Assess

Identify goals and develop a firm understanding of the benefits virtual infrastructure solutions can offer.  Understand the potential business impact of virtual infrastructure from all relevant perspectives, including financial, organizational, and regulatory, taking into account the policies, process, and constraints unique to each enterprise.  Provide a comprehensive analysis of the existing servers when applicable and offer alternative designs for the virtual infrastructure based on unique customer needs.

Plan

Design a virtual infrastructure solution that meets the unique customer requirements identified in the Assess phase.  Produce a detailed Blueprint and test Plan for building the chosen virtual infrastructure solution.  Produce the Project Plan to track the people, tasks, milestones and contraints that affect the delivery of the chosen virtual infrastructure solution.

Build

Assemble and configure a virtual infrastructure solution using the Blueprint.  Leverage the Test Plan to validate that the solution meets the business needs and design criteria, and provide the results in a Test Report.  Prepare a Management Guide for site-specific instructions and for the day-to-day management and maintenance of the virtual infrastructure solution.

Manage

Assure ongoing maintenance and operational success by actively managing the virtual infrastructure's lifecycle.  The Manage phase provides the guidance for post deployment support, on-going optimization and updates to the
virtual infrastructure. It creates the standard operating procedures required for your operations team. The Manage phase also notes which elements to monitor and manage and specifies tools such as monitoring software to assist in this task. It also defines procedures such as monitoring, patch management and change control, specific to your virtual infrastructure.