Operational Readiness

Description

Operational readiness ensures the building, floorplate or environment is fully prepared to support intended business use, occupancy and ongoing management. The objective is to confirm that all elements - commercial, physical, digital, operational, organisational and compliance - are aligned to enable a smooth transition into a live operation or tenant occupation.

The Transformation Project Manager collates checklist items from the relevant stakeholders, sorting into key workstreams in an overarching Operational Readiness Checklist document for onward tracking, owning the end-to-end process. Each workstream owner defines assigned checklist items and acceptance criteria, and is accountable for progressing them to completion. The Transformation Project Manager reports upon overall operational readiness status through the project and (if applicable) University governance. 

Engagement

An Operational Readinees Checklist should be completed collaboratively with all stakeholders who will own, support, use, or be impacted by the service, process or change once it goes live. 

Typical stakeholders will be: 

  • Business Owner - Accountable for the ongoing operation.
  • Operational Teams - Who will run and monitor the service day-to-day.
  • Support Teams/Service Desk - First-line and Second-line support staff.
  • Technical Teams - Audio-Visual, Infrastructure, Application, Network, Security and Engineering Teams. 
  • Change Manager - Ensuring readiness activities are completed and risks managed. 
  • Transformation Project Manager - Coordinating completion of readiness actions by each workstream owner. 
  • Training & Communications Leads - Confirming users and support teams are prepared.
  • Risk, Compliance and Security Teams - Validating regulatory and security requirements as well as related certification.
  • Business Representatives/End-User Coordinators - Confirming business processes and user acceptance. 
  • Suppliers or 3rd Party Vendors (where applicable) - Ensuring external dependencies are operationally ready. 

Forms and Links

  • TR01 Operational Readiness Checklist:

Approvals and Compliance Review

  • Approval of the criteria is required from the Senior Responsible Officer and Project Board. Depending on the project's pre-defined governance structure, the proposed readiness criteria and actioned readiness criteria may also be presented to the Operations & Infrastructure Committee (OIC) and University Management Board (UMB) with endorsement from the Project Board. 

Repeated Subsequent RIBA Stages

RIBA Stage 3

Operational readiness is defined at this stage, though not executed. The relevant team/stakeholders should:

  • Define operational requirements
  • Identify key stakeholders
  • Establish high-level readiness strategy and success criteria

The operational readiness strategy and plan activities should be added to the overall project plan. 

RIBA Stage 5

Deliver and action operational readiness criteria at this stage, not limited to but including:

  • Commissioning and testing of all building systems
  • Completion of compliance and certification
  • Training for operational teams
  • Handover of operating manuals, processes and building data
  • Readiness validation (walkthroughs, audits, checklists)
  • Change readiness, communications, leadership and guidance for operational teams and other stakeholders

The space should be operationally ready at the point of practical completion.