Business tool launch reviewer

What it does

Share the business tool you are launching, the people affected and your readiness notes. It checks data, access, training, connections and rollback plans. You get an open-issue checklist, a launch-day plan and a place to record the go or no-go decision.

What goes in and out

You give it

• The new business tool, rollout date and affected teams.
• Known test results, owners, training plans and rollback options.
• A plan (optional)

You get

• A readiness checklist with open items.
• A go or no-go decision record for the owner.
• A launch-day plan and follow-up review outline.

How the task works

• Step 1. Check data, users, connections and communication readiness.
• Step 2. Separate launch blockers from risks the owner may accept.
• Step 3. Prepare the decision record, launch-day checks and follow-up review.

Full instructions

• Gather first: the tool name, how many people use it, your launch date, where old data lives, named owners and who can order a rollback.
• Open Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini. Paste in the skill text from this page. No code or files are needed.
• Paste your gathered notes under it. Say what is done and what is not.
• Read the open items. Mark each one as a blocker or a risk you accept.
• Hold the one-hour go or no-go meeting with your project lead and system owner. Record the decision.
• Use the launch-day plan on the day. Book the review for two weeks after launch.

Full instruction file

Go-Live Checklist — Under 100 People

Before you start

Use the material below to do this job. If facts or tool access are missing, explain what you can finish and what must wait.

What you need (use your own material or the linked skill):

• Your question (yours): the decision or problem, and what a good outcome looks like.

Makes it better (optional):

• A plan (yours): the goals, steps, constraints and dates for this work.

How to start:

1. Look first. Use what they've already attached, pasted or put in their about-me note. In a coding assistant with file access, look in the project too for these by name.
2. Check what's missing. Look for your question, a plan. They can attach files, paste the details, or share a file path your assistant can read. Ask only for missing facts that change the result. If they ask you to start with what they have, complete the parts you can and mark the gaps.
3. Do the job. Follow the skill below with the facts and tools you have. Mark each gap with MISSING: where it belongs and never invent a fact to fill it.

Purpose

At this size, go-live is the day you flip from "old way" to "new way" on a system that matters — accounting platform migration, CRM switch, HR platform adoption, new billing system, etc. The risks are smaller than enterprise go-lives (no 1,000-user training nightmares) but real — a botched accounting-migration means your books are broken for weeks; a bad CRM cutover means lost deals.

This template is the pragmatic minimum-viable checklist — not 200 items. It covers: data ready, users ready, integrations working, rollback possible, communications sent. One spreadsheet or Notion page. One meeting to review. Decision: go or no-go.

When to Use

• New SaaS platform being rolled out (>50 users affected OR >$500/mo cost OR business-critical)
• Data migration from legacy tool to new
• Major process change requiring adoption
• Annual-cycle event (year-end close, benefits open enrollment, etc.)

Not every change needs a go-live checklist. Use judgment — if impact is small + reversible, skip this overhead.

If you have a rollout or data-move plan, share it. Its dates and owners fill in the checklist.

The Checklist

Section 1: Data Readiness

• All data migrated from old to new system (or confirmed minimum viable subset)
• Data validated — sample verified; totals reconcile; no obvious corruption
• Historical data accessible — either migrated or archived read-only
• Cleanup completed — duplicates merged, stale records deleted
• Ownership + responsibility clear per major data domain

Section 2: Users Ready

• Accounts provisioned for all users who need access
• Permissions configured correctly per role
• Training delivered (30-min live session or async video + docs)
• Quick-reference cheat sheet distributed
• Power users identified (1–2 internal champions to help others)

Section 3: Integrations

• Critical integrations working — tested end-to-end (e.g., new CRM → old ERP sync)
• Webhooks + automations configured + tested
• Payment / billing integration validated if applicable
• Data-sync cadence defined (real-time vs. nightly)
• Failure-mode alerting configured for critical integrations

Section 4: Communications

• All-hands announcement sent (Slack, email) with: why, what's changing, when, what users need to do
• External communication if customer-facing (e.g., new support-ticket URL)
• Key stakeholders aware (board, customers with unusual access)
• Support contact defined — who do users ask when stuck day 1?

Section 5: Rollback Plan

• Rollback criteria defined — what triggers a rollback?
• Rollback procedure documented — specific steps to revert
• Old system availability — kept live in read-only mode for 30–90 days
• Rollback decision-maker identified + contact available day 1

Section 6: Business Process

• New-process documented — written SOP or video
• Legal / compliance review completed if applicable
• Financial impact validated — pricing, billing, invoicing unchanged from customer perspective (unless intentional)
• Vendor support ready — account manager contact available day 1, priority support enabled

Section 7: Monitoring

• Health metrics defined — what do we watch to know it's working?
• Who monitors day 1, day 2–7, day 8–30
• Issue-escalation path clear
• Post-mortem meeting scheduled 2 weeks post-launch

Go / No-Go Decision Meeting

Hold 1 hour before launch with:

• Project lead
• System owner (CS / IT / Finance / HR lead depending on system)
• Founder or CEO (for material launches)

Review:

1. Walk through checklist — any unchecked items
2. Unchecked items: blocker (no-go) or risk-accept (go with mitigation)?
3. Final go / no-go decision
4. If go: launch time + contacts confirmed
5. If no-go: new target date + what's needed to close gaps

Decision is explicit. Recorded. Communicated.

Day-Of Runbook

• T-4 hours: Final smoke tests on production environment
• T-1 hour: Freeze old system (read-only); confirm rollback readiness
• T-0: Launch. Announcement sent. Monitoring active.
• T+1 hour: First check-in — any user issues?
• T+4 hours: Second check-in — aggregate feedback.
• T+24 hours: Day-1 review. Surface issues + resolutions.
• T+1 week: Early retrospective + adjustments.

Common Mistakes

• Over-engineering the checklist: 200-item list for a HubSpot rollout — nobody follows it.
• Under-engineering: "We'll figure it out day-of." One broken integration = week of chaos.
• No rollback plan: "It'll work." Real go-lives need a plan-B.
• Users surprised: No comms or training, first email Monday morning from confused employee.
• Old system decommissioned too fast: Week 2, need to look up old invoice; data gone.
• No post-mortem: Issues happen, nobody captures learnings, repeats next time.
• Vendor support blindspot: Day 1, vendor 3-day-response SLA, you're stuck.

Output

• Completed checklist (spreadsheet or Notion)
• Go/no-go decision doc (1 page)
• Launch-day runbook
• 1-week retrospective with lessons

After this

When you've handed it back, suggest what they could do next in one short question. It's a suggestion: if they're done, that's fine. Offer these, and say they can type their own:

• The Cross-tool status briefing writer. It takes the document. If they pick one and that skill is added here, carry straight on with what you just made. If not, give the link and say what to bring.

Related

• Fit-Gap Matrix (source reference: ../fit-gap-matrix/SKILL.md) — precedes go-live in tool-selection flow
• Migration Runbook (source reference: ../migration-runbook/SKILL.md) — data-migration-specific runbook
• Mid-Market Go-Live Checklist (100–1k) (source reference: ../../02-org-100-to-1k/go-live-checklist/SKILL.md)
• Enterprise Go-Live Checklist (1k+) (source reference: ../../03-org-1k-plus/go-live-checklist/SKILL.md)