• Change initiative readiness which considers whether everything is in place to deliver the outcomes and benefits described in the business case
• Change leadership readiness which checks that the change leaders are clear about the messages and their role in removing barriers to change
• Change solution readiness which focuses on whether the capabilities are in place to deliver the change, ie are the tools, skills, processes in place?
• Change commitment readiness which aims to ensure that the changes ‘stick’ within the organisation.  Checking that stakeholders are ready for the change, that the communications are effective and that you have identified some ‘quick wins’ to build momentum for the change

Business readiness ensures that all aspects of the change initiative are in place for implementation before any The criteria which allow you to check off readiness against each of the four areas above will be specific to the change initiative – you can use a similar set of questions to the Change Measurement Assessment questions as a starting point.  The change solution readiness questions will focus on the key aspects of project deployment and may include issues relating to:

• Physical environment – new building, rearranged offices etc
• Business processes and procedures – changes to policies, ways of carrying out business activities
• Technical infrastructure & applications – IT systems, hardware, support and related activity
• Organisation – training, structures, new ways of working etc

• Is the organisation change ready?
  • Are the communication messages clear?
  • Does the wider organisation understand the changes?
  • Have wider ‘knock-on’ effects of a local change been considered?
  • Are there mitigations in place to ensure business continuity?
• Is the leadership change ready?
  • Are the change leaders ’walking the talk’ with regards to new behaviours and ways of working?
  • Are there sufficient time, money and resources available to make the change happen?
• Are employees change ready?
  • Have people been informed about what is happening and when?
  • Do people understand the future state and the reasons behind the change?
  • Are people ready and motivated to support the change?
• Are key stakeholders change ready?
  • Has the change vision been clearly communicated?
  • Do the stakeholders understand the value of the change?
  • Has any resistance been handled properly?

Once you have your criteria and approach to assessing readiness you can document these in the ‌

• Defined the set of key metrics that will track the Business Readiness on the four dimensions
• Determine success criteria (green, amber, red system)

• Full shut down: although unusual, the sponsors can decide to terminate the project entirely. Usually, however, given the investment the organisation has made, an alternative solution is usually more appropriate.
• Delayed go-live: this is the more probable course of action, especially if the deployment is suffering from general difficulties across several functional areas, or in a specific business critical area. A new go-live date will have to be determined, and the business readiness approach will need to be updated to reflect the new plan.
• Partial go-live: if there is functionality that can be isolated without inhibiting the rest of the release, the decision may be to delay the deployment of just that functionality, while continuing to deploy the larger part of the release. Again, the Business Readiness Approach will need to be modified to reflect the timeline and deployment schedule.

• Site Readiness
  • Communication activities (ie, have all the relevant communications occurred? Do people understand why this is happening?)
  • Training infrastructure (ie, are trainers available? Is the training environment ready?)
  • Technical infrastructure (ie, is the technology current at the local site?)
  • Technical support (ie, is there capable local support?)
  • Security requirements (ie, are there any specific requirements?)
  • Staffing issues (ie, have HR issues been addressed? Are the unions “on-side”?)
• Resources
  • Does the organisation have the right staff for the desired (transformed) state? If not, is the gap being resolved?
  • What are the requirements around the number and type of resources? Are the requirements being met? Do we have sufficient resources to roll out the changes?
  • Have the stakeholders been sufficiently trained or enabled?
  • Is there any conflict in resources across programs? Is the conflict being resolved?
  • Does the organisation have the right structure both for rolling-out and sustaining the change? What is the structure?
• Timing
  • What is the sequence for rolling out changes? Has the necessary preparation been completed based on this sequence?
  • Can employees deal with the pace of the change?
  • Is there a right balance between on-going requirements for running the business and the needs associated with the change initiative?