Since the pandemic, major system implementations at health systems have continued with successful go lives supported by virtual or hybrid remote/onsite teams. Many organizations have “go live” success stories in this new world of remote work. While virtual support may change some things and certainly presents new challenges, the core work of a successful go live is still the same.

In late 2019, I published several blog posts on successful go lives based on firsthand experience with a major Epic implementation. Here they are again with basic lessons and tips:

10 Go Live Command Center lessons from the field

Epic Go Live – report from the field

9 Tips for Go Live support success

I welcome your comments on any virtual or hybrid go live experiences you have been involved in during the past year. If I get enough new lessons and tips, I will write a new blog so all can benefit. After all, continual learning and sharing best practices is at the core of what we do in healthcare.

Why this topic this week? I am currently working with a client who is less than six weeks out from an ERP go live so it is on my mind a lot. We are doing what we refer to as an Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V), a framework that facilitates audits of major IT projects regardless of area and complexity.  We explore 11 categories in-depth.  The topics range from governance and budget to training and QA.  The detailed analyses for each area involve document review and interviews to ascertain the status of the project.  A risk score is assigned in each of the 11 areas and mitigations are suggested based on the findings.  Ideally, over the life of the project there are three IV&V sessions conducted prior to go live and one session after go live to ensure that projects stay on course, make corrections as necessary in a timely manner, and achieve the defined objectives.

If you think an IV&V from my advisory firm, StarBridge Advisors, is something that your organization can use, please contact us to discuss.