Is the trial boundary clear?
Identify the question, the start and finish, and excluded cases. State whether the trial only prepares suggestions or also changes records. Expanding the scope requires another assessment of risk, tests and authority.
Are data and access arrangements agreed?
Check who may use test data and where it may be processed. Use appropriate, permitted samples and restrict permissions to the necessary actions. A shared account without an owner obscures responsibility. Decide who removes access when the trial ends.
Are expected outcomes defined?
Choose ordinary cases and recognisable exceptions. Include repeated requests, missing information and interruptions where relevant. Have a process owner define the correct handling in advance. Otherwise you may only test whether the technology performs an action.
Who decides, using which evidence?
Agree acceptable quality and remaining human effort. A single error percentage without considering consequences is insufficient. Identify conditions that require an immediate pause and who must authorise resumption.
Can the process be stopped in a controlled way?
Describe how to locate work in progress and how people can continue. Falling back is not always a matter of restarting the old task: changes may already have occurred. Establish the current state before taking action and prevent duplicate effects.
Do unresolved items have owners?
Assign an owner and follow-up action to each open agreement. Include cover during absence and an evaluation point. Unknown is a useful status when someone is responsible for investigating it. Use the checklist to support a substantive decision, not to grant permission automatically once boxes are ticked.
Question, scope and excluded cases
Owner / open action:
Owner and reviewers
Owner / open action:
Test data, permission and processing location
Owner / open action:
Accounts, least privilege and access removal
Owner / open action:
Ordinary cases, exceptions and expected outcomes
Owner / open action:
Acceptance criteria, measurements and decision owner
Owner / open action:
Stop conditions, resumption and authorised owner
Owner / open action:
Fallback, duplicate effects and work in progress
Owner / open action:
Maintenance, absence cover and evaluation
Owner / open action:
Record only necessary process information. Leave out personal data, passwords and confidential customer details.
What would you like to clarify?
Describe the process step or open question. We can explore a practical next step together.
Discuss your process