use the tools and assets. This is a major benefit for
many who in the past have had to work out how to navigate the
deployment journey on their own, investing significant time and effort
to develop their own delivery methodology from the ground up.
Customers and Partners can now build their own delivery capabilities
using the SOF delivery methodology as the foundation.

 SOF Partners who are trained and aligned to SOF, delivering

customer success. Ready to assist customers with planning,
delivering, deploying and migration.

In addition, FastTrack is the customer success service design to help

customers move to Office 365, smoothly and with confidence.
FastTrack covers planning, delivery and adoption aspects of the
 customer lifecycle. FastTrack best practices, tools, and resources
associated with Skype for Business are based on SOF. SOF extends
FastTrack with guidance for ongoing operational management, and
provides additional Skype-specific details for planning and
deployment. All Office 365 customers should utilize FastTrack for
planning, deployment, and adoption, and should follow SOF throughout
the lifecycle of Skype for Business deployments. In addition,
customers should consider using partner managed service offerings
built on SOF for elements not covered by FastTrack, including ongoing
operations, and, when needed, other workload specific activities.

Why we created Skype Operations Framework

The shift to the cloud requires rethinking how customers and partners
plan, deliver and operate Skype for Business. Our customers and
partners are asking for guidance, tools and assets to assist with
successfully delivering Skype for Business Online. In our daily
discussions with customers and partners we come across two broad
requests for guidance:

 Partners and customers who want to be able to build on their current

skills and experiences gained from designing and deploying Lync and Skype
for Business on premises and to leverage this to help them in their move to
the cloud. Their focus is understanding what the move to a cloud service
means to them through the lens of Plan, Deliver and Operate.

 Partners and customers who are coming to Skype for Business online
for the first time and are looking for guidance on where to start building their
own capabilities and competencies to drive successful deliveries.

We created SOF for both customers and partners to meet this need for
guidance.

When defining the roles in SOF we have two broad categories,

customer and partner, where we use the term partner this can be read
to mean a resource from an external partner organization or for
customers who self-deliver it would be an internal project team
member who is focused on driving the delivery of the activity and
takes on that role in the activity.
Skype for Business Online Life-cycle

Earlier we stated that the shift to the cloud requires rethinking how
customers and partners Plan, Deliver and Operate Skype for Business.

So what is this shift and what does this change?

On-premises customers would typically experience product innovation,

which unlocks business benefit, every few years as they upgraded
their back end systems to enable new capabilities, features and
workloads to be deployed. This is no longer the case because the
cloud is driving much shorter timescales for delivery of incremental
innovation, capabilities, workloads and the associated business
benefits while not requiring IT administrators to plan and deploy these
back end upgrades themselves.

Being able to capitalize on this shift to deliver continual

enhancements needs a lifecycle mindset, moving from the value
proposition of being able to deploy Skype for Business servers on
premises to one where the cloud service is being successfully
delivered, adopted and enhanced.

The Skype Operations Framework (SOF) introduces the concept of the

ongoing Skype for Business lifecycle to both customers and partners.
The lifecycle translates ongoing Skype for Business service innovation
into the ongoing enhancement of business outcomes. SOF enables a
common understanding of the Skype for Business lifecycle for
customers and partners to effectively engage together.
A Multi-faceted Approach
The Skype Operations Framework is a multi-faceted approach to the
successful deployment of Skype for Business, incorporating four key
elements that have customer success firmly at the center.

Customer success is at the heart of SOF, enabling our customers and

partners to successfully establish and maintain a reliable and cost
effective Universal Communications service in the cloud.

The SOF framework provides customers and partners with a

standardized approach to successfully plan, deliver and operate Skype
for Business by incorporating practical guidance, tools, assets and
recommended practices.

The SOF readiness facet provides targeted training to educate

customers and partners on Skype for Business products, services and
best practices, while providing theoretical training along with
internship and guided deployment opportunities to apply learnings to
real-world customer engagements.

SOF provides the foundation for customers and partners to

accelerate their Skype for Business Online delivery capabilities by
providing practical guidance, tools and assets. We are providing the
delivery methodology in SOF to guide customers and partners on when
and how to use the tools and assets.

SOF Partners who are trained and aligned to SOF, delivering

customer success. Ready to assist customers with planning,
delivering, deploying and migration.

This is a major benefit for many who in the past have had to work out
how to navigate the deployment journey on their own, investing
significant time and effort to develop their own delivery methodology
from the ground up. Customers and Partners can now build their own
delivery capabilities using the SOF delivery methodology as the
foundation.

Foundations of Skype Operations Framework

SOF is a built on a layered approach comprised of phases and stages
that have correlating activities that are prescriptive and designed to
drive quality deliverables.

SOF supplies practical guidance, tools and assets that range from
scripts and reports to workshops and documents that are aligned with
each activity in each stage.

