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This taskforce will be responsible for optimizing the after-visit summary, so that patients will have clear and concise directions on their AVS.

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·       This project aims to improve the discharge and education process of patients by making the AVS clear to read, include all important discharge information, and ensuring the patient knows what medications to take and when they were last given.

·       Education provided to the patient with the AVS is extremely nurse dependent. This project aims to address this problem through automation based on patient diagnosis.

·       the patient’s next follow up appointments are only sometimes listed on the AVS. Ensuring this is listed will help patients understand their next steps in care after hospitalization.

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The objective of the AVS taskforce is to identify areas for modification and make improvement, so that the AVS can be 75% error free for patients on discharge.

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The scope of the AVS taskforce will be to promote open dialogue of the after visit summary so as to effectively enhance the AVS. The following steps will be considered for this project: 1. Conduct a current state assessment of the discharge after-visit-summary. 2. Identify gaps and potential opportunities for improvement of the AVS 3. Determine best practices and evidence based practices to standardize the processes for an improved after visit summary for patients 4. Implement standards and best practices to eliminate harm and improve quality of care.

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Altering the workflow for the AVS and discharging patients will reduce the likelihood of patient readmission, adverse drug events, misunderstanding of medical problems, and non-compliance with follow up appointments and care.

This process is imperative to ensure complete funding and reimbursement for hospitals from governing agencies.

CMS created a Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) that reduces payments up to 3% to hospitals with excess readmissions within a 30-day timeframe from the patient’s initial admission (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2023).

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Benefit to Internal and External Customers

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Benefit to Internal and External Customers

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Internal customers:

Easier to schedule follow up visits for patients

Automated input reduces workload

Less variability in information given to patients

External customers:

Quicker discharge process

Ensures patient receives education related to reason for hospitalization

Increased likelihood for medication compliance and attending follow-up appointments

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For this task force, we would want to include a project manager, an informaticist, a lead physician, a lead registered nurse, a case manager, and a HUC or registration staff member who is responsible for scheduling patient appointments.

The Six Sigma methodology, for example, recommends keeping the teams to seven or eight people at most (Jotform, 2023).

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“Go-live” checklist will consist of making sure the process has been reviewed and tested, the project has been signed off and is ready to be deployed, email communication has been sent out to end users notifying them of “go-live” date, end users have been trained successfully and have access to the necessary features, and making sure the readiness assessments have been completed (OCM Solution, 2024).

Core implementation team available during hospital discharge hours to answer any questions and troubleshoot any problems.

Superusers will provide staff support and are the first-line resource to assist end-users with fundamental questions about workflow and functionality (McBride & Tietze, 2022).

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Informatics, IT, Project Management, Registered Nurses, Providers, Case Managers, and HUC or receptionist to schedule appointments.

Test group to use the updated and go over issues or problems.

Education team to help roll up the update to staff.

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·       A comprehensive testing strategy will need to be employed since this workflow redesign changes both work processes and implements new technology-based systems into the AVS.

·       Gather user feedback.

·       Develop a test environment for correctly pulling data and education materials.

·       Utilize a combination of testing scripts and manual user testing to ensure accuracy of information.

·       Measure time taken to pull data correctly.

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How we will analyze and refine the workflows

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How we will analyze and refine the workflows

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The primary goal of workflow analysis is to identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, redundancies, and areas for improvement in the workflow, ultimately leading to increased efficiency, productivity, and cost savings (Numminen, 2023).

Flowsheets can be used to show the old steps in the process and where the changes will be to the new process. A visual example of how the process change will appear. The flowsheet is also used to look at efficiency and areas to reduce costs.

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For this process improvement, the task force has outlined an approximate timeline of 21 months.

The first nine months will be the start of the project.  This is the time that the team will meet to discuss the goals and how to achieve them.  Outlining how the process will be improved and the steps to make this happen.

The last 12 months of the process is when IT will be working on building the change into the EHR system.

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In conclusion, this AVS task force aims to increase the accuracy of patient discharges, satisfaction, and care while decreasing readmission rates. Our task force used the flowchart method to identify inefficiencies in the after visit summary and discharge processes. These were identified through a current state analysis to be inaccurate medication schedules, lack of patient education, missing scheduled follow up appointments within the AVS. By learning about these inefficiencies, a future state process was developed to introduce automation and standardization across the discharge process. Ongoing project analysis should be considered when looking at the current workflow for case management as this process may have added additional burden to their current process.

