Operators & Executive Sponsors • Readiness Gate Playbook
Pre-Go-Live Readiness Assessment Checklist ($10M Digitization Investment)
A go-live decision should be a gate, not a hope. This checklist is designed for independent validation before authorizing cutover— focusing on readiness evidence, unresolved risks, and clear go/no-go criteria.
Operator lens
What must be true on the floor to survive Day 1: training, SOPs, exceptions, staffing, and support coverage.
Sponsor lens
Go/no-go evidence, risk register clarity, decision authority, and measurable exit criteria for hypercare.
How to use this page
- Score every section (Green / Yellow / Red) and assign an owner to every Yellow/Red item.
- Document tradeoffs explicitly (what you accept, what you won't accept).
- Make go-live conditional on closing critical Reds, not on "timeline pressure."
Readiness Gate: Scope + Process
Readiness Gate: Data + Integrations
Readiness Gate: Testing + Performance
Readiness Gate: People + Support
Key risk callouts
Risk: Go-live pressure overrides reality
If readiness isn't evidence-based, the timeline becomes the decision-maker—and that's how failures happen.
Risk: UAT doesn't include exceptions
Most failures appear in returns, shorts, holds, cancels, edits, and retries. Test exceptions like they're primary flows.
Risk: Support isn't ready
If intake/triage/runbooks aren't set, Day 1 becomes chaos and confidence erodes fast.