Introduction
Prior to going live — ideally one to two weeks before the start of the first pay period — a decision to move from the client's legacy payroll system to Affinity needs to be made.
This formalises the decision to continue the process of changing the client's pay processing to Affinity in accordance with the project plan.
Tasks to be done
The Affinity Lead Consultant completes the Affinity Go Live Decision Checklist.
The Affinity Project Manager arranges a meeting with the key stakeholders.
The two parties meet to go through the form, agree on completed tasks, discuss outstanding tasks, and align on a go/no-go decision.
After the meeting, the project manager obtains written confirmation from the client that they agree to the final decision that was made in the meeting.
If the parties decide to go live with tasks outstanding, approval to proceed must first be given by the Head of Professional Services.
Making the decision
Completing the checklist
The Affinity Go Live Decision Checklist is the main document used to gain agreement from both parties that the project is ready to go live.
The project manager brings the completed checklist to the client meeting, running through each task with the client, gaining agreement (or otherwise) that each is task completed.
If there are no outstanding tasks
If all tasks are considered to be completed by all stakeholders then the decision to go live is straightforward.
If there are outstanding tasks
If some tasks are considered (by either party) to be outstanding, more conversation is needed. Here are some discussion guidelines:
Are any tasks critical to processing the first pay run?
How long will it take to complete the outstanding tasks?
Is there a workaround available (more resource, a manual intervention)?
What are the impacts (on both parties) if we delay (financial, resource availability)?
What's the risk if we go ahead (incorrect payments, negative first impressions by users)?