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The Case

An otherwise healthy 18-year-old woman presented to an urgent care clinic with new bumps and white spots near her tongue. The patient's mother accompanied her and expressed concern that this could be "thrush"-based on her own understanding of that condition. The patient was examined and noted to have small white ulcerations at the base of her tongue and one on the left buccal mucosa. The symptoms developed a few days following an upper respiratory infection. The rest of the examination was unremarkable. The physician explained that this was likely herpetic gingivostomatitis and provided related information about the condition and its treatment plan. The patient was then discharged from the urgent care clinic and provided an after-visit summary that is generated from their electronic medical record (EMR). The written materials outline the diagnosis, care plans, and follow-up needs, all of which were reviewed by the medical assistant.

After returning home, the patient's mother continued searching her daughter's condition online, remained concerned about the possibility of thrush, and sent a couple of messages to the provider via a patient portal within the EMR. One particular issue was that the after-visit summary stated that the patient's diagnosis was thrush, despite the physician stating an alternate diagnosis. Ultimately, the physician spoke with the patient's mother, confirmed that his diagnosis of a herpetic viral infection was correct, apologized for the error on the after-visit summary, and reassured her that the condition was self-limited and would improve, which it did. Although no harm resulted from the interactions, the mistake on the after-visit summary and the communication discrepancies it generated led to a number of unnecessary phone calls and follow-up communications, not to mention understandable distress to the patient and her mother. The after-visit summary incorrectly populated the diagnosis of thrush from the triage information and it was not updated after the actual evaluation by either the physician or the medical assistant.

This case represents an increasingly common scenario in busy practices across the country, regardless of whether it's in a primary, subspecialty, or urgent care setting. The relational dyad between health care providers and patients alone is complex.( 1) When you include family members and other providers (e.g., nurses or medical assistants) or staff (e.g., front desk receptionists), the dynamics create greater opportunities for communication mishaps.( 2)

In recent years, the growing presence of computers in examination rooms has introduced an additional actor to the "drama" of the provider-patient relationship.( 3) Adding to this complexity are new e-health technologies that make asynchronous communication with patients possible.( 4,5) These technologies, which are still largely works in progress, include, but are not limited to (i) after-visit summaries generated from new generation electronic health records (EHRs); (ii) patient portals that allow direct access to health information, test results, and communication with providers; and (iii) health education materials either printed as part of after-visit summaries (as was the situation in the above case) or accessed online via patient portals.

After-visit summaries provide patients with a recap of what happened during their clinic visit or hospitalization. These summaries often include the patient's problem list, diagnostic test results, and updated medication and allergy lists. They may also provide patients with tailored information relevant to the clinical discussions that occurred during their visits, such as laboratory and diagnostic test orders and results, recommended follow-up appointments or specialty consultations, and educational materials or decision aids pertinent to their diagnoses. The summaries are either printed out for patients or provided electronically. Patient portals are secure Web-based platforms that allow patients to view information about their ongoing medical care. The design, content, user interface, and applications of these portals vary greatly among current products. For instance, some portals simply allow access to basic diagnostic and medication information. Others offer patients the ability to directly communicate with their health care teams using secure e-mail; this allows handling of non-urgent health care concerns such as requesting prescription refills, scheduling appointments, and completing health care-related forms online. Health education materials, also available either in print or digitally, ideally provide patients with disease-specific information appropriate to their levels of health literacy and language capacities.

Electronic health records (EHRs) and associated e-health tools have all been developed to foster patient engagement and increased communication around health issues, with the goal of decreasing the incidence of medical error and improving patient outcomes. These tools are ideally designed to be provider and patient friendly so that users on both sides of the stethoscope can easily access information critical to diagnosis and treatment at all hours, day and night. Patients, especially those who are younger, computer savvy, and without multiple medical conditions, find them useful as adjuncts to customary medical services.( 6)

Although they have many purported advantages ( 5,7) and have shown promise in enhancing specific chronic-disease outcomes ( 8), implementation of EHRs and e-health tools poses a number of questions to consider.( 9) Most important, how can providers and their care teams seamlessly integrate these tools into daily practice? How can they do so in ways that keep the provider-patient relationship front and center? These tools have the potential to significantly achieve improved patient education by making personal health information more readily accessible. However, it is a mistake to think that they can augment clinical outcomes without a large element of human contact. They are tools for improved care, not solutions in themselves.

