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Practice 03

Transformation

Assurance

An independent, senior execution and risk-assurance layer that sits between you and the SI — protecting outcomes, decisions, and value realization on your most consequential programs.

What we deliver.

overview

Most PMOs are built to manage a steady portfolio of lower-complexity work. Large ERP, core, and platform transformations happen infrequently for any one carrier — but specialized teams execute them repeatedly and bring experience internal teams rarely have the chance to build. We sit between the carrier and the system integrator as your eyes into SI execution reality, ears into missing escalations, and hands for driving decisions, resolving issues, and protecting outcomes. We support the SI and PMO by independently focusing on readiness, risk, and value — not on relitigating delivery.
— Independent of the SI and the platform vendor
— Embedded with program leadership, daily SI interface
— Escalation path to CIO, CFO, and Steering Committee
— Senior, insurance-experienced delivery team
— Insurance and platform depth — Workday, Guidewire,
Salesforce, ERP
— Focus on controls, adoption, and value realization

where fivem sits

Between the carrier and the SI.
Large insurance ERP and platform programs fail for reasons that are not technical — decision gaps, insurance-specific complexity, operating-model misalignment, and SI delivery bias. We position assurance against those failure modes specifically.
Silent program risk

what we protect against

-Silent scope erosion
-Deferred decisions that become production defects
-Insurance-specific compliance and accounting blind spots
-Data and reporting surprises late in the lifecycle
-Workforce, operating-model, and adoption failures
-SI bias toward schedule over sustainability

how we operate

Independent eyes, ears, and hands embedded with program leadership. Daily interface with the SI delivery team. Direct escalation path to CIO, CFO, EVP HR, and the Steering Committee — outside the SI reporting chain.
Where the PMO ends

what we protect against

—The SI has this covered”
—”Our PMO manages the program”
—”We will fix issues post go-live”

how we operate

Delivery responsibility is not the same as outcome accountability. Portfolio PMOs are not transformation assurance. And the most expensive design and data decisions are irreversible by go-live — the time to challenge them is during build, not after.

why assurance

Most large transformations fail quietly
long before go-live.

61%

of ERP implementations exceed their budgets.

71%

fall behind schedule without proper change management.

90%

of executives say they did not do enough to manage organizational change.

70/25%

of recently implemented ERP initiatives fail to meet their original business case — and 25% of those fail catastrophically.

Seven Pillars

Seven pillars of transformation assurance.
A program is healthy only when all seven hold together. We assess and operate against each one — independently of the SI plan and the platform vendor narrative.

Pillar 01

Governance & Decision Integrity
Unify decisions across Finance, HR, IT, and the SI. Surface unresolved decisions disguised as
assumptions. Force tradeoffs between scope, timeline, and quality.

FiveM Approach

  • Unifies decisions across Finance, HR, IT, and the SI
  • Identifies unresolved decisions disguised as assumptions
  • Validates accuracy of status, risks, and dependencies
  • Forces tradeoffs between scope, timeline, and quality

Key Deliverables

  • Transformation charter — authority, decision rights, escalation
  • Independent risk and assumptions register with mitigation tracking
  • Design decision inventory with documented tradeoffs
  • Executive-level issue escalation and decision support

Pillar 02

Insurance-Specific Functional Fit
Validate platform configuration against insurance reporting, statutory accounting, and operating
realities — not generic leading practices.

FiveM Approach

  • Validates platform against insurance reporting requirements
  • Confirms alignment with Guidewire / core and EDW platforms
  • Ensures HCM structures support insurance roles and compliance
  • Tests against real insurance operating scenarios

Key Deliverables

  • Insurance functional fit assessment
  • Statutory, management, and operational reporting validation
  • Insurance job families, compensation, and compliance alignment
  • Operational testing plan

Pillar 03

Data, Reporting & Controls Readiness
Trusted data, compliant reporting, and audit-ready operations from day one — not a six-month
post-go-live cleanup.

FiveM Approach

  • Supports business data readiness — not just technical conversion
  • Confirms historical data sufficiency for audit and analysis
  • Ensures statutory, management, and executive reporting is defined and tested
  • Validates internal controls, approvals, and audit traceability

Key Deliverables

  • Data readiness and conversion strategy with business validation
  • Data quality, reconciliation, and sign-off reports
  • Reporting and analytics readiness inventory
  • Controls and audit traceability validation

Pillar 04

Operating Model & Role Readiness
Sustainable operations on day one — clear ownership, defined roles, a credible support model,
no hypercare cost bleed.

