Cutover Execution

 The GO LIVE, Cutover in Production

“Show must go on!” “We are READY for it!”

KEY ACTIVITIES

1.  Cutover Pre-Requisites
2. Cutover Execution
3. Cutover Post Go Live

CUTOVER PRE-REQUISITES

The list of activities to secure the Cutover execution and make sure all the key stakeholders are aligned.

 Define the Cutover Resource Planning

 Key Objectives:

• Make sure all the required resources are lined up for the “big show”
• Help to have a view per group over the timeline
• Confirm and track resource’s availability
• Define the resource’s backup when it’s required
• Define the rotation teams
• List the resource’s managers who can be call out for assignment approval or can be part of the escalation process

Based on the Cutover Detailed plan, you can easily extract the Task Start Time, Task Duration and Task owner build your own Cutover Resource Planning.

Define the Approvals Matrix

We have seen in the previous phases the list of Cutover Artefacts like the Cutover Approach Document and the Cutover Detailed Plan. Based on the list of the Stakeholders, their role and their involvement, we can define the Approval Matrix.

Type of Groups, the list will depend on the company’s organization and the company’s size.

• Company Board
• Project Steering Group
• Project Governance Group
• Project Business Group
• Project IT Delivery
• Service Introduction
• IT Support group

Key Fields:

• Group Name
• Stakeholder Name
• Stakeholder Role Description
• Cutover Artefact Name,
• Approval Status

The approval phase can be quite time-consuming. As we are getting closer to the Go Live, the number of reviews of each Cutover artefacts can increase in order to make sure nothing has been forgotten before a stakeholder approval is given.

The approval matrix tracker ensures all cutover documents have been confirmed by all relevant teams, which also gives confidences to the Board for final approval.

Define the Go No Go Criteria (GNG)

GNG Criteria are required to support an effective evaluation of project readiness across the complex & multi-party programme.

List all the criteria required to make the final decision before starting Cutover execution. It can list all the relevant project milestones and activities which have to be completed to ensure the Go Live. It also helps to assess the mitigation plan if there is any risk on one of them.

Each criterion is defined as:

• Criteria Area: Can be linked to a project phase like “Testing” or to a project dependency like “Service Introduction”
• Criteria Name: Can be a short description, make sure it’s clear and understandable by anyone
• Owner: Who is responsible to provide the completion status
• ETA: Estimated Due Date
• Rag Status: How good are we to close the criteria successfully on time
• Evidence (Optional): Can be an email from the line manager or a document that justify the completion
• Comment: Track the progress history

Organize Knowledge Transfer with the Support Teams (or Operational Teams)

In order to facilitate the transition to Live, It is really important to engage the support teams in early stage. It is not recommanded to wait till the Early Life Support starts.

There are 2 main advantages:

1. Support teams know perfectly the Production landscape. By sharing with the Cutover approach, the Cutover detailed plan, and the development details, they can help to highlight any potential risk or conflict within Production environment
2. It facilitates the Root Cause Analysis post Go Live. See the next section below. There is enough activity Post Cutover, that we don’t want to be overloaded by an additional KT in the middle. The purpose of the Early Life Support is to react quickly. To react quickly, you need to anticipate the KT.

CUTOVER EXECUTION

“Stick to the plan”

Go Decision! It is time to achieve what we’ve been planning and trained for. As mentioned several times, Communication is one of the key factors for a successful Go Live, make sure to follow the Communication Plan.

Based on the Dry Run experience, think of anything that can be prepared in advance to save time during the execution.

Production Preparation tasks can be:

• Define the Communication mails ahead, making sure you have the right time distribution list. The content should reflect what has been planned, the detail may change depending on the actual situation
• Keep the contact list file open
• In case of no automation tool:
  • Create a Cutover Status mail template
  • Create a phone chat group (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal) with the key Cutover actors to send key updates and make sure they are ready to join on time as per the plan

Execution Tips

• Provide regular updates through the chosen communication channel: During a Cutover, the cutover actors are coming depending on their assignment. Either on the Chat group or into the Conference call, make sure to provide a summary update about the current situation in order to bring the person up to speed on the Cutover activities

POST GO LIVE ACTIVITIES

All activities scheduled for cutover are now completed, including the post deployment testing. We are “LIVE” !

Kind of a relief, the worst is behind! This is the time for the extra effort.

3 major areas are coming into play:

Undo the Pre-requisites (Reminder):

Most of the time, a Cutover does not stop at the Go-Live. On the same principle that we have the list of activities to prepare the Cutover, we also have their counterpart when it’s required. Make sure to properly orchestrate these activities as part of the Cutover. That’s sometime to little extra effort which can make a big difference. Example: You have a Cutover night deploying new Ecommerce functionalities. As part of the Pre-requisite activities, you have advised the customers on the website the outage windows. Don’t forget to remove the banner once after the Go Live

Heightened awareness:

For a couple of days or a weeks post cutover, the systems should be monitored really closely for any inconsistent behaviour and address the issue proactively.

Decommissioning

Go-Live Ok, monitoring in place and now new issues for a couple of days – Time to decommission what is no more used. Depending on the Cutover scope, it is quite frequent that Cutover brings new interfaces, new software programs, new infrastructures etc.. Make sure to remove them at the appropriate time in line with your IT policy.

Early Life Support (ELS)

As known as Warranty Support, Warranty Management or Hypercare, it is the period where Project Team & Support Teams (or Operational Teams) are working together to ensure a smooth transition to BAU (Business As Usual). 

There are 2 schools, how should it be managed? By the Cutover Manager in place or a dedicated Warranty Manager? There is no a straight answer. 

The Cutover Manager has the knowledge of what has been done and how it has been deployed. Having said that, It could be an advantage to manage root cause analysis if there is any issue post Go-Live. 

A dedicated Warranty Manager can have a better knowledge on Incident Management, Support Management, how to lead Support teams. He can also rely on the project team members to help him and the support teams for the root cause analysis. 

In the second case, make sure to organize a proper handover with the Warranty Manager before the Go Live. 

Reminder: To optimize the ELS, Knowledge Transfer (KT) with the Support teams (or Operational Teams) should happen before the Execution. 

ELS is also an opportunity to measure and validate the Support Model in place with the new solution or functionality. End users start using it in LIVE and can provide their feedback. 

Service Level Agreement can be reviewed and validated between the End User, Support Managers and / or the 3rd Party responsible. 

Once the Exit Criteria are met, the new solution or functionality is now fully integrated to the organization’s landscape, it’s now Business As Usual