When using EHRs and e-health tools, it is imperative that providers attend even more to the quality of their relationships with patients. This is challenging for everyone given the changes it requires in both patient and provider workflows and practices. While new information technologies offer many theoretical opportunities for enhancing communication with patients ( 10), they also have the potential to decrease providers' abilities to connect with patients in real time.( 7) Guidelines for effectively integrating examination room computers into physician-patient visits are currently scarce ( Table) ( 11,12); those for other e-health tools are virtually non-existent. Yet, progress is being made, as substantive information examining how to teach and learn communication skills using EHRs is just now becoming available.( 13) Alternatives for optimal use of EHRs and e-health tools may come from their adoption and application by broad members of the health care team in models of care moving forward (e.g., patient-centered medical homes). Only individual case studies exist currently to help guide the tension between informing and educating while also cultivating critical relationships as part of the healing process for patients.( 14)

As EHRs and e-health tools become more robust and their integration into the day-to-day practice improve, they may be able to prevent the kind of error described in this case. Until that time, medical professionals and patients alike will likely struggle with issues such as when and how after-visit summaries are best used to enhance-and not detract from-office visits, or how best to manage patient portals and the information contained within them. This would include situations such as how providers should attend to laboratory results and radiological reports prior to releasing them to patients for review via online portals. Thoughtful consideration of all perspectives will be required for successful outcomes and agreement on best practices. Until then, it is wise to remember that information alone does not necessarily imply understanding, nor does it decrease patient anxiety in the face of illness. Personal connection remains the key component in caring for patients and enhancing their clinical outcomes.( 15) Technological tools are simply a means to achieve those ends.

Take-Home Points

E-health tools are becoming an increasing part of care delivery systems and include after-visit summaries, patient portals, and health education materials, among other developing innovations.

EHR and e-health tool adoption has the potential to augment information exchange with patients but can also detract from physician-patient communication without careful attention.

Dedicated initiatives to improving current technology (and one's capacity to use it), addressing the systemic flow of information between health care team members, and enhancing provider-patient communication while using EHRs and other e-health tools are all important efforts to reduce medical errors in clinical care.

William Ventres, MD, MA
Clinical Associate Professor Department of Family Medicine Oregon Health and Science University Portland, Oregon

Research Associate
Institute for Studies in History, Anthropology, and Archeology University of El Salvador San Salvador, El Salvador

References

1. Balint M. The Doctor, His Patient and the Illness. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 2000. ISBN: 9780443064609.

2. Campbell TL, McDaniel SH. Family systems in family medicine. Clin Fam Pract. 2001;31:13-33.

3. Pearce C, Dwan K, Arnold M, Phillips C, Trumble S. Doctor, patient and computer-a framework for the new consultation. Int J Med Inform. 2009;78:32-38. [go to PubMed]

4. Barbieri RL. Office gynecology in the internet age. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2012;55:596-604. [go to PubMed]

5. Black AD, Car J, Pagliari C, et al. The impact of eHealth on the quality and safety of health care: a systematic overview. PLoS Med. 2011;8:e1000387. [go to PubMed]

6. Weingart SN, Rind D, Tofias Z, Sands DZ. Who uses the patient internet portal? The PatientSite experience. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2006;13:91-95. [go to PubMed]

7. Lau F, Price M, Boyd J, Partridge C, Bell H, Raworth R. Impact of electronic medical record on physician practice in office settings: a systematic review. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2012;12:10. [go to PubMed]

8. Weingart SN, Carbo A, Tess A, et al. Using a patient internet portal to prevent adverse drug events: a randomized, controlled trial. J Patient Saf. 2013;9:169-175. [go to PubMed]

9. Ventres W, Kooienga S, Vuckovic N, Marlin R, Nygren P, Stewart V. Physicians, patients, and the electronic health record: an ethnographic analysis. Ann Fam Med. 2006;4:124-131. [go to PubMed]

10. Mandl KD, Kohane IS. Escaping the EHR trap-the future of health IT. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:2240-2242. [go to PubMed]

11. Ventres W, Kooienga S, Marlin R. EHRs in the exam room: tips on patient-centered care. Fam Pract Manag. 2006;13:45-47. [go to PubMed]

12. Shachak A, Reis S. The impact of electronic medical records on patient-doctor communication during consultation: a narrative literature review. J Eval Clin Pract. 2009;15:641-649. [go to PubMed]

13. Duke P, Frankel RM, Reis S. How to integrate the electronic health record and patient-centered communication into the medical visit: a skills-based approach. Teach Learn Med. 2013;25:358-365. [go to PubMed]

