In the previous stage, all the actions required to make the change will have been identified – now is the time to start doing those actions!

A transition activity can range from the large such as the development of a new technology, an organisational change process working with HR, or data cleansing, to the small such as changing the name of a mailbox, requesting the deletion of a phone number, or making sure the organisational chart name is changed.

It is important to keep in mind when and how the actions will be done will be entirely dependent on the type of change, the solution designed, available resources and timeframe of the change as a whole. There is no point changing a policy tomorrow if the system which enables that policy to be put into practice won’t be ready for another three months.

However, if there are actions which could be done which would provide immediate benefit and are not dependent on anything else – why not do them and provide some quick wins.

It is absolutely critical that the whole solution is tested or rehearsed to ensure it works. While testing is very typical in technology projects, people sometimes forget when it is a process solution or an organisational change that some form of testing is needed and beneficial to embedding the change quickly.

This testing is what is typically known in technology projects as User Acceptance Testing. This is where the operational users walk the solution through a series of usual scenarios that happen in the day-to-day operation and see if the solution as built works.

The design or build may need to be tweaked as issues or concerns are found with the solution, and the impact reassessed, with documentation updated. Any workarounds should be documented.

Testing provides another opportunity for people to be involved; change champions are good to involve as they will then have spent time with the solution prior to the implementation.

People do need to understand what their role is, how they will perform their role – whether they are dealing with a changed or new process/application or a change in position.

An appropriate level of training should be performed in line with the agreed approach.

Training will be the first time some people have personal experience of interacting or fully understanding the new solution so it is critical the training reinforces the key messages for the change and creates confidence in what is changing.

The final step in transition is to do the formal implementation of the change – the official day of the launch of the new organisation, or the new processes, or the ‘go live’ of a system.

The immediate time prior to launch is sometimes referred to as ‘cutover’ where the organisation suspends its operations while the old solutions are switched off, archived or teams formally disbanded, and the new solution is switched on, new teams go into being, processes are implemented and the final touches put into place.

A launch day can be celebrated with an event, special engagement and communication activity such as articles, digital media, cakes, and so on. Usually the launch communications are tailored to fit the type of change and the scale of the change.

• Final ‘to-be’ design documentation will be created including process maps, functional requirement documents, etc. depending on the type of change being proposed, ensuring any tweak/change during the implementation and testing is reflected.

• UAT test scenarios, scripts, and test report

• Training schedule and training materials

• Post launch support approach and plan with any accompanying supporting documents

• Updated detailed implementation and transition plans