Designing a Business Sign-Off Framework for SAP S/4HANA Programs

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Sign-off framework design card

• Principles: evidence over assertion; business owns acceptance; separate build and accept; explicit, time-boxed risk.
• Verbs: testers execute, test lead attests, key user recommends, process owner accepts, steering decides.
• RACI: one accountable owner per decision, with authority and a named deputy.
• Severity rights: critical blocks; high by steering; medium by process owner; low by key user.
• Gates: SAP Activate quality gates plus each mock, dress rehearsal, go/no-go and hypercare exit.
• Release gates sized to the change: full, standard, upgrade or light.
• Evidence: attributable, specific, compared, original, linked; levels 1 to 3 by risk.
• Risk acceptance: impact, tested workaround, conditions, owner, fix date, expiry, approver.
• Metrics: escaped defects, leakage, cycle time, evidence rework, gate pass rate, change fail rate.
• Present to leadership as decisions to make, with one concrete scenario.