14. Ralston JD, Carrell D, Reid R, Anderson M, Moran M, Hereford J. Patient web services integrated with a shared medical record: patient use and satisfaction. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2007;14:798-806. [go to PubMed]

15. Street RL Jr, Makoul G, Arora NK, Epstein RM. How does communication heal? Pathways linking clinician-patient communication to health outcomes. Patient Educ Couns. 2009;74:295-301. [go to PubMed]

Table

Table. Tips for effective use of examination room computers.( 11,12)

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A teenager presented to an urgent care clinic with new bumps and white spots near her tongue. Although she was diagnosed with herpetic gingivostomatitis, the after-visit summary incorrectly populated the diagnosis of "thrush" from the triage information, which was not updated with the correct diagnosis.

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After Visit Summaries Improve Communication

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After Visit Summaries Improve Communication

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After Visit Summaries Improve Communication

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What is on the AVS at your facility and what would you want to see changed to improve it?

As a patient, what do you imagine to be the most frustrating part of the discharge process and how would you improve it?

As a project member, what would you change about this proposed workflow redesign?

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A Guide To Your After Visit Summary (AVS)

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Welcome to Your Go-Live Success Guide!

Embarking on a project's go-live journey? Exciting times await! Picture this: you've put in endless hours, countless brainstorming sessions, and numerous tweaks to craft the perfect project. Now, the big day is approaching-the grand unveiling, your project's time in the spotlight! But before the confetti can fall and the champagne can pop, there's a crucial backstage pass you need: your go-live checklist.

Your go live checklist is your trusty sidekick that ensures every detail of your project is in place, every box ticked, and every team member aligned.

In this article, we're diving into the heart of go-live checklists, exploring why they're the unsung heroes of successful project launches. From understanding the nitty-gritty of project goals to embracing real-time collaboration, we've got your back, ensuring your project takes off without a hitch. So, buckle up, we're about to elevate your go-live game and make your projects soar!
Looking for a quick summary? You'll find one next. Want to dig into more detail? Keep going, and you'll find more to read below the summary. Quick Summary
What is a Project Go Live Plan?

Go-live, whether in project management or change management, signifies the moment when a project is delivered and becomes operational. In project management, it involves technical aspects such as testing software, verifying user access, and bug resolution. In change management, the focus shifts to the human side of change, ensuring stakeholders are informed, trained, and supported through the transition.

A project go live plan (and the accompanying go live process checklist) should emphasize a holistic approach, integrating technical deployment and stakeholder adoption. Both parts go together, and the tasks on a user adoption project go live checklist template are often dependent upon those from the technical deployment tasks.

Are you tired of using messy project go live checklist template Excel sheets? Check out the OCMS Portal. This end-to-end simple change management software provides you with everything you need for success, including a full go live checklist template to use. Sign up for free today (no credit card needed).

Go Live Readiness Assessment Overview

The purpose of a go live readiness assessment template checklist is to evaluate project readiness for successful go-live events and identify potential issues in advance. This checklist is a handy sidekick that helps the project and change management teams ensure that nothing important is left out of the go live deployment or falls behind schedule.

So, what types of things are assessed to understand if a project is either ready to go live or going to be successful after it has been deployed? Here are some of the assessment criteria for a business readiness checklist for go live.

Technical Deployment:

Number of bugs remaining to be fixed

Completion status of product/solution documentation

Percentage of the solution functioning as intended

Stakeholder/Target Audience Adoption:

Percentage of stakeholders trained

Level of acceptance and resistance to the transition

Identification of groups with sufficient capacity for a smooth transition

Similar to checklists used by professionals like pilots and safety inspectors, a go-live checklist ensures that all necessary requirements are met before a project is launched.

What Preparation Should You Include in a Project Go Live Plan?

You've nailed down the objectives, fine-tuned the details, and now, the finish line is in sight on your project. But before you hit that go-live button, there's a vital roadmap you need: your project go-live plan.

Ever wondered what goes into creating a seamless launch experience? From essential technical checks and user adoption strategies to effective communication tactics and post-launch support, there are several important steps to take to ensure everything goes off without a hitch. Here are some of the key ingredients for a flawless project go-live plan.

Preparation for Go-Live Events

Conduct ongoing readiness assessments so there are no surprises when the go live event is approaching.

Do periodic assessments during pre-go-live preparations to identify and address risk areas.

Follow a comprehensive go-live checklist template to cover all essential tasks.

