A $20M ERP rollout was three weeks from go-live with failing integrations and burned-out teams. Here’s the two-week triage that got us live without blowing budget or trust.
Day 1–2: Stabilize and get facts
- Froze scope and code; locked down non-essential changes.
- Single war room with leads from finance, supply chain, infra, vendor.
- Built a visible risk register with owners and 48-hour actions.
Day 3–5: Cut scope to essentials
- Re-baselined to a Minimum Viable Cutover (MVC): only processes required to invoice, procure, fulfill, and close books.
- Deferred “nice to have” reports and automations to post-go-live sprint.
- Re-sequenced data loads to protect critical path; added rehearsal checkpoint.
Day 6–10: Prove readiness
- Ran daily mock cuts; tracked defects to zero-blocker SLA.
- Established Go/No-Go criteria with sponsors: data quality, throughput, fallbacks, and business continuity steps.
- Stress-tested rollback plan and staffed on-call roster.
Day 11–14: Communicate and decide
- Twice-daily exec updates with RAG, blockers, and asks.
- Clear decision log: what changed, why, and who approved.
- Green-lighted go-live with explicit risk acceptance on deferred scope.
Outcomes
- Cutover succeeded on schedule; no material financial control breaks.
- Deferred scope delivered in two hardening sprints with business ownership.
- Lessons logged into the PMO playbook: MVC definition, daily readiness score, and mandatory decision log for critical programs.
Sometimes recovery isn’t heroics—it’s focus, governance, and the courage to ship the smallest viable slice.