In the Post Launch Support process phase, the project team transitions to a support and advisory role augmenting cross-organizational teams. The objective of this phase is to ensure an orderly transition from a project to a production service through close collaboration with primary support, development, and operational entities throughout a predefined stabilization period. Additional training, documentation, and, as needed, hands-on assistance to optimize the user experience and overall service adoption are provided.

Each process phase Key Element is discussed independently below. Click on a Key Element title to expand the view and see the additional content.

• Recommended Practices

• The following recommended practices are intended to assist the Systems Operations and Support teams as they assume primary responsibility for the deployed products and services.

  Rely on Knowledge Transfer, Cross-Training, and Documentation
  The remaining project team present in this process phase is intended to be a backup to primary post launch support groups and serves as a stop gap for client-impacting issues. Leverage documentation and training provided in advance of service transition to enable operations and support teams to manage their production responsibilities. If deficiencies are discovered in documentation and/or training, the remaining project team will work to fortify these elements while ensuring quality of service as primary production owners are fully enabled.   

  Maintain Living Documentation
  Operational and support documentation delivered with the project should be maintained throughout the product life cycle. This documentation should reflect current best practices as the system evolves and changes over time.  

  Track and Manage Security Posture
  Department responses to security recommendations may take several weeks or months to address beyond the formal project completion. Responses and inherent actions must be tracked and managed to completion. Periodic review and update on progress is recommended.

  Security documentation collected during Vendor Risk Assessment (VRA) or in conjunction with audits represents a point-in-time security view. Security documentation (e.g., SOC2 report, ISO27001 certification, Information Security Management Plan (ISMP)) must be updated on a periodic basis to remain relevant. Contract renewal dates are a logical boundary point to revisit and verify ongoing secure practices for confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and systems. 

•   Roles

• The following table identifies primary participant roles and responsibilities for this process phase. In some cases, a project might have unique requirements that call for additional roles or responsibilities depending on the project’s size, type, and complexity.

  Role	Responsibilities
  Business Owner(s)*	Set functional priorities and are policy SMEs Change Management oversight and approval. Provide policy support.
  IT Sponsor	Confirms satisfactory completion of all transition activities. Supports post launch support activities. Ensures appropriate IT resources are available to conduct post launch support activities. Participates in lessons learned sessions.
  IT Product Owner(s)	Confirms that all deliverables necessary to operate and support the product are complete and suitable for their intended use.
  Systems Operations Lead	Leads Systems Operations production effort.
  Support Lead	Manages tiered support model, collects and publishes performance metrics, and provides ongoing communication to production stakeholders.

  * May also be referred to as Business Sponsor. 

•   Processes

• The following processes are associated with this process phase. The list below contains a high-level description of these processes.

  Prepare for Extended Support Closure - This phase is intended to mitigate risk to the stability and effectiveness of service as it is transitioned to production. The duration of this extended support should be limited to minimum required and care should be take to avoid project team encumbrance with ongoing support responsibilities.

  Update Lessons Learned - Comprehensive lessons learned can be invaluable to the sponsoring organization and its future project teams. The objective of lessons learned is to identify the positive and negative lessons learned from the project, promote the methods and procedures that led to success, and recommended corrective actions for the things that didn’t go as well as planned. Success and/or deficiencies encountered in the post launch support phase should be rolled back into project documentation.

  Post Launch Support (PLS) Process Phase Review - Upon the accomplishment of all Post Launch Support phase process activities, the Project Manager completes the Post Launch Support process phase checklist and submits it along with supporting documentation to the Business Owner(s). The Sponsor reviews the documentation and if satisfied approves closing the Post Launch Support.

•   Activities

• The following activities are undertaken in support of the processes that are associated with this process phase.

  Conduct Knowledge Transfer and Cross-Training - While project activities surrounding communication and training provide basis for post launch operations and support activities, complex deployments may necessitate additional engagement to fully enable team members for production service management.

  Conduct Lessons Learned - The main purpose of documenting lessons learned is to collect, use, and share knowledge derived from experience to promote the recurrence of desirable outcomes and prevent the recurrence of undesirable outcomes. Surveys or lessons learned meetings can be used to elicit feedback from project team members regarding their impressions and assessments of the project. Lessons learned provides a valuable forum for the project team to acknowledge what worked well, and it provides a chance to discuss ideas to improve processes and procedures.

  Release Staff - Most project staff team members and contractors generally are released at the end of the Executing process phase or during the early stages of the Closing process phase. Remaining staff retained to assist with Post Launch Support are released at this time. The project follows the processes and timing outlined in its Resource Management Plan and applicable contract documents.

  Release Facilities and Resources – Many closing activities relate to the release of facilities and resources that have been used by the project. These activities include notifying the appropriate business services office of space vacancy/availability and returning computers and related equipment to the IT office. Other activities include terminating network and computer access for staff and contractors as they are released, and collecting any temporary building access badges. Most facilities and resources are released at the end of Closing phase. Remaining facilities and resources retained to assist with Post Launch Support are released at this time.

  Complete the Post Launch Support Process Phase Checklist - The Post Launch Support process phase checklist identifies the key activities and dates that are completed during the Post Launch Support process phase. Once all of the activities within the Post Launch Support process phase are complete, the checklist should be completed to verify completion of activities and that the service has sufficiently stabilized for remaining project team to be released.

•   Tools

• A number of project management outputs are developed during the Closing Process Phase.

  Tool/ Output	Definition
  Lessons Learned	The lessons learned documentation represents knowledge and experience gained during the project. It documents how project events were addressed, and how they should be addressed in the future, with the purpose of improving future performance.
  Post Launch Support Process Phase Checklist	Identifies the key activities that are to be completed during the Post Launch Support process phase.

   

•   Outputs

• The following deliverables are created as a result of the processes and activities completed during this process phase; these are called outputs. The outputs associated with this process phase are listed below:

  Completed Issue Log

  Completed Risk Register

  Completed Lessons Learned documentation

  Completed Post Launch Support Process Phase Checklist