How to Transition to Business as Usual – BAU | Video

Once your project is complete, you need to hand it over to the Business as Usual team, and document a BAU Transition model or BAU Support Model, to define how the project deliverables will be supported in BAU.

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Transition to BAU

Details of the transition to Business as Usual depend on what you are transitioning, for example:

• Mission-critical IT
  (hard cut-over after extensive testing with parallel running for rapid safe fallback)
• Operational customer service process
  (incremental introduction with regular feedback and modifications)

However, there are some basics…

Need for a Transition Manager or Integration Manager

• Two sides to the development process: project and operations
• Two sides to the transition: before and after
• So, need a project manager on the project/before side and an operational ‘Integration Manager’ on the business/after side
• Communication

Planning the Transition to BAU

• Can you phase it?
• How else can you de-risk it
• Look for risk triggers
• Create contingency plans
• Allocate roles

Preparing Your Stakeholders for the Transition to BAU

• Briefing user group and other stakeholders – need to identify who they are and what their individual needs are
• Communication

Training

• Conduct a Learning Needs Analysis (LNA) and create a training program 
• And ready reference materials 
• Use multi-modes to appeal to all your users
• Communication

Handover Documentation

• Operational use memo
• Snagging
• Communication

Testing before Transition to BAU

• Are you sure you are ready?
• Communication

Confirm Transition Readiness

• Is the project ready
• Is the business ready
• Need a clear Go/No-go decision, supported by a robust, accountable decision process
• Communication

Cut-over Process 

• With contingency plans and fallbacks
• Maybe rehearsals (without simulated major problems), war-gaming (with simulated major problems), or scenario planning
• Put in place robust support processes and make sure procedures for accessing them are easy and well-understood by everyone
• Create a rota for emergency support, with call escalation lists
• Assign responsibilities
• Communication

After the Transition to BAU

• Benefits realization
• Project review
• Lessons learned

Recommended Videos

Carefully curated video recommendations for you:

• What is Project Handover? | Video
• Close Your Project (from our free Project Fundamentals course)
• What is Project Integration? | Video

Recommended articles

• Project Closure: How to Miss Nothing when You Shut-down Your Project
• Ultimate Project Handover Guide: What You Need to Know
• Project Integration Management: Your Guide to the PM Glue

What Kit does a Project Manager Need?

I asked Project Managers in a couple of forums what material things you need to have, to do your job as a Project Manager. They responded magnificently. I compiled their answers into a Kit list. I added my own. 

Check out the Kit a Project Manager needs

Note that the links are affiliated.

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