Preparation for implementation

After taking our BPM system through several iterations, ironing out bugs, and smoothing the workflow as we go, at some point it will finally be time to put the thing live. Judging when we are ready for live is something of an art and it is important to prepare thoroughly for the big go-live date.

Judging readiness

So how do you know when your system is ready to go live? This is not an easy question to answer as every individual situation is different, and indeed you need to gaze into a crystal ball somewhat, as you don't necessarily want to wait until everything is 100% finished before you start the ramp-up for live. Generally speaking, when judging our readiness for live, we would at least want:

• To have the hardware the live system is going to run on in place.

• No critical change requests or issues outstanding. In most scenarios, it is probably OK to have development items on the change list: these can be implemented once the system is live.

• Confidence that there...