Operational readiness is term familiar in transport projects – what are the things that need to be in place to ensure an organisation’s preparedness prior to accepting finished projects and transitioning operations.
It often constitutes a significant yet underestimated aspect of project delivery. While the focus typically centres on the delivery of physical infrastructure and systems, a critical gap emerges during the transition from the ‘completion of project delivery’ to ‘placing the system into service’. This challenge is further compounded when projects introduce new, novel, and/or complex systems into service and into their scope —such as novel technologies, new operating environments and/or complex organisational change.
This paper explores techniques and processes that can be adopted to facilitate a more efficient and effective journey to operational readiness. Drawing from case studies across various transport modes, it is discussed how these practices can be adapted and scaled to meet diverse operational requirements, irrespective of industry. By providing a detailed understanding of the necessary activities, this paper aims to bridge the gap in project preparedness during early delivery phases. Additionally, it presents examples of operational readiness delivery processes, highlighting their application in rail and bus projects within Australia and how these can also be adopted in other industries like Defence and Health.