The Short Answer
The day after Go-Live isn't the end of a project—it's when the true nature of what was built is revealed. Hypercare is a planned period during which the team that developed the system remains available, rapidly addressing gaps while simultaneously transferring ownership to the maintenance team.
Two common, opposing mistakes are skipping this period and leaving users unsupported, or extending it indefinitely, creating permanent dependence on the vendor. Both are avoided by establishing predefined exit criteria.
How This Period Differs
| Aspect | Hypercare | BAU (Business As Usual) |
|---|---|---|
| Contact Channel | Direct to project team + on-site presence | Standard support queue |
| Response Time for Blocking Issue | Up to one hour | Per ongoing SLA |
| Patch Release Frequency | Daily to bi-daily | Scheduled cycle |
| Decision Authority | Daily accessible process owner | Change advisory board |
| Focus | Stabilization and remediation | Improvement and development |
Daily Triage is Core
A 20-minute meeting every morning, at a fixed time, addressing three questions: What was opened yesterday? What is currently blocking work? What is being released today? Every request is classified into four categories:
- Blocking Issue — A core business process cannot be performed. Immediate action required.
- Data Gap — Migration or integration returned incorrect information. High priority because it erodes trust.
- Training Gap — The system works as intended, but the user was unaware. Immediate answer and a note to update support materials.
- Enhancement Request — To the backlog, not to be implemented during this period.
This classification is the primary tool for scope control: without it, every request seems urgent, and the stabilization period turns into another development wave.
Team Composition and On-Site Presence
During the first week, close physical or virtual presence is required in key units. Project personnel sit alongside users, observing failures in real-time and rectifying them the same day. The value of direct observation is far greater than a written report—most critical blockers are never even reported.
Field representatives who accompany the team are part of the Champions Network and therefore receive early training and direct access. Details are in Salesforce Champions Network.
Exit Criteria
Exiting Hypercare is a measurable decision. A common set:
- Zero open blocking issues for five consecutive business days.
- A 60% or greater decrease in daily request volume compared to the peak of the first week.
- Core action completion rate per role above the defined target.
- The three key data quality metrics within the agreed-upon range.
- The internal support team independently handled 80% of requests in the last week.
The last criterion differentiates a true ownership transfer from an arbitrary abandonment. Measurement relies on the same framework described in Salesforce Adoption Metrics.
Orderly Ownership Transfer
The transfer begins in the first week, not on the last day. A simple mechanism: from the second week, the internal support team handles requests first, with the project team providing back-end support. Each resolved request is documented in an internal knowledge base in three lines—symptom, cause, solution.
Transfer deliverables: an updated architecture document, a list of integrations with known failure points, periodic runtime procedures, a list of technical debt incurred under pressure, and operational access and permissions.
Dependence on Launch Method
In a Big Bang launch, the Hypercare period is intense and relatively short, with a large team. In a phased rollout, the period recurs with each wave but on a smaller scale, and lessons are learned from wave to wave. This implication is one of the considerations when choosing a strategy—see Salesforce Big Bang vs. Phased Rollout.
Weekly Metrics
Daily request volume by category, median resolution time for a blocking issue, percentage of requests handled by the internal team, and the number of technical debt items opened. The first three measure stabilization; the last prevents the period from leaving behind landmines.
Summary
Plan Hypercare as a phase with a budget, team, daily triage, and numeric exit criteria. Classify every request, do not initiate enhancements during this period, and gradually transfer ownership from the second week. A stable system is not one without issues, but one the organization knows how to fix itself.