In scheduling periodic maintenance windows, you must work with the rest
of the company to coordinate dates. In particular, you will almost certainly
need to avoid the end-of-month, end-of-quarter, and end-of-fiscal-year dates
so that the sales team can enter rush orders and the accounting group can produce
financial reports for that period. You also will need to avoid product
release dates, if that is relevant to your business. Universities have different
constraints around the academic year. Some businesses, such as toy and
greeting card manufacturers, may have seasonal constraints. You must set
and publicize the schedule far in advance, preferably more than a year ahead,
so that the rest of the company can plan around those times. If you are involved
at the start of a new company, make a regularly scheduled maintenance
window a part of the new company’s culture.