FiveM Approach

  • Supports Finance and HR operating-model redesign where necessary
  • Defines new roles, skills, and ownership expectations
  • Designs and stands up the Center of Excellence or MSP
  • Identifies workload shifts created by automation

Key Deliverables

  • Target operating-model validation
  • Role clarity, ownership, and workload impact assessment
  • Post-go-live support and operating-model readiness
  • Center of Excellence operating model

Pillar 05

Change, Adoption & Workforce Impact
High adoption, reduced resistance, faster productivity. Tie training to job roles
and accountabilities — not attendance metrics.

FiveM Approach

  • Tie training directly to job roles and performance expectations
  • Prepare leaders to manage in a platform-enabled environment
  • Identify adoption risks early through sentiment and readiness assessments
  • Drive accountability for behavioral change, not just attendance

Key Deliverables

  • Stakeholder and role impact assessment
  • Role-based training effectiveness validation
  • Leader readiness and accountability framework
  • Adoption risk identification and mitigation actions

Pillar 06

SI Delivery Risk & Commercial Guardrails
Protection from delivery bias, scope erosion, change-order coercion, and dependency risk.
Truth-based program reporting.

FiveM Approach

  • Independently assess SI delivery plan, quality, and staffing
  • Validate change orders against original assumptions
  • Ensure knowledge transfer is real and retained
  • Protect the client from late-stage scope coercion

Key Deliverables

  • Independent SI delivery health assessments
  • Change order and scope validation
  • Delivery risk and staffing quality assessment
  • Knowledge transfer and client capability readiness validation

Pillar 07

Go-Live, Hypercare & Value Realization
Stable operations, accelerated benefits, sustained value — and a clean exit from hypercare,
not an indefinite extension.

FiveM Approach

  • Define go-live readiness across people, process, data, and controls
  • Ensure hypercare ownership and capacity are sufficient
  • Establish post-go-live optimization backlog
  • Track realized value against the original business case

Key Deliverables

  • Go-live readiness recommendation beyond technical criteria
  • Hypercare performance insights and stabilization tracking
  • Stabilization exit readiness assessment
  • Post-go-live optimization and value-realization roadmap

delivery

Three phases. One assurance heartbeat.

A lean, senior team running a fixed cadence across the program lifecycle.
Designed to set the program up to be predictable, run the assurance heartbeat,
and make go-live controlled rather than chaotic.

phase 01

Program Design & Mobilization

Set the program up to be predictable and controllable. SI implementation-plan evaluation and gap analysis, integrated program plan, governance playbook, RAID log, quality gate checklists, cost baseline and tracking model, change-control framework.

phase 02

Delivery Assurance & Control Tower

Run the assurance heartbeat — keep plan, scope, and cost aligned. Weekly executive dashboard, integrated RAID, change register with cost impacts, invoice validation log, forecast and Estimate-at-Completion pack. Cost discipline: no pay without evidence, no change without quantified impact.

phase 03

Deployment, Cutover & Stabilization Assurance

Make go-live controlled, not chaotic. Go-live readiness pack, cutover runbook, assurance findings, hypercare dashboard, stabilization exit report, operating-model pressure test. Optional managed service or CoE for the run state.

approach

How we work.

delivery phases

A lean, senior team — five roles, fully embedded — running an assurance heartbeat across three phases: program design and mobilization, the assurance control tower, and deployment / cutover / stabilization.

Engagements are structured as a fixed monthly fee. No per-ticket billing, no time-and-materials drift. The assurance team scales with program risk, not headcount.
— Transformation Assurance Lead (senior partner)
— Platform Assurance SMEs (Financials, HCM, Core, etc.)
— Data, Reporting & Controls Lead
— Change & Operating Model Lead
— Independent escalation path outside SI delivery bias

Next Practice

Business Driven Enterprise Architecture

Insurance-focused, solution-oriented Salesforce work — repositioning the platform from CRM to enterprise foundation across underwriting, claims, distribution, and service.
Read about BDEA →

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