SI Project Checklist Guide

This phase spans from contract signing to the actual start of work. Documenting purpose, scope, and stakeholders in a kickoff report and project charter gives you a paper trail if disputes arise later. Lock down the PM/PL's reporting line and emergency contacts before the kickoff meeting to reduce early miscommunication. Dev environment account requests often take a while to process, so start those first.

If you don't clearly separate the RFP and contract scope in writing, arguments about 'is this in scope or not' are almost guaranteed mid-project. Agreeing early on a change management process — who approves changes and how they flow into schedule/cost — sets you up to handle change requests (CRs) systematically. Liquidated damages and warranty terms are the first things to check in the contract.

Defining requirements without an as-is analysis of the current system tends to produce designs that clash with existing business processes. Building a requirements traceability matrix (RTM) early lets you trace any requirement forward into design and test later. Non-functional requirements like performance, security, and availability rarely come up in business interviews, so track them separately.

Screen designs, ERDs, API specs, and architecture documents all need client review before development starts. Starting development before design sign-off turns any later design change into rework. Security design (auth, encryption, access control) depends on whether personal data is involved, so confirm that scope early.

Coding conventions and a branching strategy are cheaper to agree on before multiple developers are on board. Setting up CI/CD early means you get the benefits of automated deployment by the time testing starts. Weekly progress reports should compare actual progress against the WBS so schedule slips get caught early.

Integration testing and UAT serve different purposes: integration testing catches issues between modules, while UAT confirms the business side can actually use the system for real scenarios. Without a defect log tracked by severity, it's hard to know how many unresolved defects remain right before go-live. If the system handles personal data, confirm whether a security vulnerability check (e.g. penetration testing) is required.

Every go-live plan needs a rollback plan. Data migration should include a post-migration validation step (record counts, spot-checking sample data), and a go-live rehearsal lets you verify the actual scenario beforehand. Run a hyper-care period of focused monitoring right after launch to respond quickly to early incidents.

Kickoff/interim/completion reports, final design documents, test results, manuals, and source code are all evidence for the client's acceptance review. Maintaining a deliverable baseline list from the start avoids scrambling to find missing deliverables at closeout.

Agree on acceptance criteria with the client in advance — the project isn't officially closed without a signed acceptance certificate. Share system architecture and issue history when handing off to the operations/maintenance team to reduce early confusion. Revoking dev accounts and transferring ops accounts is a security step that also belongs in this phase.

A risk register and issue log only add value if they're kept up throughout the project, not just at the start. Regular status meetings and minutes become the record of accountability with the client, so keep writing them even when it feels like a formality.