ERP Go-Live Readiness Checklist: Are You Actually Ready to Cut Over?
This checklist verifies whether your organization is genuinely ready to cut over to a new ERP, built for discrete manufacturers going live on platforms like Infor SyteLine or Infor LN. Go-live failures are rarely caused by the software; they are caused by unconverted data nobody reconciled, integrations tested only at toy volumes, users trained on slideware, and cutover plans that exist only in someone's head. The 29 items span data, testing, training, cutover, and support, with the eight highest-risk items flagged critical. Work through it with your project team two to four weeks before your planned date.
0 of 29 items complete
8 critical items still open - these are the highest-risk gaps.
Data and Conversion
Testing and Validation
People and Training
Cutover and Infrastructure
Support and Stabilization
Score yourself honestly: every unchecked critical item is a strong argument to delay go-live, and three or more unchecked critical items means you are not ready regardless of the calendar. Non-critical gaps are manageable with workarounds, but document an owner and a date for each one before cutover.
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We will email a personalized readiness analysis with mitigation plans for every gap you flagged, and a cutover specialist will follow up to pressure-test your go-live date.
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Why the critical items are critical
The eight critical items share a property: if any one of them fails at cutover, there is no cheap workaround. A failed reconciliation means you are running the business on numbers nobody trusts. Untested integrations mean EDI orders silently stop flowing the morning after go-live. Untrained critical users mean shipping stops while people hunt for help. A missing runbook or absent go/no-go gate means the cutover weekend improvises under pressure, which is where the worst decisions get made. Non-critical items matter too, but each has a survivable fallback: a late quick-reference guide or an unpolished report creates friction, not stoppage. Prioritize ruthlessly by that distinction, because the last month before go-live never has enough hours for everything.
How to run the checklist with your team
Do not fill this in alone at a desk. Convene the project leads and department owners, walk every item, and require evidence rather than assurances: show the reconciliation report, open the runbook, pull the training completion log. Items pass on proof, not confidence, because the readiness reviews that fail are the ones where a tired team nods items through in the final week. The group setting matters as much as the evidence standard; readiness gaps are usually known to someone in the room, and the checklist gives that person a legitimate moment to say so. Capture an owner and date for every gap on the spot, then manage the list like the risk register it is.
- Run the full checklist at T-minus-4 weeks, then re-run criticals weekly until cutover
- Require documentary evidence for each item; verbal confirmation does not count
- Feed unchecked items directly into the go/no-go decision as named risks
- Repeat the exercise after go-live to build your exit-from-hypercare criteria
Deciding to delay: the hardest call
Delaying a go-live feels like failure, costs real money, and disappoints executives who announced the date. Going live unready costs more: shipment stoppages, month-end chaos, emergency consulting rates, and a workforce whose first impression of the new system is a crisis. Industry experience is unambiguous that a four-week delay is almost always cheaper than a failed cutover. The checklist gives you an objective basis for that conversation: three or more failed critical items is a delay recommendation you can defend with evidence rather than nerves. If you must proceed with known gaps, do it with eyes open, in writing, with mitigation owners named and the steering committee formally accepting each risk.
How Netray helps you reach a clean go-live
Netray runs go-live readiness audits, cutover planning, and hypercare support for manufacturers on Infor SyteLine, LN, and Baan-heritage systems. We have executed enough cutovers to know which checklist gaps are truly disqualifying and which are survivable with the right workaround, and our runbook templates, reconciliation frameworks, and AI-assisted test automation compress the last month of readiness work substantially. If your checklist walkthrough surfaced red flags, or if you want an independent set of experienced eyes at your go/no-go meeting, get in touch; a specialist will review your results and tell you plainly whether your date is realistic.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should we start working through this checklist?
Start the first full pass at least four weeks before your planned cutover, then re-check the critical items weekly. Four weeks gives you enough runway to fix a failed reconciliation, rerun an integration test at volume, or close training gaps without moving the date. Teams that first open a readiness checklist during cutover week are not checking readiness; they are documenting the surprises they are about to have.
How many unchecked items are acceptable at go-live?
There is no magic number, but the working rule is: zero to two unchecked critical items with documented mitigations may be survivable with steering committee sign-off; three or more means delay. Non-critical items are more forgiving, though each needs a named owner and remediation date. What is never acceptable is an unchecked item nobody has examined, because unknown gaps are the ones that stop shipments.
What does good hypercare look like after go-live?
A staffed support model, not just goodwill. Plan for at least four weeks of elevated support: floor-walkers or super users physically present in each department for week one, a single intake channel for issues, daily triage with severity rules, and a stand-up where department leads surface problems. Define measurable exit criteria in advance, such as ticket volume trending down and period-close completing cleanly, so hypercare ends by evidence rather than fatigue.
Have a specialist review your readiness results and give you an honest go/no-go recommendation.
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