Post-go-live support

It is tempting to think that once the deployment is complete and the system is live, that is the end of the work. However, the post-go-live period is critical. Users are forming their opinions about the system that will have a lasting impact. It is recommended that you plan how the system will be supported directly after go-live rather than working out a course of action once you get there.

Note

The aim is always that that there will be no issues post-go-live but, in reality, issues do occur for a number of reasons. Users use the system in a way that wasn’t tested, data anomalies occur that cause errors, and things get missed in the deployment and data migration.

There are a couple of elements that you will want to have in place. You will need a communicated method of capturing, triaging, and resolving system defects. This includes agreement about the environment defects will be resolved in and the frequency with which they will be deployed. These...