Global Business Transformation, SAP, ERP, Cutover Management, Manufacturing Excellence, Blackout period Management, Direct and Indirect Procurement, Business Intelligence, Data Management and Analytic,

1. Concepts of Cutover Planning and Management
Sanjay Choubey

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Agenda
 Introduction to Cutover: What is Cutover?
 Plan for the Plan
 Cutover Planning Process
 Cutover Plan Vs. Business Readiness Plan
 Contingency Planning
 Must Get Right

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What is Cutover?
Cutover is the process of planning, managing and executing ALL of the tasks and
activities that allow the impacted business/function to ‘cutover’ to the SAP system.
Business Preparation Activities related to Cutover and Legacy Integration/
Shutdown are key components of the Cutover Plan.
Cutover Planning and Execution Activities are organized and managed under the
following categories:
System Build (Technical & Functional)
Data Migration/Verification
Business Preparation
Legacy Integration/Shutdown
Business Startup Activities
These are the primary building blocks of Cutover and success
requires rigorous, detailed and integrated planning.

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Cutover Activities
 System Build
– Technical / Infrastructure Build
• Build Production environment
• Connectivity to middleware, Bolt-Ons, and legacy environments
• Setup of printers and scanners
– Functional build
• Apply all transports (Configuration, Security and Development)
• Perform manual steps
 Data Migration & Verification
– Data Accuracy Testing
– Extract and transform data
– Load master data into production with end user sign-off
– Load transaction data into production and reconcile with end user sign-off

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Cutover Activities, cont’d
 Business Preparation
– Business activities and procedures in support of the Cutover process e.g.:
• Last Processing of Business Transactions
• Inventory procedures
 Legacy Integration/Shutdown
– Legacy System freeze schedules
– Shutdown/decommissioning procedures
– Legacy interface re-pointing
 Business Startup Activities
– Restarting the business based on the new solution (processes, data,
technology)
– Focused on key identified areas

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Plan for the Plan
To prepare a detailed cutover plan leveraging resources from project and various business
units, a Plan for the plan is necessary. Plan of the plan helps in planning & tracking various
milestones and effort. The milestones defined are as follows:
1. Initial Cutover Planning
– Define roles and responsibilities, Cutover meeting cadence
– Establish Cutover Schedule
– Define Scope, approach of Initial cutover planning workshops
– Conduct Initial workshops
1. Detailed Cutover Planning
– Conduct Detailed cutover workshops with Process and Horizontal teams
– Review Communication Plan, Site Readiness plan
– Create and Review Contingency plan
– Facilitate issue based workshops
– Road-show/ Communication of “Draft Cutover Plan”
1. Cutover Rehearsal
– Create rehearsal Plan
– Execute Cutover Rehearsal
– Facilitate Lessons Learned for Cutover rehearsal
1. Release of “Final Cutover Plan”

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Initial Planning
 Objective
– Kick start planning activity by identifying the key tasks and
planning team members
 Inputs
– Planning Accelerators (Planning workbooks for different teams)
– List of Interfaces and Legacy IT systems
– Prior Release Contingency Plans
– Prior Release Lessons Learned
 Outputs
– Preliminary List of Cutover Tasks (Draft Workbook)
– Planning Team Members
• List of team members (SAP team, Data team, Legacy IT &
Interface Coordinators)
• Business Resources

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Detailed Planning
 Objective
– Develop a Draft Cutover Plan, aligned
with Business Readiness and
Shutdown plan
– Develop a Draft Business Startup
Plan
 Inputs
– Preliminary Planning Workbook
– Business Readiness Plans (incl.
Shutdown Plans)
 Outputs
– Draft Cutover Plan
– Draft Startup Plan
– Cutover Rehearsal Plan
Key Takeaway: there is much iteration as we go
deeper in each process subteam and then integrate
across processes; it is very likely that business
team members will find some overlap as we look
into detailed Cutover tasks and plan for Shutdown
because the tasks are heavily interdependent

