FAQs

• We have extensive experience delivering large-scale, high-stakes transformations in regulated and time-sensitive environments, including retail, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare.

• One relevant example is a digital core transformation programme we led for a FTSE 100 European retailer. In this case, system downtime directly impacted store operations – with each store incurring over €10,000 in lost revenue per hour, in addition to significant reputational risk. To eliminate any sales disruption and meet the programme’s delivery timeline, we implemented a phased cutover strategy across core functional areas. The team successfully deployed to over 100 stores within a condensed timeframe, with zero critical incidents and no impact to trading operations.

• A key success factor was our ability to coordinate across business, technology, and third-party stakeholders, while executing a robust post-deployment verification process at the store level. The cutover was delivered without deviation from plan, despite the operational complexity of a live retail environment.

• We have delivered several ERP cutovers involving SAP S/4HANA, Workday across retail, financial services, and healthcare. Our experience includes both greenfield implementations and complex legacy-to-cloud migrations, with full business continuity maintained during go-live.
• One example is a major UK retailer where we led the Finance cutover for an S/4HANA implementation. This was a business-critical go-live during a peak trading period, requiring zero disruption to financial operations. The cutover was executed on schedule, with all finance functions – including Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and reporting – operational from day one.
• Our cutover strategy front-loaded key activities in the weeks prior to go-live, allowing us to reduce time-critical risks and improve control during the cutover weekend. Stakeholders across Finance, IT, and external partners were engaged early and consistently to ensure alignment and accountability.
• As is typical in programmes of this scale, we encountered late-cycle challenges – including unexpected data validation issues during migration. These were resolved without compromising go-live quality, thanks to our ability to re-sequence activities and re-plan with all impacted parties under tight timelines.
• The result was a stable, incident-free go-live that was later recognised internally as a benchmark for delivery quality under pressure.

• End Users Cutover Buy-In: Business Key Stakeholders understand Cutover priorities
• 100% of the Cutover Actors understand the big picture (Walk The Wall or Cutover Survey)
• Go Live On Track and On Time (less than 20% Execution time delays)
• < 10% Go Live Incidents out of the Total Number of Cutover Tasks
• Minimal Downtime Period

As Cutover Manager, we are the gatekeeper of the Overall Picture + We always switch between the high-level plan and the detailed Plan. As we progress on the Cutover planning, and connecting the dots, we highlight the dependencies between the tasks, the workstreams and identify the potential risk on the Go Live.

What is a Risk?

A potential loss or damage when a given threat does occur

For Cutover & Go Live – A Risk is anything that could jeopardise the Go Live in terms of execution and timing.

The risk could come from the programme – 1 typical type of risk we carry from the programme is on Testing, or a risk could be very specific to the Cutover itself: Example, the Network, during Live Data Migration.

Risk Assessment

What is the severity of the Risk depending on the impact on the Go Live execution and Timing, for Example?

Risk Mitigation

We detail the different scenarios that could happen, and for each one, we add the Cutover steps to counter it.

A classical Risk Mitigation Plan is the Rollback Plan. If a major, critical and unexpected issue occurs that we need to invoke a Rollback, we already have a clear, detailed and rehearsed process to come back to the previous state.

It could happen that Go Live is on a “No-Rollback” as we receive the Go for the Cutover. Risk Mitigation Plan come from each individual risk and mitigation activity along with a crystal clear “Fix Forward Process Map” shared between the Programme & Support teams.

Cutover function is integrated within the Client organisation. The documentation process will be compliant with the client’s rules.

In terms of Cutover activities, we work closely with the Business to define detailed activities linked to the Business Processes. Business Processes are defined to be compliant within the company.

5 Principles to Derisk the GO LIVE

• Dress Rehearsal in a real PREPROD environment to test the sequence, stress-test the communication within the cutover actors and the escalation procedure

• Success in the details – By breaking down each step to the lowest level, you avoid any misinterpretation and any implicit tasks that the person is used to doing for the last 10 years, that he could forget under stress and high pressure at the moment of the Go Live

• Backup Resource Plan – For each task with a Task Owner, a Backup resource needs to be assigned – Avoid the Single Point of Failure. At the end, we are all human, and unexpected events could happen at the wrong time. Making sure at least 2 resources can execute the tasks and are available during the Cutover weekend

• Rollback Plan – We know that the Cutover in Production will never be 100% like-for-like in Pre-Prod. That’s why it is as Important as the Cutover Detailed Plan to meticulously plan the Rollback Plan + the criteria that could invoke the Rollback. If a major issue occurs that meets the criteria for the rollback, you can safely execute the Rollback Plan

• No Rollback Cutover = Fix Forward Process = Contrary to rollback, fix forward is about correcting the problem in the production environment by deploying a new fix. It’s a forward-looking approach that aims to address the root cause without reverting to previous states
  • Key success factor = Identify the potential side effects of a task, and make sure to secure the teams needed to be On Call during the Cutover Weekend to react as fast as possible.

• Senior Cutover Manager with 10+ years in Project and Cutover Management background
• Including in our services A Senior Cutover Lead (Antoine or Jan) for Quality Assurance

• Senior Cutover Manager with 10+ years in Project and Cutover Management background
• Cutover Manager with 5+ years of experience
• Cutover Analyst / PMO to support the Cutover Manager in admin tasks and execution (no strategy or communication with the leadership team)

1. Front-load commitment, not just availability.

Our core team operates like a task force: selected for mission fit, not just CVs.

