Personal tools
You are here: Home Proceedings Committee Proceedings .nz Oversight Committee Archive 2002 Shared Registry System Report 01/03/02 Project Organisation

Shared Registry System Report 01/03/02 Project Organisation

Report Adopted by the Council Meeting of 01 March 2002

Shared Registry System Technical Implementation Project

Project Organisation

Date: 28th February 2002

Written By: Doug Mercer

Reporting Lines

All persons working on the Technical Implementation Project report to the Technical Project Manager for project-related work. Persons supplied by third-parties (eg. vendor staff, staff seconded from Domainz, etc) will continue to report to their own organisations for non-project matters.

The Technical Implementation project will be managed as a single team, regardless of who its members are actually employed by, and team members will be expected to behave accordingly in their relationships with other team members. Regular team meetings will be held which all team members will be expected to attend. Team members will be required to work co-operatively with staff from Domainz, the SRS Registry, and the office of the Domain Name Commissioner (formerly known as the .nz ccTLD Manager), to enable all parties to perform their roles effectively and ensure a smooth transition to the SRS.

The Technical Project Manager is required to work co-operatively with the Chief Executive of Domainz, the Registry Manager, the Domain Name Commissioner, and anyone appointed by these persons to manage the transition to the new business environment. On an informal basis he will consult with the InternetNZ Technical Committee regarding the technical architecture of the system.

Mid-way through the implementation process the reporting lines of the Technical Project Manager will change. During the planning and transition phases he will report directly to the SRS Implementation Manager - informally on a daily basis and formally through a weekly progress report. When the new SRS business entities have been established and staffed, the Implementation Manager's role will be disestablished. The Technical Project Manager will then report directly to the .nz Registry Manager and be required to work co-operatively with the Domain Name Commissioner.

The following two diagrams identify key reporting lines at both stages of the project. Broken lines indicate an informal or consultative relationship rather than a direct report.

Planning/Transition

Under this structure, accountability to InternetNZ is achieved through the SRS IOC and the IOC-appointed Implementation Manager. This structure will continue to operate until the new SRS business entities are firmly established and their staff have been sufficiently inducted to the point that they can effectively carry out their duties.

Transition/Implementation

Under this structure accountability to InternetNZ is achieved through the Registry Board and their appointed Registry Manager. The SRS IOC and the Implementation Manager position will have been disestablished.

Roles and Responsibilities

SRS Implementation Oversight Committee (IOC)

The IOC comprises four InternetNZ Councillors, Drew Whittle (Chair), Richard Bourne, Jordan Carter, and Bill Parkin and was appointed by the Internet NZ Council. Its role is to oversee the SRS project as a whole, from inception to implementation, and is vested with sign-off authority on all important matters, including budget, expenditure, policy, and schedule. It is accountable to the InternetNZ Council and submits a report at every Council meeting (usually monthly). At its discretion, it may refer certain matters to the Council for approval.

SRS Implementation Manager

The Implementation Manager, Rose Percival, was appointed by the IOC with full responsibility for managing the implementation of the SRS, including the business framework within which the system will operate. The role reports to the IOC on a weekly basis and to the InternetNZ Council at their monthly meetings. Duties include:

  • definition and implementation of the organisational structure of the SRS environment;
  • definition and implementation of the contracts that underpin the SRS model;
  • definition of the high-level business rules of the SRS;
  • oversight of the technical implementation;
  • approval of low-level expenditure;
  • preparation and management of the project budget.

Technical Project Manager

The Technical Project Manager, Doug Mercer, was appointed by the Implementation Manager with full responsibility for managing the technical aspects of the project, mainly the SRS application and associated hardware and infrastructure. The role reports to the Implementation Manager on a weekly basis and to the InternetNZ Council at their monthly meetings. This reporting line will later transfer to the .nz Registry Manager. Duties include:

  • establishment and management of the technical project through to completion;
  • development and maintenance of the project plan, including budget;
  • procurement of the personnel necessary for the project;
  • procurement of the hardware, software and other technical resources necessary for the project;
  • management of all persons involved with the technical project;
  • monitoring and reporting of progress against timeframe and budget;
  • management of vendor and third-party contracts and relationships;
  • co-ordination of the implementation with Domainz.

The Technical Project Manager is required to consult widely on an informal basis and ensure that a wide variety of stakeholders are kept informed and up to date with the technical direction of the project. These stakeholders include:

  • .nz providers (potential registrars), who will have to implement an interface to the system;
  • Domainz, who will be involved in the transition and then operate as a registrar;
  • the InternetNZ Technical Committee;
  • the .nz Registry Manager; and
  • the .nz Domain Name Commissioner.

The Technical Project Manager is responsible for project administration but may delegate this work when appropriate. Project administration includes:

  • recruitment;
  • ensuring project staff have sufficient resources to perform their allotted tasks;
  • signing timesheets, approving leave, etc;
  • ensuring project documentation is appropriately filed;
  • approving expenditure for minor items (under $5000);
  • ensuring minutes of important meetings are taken and filed;
  • scheduling regular project meetings;
  • project reporting.

Links or Dependencies with Other Projects

The implementation of the SRS is tightly coupled with the transition of Domainz into its new role as a stabilising registrar. As the first authorised registrar in the SRS, it will hold all 100,000+ domain names until other registrars become authorised and connected to the SRS. It will not be possible to implement the new system until Domainz' own systems, technical and organisational, are completed and implemented. The SRS project will be responsible for all new development work at Domainz.

It is likely that there will be a single, joint implementation plan for the SRS and Domainz. Although the two systems might only be loosely linked at the technical level, they are fully dependent upon each other. Domainz will also be fully involved in the migration of data from the old system (DRS) to the new.

Document Actions