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Cutover Rehearsal
 Objective
– To practice, to greatest extent possible, Cutover and build
lessons learned into the final Cutover Plan
– To practice Startup (limited to transactional processing, not
operations)
 Inputs
– Draft Cutover Plan
– Draft Startup Plan
 Outputs
– Final Cutover Plan
– Updated Startup Plan
Key Takeaway: not everything is rehearsed; specifically not
every Business Prep task is a candidate for rehearsal;
conversely, some activity will have been rehearsed many times
by this point (e.g., Data Migration)

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Cutover
 Objective
– To successfully Go Live
– To have a well orchestrated Startup
 Inputs
– Cutover Plan
– Updated Startup Plan
 Outputs
– New SAP Production Capability (this is not just about a system!)
Key Takeaways: (1) Startup activity that needs to be done
within SAP before Go Live must be in the Cutover Plan, (2) the
Cutover Plan is a controlled document with change control – we
need to get it first time right ! (3) Startup planning is not just a
site or division – everything is now integrated !

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Cutover Plan and Business Readiness Plans
Business
Readiness Plans
(Planning lead by Business
Leads)
Cutover Plan
(planning lead by
SAP Team)
System Build
Data Migration
Legacy System Shutdown
Business Prep
(e.g., Shutdown)
Legacy System Integrations
Prepare SOPs
Business
Continuity Plans
Benefits
Ownership
Start UpPlanned by SAP
team
(planned at the
executable level of
detail)
Planned by the
Business
(planned at the
executable level of
detail)
Planned Collaboratively
(planned a the milestone level and
then the executable level of detail is
carried in the most appropriate plan)

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Cutover and Business Readiness Plan Milestone Dates
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
These are the critical Cutover Milestones; these
are fixed dates/times and are in the Cutover Plan
These are the key milestones that form the critical path
for the Level 1 dates (e.g., last 3rd
Party Invoice paid
before A/P closed, close Sales/Inventory); these are also
fixed and shifts need to be approved/negotiated; these
are also in the Cutover Plan
These are the important milestones that the
Business or Legacy IT must achieve in order to
accomplish Level 2 dates (e.g., turn off legacy
system for Requisitioning); these are flexible
only to the extent that Level 2 milestones stay on
track; these are expected to be in Legacy
Business Readiness Plans but higher risk
milestones may also be carried in the Cutover
Plan

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Contingency Planning
Contingency Planning is needed to ensure that organization can continue to perform
their critical business functions in an acceptable period of time
Two types of Contingency Plan are developed:
1. IT & SAP Contingency Plan
a. One way of SAP Vs. another way – What If Scenarios
b. Interface Vs Manual SAP transaction
c. Hardware (Network, Printers, SSO etc) & Software (Internet explorer
version Vs Mozilla Firefox etc)
Developed by Project Implementation Team during Cutover meetings
2. Business Continuity Plan at Business Unit level
a. Leveraging Manual processes in the event of non SAP
b. Paper based/ Legacy system Based
c. Decision on Procedural Checks and Balances
Developed By Business (reviewed & agreed by Project team)

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Must Get Right
 Approval from Project sponsors for Key Cutover Strategies, Draft Cutover schedule and Key
Timelines
 Clearly defined and documented roles and responsibilities of Cutover Team
– Cutover Lead
– Data Migration lead
– Interface Coordinator
– Legacy IT Coordinator
– System Build (Functional & Technical) Coordinator
 Clear agreement from Business about their participation and involvement
 Change, Communication and Training Team should be in loop in the entire process and
should help drive communication and change initiatives aligned with Cutover Schedule
 Infrastructure arrangement for Cutover Rehearsal should be similar to Actual Cutover. There
shouldn’t be any compromise during rehearsal in terms of participation of business or effort.
 One should pay very close attention to User provisioning, role definition & testing of roles
 Business Verification transactions during Cutover rehearsal should be detailed enough and
should include security roles too.

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