Launch Readiness Checklist

Launch Readiness Checklist

Launch is ready to authorize only when the migrated result has been accepted and the target store can support the required customer and operational journeys. Use this runbook to make a documented Go or No-go decision based on evidence, assigned ownership, accepted risks, and a workable hold or recovery plan.

A successful migration does not configure or guarantee every target-store function. Payments, taxes, shipping, notifications, search, analytics, integrations, domain changes, inventory, fulfillment, and other operational systems remain subject to the selected platforms, providers, project scope, and responsible owners.

When to run the launch-readiness review

Run this review after the migration result has received Pass or Pass with accepted limitations through Define Sign-off Criteria.

Complete it close enough to the planned launch that the evidence still reflects the environment that customers will use. Repeat affected checks when the target configuration, theme, domain, integration, catalog, inventory, or accepted-risk record changes after the review.

Do not proceed from a Fail sign-off decision. Correct and revalidate the affected migration result before evaluating launch readiness.

Establish the launch control record

Before testing, identify the exact launch that is being authorized.

Control item	Record before the review
Target environment	Target store, planned live domain, storefront or sales channel, and environment being tested.
Migration acceptance	Final sign-off decision, date, approvers, accepted limitations, and unresolved conditions.
Launch scope	Customer journeys, markets, languages, currencies, channels, integrations, and operational functions included in the launch.
Launch window	Planned start time, responsible launch owner, decision time, change freeze or hold time, and expected completion point.
Operational owners	Named owners for storefront, catalog, customer accounts, checkout, payment, tax, shipping, notifications, orders, inventory, fulfillment, content, SEO, analytics, security, and support where applicable.
Decision authority	Person or group authorized to record Go or No-go and accept controlled launch risks.
Hold and recovery controls	Conditions that stop launch, actions that limit customer impact, recovery owner, communication path, and evidence required to resume.
Monitoring handoff	Owners, channels, thresholds, and start time for post-launch monitoring.

If the review cannot identify the responsible owner for a critical function, treat that function as not ready.

Carry forward migration sign-off conditions

Start with the completed sign-off record rather than repeating all migrated-data validation.

Confirm that:

• every required migration validation area is complete;
• the sign-off decision is current and refers to the target environment being launched;
• no unresolved Blocker remains;
• each accepted limitation has an authorized owner, understood impact, mitigation, and closure or monitoring condition;
• each open High-severity issue has been resolved or has explicit approval and controls that make launch safe;
• any condition marked “must close before launch” has verifiable closure evidence;
• changes made after sign-off have been revalidated in the affected area.

Migration acceptance is only one launch input

Do not convert a migration Pass into an automatic launch Go. The target store must also pass the operational checks below, including customer access, checkout, payment, tax, shipping, notifications, integrations, security, and recovery readiness where they are in scope.

Build a representative operational test set

Use the approved launch scope to select tests that cover normal, high-value, boundary, and failure-prone customer journeys. Do not rely only on the simplest Product or a single administrator account.

Include applicable examples such as:

• priority storefront, Category, Product, CMS Page, Blog Post, and campaign URLs;
• simple and variant Products, different availability states, special pricing, and inventory conditions;
• common and low-result search terms, filters, sorting, and no-result behavior;
• guest and registered-customer journeys;
• supported customer sign-in or password-reset behavior;
• different shipping destinations, tax conditions, currencies, discounts, and payment methods;
• orders that enter the required administration, inventory, fulfillment, and notification flows;
• priority old URLs and their intended redirects;
• analytics or tracking events included in the approved launch scope;
• known edge cases and every condition carried forward from migration sign-off.

Use test accounts, provider test modes, or controlled transactions when available and approved. When a live transaction is required, define who authorizes it, how it will be identified, and how payment, inventory, fulfillment, tax, and reporting effects will be safely handled.

Complete the operational readiness checks

1. Confirm storefront and domain access

   Open the target store through the customer-facing domain and approved channels. Confirm HTTPS behavior, expected storefront availability, regional or language entry points, maintenance settings, and access restrictions.

