Sample Adoption Plans
and Timelines
Microsoft 365 Adoption Guide | Supplemental Resources
Date 01-22-19
© Copyright Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Use Microsoft 365 to plan
and execute your rollout
Using various Microsoft 365 apps and services throughout the
planning and execution of your rollout can add to its success.
Consider doing this to get the team familiar with the service so they
can effectively evangelize it to colleagues.
Some examples include:
o Use Microsoft Teams to plan your project and collaborate on
documents related to implementation
o Use Microsoft Planner for day-to-day task management
o Use Yammer to build, ready, and support your Microsoft 365
Champions Community
o Use Skype for Business to conduct online meetings with your
project team, capturing meeting minutes in Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft 365 rollout timeline sample
Workstream Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Launch
Identify Key Stakeholders
and Assemble Team
Identify and recruit Success Owner
and Project Manager
Identify and recruit Executive Sponsor(s)
and fill remaining team roles
Identify and Prioritize Scenarios Identify and develop scenarios Prioritize scenarios
Define Success Criteria Define success criteria/key performance
indicators (KPI) and establish KPI
benchmarks
Create Success Plan Begin capturing project details in a
Success Plan at
http://fasttrack.microsoft.com
Finalize Success Plan
Build Champions Program Identify and recruit Champions.
Create Yammer or Teams group to
support Champions
Train Champions and brainstorm activities Determine ongoing champion
duties
Finalize champion launch activities Get feedback and success stories from
Champions to use in launch
Early Adopter Program Recruit program participants. Set up
a Yammer or Teams group to make
communication and feedback
collection easy
Circulate a baseline survey to participants.
Provide participants with activated
account to formally begin Early Adopter
Program
Check in with program participants
to collect informal feedback
Send out a final survey and use any
insights gathered to make
adjustments to launch
Communication and Awareness Develop communication plan and
engagement event strategy.
Develop communication materials
using the available templates
Send a 'countdown email' to employees Ensure that Microsoft 365 has a
visual presence throughout
corporate offices
Announce upcoming Microsoft 365
launch on company intranet. Prepare
for launch engagement event.
Create a Yammer or Teams group for
end users to share their Microsoft 365
success stories. Circulate a baseline
survey to end users
Send an 'Announcement Email to let
users know what's available. Execute
launch engagement event
Training Develop end user training plan Set up internal training site to store
training resources
Train end users Train end users
Support Ready help desk to support end users
Boost User Engagement and Drive
Adoption
Manage and prepare for change
Measure, Share Success and Iterate
Use the Success Plan in the FastTrack portal to plan for the key milestones https://fasttrack.microsoft.com
Workstream Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12
Identify Key Stakeholders
and Assemble Team
Identify and Prioritize Scenarios
Define Success Criteria
Create Success Plan
Build Champions Program
Get feedback from Champions and
iterate program as necessary
Early Adopter Program
Communication and Awareness Send "Tips and Tricks" email to end
users
Send "Tips and Tricks" email to end
users. Circulate a post-launch survey.
Send "Tips and Tricks" email to end
users
Training Setup ongoing training series
Support
Boost User Engagement and Drive
Adoption
Prepare and run contests to continue encouraging user engagement
Update and maintain internal training site
Share success stories
Periodically host additional engagement events
Manage and prepare for change
Monitor the Public Roadmap and blogs
Communicate to and ready end users for new feature releases
Measure, Share Success and Iterate Collect and report on Microsoft 365 success criteria and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Capture and share success stories
Roll out new Scenarios
Microsoft 365 rollout timeline sample
Workstream Outcome Core Deliverables Scope & Notes
Service Strategy & Project Plan
Stakeholder Mapping & Alignments
Phase-driven deployment and Adoption Plan with
identified owners, dates & risks/issues as needed
Collaboration Improvement Plan
Sprint over sprint execution to goal
Decision Log, Risks & Issues List
Regular planning & alignment meetings
Core collaboration improvement team for initial phase
(Strategy, Champion & Early Adopter phases)
May increase team size as project expands
Program Communications & Success Stories Stakeholders, user communities and program
participants have frequent insight into progress and
success examples
Project news and reporting assets
Champion Program
Increased digital literacy; reduced change fatigue;
increased solution adoption; talent identification;
transition support
Monthly Champion training ROB
Collation of themes and issues for support, training
and program leads
Owner of enthusiasm
Monthly Champion calls – 1 hour;
Leads with others optional attendance at public O365
Champions Community calls with Microsoft – 1 hour
Support Readiness
Incident support and resolution
Management of issue escalation
Onboarding – 8 hours Early training with Champions
Onboarding to feedback channels
Monthly review of issues/trends within Service Health
Review
Early Adopters & Feedback
Provide hands-on insights of solution in target
environment. Develop feedback methods that
scale. Identify champion candidates & high- value
business process improvements.
