Use the checklist to prove phase readiness—not just task completion.
The strongest implementation checklist is phase-based and evidence-based. The question is not only “did the task happen?” but “is the output usable, approved, traceable, and sufficient for the next phase?”
1. Mobilization and governance
Confirm scope, modules, business units, environments, and implementation governance.
Define RAID, decision, action, dependency, and escalation controls.
Establish phase-gate criteria and approval ownership.
2. Discovery and common design
Complete current-state and future-state workshops by module/workstream.
Capture design decisions, open questions, gaps, RICE objects, integrations, conversions, and reports.
Validate cross-module dependencies before detailed build continues.
3. Build and sprint validation
Configure against approved design decisions rather than undocumented assumptions.
Track unresolved blockers and decision dependencies.
Confirm testability of workflows, accounting, security, integrations, conversions, and controls.
4. SIT
Test positive, negative, exception, integration, accounting, security, control, and edge-case scenarios.
Reconcile conversions and interfaces, not just successful technical loads.
Close or formally accept defects that would affect UAT entry.
5. UAT
Confirm trained business participants, business-ready data, scripts, and expected results.
Validate real operating scenarios—including unusual values, new organizational structures, and approver changes.
Obtain evidence-based sign-off and document unresolved conditions.
6. Cutover and go-live
Confirm production access, conversion sequence, reconciliation, banking, approvals, integrations, jobs, and ownership.
Define go/no-go criteria and escalation authority.
Ensure support, hypercare, and first-period-close ownership are ready before production.
7. Hypercare
Track issues by business impact and ownership.
Confirm knowledge transfer to operational resources.
Capture lessons learned and retain implementation decisions in project memory.