   Verify that customers do not reach a staging environment, unintended password gate, obsolete storefront, certificate warning, or mixed-domain journey.

2. Test navigation, search, and filtering

   Follow the main navigation and priority landing paths to representative Categories and Products. Test search terms, filters, sorting, pagination, and no-result behavior that matter to the launch scope.

   Record unexpected hidden Products, empty Categories, broken links, unusable filters, wrong regional content, or search results that prevent Product discovery.

3. Verify Product availability and inventory behavior

   Confirm that representative Products show the intended status, price, variant availability, inventory state, purchasing restrictions, and customer-facing messages.

   Where inventory or availability depends on an external system, verify the integration and the expected update path. Do not assume that accurate migrated inventory proves that live synchronization or fulfillment behavior is ready.

4. Test customer access implications

   Confirm the approved customer-account behavior for the migration path and Target Platform. Test account discovery, sign-in, password reset, address access, and historical Order access only where those behaviors are supported and required.

   When existing passwords cannot be preserved, verify the approved reset or activation journey and customer communication. Do not treat universal password preservation as a launch requirement unless it was explicitly supported and approved.

5. Run the approved checkout journey

   Add representative Products to the cart and complete the approved checkout tests. Confirm customer details, address validation, discounts, shipping choices, tax calculation, payment selection, totals, consent or policy controls, and Order confirmation.

   Test only the combinations that apply to the launch scope, but include material markets, currencies, Product types, and exception conditions. A single successful checkout does not establish readiness for materially different flows.

6. Verify payment, tax, shipping, and notifications

   Confirm that the approved payment methods return the expected result, taxes and shipping charges follow the intended rules, and customer and operational notifications are sent to the correct recipients with usable content.

   Reconcile the storefront result with the payment provider, target Order, tax or shipping service, and notification evidence where those systems are in scope. Do not record full payment credentials or unnecessary personal data.

7. Verify Order processing, inventory, and fulfillment

   Confirm that a test Order reaches the expected administration status and can enter the required operational workflow. Check inventory adjustment, fulfillment or warehouse handoff, fraud or review controls, cancellation or refund handling, and status updates where applicable.

   When an integration is not part of the launch scope, record the approved manual process, owner, capacity, and end condition rather than marking the function complete without a workable operating path.

8. Validate priority URLs and redirects

   Recheck the highest-risk source URLs, target URLs, and redirects from Validate Content, URLs, and Redirects, especially when the live domain, routing, application, CDN, or server configuration changed after migration validation.

   Confirm the intended destination, permanent redirect behavior where required, final response, and absence of loops, unnecessary chains, or launch-critical 404 responses.

9. Verify analytics and tracking where included

   Confirm that required page, Product, checkout, purchase, campaign, consent, and other approved events reach the intended analytics or reporting destination. Check that the production property, account, or data stream is used and that test activity can be identified.

   If analytics or tracking is outside the project scope, record that boundary and the responsible owner. Do not infer readiness from code presence alone.

10. Confirm integrations and scheduled operations

    Verify each launch-critical integration, feed, webhook, import, export, scheduled job, or operational connection included in the launch scope. Confirm authentication, environment, direction, schedule, ownership, and failure alerting.

    Separate migrated-data correctness from live integration readiness. A target record can be correct while a connected operational process is still misconfigured.

11. Complete security and temporary-access controls

    Review temporary administrator accounts, API credentials, tokens, file-transfer access, allowlists, KitConnect access, uploaded connection files, and other temporary access used during migration work.

    Define the cleanup trigger for each item. Remove or revoke access when it is no longer needed for launch verification or an approved recovery path, then confirm that required production access still works. Keep credentials out of the launch record and follow Account Security Best Practices.

12. Confirm launch ownership and communications

    Verify that launch, operations, customer support, technical, content or SEO, finance, fulfillment, and incident owners know the launch window, communication channel, decision authority, hold triggers, and escalation path.

