Getting started
Starting with a deadline on top
Nobody starts calmly: you start because there is an audit, a client or a site in three weeks.
The orderly rollout — mapping processes, training the team, migrating history — is the one told in presentations. The real one nearly always starts with a date: an announced audit, a new client demanding documentation, a site about to open. And with a deadline on top, the right order changes.
What changes when there is a deadline
| With time | With a deadline on top |
|---|---|
| Start with the most repeated process | Start with what they will ask for on the day |
| Migrate the history | Migrate only what falls within that date's scope |
| Train the whole team | Train whoever will touch it these weeks |
| Tune it until it fits | Accept what works and tune it afterwards |
Important
The mistake that ruins most rushed starts: **trying to bring everything in «while we are at it»**. With three weeks, loading five years of history or onboarding thirty suppliers outside that audit's scope does not get you closer to the date — it eats it. Anything that will not be looked at on the day is done afterwards, and done better, because by then you will know how you work inside.
The three weeks, in order
- 1
Write down exactly what they will ask for
With the auditor's or client's list in front of you, if you can.
- 2
Load only that, and check it can be found
Finding it in twenty seconds is the test, not having uploaded it.
- 3
Request whatever is missing, one message per item
It is the slowest part: it depends on third parties, not on you.
- 4
And rehearse the handover once
Show a colleague as if they were the auditor. That is where the gaps appear.
Watch out
What almost nobody sizes correctly: **anything depending on a third party takes weeks, not days**. A certificate an official body has to issue, an insurance policy the broker has to update, a signature from someone on holiday. Those requests go out on day one, before anything is tidy — you can speed up your internal order, you cannot speed up an outside answer.
After the date, not before
Worth knowing
A partial first rollout is not a debt: it is the only kind that finishes. A complete rollout that misses the date is worth nothing; a partial one that makes it carries the next stage.
›What if we do not get to everything?
Hand over what there is and say what is missing and by when. Hiding it is worse.
›Is it worth starting this tight?
Yes, if you narrow the scope. A real date organises more than no date at all.
›Do we bring the whole team in from day one?
No: only whoever will touch it these weeks. The rest, later.
A real case
The situation
A company has a client audit in three weeks and nothing in order.
What you do
- Asks the client for the list, sends third-party requests on day one and loads only that scope
What you get
It reaches the audit with what is asked for findable, and tidies the rest calmly afterwards.
The situation
Three weeks remain and the work starts by building the full structure.
What you do
- Loads only what the deadline requires and leaves the rest
What you get
You reach the date with what is asked for, not half an archive.
The situation
Whatever depends on third parties is requested in the final week.
What you do
- Launches on day one everything somebody outside must answer
What you get
Waiting time runs in parallel with the internal work.
The situation
Nobody knows exactly what is missing five days out.
What you do
- Checks status per file instead of asking by email
What you get
The last days go on closing specific gaps.
The situation
Halfway through, a document nobody requested turns out to be missing.
What you do
- Checks the list with whoever will audit before starting
What you get
The scope is set with whoever will review it.
The situation
Once the date passes, everything stays as it was left.
What you do
- Reserves a week afterwards to tidy what was done in a hurry
What you get
The rush leaves a usable system rather than a patch.
This article answers
- I have an audit in three weeks where do I start
- rolling out fast before a deadline
- a client is asking for documentation now
- starting with no time to prepare