Kickoff
Northlight Analytics · Week 0 of 14 · 6 September 2025
of enterprise data projects miss their original definition of done
Not budget. Not talent. Misaligned success criteria.
"By 14 December 2025, Meridian's category managers self-serve weekly margin reports without analyst intervention."
— Agreed project charter, signed 29 August 2025
Go/No-Go Gates: Week 3 (20 Sep) · Week 10 (7 Nov)
| Workstream | Northlight Lead | Meridian Data | Finance Sponsor | IT Security |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Migration | R | C | I | A |
| Dashboard Build | R | C | A | I |
| UAT Coordination | A | C | R | I |
| Training Delivery | R | I | A | I |
| Access Provisioning | I | C | A | R |
| Change Management | C | R | A | I |
IT provisioning timeline uncertain
OWNER: Ravi Patel, IT
Mitigation: Pre-approved service account template submitted 1 Sep; weekly escalation cadence with CIO office
Q4 planning cycle overlap
OWNER: Sara Okonkwo, Finance
Mitigation: UAT dates locked in team calendars; backup testers identified from regional finance teams
Ad-hoc reporting requests
OWNER: Jordan Mercer, Northlight PM
Mitigation: Change request protocol in charter; steering committee veto authority; post-launch roadmap for Phase 2 requests
Data governance policy owner
DUE: 13 Sep 2025
UAT participant list finalized
DUE: 26 Sep 2025
Dashboard sign-off authority
DUE: 3 Oct 2025
Training schedule confirmation
DUE: 14 Oct 2025
decisions
dates
escalation path
WEEKLY
Northlight–Meridian Stand-up
Tuesdays, 9:00 AM · 30 min
BI-WEEKLY
Steering Review
Fridays, 2:00 PM · 60 min
WEEK 3 · 20 SEP
Go/No-Go Gate 1
Data audit complete, architecture approved
WEEK 10 · 7 NOV
Go/No-Go Gate 2
UAT passed, training materials signed off
Project Manager
Jordan Mercer
Sponsor
Sara Okonkwo, VP Finance
Steering Chair
Within 48 hours
RACI signed and distributed
Decision log cadence confirmed
Go/no-go criteria locked