#10 Thou shalt implement and always adhere to a production acceptance process

Mentioned several times already in the first nine commandments, our last commandment centers around the use of the Web-Centric Production Acceptance (WCPA) process presented in Chapter 13. In our book we focus on the WCPA as tailored for web-centric applications. The WCPA is really a superset of the Client-Server Production Acceptance (CSPA) process presented in Managing the New Enterprise. Most of the WCPA will be useful even if you are not yet designing web-centric applications. Production acceptance takes an application from the early stages of development and into a production status. However, planning for WCPA really begins at the first stages of the software development process. This is where we first start getting users involved, and keeping them involved throughout the development process through the use of customer project teams. At the same time, the development team needs to start getting IT operations involved. The WCPA shows that it is never too early to start getting both users and operations involved.

One of the reasons we developed the WCPA is to serve as a communications vehicle. All too often, development organizations are isolated from the business groups who will use their application and the operations group that will run and maintain them. Proper use of the WCPA will help promote and instill good communication practices. Just as iterative development is a key software development process, so to is iterative and ongoing communications with operations and with users.