Project Meetings
Cutover meetings prepare the team for the transition from legacy systems to Workday. Topics include sequencing, data migration, roles, and communication timelines.
Attendees:
All project team members
Meeting Purpose:
Align technical steps with people, process, and communication activities so that users, leaders, and support teams are ready for go‑live.
Timing:
Test Stage
Change Management Value-Add
Why This Matters for Change Management:
Bring your change management lens to ensure readiness activities, training completion, and go-live communications are integrated into the cutover plan.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Expand each section below:
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Exactly when will the old system be turned off?
Can employees still request time off during cutover? (If not, tell them now!).
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What time on Monday morning should they log in?
Where do they go if they get locked out on Day 1? (Help Desk, Slack, etc.).
Preparing for the Meeting
Cutover is the most compressed and high-stakes phase of a Workday implementation. It is the window when legacy systems are shut down, data is migrated, and the organization transitions to the new platform in real time. For change management consultants, cutover is where months of preparation either pay off or collapse.
Audiocast (4:25)
In this video, we unpack four high‑impact pitfalls that derail go‑live and show how great consultants turn them into an advantage.
Key Points
Essential considerations for Change Management consultants navigating the cutover phase.
1. Stay Plugged In and Protect Your Seat at the Table
Don't skip the Cutover Planning Kickoff Meeting - this is a critical moment to stay informed on the overall project direction and ensure CM is represented from the start.
If the cutover lead is scheduling planning or ongoing meetings with other workstreams, proactively request that the CM workstream be included in those same sessions.
Cutover is a high-pressure period with competing priorities - CM work is at risk of being deprioritized. Stay visible and advocate for your workstream before things fall off the radar.
Treat cutover sessions as both a listening post and a decision forum - use them to validate readiness, surface people-side risks, and shape go-live decisions.
2. Get CM Tasks on the Cutover Plan
Add Go-Live Readiness tasks to the cutover plan to elevate CM activities to the same level of importance and urgency as other workstreams - all eyes are on this list.
Being on the cutover plan increases accountability: tasks receive follow-up for completion and there is a clear escalation path when items are at risk.
Review all tasks assigned to CM - including those added by other team members - and make sure you understand what is expected. Ask questions early rather than later.
Use the cutover plan to sync key dates with your CM workstream plan and keep timelines aligned across the project.
3. Listen for Impact and Translate It Into Action
Listen for process downtime, blackout periods, manual workarounds, and high-risk activities - then translate these into clear, audience-specific communications about what is impacted, what users must do differently, and where to get help.
Ensure people and process elements are included alongside technical ones when aligning on how issues will be reported, prioritized, and resolved during cutover and hypercare.
Co-create or refine a joint cutover readiness checklist that covers both technical and people readiness - not just system stability, but user and manager preparedness.
4. Manage Risks, Dependencies, and Support Planning
If a cutover task has a dependency on an open RAID item, flag it immediately and update its priority to ensure it gets addressed before it becomes a blocker.
Co-create a hypercare support plan that defines channels, SLAs, and clear expectations for end users and managers in the first weeks after go-live.
Cutover requires significant cross-functional coordination - proactively build relationships with other workstream leads so CM is a trusted partner when decisions are made under pressure.