Implement pre-go-live activities:

Ongoing check-ins to ensure the technical and people sides of the project are aligned

Create pre and post go-live email templates for communicating with impacted audiences

Assess training success and conduct additional training as needed

Hold multiple go-live meetings to address any outstanding issues

Establish post-go-live support and issue monitoring for proactive issue resolution lasting at least 4 weeks or more

Go Live Checklist Examples

A Go Live Checklist serves as a crucial tool in ensuring the success of a project by preventing oversights during the planning and preparation stages. Similar to checklists used by professionals like pilots and safety inspectors, a go-live checklist ensures that all necessary requirements are met before a project is launched. This comprehensive list acts as a planning tool, guiding both project and change management teams in creating detailed preparation.

The type of checklist for a go live support plan template varies based on the project type. Here are a few go live checklist examples:

SAP Go Live Checklist: Focused on software and technology product deployment, often related to ERP systems like SAP. It includes tasks such as User Acceptance Testing (UAT), bug resolution, and change control processes.

Go/No-Go Checklist: A condensed version used in go-live meetings to make a decision: either the project is ready to launch, or it needs more preparation time based on minimum criteria.

Cutover Checklist: Focuses on transitioning from one system to another, especially critical in large technology projects, ensuring a smooth shift without downtime.

Application Go Live Checklist: Used by software companies to ensure that all functions for a minimum viable product are in place before the product or update is launched.

Change Readiness Pre-Go-Live Checklist: Concentrates on enabling individuals and groups to adopt new processes successfully. The go live readiness assessment template includes elements like training, go-live email template deployment, and resistance management.

Adoption Go Live Checklist Template: Focuses on the period right before go-live and after go-live. It includes things like user sentiment on change proficiency and gathering data metrics, such as usage patterns in a new system.

The OCMS Portal change management software provides a prepopulated checklist with a step-by-step go-live plan. Customize it for your own business readiness checklist for go live. Try it free today (no credit card needed).

Tips for Creating a Good Project Go Live Checklist Template

Creating an effective go-live checklist template is crucial for ensuring a smooth project launch. To craft a successful checklist, consider the following recommendations:

Understand Project Goals: Fully grasp the project's objectives and goals to align the checklist with the intended outcomes.

Incorporate Technical and User Adoption Requirements: Include both technical go-live necessities and user adoption elements in the checklist.

Seek Feedback: Gather input from leaders of highly impacted groups to understand their perspectives and concerns regarding the go-live event.

Regular Updates: Update the checklist as needed to accommodate changes in project scope or timeline and share it in a collaborative tool for real-time visibility.

Thorough Review: Mentally and physically walk through the checklist to identify any overlooked aspects of the go-live plan.

Pre Go Live Checklist Summary Conclusion

Utilizing a go-live checklist is vital for confirming that all essential tasks are completed before a project solution is launched. It serves as a condensed version of documented project requirements, ensuring a successful project rollout.

Without such checklists, change managers might lack clarity about the readiness of impacted audiences, potentially leading to overlooked crucial elements. By involving leaders, the project manager, and OCM team members in the checklist preparation, the go-live process can be comprehensive, covering important factors like post-go-live support.

Ultimately, whether you use a project go live checklist template Excel or a more modern cloud based OCM tool, these checklists are instrumental in answering the fundamental question: "What does go live mean for this project?"

Go-Live Plan Guide with Templates and Checklists for Getting Users Ready for a Change

As you may know, a project go live checklist is a template used to track go live activities to ensure the project is successfully implemented without major problems. This can also be referred to as a readiness matrix or a pre go live checklist.

In this article, we'll review go-live preparation in detail and what go-live readiness means. We'll also include a "how-to" on creating an effective go-live readiness checklist template, and discuss things like a cutover checklist, SAP go-live checklist, and more.

You can also obtain the OCM Solution free project management templates and use them to manage your go-live activities.

If you've been looking for a way to reduce dropped balls when a project launches and mitigate post-go-live problems, this article should be a great resource for you.

With all types of projects, you normally have a planning phase where the project is planned, a build phase where the solution is built or designed, and then the phase where the solution is implemented. Sometimes you will also have a Pilot phase and/or a user acceptance testing (UAT) phase.

The phase when a solution is rolled out is called a "go live event" because the project is now a reality, and the project solution is being used by employees, managers, customers, or other intended audience groups.

Are you looking for project and change management tools to help with go-live activities? Please reach out and let us know. Or check out our free go live readiness checklist which is available in the OCMS Portal end-to-end change management software.

