Introduction
In a Microsoft Dynamics 365 deployment, the process of transition from the old system to the Dynamics 365 application is defined as the cutover. Occasionally, cutover is described as the final transition at go-live, but that description mischaracterizes the actual work for cutover that starts early in the project. During this final transition, the old system is typically unavailable and so this part of the transition period is kept to a minimum. Usually, this final transition is conducted over a quiet period for the business, such as a weekend or holiday shutdown.
You will implement the final cutover later in the project life cycle during the Prepare phase. Therefore, before go-live happens, you should begin defining the cutover strategy early in the Initiate phase of the Success by Design framework. The early conversations about the cutover strategy should include leadership level business sponsors and the necessary business and technical project team members. This approach will help ensure that all stakeholders are aligned from the beginning of the project and are collaborating on defining the end goal in terms of moving from the current systems to the new systems.
The overall cutover project plan provides the view of the milestones and key tasks from the start of the project to the go-live event (including the post go-live cutover tasks). However, the go-live cutover plan needs to be a detailed, task-oriented plan because you have a limited period in which to perform and validate the final cutover tasks and limited room for significant errors.