Overview

Your job isn t over when you ve built and tested the system. You can t just dump it onto the users and expect them to get on with it they will almost certainly refuse to do so. There are a large number of tasks which still need to be done, and which require both proper management and your team s knowledge of the system.

If the system s intended for a specific user group, then you may have to help with things like training, setting up base data, integrating the system with others, and testing the system in its live environment. If it s a system for sale, then your responsibilities may be different, but you will have to help set up installation routines and support structures, or provide help to the marketing and sales people.

You will have to make sure that the recipients of any delivery know what they should do with it, and monitor their activities to look for possible problems.

There may be a substantial job of testing still to be completed during this stage. In some cases, you will have produced part of a larger system, and will have to combine the systems together during the transition stage. In other cases, you will be procuring all or part of the system from outside, and will need to thoroughly test the supplied parts and integrate them into your environment.

The management challenges of the transition stage are quite different to those of earlier stages. Conflicting with the pressure to complete...