Table of Contents: Go-Live Process & Pre-Go-Live Checklist

Keep on scrolling down this page to read each section or click any link below to go directly to that section.

a. b. 2. a. b. 3. 4. d. e. 5. a. 6. 7. 8. 9. Go Live in Project Management Go Live in Change Management What is Go Live Readiness Assessment? How Do You Prepare for Go Live Events? What Makes a Successful Go Live Event? What is a Go Live Checklist? Different Types of Go-Live Checklist Templates Change Readiness Pre-Go-Live Checklist Application Go Live Checklist
How Do You Create an Effective Go Live Checklist Template? Outline of a Go Live Plan Template Why Is It Important to Use a Checklist In Your Go Live Plan? OCM Solution Go Live Readiness Checklist Conclusion: Go Live Checklist, Activities, & Planning FAQ: Go Live Readiness Checklist Template & Guide

Is there a best go live readiness assessment that you have used that you would like to share with other project managers and change leads? Please, reach out and let us know.

The term "go live" refers to the point at which a project is delivered. This could be when a new software tool is launched and put on a website for people to buy. It can also be the date when a new policy being implemented is put into use within an organization.

If you look up the definition of go-live on Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, it describes go live as meaning, "to begin operating or to become available for use."

It's important to understand the distinction between the meaning of go live in project management and go live in change management. Project management is looking at the technical delivery of the solution, such as a tool or system. While change management is looking at the people side. Meaning, are people ready to adopt the new solution?

When answering "What does go live mean?" you should include both the technical side of the project and the people side if people are required to adopt the solution that the project is delivering.

What does "Go Live in Project Management" Mean?

Project management teams are often focused on the technical side of change (e.g., designing, building, testing, and rolling out a solution).

For example, in the case of a new software tool being adopted by an organization, the g0live templates used by the project management team would include things like testing the new software in the company's network, verifying that users had login details, and ensuring that any bugs in the tool are caught and corrected.

As mentioned above, when it comes to go live preparation, project management is most concerned about ensuring the solution (e.g., new product, process, policy, tool, system, etc.) is completed and implemented correctly. This is encompassed in their go live support plan template.

What does "Go Live in Change Management" Mean?

Change management teams are often focused on the people side of change, and are always looking at the project from a different angle - from an impacted users' perspective - and so the change team's go-live plan template will be looking at how ready the users, employees, or other stakeholders are to adjust to the changes associated with the project.

In this case, the go-live process will include ensuring stakeholders know about the project and what is changing and have the necessary training and support to successfully transition.

A go live meeting looking at the people side of the project will include discussion on any resistance individuals have to the project and if adequate communications and a go-live email template are being sent out.

For a successful project, you need a project go live checklist to consider both the technical deployment and stakeholder adoption parts of the project.

OCMS Portal Tool for Assessing Go-Live Activities

The OCMS Portal with Readiness Assessment Tool helps project teams do comprehensive go live readiness assessment.

Have you been looking for tools and templates to help with go live preparation, like an SAP go live checklist or cutover checklist? Please reach out and share your thoughts.

What is Go Live Readiness Assessment?

How do you know if a project is ready for "show time" - in other words, going to be successful on the go-live event date? You do assessments well ahead of that date.

You don't want to find out at the last minute when there is little time to correct things that there are major problems. Such as the mechanics of a project aren't ready or that the people that need to use the project solution don't know what they're supposed to do.

The go-live readiness assessment is a survey of important key points that help indicate whether or not a project is ready for launching successfully according to the go-live plan.

Some of the assessment criteria that you want to look at to assess go live preparation include:

Technical deployment criteria

How many bugs still need to be fixed?

How much product/solution documentation has been completed?

What percentage of the solution is functioning as intended?

Stakeholder adoption criteria

What percentage of stakeholders have been trained?

What is the level of acceptance and resistance to the transition?

How many groups have enough capacity to successfully make the transition?

How Do You Prepare for Go-Live Events?

The first go-live readiness assessment is typically done at the beginning of a project to get baseline information. This information then informs the project and change management teams where they need to focus their attention.

One or more assessments are done throughout the pre-go-live preparation to check in on the project, look for risk areas, and prepare the project for the go live event.

What Makes a Successful Go-Live Event?

Preparation and testing help make for successful go live events. It's important to follow a go live checklist template that covers all aspects of what is considered a successful project. This helps ensure that no balls get dropped and you don't have any unpleasant surprises at the go live event.

