Cutover strategy workshop overview
The following sections focus on the high-level aspects of the cutover strategy, including a sampling of the types of questions that are covered in each section.
Cutover vision and strategy
The Cutover vision and strategy section includes review and discussion of the business goals, cutover scope and overall strategy, and the cutover timeline. This section provides you with an opportunity to identify those key stakeholders who support the cutover from all areas of the business. It also provides details of the cutover strategy that helps establish the remaining topics in the workshop.
This topic focuses on answering questions, such as:
What are the goals of the cutover from a business perspective?
Who is the designated cutover leader and what is the scope of their responsibilities?
What are the responsibilities and ownership for the key cutover activities like data cleansing, data migration, communication, and so on?
What is the full scope that's intended to be covered by the cutover?
What is the high-level strategy for the cutover?
Has a calendar of key business activities that will take place leading up to and during cutover been established?
Cutover project plan
The cutover project plan section assesses the more specific details of areas such as the cutover project plan, data cutover strategy, and the system cutover and transition plans. This section will also review the strategy for cutover testing, including mock-cutover tests, the timing, and performance expectations for the cutover, change management processes including end-user communication, and environment preparations to support the cutover activities.
This topic focuses on answering questions, such as:
Have a description and a copy of the cutover project plan been completed?
What is the detailed data cutover strategy?
What are the data migration processes and milestones that are managed by, or integrated with, the cutover management process?
How many data migration runs (as part of the mock cutover) have been completed and with what level of success?
What is the detailed system cutover strategy, and the agreed-on legacy system shutdown process, including dates/times?
What are the system cutover processes and milestones that are managed by, or integrated with, the cutover management process?
How, when, and where are the mock cutovers conducted, and how are you validating the cutover process and the resulting systems?
What are the entry/exit criteria for mock cutovers?
How long is the final end-to-end cutover expected to take?
What day and time will the final cutover start, and when is the new system expected to be live?
What are the high-risk areas for performance during the cutover, and how are they being addressed?
How has change management been implemented and communicated with business users throughout the project as it relates to the implications of the cutover strategy?
What is the environment strategy to support mock go-live activities?
For finance and operations customer cutover, which environment is currently used as the "golden" environment, and what's the strategy to move from gold to production?
Go-live cutover plan
The go-live cutover plan considers areas like the organizational aspects of the cutover process, including the key players who are involved in managing the cutover process and the final approval for go-live. This section also closely examines the details for the final go-live cutover plan, go/no-go and rollback plans, and considerations about implementing a remote go-live, including communication planning.
This topic asks for the following information:
Description of the organization structure that will manage, perform, validate, and approve the final go-live cutover and the related communication plan.
Description of the key elements of the final go-live detailed cutover plan.
Review of the final go-live detailed cutover plan.
Definition of the go/no-go decision points and when they will be made.
Explanation of the criteria for invoking rollback and/or contingency and the plans for implementing them.
Discussion and review of the communication plan.
Description of the cutover management strategy that is being designed to work effectively and efficiently for a remote go-live.
Post go-live
The post go-live section reviews the processes that are defined for those activities that will take place when the application is in production. This review includes considerations for cutover actions/steps that need to happen after go-live, transitioning from project into a support model, and the exit criteria that are defined to complete the cutover process.
This topic asks for the following information:
Description of the process and planning for transition from project to support.
Explanation of post go-live cutover activities and how they will be managed​.
Description of the exit criteria and strategy for the cutover process and cutover organization​.