Is there a written definition of a critical issue that both sides have agreed?

Yes: written, with worked examples and a response time against each level.

There is a severity scale in the contract. Nobody has tested it against real examples.

No, and there is no severity scale in the contract either.

Have you run the cutover end to end, on a copy of production, against the clock?

Yes, at least once, timed, with a written runbook and a named owner for each step.

We have run parts of it. Never the whole sequence in order.

It is planned but not scheduled.

How will you know the opening balances in the new system are right?

A reconciliation is prepared, tied back to the last closed period in the old system, and signed off by finance.

Finance will check the main control accounts.

We will compare the totals and investigate anything that looks odd.

How will you know your users can actually operate the system?

Each user completes their own real transactions in a test system, unaided, and that is recorded.

Sessions plus a hands-on workshop, but no individual check.

Sessions were delivered and attendance was recorded.

Training happens close to go-live, if there is time.

What happens to the old system on the day you go live?

It stays available read-only for an agreed period, with a named person who can pull a record from it.

It stays fully available until we are confident.

In the first two weeks, where does a problem go, and who decides what gets fixed first?

One named person triages everything, in one place, and their priority call holds.

A war room with the project team in it, priorities agreed in the room.

Issues go to the help desk and are assigned as normal.

People will contact whoever they know.

If the first week goes badly, what is the plan?

Written down: what would have to be true to roll back, who decides, and the point after which we no longer can.

We have agreed there is no way back and everyone knows it. The plan is to fix forward, with named cover.

We assume we could revert if we had to. Nothing is written down.

Has anyone written down what stable means for this project?

Yes: named measures, target figures, and dates in the calendar for reading them.

There are measures in the business case, but nothing is scheduled after go-live.

We would know it when we see it.

No. Go-live is the finish line.

Diagnostic · 9 questions · 4 min

Will Your Go-Live Survive?

Nine questions about the ninety days after go-live, which is where implementations are actually lost.

In mountaineering it is the descent that kills. Climbers reach the summit, believe they have won, and start down exhausted with their guard lowered. ERP projects fail the same way: the system goes live, the team is congratulated and disbanded, and the next ninety days take the project.

Everything below is decided before cutover and cheap to decide then. Answer for the go-live you actually have planned, not the one in the project plan.

Question 1 of 9

About 4 minutes

Who is answering user questions in week two, and who pays for month four?

Hypercare is the intensive support period straight after go-live. The question is when it ends and what happens the day after it does.

Will Your Go-Live Survive?

A score is a starting point, not an answer

Tell us what came out and what surprised you. We will tell you what we would look at first.

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