Doing project risk assessment and management

Conducting at least 2 or more go-live readiness assessments

Putting together a go live email template to communicate the go-live event well ahead of time

Properly preparing stakeholders to adopt the changes being implemented by the project

Holding several go live meetings to discuss any items that need to be addressed prior to the go live date.

Putting post-go-live support and issue monitoring in place for at least 4 weeks or more to proactively address any issues

Some of the pre go live activities that improve your chances of success are:

Do you have any questions about what's included in a go-live meeting or go-live email template? Need to find tools that can help with the go-live process? Please reach out and share your thoughts.

What is a Go Live Checklist?

Checklists are used in all sorts of capacities to ensure that important items aren't missed. For example, airline pilots have a checklist they go through to ensure the plane is functioning properly before takeoff.

Safety inspectors grading a restaurant will also have a checklist of items that need to be covered to clear the establishment to serve food. These checklists improve quality, consistency, and security.

A go-live checklist will similarly help you ensure that your project is not going to fail due to something that was missed in the planning or preparation go live process.

The pre-go-live checklist includes a list of requirements that need to be met before the project can be completed successfully. Using the project go live checklist not only helps with double-checking that all requirements have been met, but also acts as a planning tool.

Both the project management and change management teams can create a go live plan, that goes into more detail, using the go-live checklist template as a starting point.

Go-live in project management is perhaps the most important date there is. It's the whole purpose of the project, to be unleashed to do what it is supposed to do. Without golive templates and checklists to govern the pre-go-live process, it's very easy to miss something that could end up derailing the success of the project solution.

Whether you call this document a cutover checklist, a readiness checklist, an SAP go-live checklist, or something else, the goal is the same. Which is to ensure that all requirements have been met to successfully launch the project for those that are intended to use it.

OCM Solution Go-Live Readiness Checklist Template

The OCM Solution Readiness Assessment tool in the OCMS Portal, includes a step-by-step go live plan. This pre-populated pre-go-live checklist guides you through a readiness assessment for user adoption.

Different Types of Go-Live Checklist Templates

The type of go-live plan template and checklist you use will depend upon the project type. Some projects encompass the building and delivery of a software solution, in which case you may be looking for an SAP go live checklist.

If a company is moving from one telecommunications platform to another, then the project manager may be using a cutover checklist. For culture adoption projects, a change readiness go live checklist template may be used.

All of these project go-live checklists have the same purpose, which is to provide a list of requirements that need to be confirmed and checked-off as complete for the project to launch successfully. They are simply tailored to match the type of project that is being deployed.

Here's an overview of some common types of checklists for go-live in project management:

SAP (Systems Applications and Projects in Data Processing) is a well-known software company that makes ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning software). These types of golive templates are also known as SAP ERP go-live checklists.

The SAP go live checklist will be focused on software and technology product deployment. It will include things like UAT (User Acceptance Testing), bug resolution, and change control processes that you find in ITIL.

Often, in a go-live meeting, the project management team is looking at the bottom line - is enough done to launch the project solution? This is a "go/no-go" decision. Meaning if the minimum needed to launch the project isn't ready, then the go-live event date will need to be moved up to allow more time for readiness preparation.

The go/no-go checklist looks at just those minimum criteria, rather than the entire list of items that are meant to be done. It's a condensed version of a full go-live plan checklist.

Cutover is a term used to describe the steps that need to be taken to successfully transition (or cut over) from one system to another. The goal of the cutover checklist is to lay out a strategy that will mitigate any downtime during the move.

A cutover checklist is often used in large technology projects, for example, when a company is moving from one telecommunications system to another or when a vital tool that is required in the daily workflow is being replaced.

Change Readiness Pre-Go-Live Checklist

The change readiness pre go live checklist is focused on ensuring that individuals and groups being impacted by a project are properly enabled to adopt their "new normal" after the project goes live.
Application Go Live Checklist
What does go-live mean to the people that have to use the new solution or adopt new behaviors? This is what the change readiness checklist addresses. It includes things like confirmation that people have been trained, the go live email template deployment, and post-go-live support preparation.

An application go live checklist is used by software companies to ensure that all functions for a minimum viable product are in place before the product or update is launched. It helps coordinate all aspects of an application project, such as the development team, UAT testing, customer experience, and marketing.

Do you have any questions about the go live plan template? Please reach out and let us know.

How Do You Create an Effective Go Live Checklist Template?

Golive templates need to be well planned because they are going to be the thing that helps to ensure every "t" is crossed and "i" dotted before the project goes live.

