InfoTown™
Sam's journey · Winning the work (tender) · Lesson 6

The plan for day one

Before you start

In the story

The plan for day one was written in week six.

Back to the story

The right way

Tender

The bid includes a plan for day one: setting up and testing the shared system, training, access and the rules on the wall, with who and by when.

Tender

The dates line up with the contract programme, with time to test before go-live.

Get readyGet ready: Monday…
Monday

Forty people log in. Rex's induction is boring. Perfect.

As we goForty inboxes in week one, and the plan written in week six.
Ready on MondayPlanned at tender, tested before go-live, and boring on day one.
Think like Sam

Work back from the first day on site. What has to exist before anyone arrives, who's setting it up, and when will you test it?

Continue Sam's journey

Story 7: What could go wrong?

The risk register has one information risk on it. It says "IT failure".
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

You don't open a town to traffic and then paint the lines. The signs go up before the first car arrives.

If you're the client

If you're the client

Leave time between award and start for mobilisation, and ask to see the plan. Award on Friday, start on Monday is a plan to fail politely.

In the town See it in the town: what's ready on day one, and who got it ready?

Sam's view: the Site Office, the lines and the signposts, all planned at tender and built before anyone turns up.

The towns meet at the project site Your town, Designer Town and Client Town each stay where they are. Roads from all three lead into one shared project site in the middle, with a Site Office being built and a sign saying for this job only. DESIGNER TOWNYOUR TOWNCLIENT TOWN THE PROJECT SITESITE OFFICE THIS JOB ONLY stays where it isstays where it isstays where it is everyone worksthrough the site

Now mobilise it: build and connect the site

In the middle sits the Site Office: the project's CDE, joined to your own Records Office by the home line. Lines run out to every town: the design line to the designers, the client line to the client, the home line back to your own Records Office, the feeder line to the site apps and footpaths to the cabins. The workflows running along all these lines are how one system passes work to another. Signposts tell everyone where each kind of work goes, and the gate decides who gets in.

  1. Build the Site Office
  2. Connect the towns
  3. Plug in the site apps
  4. Put up the signposts
  5. Set up the gate
  6. Test everything

The towns are there. The project site is an empty plot. Your job: mobilise it.

The project site, connected A project site with the Site Office (the project CDE) at its centre. A design line runs to Designer Town, a line runs to the Client Town, a line runs home to your town's Records Office, a feeder line runs to the site apps, and footpaths lead to the site cabins. Signposts show where drawings, photos, RFIs and approvals go. A gate at the edge of the site controls who gets in. PROJECT SITE DESIGN LINE CLIENT LINE HOME LINE FEEDER LINE DESIGNER TOWN DESIGN SYSTEM CLIENT TOWN YOUR TOWN RECORDS OFFICE CDE SITE OFFICE SITE CABINS SITE APPS MOBILISED ✓ Drawings → Site Office ← Paper? Scan it in Site photos → app ← Visitors: sign in here Approvals → client line
Design line. To and from the designers.
Home line. Back to your own Records Office.
Client line. To and from the Client Town.
Feeder line. What's captured on site must reach the Site Office: by hand, on a schedule, through a link between systems, or because the app is part of the CDE.

This is the Mobilisation Plan!

What's ready, and who readies it, before day one.

For the audit What the auditor will ask
  • Show me the mobilisation plan, and what was tested before go-live.
  • How did you know the team was ready?
For the audit What good evidence looks like
  • A mobilisation plan with dates and owners.
  • Test records.
  • Training and access records from week one.
From the standard
ISO 19650 The mobilisation plan

ISO 19650 expects the bid to say how the team will get ready: setting up and testing the systems and ways of working before production starts, and the people who'll be trained to use them.

It coversIn plain words
SystemsSet up, connected and tested
Ways of workingThe methods and procedures, tested on something that isn't live
PeopleTrained, with access on day one
TimingDates that fit the programme, with time to test

Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 is © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.