Microsoft Solutions Framework

Delve into the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) v4, an integrated system of process guidance that embraces both agile and formal methodologies and provides a framework to implement a customized solution for a wide variety of projects.

Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) is a deliberate and disciplined approach to technology projects based on a defined set of principles, models, disciplines, concepts, guidelines, and proven practices from Microsoft. This white paper introduces MSF and provides an overview of its foundational principles, core models, and essential disciplines, focusing on how their application contributes to the success of technology projects.

The MSF Team Model describes Microsoft’s approach to structuring people and their activities to enable project success. The model defines roles, functional areas, responsibilities, and guidance that helps team members reach their unique goals in the project lifecycle.

The MSF Process Model describes a high-level sequence of activities for building and deploying IT solutions. Rather than prescribing a specific series of procedures, it is flexible enough to accommodate a broad range of IT projects. An innovative aspect of this new version of the MSF Process Model is that it covers the lifecycle of a solution from project inception through to live deployment. This helps project teams focus on customer business value, since no value is realized until the solution is deployed and in operation.

Risk Management is a core discipline of the Microsoft Solutions Framework. MSF recognizes that change and the resulting uncertainty are inherent aspects of the IT lifecycle. The MSF Risk Management Discipline advocates a proactive approach to dealing with this uncertainty, evaluates risks continuously, and uses them to influence decision-making throughout the life cycle.

MSF has a distributed team approach to project management that improves accountability and allows for a great range of scalability from small projects up to very large, complex projects. This paper describes our distributed approach and explains the role of project management in the MSF team model.

Readiness Management is a core discipline within MSF. The discipline outlines an approach for management of the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to plan, build and manage successful solutions.

This download contains all of the whitepapers listed above, to provide you with proven practices for planning, building, and deploying a variety of technology solutions.

The MSF sample deliverables are resources for MSF Practitioners who are looking for sample project lifecycle templates. These files are provided as samples and are considered for use as-is, thus are not supported. The files can provide a start, or foundation, for which users can customize as they need to fit their project work.