Most implementations are planned around the vendor's scope. The work that decides whether they succeed usually sits outside it: governance, decisions only your organization can make, data your teams have to prepare, and people who have to change how they work. Implementation Readiness tells you whether that side is ready before the schedule makes it expensive.
When this fits
- A contract has been signed, or is about to be, and the implementation partner is mobilizing.
- Governance for the program has been assumed rather than designed.
- Nobody can say with confidence which decisions the organization owns, or who owns them.
- The data, integration, or staffing work the implementation plan depends on has not been scoped internally.
- An existing system is moving from on-premise to the vendor's cloud, and the move is being planned as an upgrade rather than an implementation.
What we do
- Map decision rights: which decisions the program will need, who makes them, and how quickly.
- Review the governance structure against what the program will actually demand.
- Assess data readiness and the internal dependencies the implementation plan assumes are in place.
- Compare the implementation plan with your organization's obligations under it.
- Test resourcing: whether the people named in the plan can carry the work alongside their current roles.
What you receive
A readiness finding, the gaps that will cost you time if unaddressed, and an owner and date for each.
Timeline
Discover phase, typically 30 to 90 days.
Often followed by
Program Health Assessment, once the program is underway and you want an independent view of how it is tracking.
Questions
When is the right time for this?
Before or immediately after contract signature. Readiness gaps are cheapest to close before the implementation schedule starts consuming your team's time, and most expensive once the first milestone has slipped.
Isn't readiness the implementation partner's responsibility?
Your implementation partner is accountable for delivering its scope well. Readiness covers what sits on your side of the contract: the obligations the implementation plan depends on your organization meeting. That work needs an owner of its own.
Does this apply to a cloud migration?
Yes. Moving a system you already run from on-premise to the vendor's cloud is an implementation, even when the software is familiar. Data still has to be converted and validated, workflows change, people need retraining, and the vendor still needs decisions from you on time. Migrations tend to be scheduled as though the organization is already ready, because it already uses the product. That assumption is often where the schedule slips.
All engagements