An exit plan is effective only when it is more detailed than the original TSA schedule—and enforced by financial and governance levers that make delay too expensive to ignore. The bullets below outline how to plan, monitor, and close each service on or ahead of its sunset date while avoiding service gaps or surprise fees.
- Early Exit Blueprint
• Assign a named exit owner for every service at contract signing, publish an exit-readiness checklist, and embed each checklist in the master project plan.
• Map required build-outs (systems, staffing, licences) and link them to the TSA sunset Gantt to ensure resources arrive before the hard stop. - Fixed Sunset Provisions
• State an explicit end-date for each service in its schedule—no “evergreen” language.
• Include an automatic fee escalator (e.g., +10 % per month) after the sunset date to preserve urgency.
• Allow extensions only by written amendment co-signed by both CFOs and approved by the Steering Committee. - Exit-Readiness Governance
• Run 90-, 60-, and 30-day readiness reviews; flag any amber or red items for Steering-Committee escalation within 24 hours.
• Freeze parent-system changes 30 days before exit to prevent late surprises; dual-run the replacement service for two full cycles. - Cut-Over & Certificate Process
• Execute Go/No-Go calls at T-72 hours; require sign-off from service owners, IT security, and finance.
• Upon successful cut-over, exchange an Exit Certificate and a data-destruction or data-return attestation within five business days. - Financial Close-Out
• Issue the final invoice with pro-rated fees, true-up adjustments, and any SLA credits; carve-out finance signs off within ten business days.
• Parent delivers an audit packet (cost worksheets, usage logs); carve-out confirms no open disputes and books savings to P&L. - Post-Exit Verification
• Monitor the new service for two weeks; reopen only if an SLA breach can be traced directly to the cut-over.
• Remove all parent credentials and network tunnels; update CMDB and risk register to reflect the new ownership boundary. - Deliverables Checklist
• Exit-readiness checklist (Green/Amber/Red), dual-run report, Exit Certificate, data-destruction certificate, final invoice, audit packet, post-exit performance log. - Common Pitfalls
• Delaying replacement builds until 30 days before sunset—forces costly TSA extensions.
• Accepting vague exit criteria—creates debate at cut-over and stalls certificate issuance.
• