ITProjectManagement.org

This checklist is for solution designs in enterprise IT when adopting software/ services/ infrastructure from third parties such as Microsoft, Amazon, Dell, etc.

Requirements

• Functional requirements with reference to section in the design that delivers the requirement
• Non-functional requirements with reference to section in the design that delivers the requirement
• Must have/ Nice to have/ Should have

Architecture

• Diagram illustrating components and relationships

Bill of materials

• List of hardware (physical/ virtual, sizing specifications)
• List of software
• List of licences

Monitoring

• Error logs
• Service monitoring
• Synthetic transactions
• Alerting

Availability

• Availability % with/without maintenance windows

Capacity

• Day 1 capacity
• Maximum capacity
• Scaling considerations (what do you need to buy/ configure/ connect)

Networking

• Bandwidth, latency, packet loss
• Firewall source/ destinations/ ports
• Forward proxy needs (proxy port utilisation/ SSL inspection limits)
• Reverse proxy needs
• DNS records (public/ private)
• Load Balancing
• VLAN
• 802.1x port security
• IP addresses
• Certificates for Https (pubic cert or private cert)

Physical considerations

• See IT checklist for deploying server hardware

Lifecycle management

• Mainstream and extended support timeframes
• Patching regularity and patching process/ tools
• Version upgrade cadence

Security

• Data sensitivity classification
• Access restrictions (which devices and from where)
• Authentication (MFA, special accounts with restrictions)
• Credential management
• Encryption at rest
• Encryption in transit
• Logging
• Security boundary definition
• Firewall requirement (client side/ network)

Disaster Recovery

• Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
• Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
• Geographic distance required
• Vendor dependence required
• DR process (automated or semi-automated)
• DR scope (all or some functions/ features)

Backup and restore

• Backup frequency and type (full or incremental)
• Backup retention
• Offsite backups
• Backup protection from distraction
• Frequency of backup testing (restore)
• Restore granularity (all or nothing, or granular options)

Licensing

• Licensing driver
• Renewal timeframes
• Agreement dependencies