2. Contractual lock-in with accountability.

We include project-duration clauses in contracts with all contributors, backed by clear deliverables and phased milestones. This helps prevent mid-flight exits. If someone absolutely needs to be replaced (rare, but it happens), We have a hot-swap process ready—pre-vetted, briefed backups on standby.

3. Redundancy without overstaffing.

Each critical function has overlap—so no one is a single point of failure. Think of it like cloud failover for people. If one node blinks, another takes over—seamlessly.

4. Culture of ownership, not resourcing.

This is probably the most important. We’ve built a culture where our consultants see your cutover not as a gig, but as a reputation stake. When people are proud of their impact, they stick. Period.

We invite you to go through our Cutover Framework page. Same framework we have applied to all Cutovers. 

Our recommendation is when you start the Data Migration & the testing Phase.

Data Migration is one of the biggest pillars of the Cutover.

• By integrating the Cutover mindset and Strategy early along the DM helps to capture Detailed Steps, add Cutover Best Practices (Logs, Durations, Understand DM Flows Dependencies) to understand early enough the constraints, develop workaround if needed, understand what is non-negociable, what is critical, what part will impact the whole system (= Will help to define the freeze period and strategy + Downtime)
• What could be done in parallel, what is in sequence, How long does it take? Can It be broken down? Define Data Report, Defining Data Validation Process agreed with all stakeholders and trained, Data Reconciliation Reports, capturing how long it takes to reconcile the data during the Go Live, what is the minimum viable to reconcile etc..
• Educate the business stakeholders will take time, and make sure they are the same for the Non-Prod and Prod

For the Testing:

• Understand the scope of the critical scenario that will be done at Go Live
• Define if there are any scenarios that will be specific for Go Live – They need to be taken into account for the overall Test Strategy
• Involve the Testing Team for the Dress Rehearsal
• When a Scenario Failed = Correction or New Dev = New Components to take into account during the Cutover = A close tracking is required to avoid any last-minute chaos because something has been lost in between.

The Business and IT coordination starts from the Cutover Planning.

• We build a Glossary, a Mapping table between IT Activities or IT Area and Business Activities or Business Impacts.
• We organise small group cutover workshops (Business & IT) to walk them through each section of the Cutover to seek alignment on the Cutover sequence.

Dress Rehearsal is not only a Technical Deployment; We stress-test the communication flow to spot any potential bottleneck or misinterpretation.

Cutover Case Studies

Testimonials

Alder Hey NHS Trust: EPR Go Live Meditech Expanse

Senior Cutover Lead = Between £750 and £900 depending on the Programme Scope & Consultant Seniority

Cutover Manager = between £650 and £750 depending on the Programme Scope & Consultant Seniority

Cutover Analyst / PMO = between £500 and £600

In all services, we include Cutover Quality Assurance (2hrs / Week) by one of associate directors.

1. We define success early—and tie it to your business metrics.

No vague “on time, on budget” clichés. We link cutover success to what matters for the C-suite: operational continuity, reduced downtime, cost of delay avoided, adoption velocity, etc. You’ll see the business case evolve from concept to evidence.

2. Value tracking is built-in, not bolted-on.

We use a live impact board from day one, mapping deliverables to tangible outcomes. Weekly updates aren’t status noise—they’re focused on delta vs. ROI targets, with early indicators of risk and success.

3. Executive-ready reporting, always-on.

Whether you need a one-slide snapshot for the board, or a data-backed progress deck, We deliver insights, not just activities. We speak business, not just PMO.

4. Mid-course corrections—no sunk cost bias.

If something’s off-track or over-engineered, We don’t wait until post-mortem. We challenge the team early, adjust scope intelligently, and protect your investment in real time.

5. Evidence of value, not just claims.

I bring benchmarks and case studies from similar high-stakes deployments to show where we’ve unlocked ROI—and how we’ll do it here.

Our approach is to integrate real-time replanning into the cutover process. When scope changes or new requirements arise, we rapidly assess the impact across all streams, validate technical and operational feasibility, and recalibrate without disrupting momentum. Every adjustment follows a clear decision path to avoid uncontrolled scope creep. This ensures flexibility without chaos—protecting your timeline, resources, and go-live integrity while staying aligned with transformation goals.

Standard = 2 to 3 Months Post Go Live Date

Parameters:

• Lenght of the Post Go Live Activities
• + Lenght of the Hypercare – Recommendations that the Cutover Manager and the Cutover Teams are involved in the Hypercare for Rapid Response Time to any Live issue, as they are the best to know exactly what has been deployed.
• + We define and complete the transition to BAU, for full control by the Support Team

Effective knowledge transfer in Cutover Management involves early involvement of support teams, active participation and pairing with experienced staff, thorough and accessible documentation, and interactive workshops or Q&A sessions. Utilise a central knowledge base, regularly review and update materials, and encourage feedback and contributions, ideally with leadership support. Adapt approaches to team size and project complexity, and ensure vital knowledge is not siloed but documented, minimising risks during handovers or staff changes.