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Go-Live

Based on the business needs, the definition of when to go live can vary from one organisation to another. For some it may be launching of the templates with one service (e.g. report a pothole), for others it may be launching all the services in one go.

In either case, to go live, you need to ensure your site has been built, tested, required content applied and required services built. You will also want to think about a communication plan to send to your users (both internal and external).

The Go Live Process​

The go live process entails a number of pre-go live steps that need to be completed based on how the site has been set up. In this section we go over the key tasks typically required.

Find and replace (aka Site name change aka URL change)​

If the site was set up under a temporary domain (e.g. pre.yourdomain.com) and this is replacing your current live site domain, Jadu will need to run a find and replace task on the site. This will replace all instances of “pre.” with your live domain (i.e. the domain you will be going live with, e.g. “www.yourdomain.com”).

This task is usually carried out a couple of days before the public DNS switchover which allows your internal users to test the site as if it was “live”.

note

You will need to engage Jadu resources to run the find and replace and ensure the new domain is confirmed in advance.

Once the find and replace has been actioned, Jadu DevOps can provide the records that you will need to add to your host file entry on your local machine, or action an internal network change, so that users accessing the new URL will see the new Jadu site.

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You are not actioning a public DNS record change at this stage and this is simply a host entry or internal network only change. You may need to apply a new SSL validation record provided by Jadu DevOps at this stage.

Typically making internal network or host file changes will require the business' change control to be completed, and advance notices to be provided to your network teams. It is therefore advisable that your teams are aware of these tasks in advance.

If the website was originally set up on a brand new domain from the start, and this is the domain you are going live with, the find and replace task is not required.

Moving forms, cases and configurations into live instances​

Any forms, case types and configurations applied to the UAT instances of Jadu Connect and Central will need to be applied to the live instances. This will entail:

  1. Setting up the live Confirm connection on live Jadu Connect and Central
  2. Any changes made to DEV / Test instances of Confirm will need to be applied to the Live instance of Confirm.
  3. The export of case types from UAT, and importing them to Live
  4. The export of forms from UAT, and importing them to LIVE
  5. If you have not previously used Confirm CRM Agent, it is likely that there will be a backlog of queued Enquiry updates. These must be cleared down before enabling and configuring the Confirm CRM agent (see step 3 of the guide). The Brightly support team can do this for you.

Time to live (TTL)​

We recommend the time to live (TTL) for your domain is reduced to 5 minutes a week before the launch.

Final checks and fixes​

Jadu engineers will be running through final checks and any fixes required before the site can be made live. These include:

  • Infrastructure checks to ensure the servers are all ready for launch
  • Web Engineering checks to ensure all site settings and configurations are in place for launch

We would also recommend you carry out checks before actioning the public DNS changes.

DNS changes - Making the site live to the public​

Jadu DevOps will need to be made aware of the go live date in advance.

On the go-live date Jadu DevOps will remove any front end IP restrictions in place, and your team will need to update the DNS A records for the live site to point to the new Jadu server.

The sitemap.xml file (which is found under https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) should also be submitted to your search provider and search engines to start indexing the new site.

Jadu engineers will be available on the day of go-live for any critical issues. You should also ensure internal IT resources are made available.

As standard, we recommend go-lives take place between Tuesday and Thursday, and suggest this takes place at 10am in the morning so the site can be monitored throughout the day.

Once live, you can remove any internal DNS or host entries that were added.