Cutover Coordination (English)

One of the most complex deployment activities when implementing an ERP are related to cutover coordination. Cutover coordination has to deal with a wide range of complex activities, involving almost all company areas.

The cutover is at some extend the moment of truth for the whole project. This is not only about the ultimate proof that the new solution will work as expected after the go live. Moreover, cutover activities require accurate coordination of hundreds of activities happening in very short period of time. It’s a one time effort and there is not much room for mistakes.

No need to say that a cutover is exposing the company operations to a real risk – at some stage the point of no return is reached and the decision making during the whole cutover process is strongly driven by risk management aspects. The cutover has not to be handled as a purely technical responsibility, it’s primarily driven by business decisions and need to be supported and facilitated by experts.

The main cutover activity types are related to physical inventory and reconciliation, data migration and validation, open order migration and configuration and set up activities. Also the business needs to be involved in developing a contingency plan. The level of dependencies between all these activities and actors is high and requires long and accurate preparation and simulation to get to the level of confidence required.

The cutover coordinator requires a proven experience, strong communication skills and the capability of addressing crisis situations in a very structured and timely manner. Panic situations and conflicts need to be managed to avoid uncontrolled emotions in moments of highest pressure.

Paramis consultants have been going through a wide range of cutover experiences and do have the maturity and the skill set to provide customers the required level of specialized support during critical project phases.

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