Directories are becoming an essential component of IT strategy. However, the territory will be new for most managers and few staff are likely to have the appropriate skills. This document aims to assist planners by discussing the important issues and providing start to finish guidelines on the deployment process. The issues associated with directories span a broad range and relate to the legal, technical and organizational. The skills called for during the deployment effort will be diverse and are unlikely to be provided by any one group. Consequently, the process may well be collaborative and contributions will certainly be made by various parts of the organization. Legal issues and database management aspects will, for example, be the preserve of administrators, while technology issues will be in the domain of the IT department. As such, involvement of all relevant groups should be foremost in the planners mind. It is certainly necessary to exercise a degree of sensitivity as the service will have a great effect on the way staff work and the way the organization operates as a whole.
This document forms the first in a series relating to the deployment of a corporate directory service. Its aim is to provide a basis for the development of a directory strategy. Starting with the initial stages of analysing the requirement, the design, implementation and maintenance phases are subsequently discussed. The second document in the series is targeted at implementers and will contain a more detailed account of the process.