CCNP - ENTERPRISE - Create a VLAN based implementation plan

The first in a series of posts relating to planning is on VLAN implementation.

The steps you should cover when planning a new deployment of VLANs should be as follows:
1) Understand your network. Define the purpose of your VLANs and assign suitable numbers, names, and allocate suitable subnets for each VLAN
2) Document which VLAN should be allocated to which part of the campus. In doing so you need to determine the traffic flow between switches and so which VLANs need to be available across which switches.
3) determine how you allocate unused ports on your switch. Will you leave them as default setting, assign them to a 'Parked' VLAN, assign them to the default or native VLAN?
4) Consider you trunking configuration. Where will they be placed? which VLANs will traverse them? which is your Native VLAN?
5) Determine your VTP stance. Will it be used? if so which switch is your Server? which switches can be Clients? will you need any Transparent switches?
6) Create a plan to test the implementation. Verify the VLANs traverse the network as expected, confirm there is capacity for future growth.

With the information gathered from the steps above you can move to the design stage of the PPDIOO and set out your deployment. From there you can implement your plan and verify it prior to making the deployment operational.