golives

Go-lives refer to the point at which a new information system, application, or major upgrade becomes active in a live production environment. It marks the transition from development and testing to actual operation and delivery of business functionality to users. A go-live is a key project milestone observed by IT, operations, and business stakeholders, signaling that deployment, data migration, and training have reached a state suitable for production use.

Planning for a go-live involves defining success criteria, cutover strategies, resource readiness, and rollback or contingency plans. Cutover strategies can be implemented in several ways: a big-bang approach where the old system is replaced by the new one at a single moment, a phased rollout that deploys the new system in stages, or a parallel run in which both systems operate simultaneously for a defined period. Data migration, interface readiness, testing, and user training are critical to minimize downtime and ensure data integrity and user competence at go-live.

Post-go-live activities focus on stability and ongoing support. Teams monitor system performance, availability, and incident rates, and provide a period of hypercare or enhanced support to address early issues. Success is often measured by system uptime, user satisfaction, process performance, and the speed of issue resolution. A clear rollback plan and escalation paths remain essential in case critical problems arise.

Common risks at go-live include data quality issues, incomplete integrations, insufficient user adoption, and unplanned downtime. Effective go-lives typically require strong sponsorship, thorough testing, detailed cutover planning, and robust post-launch support to achieve the intended business benefits.