Employee engagement; interactive onboarding
sessions & design/deployment & analysis of
feedback channel
Governance & Security
Guide governance and policy decisions for
experience. Complete required configuration.
Support training & communications on same.
Adoption & deployment workstreams
Scope and Outcomes for workstreams (1 of 2)
Scope and outcomes for workstreams (2 of 2)
Adoption & deployment workstreams
Workstream Outcome Core Deliverables Scope & Notes
Technical Readiness & Alignment
Technical implementation of service ensuring
quality and availability. Definition of technical
projects that deliver the overall strategy & business
value.
Service quality, enablement, and management
processes and insights
Metrics & Reporting Provide on-demand reporting of meaningful
business and service metrics to ensure defined
outcome.
Business Process Mapping Define high-level scenarios for improvement based
on user interviews, team focus groups and
observation.
Deliver impact to difficulty ranking for ongoing
prioritization of effort.
Awareness Campaign Create awareness and enthusiasm for digital
transformation and business initiatives.
Key messages and creative assets used to inform
users of transition and outcomes
Training Program Create digital literacy and operational efficiency.
Reduce change fatigue.
Provide on-demand and instructor led-interactive
onboarding to new solution
Service Health Reviews & Improvement
Planning
Provide actionable insights and prioritization for
improvement in the experience.
Data and analysis for monthly review on service
incidents, support themes, training effectiveness,
experience quality, overall adoption and user
sentiment
Joint effort between IT, user adoption specialists and
key experience stakeholders. Informs overall
experience strategy.
Workstream Lead Weekly ROB & Notes
Service Strategy & Project Plan
Stakeholder Mapping & Alignments
PMO - Full Team All UP - Weekly 30 minutes & monthly Planning - 1 hour
Program communications & success stories
Champion Program
Monthly champion calls – 1 hour;
Leads with others optional attendance at public Champion Community calls with Microsoft – 1
hour
Support Readiness Early training with Champions
Onboarding to feedback channels
Monthly review of issues/trends within Service Health Review
Early Adopters & Feedback
Monthly review of issues/trends within Service Health Review
Governance & Security
Technical Readiness & Alignment Weekly - alignment across technology deployment projects
Metrics & Reporting
Business Process Mapping
Awareness Campaign
Training Program
Service Health Reviews (ongoing improvements)
Health, usage, support trends, backlog prioritization and retrospectives for deployment,
adoption and management of service. (Joint b/t adoption & IT teams)
Best Practice: Identify leaders for each workstream area or integrate outcomes into existing project plans
Adoption & deployment workstreams
Workstream Core Tool(s) Notes
Service Strategy & Project Plan
Stakeholder Mapping & Alignments
Collaboration Service Team
Connected Employee Strategy Doc
Enterprise Project Plan
Stakeholder Map
Use team template to plan and manage O365.
Use PPT of Exec Summary to broadly communicate strategy. Change branded name as needed.
Download tools from
https://aka.ms/AdoptionTools
Program communications & success stories Connected Employee Team & Site
News Hub on SPO Site
Success Stories Form, Flow and List
Configure new hub
Incorporate Early Adopter feedback channels
Champion Program Teamwork Champion Team
Support Readiness Service FAQ & Known Issues Lists
Early Adopters & Feedback
Early Adopter Program guide
Governance & Security Service Check List
Technical Readiness & Alignment TR Checklist from FastTrack by Service
Metrics & reporting O365 Adoption Content Pack
Outcomes matrix
Outcomes matrix capture sheet (XLS)
Business Process Mapping Scenario Mapping slides
Scenario Data Capture List (XLS)
Move to Excel sheet or Form for easy reporting
Awareness Campaign Day One Kit
Customer Success Kit
Training Program Custom Learning for Microsoft 365 site &
webpart
Configure custom playlists for internal content and policies
Service Health Reviews (ongoing improvements) SHR Meeting Template
Best Practice: Complete worksheets and/or implement tools in support of workstream outcomes
Adoption & deployment tools
Team or Site Name Proposed Channels Notes
Get to know Teams General
Say Hi
How do I?
Feedback
Ideas for future teams
Support
Create your first Teams article
Microsoft 365 Service Management General
Awareness and Adoption
Business Engagement
Early Adopter Program
Feedback and Insights
Security and Compliance
Strategy and Planning
Service Health and Incidents
SVC – OneDrive
SVC – Teams (and Skype if needed)
SVC – SharePoint etc..
Training
Watercooler Chat
Use team template to plan and manage Microsoft 365
Connected Employee Initiative
Program communications & success stories
Connected Employee Team & Site
News Hub on SPO Site
Success Stories Form, Flow and List
Opt-in form for Early Adopter Community
Configure News Hub on main Connected Employee
Incorporates Early Adopter feedback channels
Teamwork Champions General
Best Practices, Training and How To
Champion Corner
Program Leads
Social Hub
Core onboarding notebook and reports
Training documents and link to training site
Q&A & champion conversation hub
Program planning
Connectors to Teams, SharePoint & Planner Blogs & Twitter feeds
Best Practice: Complete worksheets and/or implement tools in support of workstream outcomes
Adoption & deployment tools
How do Champions fit into overall launch planning?
