5-Dimension Readiness Assessment

The readiness framework

The Adoption phase must not start until all five dimensions have reached the “Ready” level. One dimension at “Not ready” is a go/no-go criterion — not an optional point.

Dimension 1: Technical readiness

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Check point	Ready criterion	Status check
STACKIT account structure	Organisation → folders → projects defined and created	STACKIT Resource Manager API
IAM baseline	Roles, groups, IDP federation configured	IAM audit
Network design	VPC design, hub-and-spoke concept complete, CIDR plan	Architecture document
Base toolchain	Terraform + STACKIT provider tested, Git workflow defined	Deployment test
Core guardrails	At least 5 core guardrails implemented and tested	Guardrail test protocol
Observability foundation	Central logging configured, test alert successful	Alert test protocol

Ready threshold: All 6 points met — no partial credit.

Dimension 2: Process readiness

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Check point	Ready criterion
Onboarding process	Defined process for new workloads and teams documented
Change management	Standard change types for cloud operations defined and aligned with ITIL
Incident response	Runbooks created for at least 5 common cloud incident types
Backup & recovery	RPO/RTO requirements defined, backup policy implemented and tested
Exception process	Guardrail exception process documented and communicated

Ready threshold: 4 of 5 points met (1 in progress acceptable).

Dimension 3: Personnel readiness

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Check point	Ready criterion
CCoE fully staffed	At least 4 FTE active and operational
Track A training running	Started for all IT employees
First Track C cohort	At least 2 Platform Engineers with Track C completion or in training
Cloud Champions network	At least 50 % of teams have a nominated Champion
On-call rotation	First on-call rotation for landing zone operations established

Ready threshold: 4 of 5 points met.

Dimension 4: Financial readiness

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Check point	Ready criterion
Annual cloud budget approved	Signed budget release for Adoption phase available
FinOps process established	Tagging standard defined, first showback reports configured
Business case tracking	Mechanism for measuring ROI against business case defined
OPEX budget adjusted	IT budget process adapted for cloud OPEX spend

Ready threshold: All 4 points met — budget release is non-negotiable.

Dimension 5: Governance readiness

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Check point	Ready criterion
Core guardrails active	At least 5 hard-mandatory guardrails implemented and tested in production
CISO sign-off	Formal CISO approval of the cloud security architecture
Compliance framework	GDPR/industry-specific requirements documented and mapped
DPO engagement	Data Protection Officer informed about cloud architecture and in agreement
Governance reporting	CCoE quarterly reporting template created and agreed with Board

Ready threshold: All 5 points met — compliance is non-negotiable.

Readiness scorecard

The CCoE produces a readiness scorecard 4 weeks before the planned approval event:

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Dimension	Status	Open items	Responsible	Target date
Technical	🟢 Ready	–	–	–
Process	🟡 4/5	Incident runbooks missing	Platform Team	[Date]
Personnel	🟢 Ready	–	–	–
Financial	🟢 Ready	–	–	–
Governance	🟡 4/5	DPO sign-off pending	CCoE Lead	[Date]

Traffic light logic: 🟢 Ready | 🟡 In progress (ready by approval date) | 🔴 Not ready (approval postponed)

Practical steps

1. Complete the readiness scorecard 4 weeks before the planned approval date
2. Escalate red items: who can unblock? what is the fastest resolution path?
3. Track amber items: daily status until approval date
4. Go/No-Go decision based on the scorecard