Make sure you fully understand the project goals & objectives

Incorporate both technical go-live requirements and user adoption go-live requirements

Incorporate feedback from leaders of highly impacted groups (what does go-live mean to them?)

Update the go-live readiness checklist as needed to accommodate changes in project scope or timeline

Share the checklist in a collaborative tool where everyone can see updates in real-time

Walkthrough the checklist mentally and physically (if possible) to find anything that may have been left out of the go live plan

Here are some recommendations for creating an effective go-live readiness checklist template:

Outline of a Go Live Plan Template

Your project go live checklist is going to vary according to the parameters of the project you're supporting. However, certain things will remain constant, such as ensuring that users have post-go-live support in place.

The project solution has been reviewed/tested.

The project solution has been signed off as ready to deploy live.

An acceptable percentage of impacted individuals and groups support the project.

A go-live email template has been sent out to announce the go-live date and expectations.

End-users (employees, groups) have been trained successfully.

End-users have access to the new solution they are expected to begin using as of the go-live event date.

Post-go-live support has been put in place (help desk, office hours, tutorial videos, guides, etc.).

Post-go-live bug identification and issue resolution tracking have been set up.

The final change readiness assessment has been done and it indicates an acceptable level of employee/group readiness for the project launch.

The project solution documentation is complete

There has been a go-live meeting to go over the launch day go-live activities.

A knowledge transfer go live plan has been executed.

Below is an outline you can use and edit when creating a go-live readiness checklist template.

Have you been looking for an easier way to conduct a change readiness assessment? Do you need a go live plan template to guide you through the assessment steps? Check out the comprehensive OCMS Portal change management software with go live activities checklist AND over 100 free templates and resources (like a project go live checklist template Excel).

Sign Up for a Free Trial and Get Access to Free Templates, Checklists & More!

Why Is It Important to Use a Checklist In Your Go Live Plan?

A go-live checklist offers a quick and easy way to confirm that all vital tasks are complete before a project solution is launched. It's a condensed version of all the documented project requirements that helps to ensure the project is launched successfully.

Without using golive templates and checklists, project managers can be in the dark about how ready the project really is to be launched. Using the project go-live checklist helps ensure that no major balls are dropped when it comes to the go live events day.

OCMS Portal Go Live Readiness Checklist for OCM Tasks

An important part of being ready for "go live day" is to ensure that the people that need to adopt the new project solution are ready to do so. You ensure this by doing readiness assessments. The goal for the last change readiness assessment before the go-live event is that it will show a high level of readiness across the organization.

The go live readiness checklist template in the OCMS Portal software provides you with a powerful, yet simple-to-use tool for assessing your impacted groups for project go-live readiness.

This one-of-a-kind Change Readiness Assessment software also includes a step-by-step go live readiness assessment checklist to guide you through the best practices for readiness assessment.

Get everything you need to provide successful OCM support for a project. Try the OCMS Portal for free.

Conclusion: Go Live Checklist, Activities, & Planning

Checklists are a critical part of go live preparation and help you avoid missing important factors prior to launching a project live in an organization. This checklist ultimately gives you the answer to, "What does go live mean for this project?"

When going through the go live process, preparing the go live readiness checklist template should be one of your priorities. To be effective, bring as many leaders and project team members as possible, including the change manager, into the go live checklist preparation process. This helps ensure nothing important (such as having post-go-live support) is missed.

We hope that this overview of a go-live plan template and the outline above will be helpful to you as you work to drive successful projects. Feel free to reach out to OCM Solution anytime if you feel that there is something else of value, we can add about go live in project management.

FAQ: Go Live Readiness Checklist Template & Guide

Note: Content on OCM Solution's ocmsolution.com website is protected by copyright. Should you have any questions or comments regarding this OCM Solution page, please reach out to Ogbe Airiodion (Change Management Lead) or the OCM Solution Team today. OCM Solution was previously known as Airiodion Global Services (AGS).

External sources: stock.adobe.com, https://www.ls.graphics/free/free-pixel-4-and-pixelbook-go-mockup

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Go Live Checklist, Plan, and Template Guide for Project Management

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Welcome to Your Go-Live Success Guide! Embarking on a project's go-live journey? Exciting times await! Picture this: you've put in endless hours, countless brainstorming sessions, and numerous tweaks to craft the perfect project. Now, the big day is approaching-the grand unveiling, your project's time in the spotlight!

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Utilizing Technology to automate and standardize patient discharge education