Lesson 3 of 5
Stabilization exit criteria
8 min
Hypercare should end when the system is stable, not when the calendar says so or the budget runs out. Exit criteria define what "stable" means in measurable terms, agreed before go-live, so that the exit decision is a check against evidence rather than a negotiation.
What good exit criteria measure
- Incident trend. Ticket arrivals per day falling and below an agreed threshold for a set period, for example two consecutive weeks.
- Severity. No open P1 tickets and no more than an agreed number of P2 tickets, each with a workaround and a fix date.
- Backlog. Open P3 and P4 tickets have owners in the run organization and are in its backlog.
- Business milestones. The first period-end close completed on the new system, and key cycles such as payment runs and MRP run successfully several times.
- Operations. Batch jobs stable, interfaces without recurring failures, monitoring and alerts owned by the run organization.
- Business KPIs. Daily volumes for orders, deliveries and invoices back to normal levels, with backlogs cleared.
- Handover. Knowledge transfer complete and the handover accepted by the run organization.
| Weak exit criterion | Strong exit criterion |
|---|---|
| Six weeks after go-live | Two consecutive weeks with under 15 new tickets a day and no P1 |
| Users are happy | Order, delivery and billing volumes within 5% of a normal ECC day for ten working days |
| Most issues fixed | No open P1; at most three open P2, each with workaround and dated fix |
| Finance is fine | First period-end close completed on schedule; Dan signs the close checklist |
| Support team ready | Run organization handled first-line tickets alone for one week; handover signed |
Contoso's exit criteria
Grace agreed Contoso's criteria with the steering committee before the dress rehearsal. The plan assumed six weeks of hypercare, because that covers the first period-end close and two weeks after it. The criteria, not the plan, decide the exit.
| Criterion | Threshold | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| New tickets per day | Under 15 for two consecutive weeks | Ticket trend report |
| Open critical tickets | No P1; at most three P2 with workarounds | Open ticket list by priority |
| Period-end close | First close on time, reconciliations signed | Close checklist signed by Dan |
| Business volumes | Within 5% of normal for ten working days | Daily KPI report |
| Jobs and interfaces | No recurring failures for two weeks | Monitoring history in SAP Cloud ALM |
| Handover | Run organization accepted and operated first line for one week | Signed handover document |
Contoso's hypercare exit criteria and evidence.
SAP's own post go-live check
For SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, SAP's onboarding material describes a Private Cloud Go-Live Continuous Quality Check, delivered as a remote service, whose verification part takes place about six weeks after go-live to check stability, performance and optimization potential. Where it applies to your contract, schedule hypercare exit so its findings can be considered in the exit decision, and track its recommendations into the run backlog.
- Are all agreed criteria met with evidence?Yes → recommend exit · No → next question
- Are the gaps small, owned and dated, with no P1 open?Yes → exit with conditions handed to the run organization · No → next question
- Is a business milestone, such as the first close, still ahead?Yes → extend hypercare to cover it, with a new review date · No → extend and fix the specific gaps
Presenting the exit decision
Bring the exit decision to the steering committee as a one-page evidence summary: each criterion, its threshold, the measured value and trend, and a clear recommendation of exit, exit with conditions, or a targeted extension. Attach the list of open items handed to the run organization and the signed acceptance from the run organization. A decision presented this way takes ten minutes; a decision argued from impressions takes an hour and is reopened the first time something goes wrong.
What would you do?
Week six arrives. Tickets average 22 a day, above the 15 agreed, mostly how-to questions from the Toledo site; there is no open P1. The budget for consultants ends this week. What should Grace recommend?
- Exit hypercare on evidence against criteria agreed before go-live, not on a date or budget.
- Measure incident trend, severity, backlog ownership, business milestones, operations, KPIs and handover.
- Strong criteria can be checked against data by someone outside the project.
- Extend only for named gaps, with targeted support and a new review date.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which is a sound hypercare exit criterion?
2. Why include the first period-end close in exit criteria?
3. Exit criteria are not met but the gaps are narrow. What is the best approach?
4. Who should sign acceptance of open items at hypercare exit?