    Prepare customer-facing or internal communication required for account activation, password reset, expected limitations, maintenance, changed URLs, or temporary operating procedures.

13. Review the hold and recovery plan

    Confirm the actions to take when a blocker appears before or during launch. The plan may include delaying domain changes, keeping the previous storefront available, restricting checkout, disabling an affected integration, applying a target-side correction, restoring a known configuration, or another project-approved recovery action.

    Do not assume that recovery is achieved by starting another migration action. Define the responsible owner, decision trigger, data-protection controls, communication, and verification for the actual target environment.

14. Record the final Go or No-go decision

    Review every critical check, unresolved risk, owner, and recovery control with the decision authority. Record Go only when the conditions below are met; otherwise record No-go, assign corrective work, and set the next review time.

Apply the Go or No-go conditions

Go

Authorize Go only when:

• migration sign-off is Pass or Pass with accepted limitations and remains current;
• every launch-critical operational check has passed;
• no unresolved Blocker exists;
• accepted risks are understood, authorized, controlled, and assigned;
• owners and escalation channels are active for the launch window;
• the hold and recovery plan is usable for the identified risks;
• post-launch monitoring is ready to begin immediately after launch;
• required evidence and approvals are recorded.

A Go decision may carry accepted risks, but it must not hide an unowned condition or redefine a failed blocker as acceptable.

No-go

Record No-go when:

• migration sign-off is Fail, incomplete, stale, or tied to a different environment;
• checkout, payment, tax, shipping, critical navigation, customer access, Order processing, security, legal operation, or another mandatory journey fails;
• a launch-critical integration or operating process has no safe fallback;
• required owners, decision authority, evidence, or monitoring coverage are unavailable;
• a material risk is unexplained or has not been accepted by an authorized owner;
• the hold or recovery plan is missing or cannot protect the intended customer and operational scope.

A No-go decision is a controlled project outcome. It prevents an incomplete launch from converting a known issue into live customer impact.

Handle readiness failures

Observable problem	Safest action before another review
A migrated value or relationship is incorrect	Return to the relevant validation page, classify the cause, correct it, and revalidate the affected scope.
Storefront, search, checkout, tax, shipping, payment, or notification behavior is wrong	Assign the target-store or provider owner, preserve evidence, correct the responsible configuration, and repeat the affected operational test.
A priority URL or redirect fails after the live domain or routing change	Compare the validated path with the current target routing, correct the responsible layer, and repeat priority URL and 404 checks.
Customer access behavior is uncertain	Hold launch until the supported sign-in, reset, activation, and communication path is verified.
Inventory or fulfillment flow is unavailable	Hold the affected launch scope or establish an approved, capacity-tested manual fallback with ownership and end conditions.
A temporary credential or access path creates unacceptable exposure	Restrict or revoke the access immediately when safe, rotate affected credentials, verify required production access, and reassess launch security.
The recovery plan depends on an untested assumption	Record No-go until the responsible owner confirms a workable action and verification method.
The issue requires Next-Cart review	Preserve the migration activity, affected identifiers, expected and actual result, configuration evidence, and privacy-safe supporting material, then use My Tickets.

Record the launch authorization

The final record should contain:

• target store, live domain, channels, markets, and launch scope;
• migration sign-off decision and carried conditions;
• completed operational checks and evidence;
• test Orders or transactions using privacy-safe identifiers;
• open issues, severity, owner, due date, mitigation, and launch effect;
• accepted risks and authorized approvers;
• temporary-access cleanup items, owners, triggers, and completion evidence;
• launch window, decision time, launch owner, and decision authority;
• hold triggers and recovery actions;
• final Go or No-go decision, rationale, approvers, and date;
• post-launch monitoring owners, channels, thresholds, and start time.

Next step

After Go, execute the organization’s approved launch plan and begin the Post-Launch Monitoring Checklist as soon as the target store is available to customers.

After No-go, correct the classified issue and repeat only the affected readiness checks plus any dependent checks. Do not authorize launch until the decision record is updated with complete evidence and approvals.