Define move phases by complete work capability
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Define each move phase by the work the business will be able to complete afterwards. Moving a room or department is only part of that question. The remaining route may still need inspection, technical decisions or despatch at another location.
Describe the work each proposed phase will support. Then test how an order reaches its accepted outcome while the other phases remain unfinished.
Follow one order across the proposed boundary
Imagine a fictional business that plans to move production first and inspection later. The production equipment has a destination, but every finished job still needs an authorised inspection decision before despatch.
| Stage | Proposed location | Unresolved handoff |
|---|---|---|
| Job acceptance | Old office | How does the current instruction reach production? |
| Production | New premises | Where does work go when ready for inspection? |
| Inspection decision | Old premises | Who receives it and confirms its status? |
| Packing and despatch | Not yet agreed | Who knows it can be sent to the customer? |
The plan may be workable with an assessed and agreed arrangement. It may also create more disruption than expected. The table does not decide the technical transport or work method. It identifies the business decisions that a “production moved” milestone has left unanswered.
A different phase boundary might bring a complete product family and its support into service together. Another could retain a full route at the old site while a separate route becomes ready. Ask the competent project and operational teams to compare feasible options.
Describe what the phase delivers
Write a phase outcome in terms such as: “The accepted standard-job route can receive its instructions, complete the work, obtain the required decision and despatch through the agreed process.” State the product scope and any limits. Avoid a broad claim that the whole new site is ready when only one route has been assessed.
The destination readiness sheet should name the evidence and people who can accept each part. Installation completion, business acceptance and customer approval may require different confirmations.
Check inspection capacity across both locations. It may need to cover ongoing orders and the new arrangement's assessment at the same time. Moving inspection early merely changes the conflict if the old operation still depends on it.
Keep the wider business functioning
Use the critical-activities review to ensure that the chosen boundary does not remove an urgent enquiry or support function outside the main production route. A phase can meet its local output target while leaving another part of the business unable to act.
Record temporary arrangements explicitly, including their owner and the condition that ends them. Otherwise a complicated between-site handoff may continue after the phase it was supposed to support.
When a phase makes equipment surplus, explain its complete operating outcome in the UK Auction Group enquiry. The relevant release point is when the equipment has no agreed remaining role, not simply when its department appears next on the moving list.
More transition questions are in Phased moves and continuity.
Sources
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