Specify which system is authoritative at every point in the transition. Avoid an ambiguous period in which both systems can independently change the same action or assessment.
What belongs in the cutover runbook?
Use an action list with owner, start time, dependency, expected result, evidence and escalation contact:
- Confirm approvals and the latest successful rehearsal.
- Communicate the change window and interim process.
- Freeze relevant legacy changes or establish a controlled delta log.
- Capture the final extract and backup or archive evidence.
- Execute the approved production load.
- Reconcile records, relationships and files.
- Enable the approved integrations and notifications.
- Test representative user access and critical transactions.
- Reconcile the first production report.
- Obtain the named go/no-go decision.
- Open the new workflow and announce the authoritative system.
- Begin enhanced support and defect monitoring.
What should rollback mean?
Define the decision deadline, trigger conditions and how changes made after cutover would be handled. A rollback plan should answer:
- Which system resumes authoritative processing?
- What happens to work created in the new system?
- How are duplicate notifications or tasks prevented?
- Who reconciles the transition period?
- Who informs contributors and report users?
Keep an approved interim route for urgent findings and evidence submissions during the change window. Do not make legacy deletion part of the same irreversible decision as first go-live.
Exit gate: the first live workflow, integration and management report reconcile; support ownership is active; outstanding issues have explicit treatment.