Three Things Most Often Missed at Handover
1. An accounts and permissions inventory: third-party platforms, databases, domains, and certificates, each with a named owner and a process for revoking access.
2. Recoverability: backups aren't just "a job that runs" — run restore drills regularly and confirm the data actually comes back.
3. An emergency path: who to call, in what escalation order, and how to roll back when something breaks — written into documentation, not living in one person's memory.
A Suggested Monthly Rhythm
Run a fixed inspection every month and produce a short report: resource levels, slow queries, failed jobs, security patches, tickets from the month, and open items. It doesn't need to be long, but trends should be visible.
Even Small Requests Need a Channel
Business needs always change. If small requests — field tweaks, new reports, data fixes — have no defined channel, they end up as quiet favors with no record. Writing the ticket channel and response times into the service agreement is a key step toward long-term maintainability.
