Implementation

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Develop Acceptance Criteria

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Create a list of criteria that will determine if and when we go live.
  • Implementation Plan
    1. Draft a list of criteria.
    2. Discuss with the Business.
    3. Finalise the list.
  • Go Live Acceptance Criteria

Many implementations have reached a point where there has been disagreement at the last minute as to whether to go ahead with the new system, or back out. Decisions made under stress are much more risky than decisions made in advance. For this reason it is best to agree the criteria in advance.

The agreement should cover:

  • What criteria need to be achieved (i.e. No more than two medium priority defects remaining unrectified)
  • Triggers. Points in time at which certain stages of the conversion must be achieved or a backout will take place.

The criteria can potentially cover the following few key areas:

  • Work outstanding from the original requirements
  • Work outstanding from defects uncovered during testing
  • Amount of data which needs to be manually converted
  • The quality of data
  • Resources available to support the implementation

For particular implementations there might be very specific requirements. For example if it was a sales system it might relate to the number of open items or in a warehouse, completion of a stocktake.

Triggers are typically things like:

  • If the data conversion is not complete by 8:00 pm we will abort the conversion.
  • If we cannot bring all branches online by 12:00 pm Sunday we will implement the backout plan.

The key with both criteria and triggers is that they should be agreed by all parties before you start the Go Live cycle, and strictly adhered to during the process. The existence of the list will enable everyone to see progress in the same light. Everyone is clear as to what needs to be achieved, and by when it needs to be achieved.

Go Live Acceptance Criteria Document to record the acceptance criteria for Go Live
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