System Integration Readiness Checklist

• Are your master data definitions documented
• Is there agreement on 'what is a customer' across systems
• Is there a data steward named for each domain
• Has a data-quality audit been done in the last 12 months
• Are duplicate records under 5%
• Is there a plan to cleanse before migration, not during

Every 'no' here is a three-month delay waiting to happen.

• Are your current processes documented — actually documented, not verbally shared
• Are the decisions each process makes explicit
• Is there agreement that the new system will follow the current process, or that the process will change to fit the system

Unspoken process disagreements kill more integrations than data issues do — because they surface during user acceptance testing, when the budget is already spent.

• Is there executive sponsorship — a named C-suite owner attending weekly
• Is there a change manager, separate from the project manager
• Is there a communication plan for the 200+ employees whose work will change
• Is there an adoption metric and a plan to measure it post-launch

Without these, the new system goes live and nobody uses it — the most expensive failure mode of all.