What is Costpoint Go-Live Checklist?

Definition

A Costpoint Go-Live Checklist is a structured set of tasks and validation points used to confirm that Deltek Costpoint is ready for production use. It brings together data migration, configuration, integrations, security, testing, user training, financial controls, and operational support so the organization can transition from implementation to daily processing with clear ownership.

For government contractors, the checklist should connect technical readiness with finance and project-accounting requirements. The objective is not simply to confirm that Costpoint opens successfully, but to verify that transactions, approvals, reporting, project costs, billing, payroll, and compliance-related processes work as designed.

Core Areas of a Costpoint Go-Live Checklist

A practical checklist assigns an owner and completion status to each readiness item. It should cover the complete business process rather than focusing only on system configuration.

  • Configuration: Verify company structures, fiscal periods, organizational codes, accounting settings, workflows, approvals, and required Costpoint modules.
  • Data: Validate converted customers, vendors, employees, projects, contracts, opening balances, account structures, and required historical information.
  • Security: Confirm user accounts, roles, permissions, segregation of duties, and approval access.
  • Integrations: Test interfaces with payroll, banking, procurement, reporting, timekeeping, and other connected applications.
  • Reporting: Reconcile financial statements, project reports, billing information, and management reports against approved test results.
  • People and support: Confirm training completion, super-user coverage, escalation procedures, and post-launch support ownership.

Finance and Accounting Validation

Finance teams should validate the transaction flow from source activity through final accounting. For accounts payable, this can include invoice capture, extraction, validation, matching, chart of accounts coding, approval, and posting. Testing should confirm that accounting entries reach the correct accounts, projects, organizations, and reporting dimensions.

Opening balances should be reconciled to the legacy system and approved financial records. Bank accounts, receivables, payables, accrued costs, project balances, and other relevant balances should be reviewed before production processing begins.

The checklist should also verify period controls. Finance leaders can confirm the first production accounting period, transaction dates, posting permissions, closing procedures, and reporting calendars so that the initial close operates according to the organization's established controls.

ERP Integration and Migration Readiness

Costpoint go-live depends on reliable connections between the ERP and surrounding business systems. Teams should confirm that migrated data, interface mappings, authentication, scheduled jobs, and transaction flows have been tested using representative production scenarios.

Organizations evaluating their broader ERP environment can use the Cloud ERP System Evaluation Checklist: Guide for 2026 when comparing cloud architecture, integration requirements, and finance workflows around an ERP.

The ERP Integration Layer: How It Powers Finance Automation is also relevant when validating how connected systems exchange live transaction data with Costpoint and how downstream finance processes consume that information.

Procurement, Project, and Operational Testing

Operational readiness should include end-to-end scenarios across departments. For procurement, testing can follow a requisition through sourcing, purchase order creation, approval, receipt, invoice matching, and accounting. The checklist should confirm that authorization rules and budget controls operate correctly at each stage.

Project accounting scenarios should cover labor charging, timekeeping, direct and indirect costs, project structures, contract requirements, billing, and revenue-related processes applicable to the organization. Testing these workflows together helps confirm that operational transactions produce the expected financial results.

Go-Live Readiness and Cutover

Go Live Readiness represents the broader state of preparedness across people, processes, data, technology, and governance. A Costpoint checklist should define measurable completion criteria for each area and identify the accountable owner.

The cutover plan should establish when legacy transactions stop, when final data extraction occurs, when opening balances are loaded, when integrations are activated, and when users begin production processing. It should also identify reconciliation checkpoints and escalation contacts for the first production cycle.

System Go Live marks the point when Costpoint becomes the operational system for the defined business processes. The checklist provides evidence that the transition conditions have been completed before production activity begins.

Post-Go-Live Support and Best Practices

Readiness continues after the production switch. Go Live Support provides structured assistance for user questions, transaction validation, issue triage, reconciliation, and workflow clarification during the initial operating period.

A useful checklist should remain accessible after launch as a reference for unresolved items, ownership, validation results, and follow-up actions. Teams should review early production transactions, compare actual results with expected outcomes, and document approved configuration changes.

Best practices include assigning one accountable owner to every checklist item, requiring evidence for critical validations, completing end-to-end testing before cutover, reconciling converted financial data, and communicating the final cutover schedule to every affected department.

Summary

A Costpoint Go-Live Checklist coordinates the final validation of Deltek Costpoint before production use. By covering configuration, data, integrations, accounting, procurement, project processes, security, training, cutover, and support, it gives finance and operational teams a structured way to confirm readiness and establish reliable financial reporting from the first production cycle.