Highlight and share success
Supervise licensing, security and social governance discussions
Support global launch
Review of
domains
Assess
viability of
third parties
Assist in
reporting
Support
mobile apps
Identify key stakeholders
Identify/Prioritize business
scenarios
Create & execute a Success
Plan
Measure, share success,
and iterate
Office 365 early adoption program with champions
Identify and launch additional solutions
Organize and develop Champions Community
Organization-wide launch: communications,
training, events, success stories
Inform
stakeholders
Identify
champions
Execute Champions Community
Full Microsoft 365 launch
Adoption
Approach
Business
scenarios
Communications
and training
IT and social
governance
o Set the context and scope of the community: what, why and how.
o Design and align your Champion strategy to organizational goals and Microsoft 365
vision, and ensure you include a community to engage and support the Champions.
o Attain sponsorship from key stakeholders and executives.
o Develop your overall coverage plan, for example, the number of Champions per
office, department, team, floor, etc.
o Develop your champion commitment guide.
o Gain an understanding of who your stakeholders are - the Champions,
organizational influencers, team leaders, Executive Sponsors, etc.
o Articulate the value of the Champions Community to the organization
to secure support from key stakeholders.
o Work with these stakeholders to develop and approve the final design
of the Champions Community.
o Inform Champions of what their involvement entails plus the time
commitment required.
o Have discussions with department leads and managers across different
business teams to help locate thought leaders, technology evangelists, etc., so
you can identify ideal Champion candidates.
o Utilize your Microsoft 365 support group, or Yammer or Teams network if you
have one, to identify who is already helping new Microsoft 365 users and has
potential to grow as a Champion
o Having gone through the motions of planning, this stage is about actually
executing on your plan.
o Continuously meet with Champions to learn how they’re doing and gather
feedback about how their teams are finding new ways of working.
o Throughout your organization-wide launch, encourage interested employees to
learn more about the Champions Community and provide them with guidance
about how to get involved.
o Communicate the purpose and strategy of the Champions Community as part of your
organization-wide launch.
o Announce where Champions can be reached and how employees can learn from them
through online and offline communications around the Microsoft 365 launch.
o Provide Champions with a fact sheet to provide to their manager to attain buy-in.
o Give something back. Recognize the work that Champions are doing through public
recognition and awards.
Business
scenarios
Highlight and share success
Microsoft 365 Early Adopter Program with Champions
Identify and launch additional solutions
o Drive awareness among Champions that highlighting and sharing Microsoft
365 success is a part of their role. Ensure they understand how sharing success
will support them in their discussions with new users by incorporating it into
any Champion training.
o Ensure there is an open space for Champions to connect with one another,
such as a Yammer or Teams group, where they can highlight these
success stories and have discussions around feedback.
INITIATE
• Start onboarding process with FastTrack
• Review your goals and plans to drive business buy-in
ASSESS
• FastTrack will provide assessment, guidance and
troubleshooting tools for Active Directory and Network
• FastTrack will share best practices and resources to plan
launch and end-user adoption
REMEDIATE
• Complete your remediation tasks to meet requirements
for onboarding, adopting and migrating each service
• FastTrack will review the outcomes of the remediation
activities with you to ensure you are ready to proceed
ENABLE
• FastTrack will provide guidance to:
• enable tenant setup, network configuration, and DNS
configuration
• setup account, online or federated
• enable Exchange Online, Skype for Business,
OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, Yammer
Enterprise, Microsoft 365 ProPlus and Microsoft
Teams
• Complete your service onboarding, plus tenant and
identity integration
ONBOARDING
• FastTrack will provide mail migration
services* to Exchange Online
• FastTrack will provide file migration
services* to SharePoint Online or
OneDrive for Business
MIGRATION
• Identify stakeholders, identify and prioritize scenarios,
create success plan (inclusive of communication and
training plans)
• Early Adopter Program: planning, communications
and deployment, and survey and measure
• Execute success plan: Champions program,
communications, training and help desk readiness
• Boost user engagement and adoption, manage and
prepare for change, measure, share success and
iterate
ADOPTION
Initiate
Assess
Remediate
Enable
MAIL MIGRATION*
(as applicable)
FILE MIGRATION* (as applicable)
EAP & launch planning
Early adoption program
Help desk readiness
Champions program
Communications
Training
Measure & iterate
Migration
workstream
Adoption
workstream
Onboarding
workstream
BATCH 1 BATCH 4BATCH 2 BATCH 3
ONGOING >
ONGOING >
ONGOING >
ONGOING >
Align to technical timeline
* FastTrack mail and migration services are available to eligible customers
Visit https://aka.ms/fasttrackdatamigration for more information
LAUNCH