SOF delivers offers that are a combination of activities and tools that
follow the SOF methodology enabling them to be delivered faster by
providing the foundation to build or enhance their delivery practices.

SOF enables customers to apply execution excellence to achieve

desired outcomes aligned with business initiatives by providing the
common understanding between partners and customers of the need
for and benefits of the Skype for Business online lifecycle.

Introducing the Phases

 SOF Phases define the Skype for Business online lifecycle which
customers and partners work through, adding business value by
onboarding new workloads and features. These phases include the
following:

 Plan – gather information and insights to asses, design and

prepare for a Skype for Business Online service. Define expected
business value, assess readiness for implementation and undertake
remediation activities.
 Deliver – transition from deploying on premises to delivering high
quality cloud services, by effectively implementing & delivering Skype
for Business Online services while driving adoption. Identify areas for
improvement by implementing new features and capabilities as these
are released to deliver rapid success and additional value.
 Operate –maintain a high quality and reliable Skype for Business
Online service. Provide monitoring, reporting, run and support
services.

The SOF Phases which are represented in the outer ring of the wheel
are supported by the inner Stages which have aligned activities, tools
and assets. Each Stage is defined to support the Phase’s goals and
would be worked through as part of the lifecycle.

Phase Stage Definition

Plan Envisio Define the project scope, approach, business use cases,
n objectives and key results, adoption approach, timeline and
governance to execute the service.

Assess Evaluate infrastructure, network, operational and adoption

readiness for deployment.

Design Create service architecture, design the solution including

operational processes and adoption strategy.

Prepar Undertake readiness and remediation activities required as

e outcomes of the Assess stage to prepare for deployment of
Skype for Business online at scale.

Delive Deploy Install, configure and test cloud services. Stabilize

r environment for scale deployment.

Enable Enable users for Skype for Business Online at scale, roll-out
peripherals.
Phase Stage Definition

Adopt Execute Skype for Business Online Adoption Plan (defined in

Plan phase), drive habitual user behavior, drive active usage
of the service.

Enhan Investigate and learn about Universal Communication

ce applications, bots and service updates to enable new
business benefits, continue the life-cycle process.

Opera Run Manage the daily customer initiated and controlled

te operations of the service (moves, adds and changes to
users).

Suppor Capture, triage, troubleshoot and resolve issues, escalate

t when needed, engage 3rd parties as needed to fulfill support
needs.

Monito Monitor the service for end-to-end quality, reliability, usage

r and capacity.

Report Provide regular reports that inform and drive actions.

Each Stage has a set of Activities that are executed during the Stage,
for instance a Network Readiness Assessment is an Activity that we
recommend takes place as part of the Assess Stage during the Plan
phase. Each activity has a set of tools and assets that will be used to
execute that activity and comes with an activity description outlining
how to deliver the activity with a proposed timeline and resources.
The timings and effort estimates are provided for initial guidance only,
partners and customers should undertake the associated training for
each activity and temper the initial effort estimates based on their
experience and target environment complexity.

For the project to be successful, you need to have commitment from

key roles within the organization. In the associated Activity
Description documents for each activity, we cover details of the roles
expected to take part and how to collect information on who is
needed.

When defining the roles in the activity descriptions we have two broad
categories, customer and partner, where we use the term partner this
can be read to mean a resource from an external partner organization
or for customers who self-deliver it would be an internal project team
member who is focused on driving the delivery of the activity and
takes on that role in the activity.
Cloud PBX and PSTN Conferencing Get Deployed
This offer provides practical guidance on planning, delivering and
operating Skype for Business online with a focus on Cloud PBX (PSTN
Calling and On Premises PSTN Connectivity) and PSTN Conferencing
functionality.

This set of resources is part of the Skype Operational Framework

(SOF) and contains a set of tools and assets, with supporting guidance
and training, that helps deploying Skype for Business for companies of
any size with the focus on Cloud PBX and PSTN Conferencing
functionality.

It is intended that partners and customers leverage and incorporate

these materials into their own planning, designing, deploying and
operating processes. SOF assets have a lifecycle and are subject to
update, please visit the Skype Operations Framework site here for
the latest updates.

The content and methodology that is produced as part of Skype

Operational Framework is validated with customers by Microsoft
Architects in real deployments. In this course we discuss the available
bill of materials, proposed flow of delivering activities and introduces
you to the roles that required at different stages of your project. Each
activity has its own activity description and/or materials as listed in
the table below, outlining how to deliver the activity with a proposed
timeline.

Cloud Migration
This offer provides practical guidance on migration from Lync 2013 or
Skype for Business Server 2015 to Skype for Business Online Service.
This set of resources is part of the Skype Operational Framework
(SOF) and contains a set of tools and assets, with supporting guidance
and training, that helps migrate from Lync 2013 or Skype for Business
Server 2015 Server to Skype for Business Online for companies of any
size. The assets also cover co-existence period between on-premises
and online versions.