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Checklist

Software handover and preview checklist

Give the receiving team a usable preview, clear ownership and enough context to operate and change the product without guessing.

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How to use this

Useful for: Teams reviewing a delivery or taking over a web application, automation framework or AI pilot.

  1. Confirm that the review link works for its intended recipient. A localhost address belongs to the sender’s device; use an authorised preview environment and document any access procedure.

  2. Separate the implemented scope from future ideas. Map requirements to observable acceptance evidence and make unresolved decisions visible before a handover meeting.

  3. Explain operation as well as code structure. The recipient needs configuration names, deployment steps, monitoring and recovery guidance without receiving secrets in the document.

  4. Ask the receiving team to perform a small change or recovery exercise. Record the points where they needed help and improve the instructions while the delivery team is still available.

Scope and limitations: The checklist supports a scoped handover. It does not replace operational training, access provisioning or approval of an external preview’s sharing settings.

Document preview

# Handover and preview record

## Review access
- Preview URL and expiry:
- Intended reviewers and access procedure:
- Candidate build / release notes:
- Synthetic accounts and demonstration data:
- Known preview differences from production:
- Feedback channel and decision owner:

## Accepted scope
| Requirement | Delivered behaviour | Acceptance evidence | Remaining limitation | Owner |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| | | | | |

## Operating instructions
- Source repository and ownership:
- Local setup and supported runtime versions:
- Environment variable names; secret storage location, not secret values:
- Deployment and rollback procedures:
- Monitoring signals and support contacts:
- Backup / restore responsibilities where applicable:
- Dependency and model/provider update process:

## Maintenance knowledge
- Architecture decisions and important trade-offs:
- Content model or fixture layout:
- Test commands and failure investigation:
- AI permissions, evaluation cases and manual fallback:
- Areas that need specialist review:
- Known debt, owner and follow-up date:

## Receiving-team exercise
Choose a safe change: update a content field, add an isolated test or rehearse a recovery in a non-production environment. Ask the receiver to follow the instructions without relying on an undocumented step. Record missing explanations and repeat after correcting them.

## Final record
- Accepted deliverables and approving owner:
- Outstanding work and agreed dates:
- Support period and responsibilities:
- Where the team can find the decision history:

Example — fictional: the preview contains a support assistant using synthetic documents. The receiver reviews source citations and escalation behaviour. Production customer records remain outside the pilot, and sending an answer stays with a human operator. The handover records those boundaries alongside the useful demonstration.

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