Stage 6: Implement with an acceptance gate

Planning allowance: 2–6 weeks; 20–50 internal hours, potentially much longer for fragmented estates. These are scheduling allowances; changes, unavailable administrators and restricted environments can dominate the timeline.

Agree who configures each integration and who watches for missing data. Establish privileged-access controls, logging retention, change approvals and rollback. Start with a representative group, then expand in controlled batches. Reconcile coverage after rollout and after normal staff or device turnover.

Acceptance should require evidence for required sources, a supported test alert, correct routing, the agreed investigation workflow and a contact test. Do not perform disruptive attacks or production shutdowns merely to prove an integration. Use vendor-supported validation methods under written authorization.

Exit criterion: buyer-approved acceptance record with every exception owned and dated. Pitfall: starting the renewal clock without agreeing when service acceptance is achieved.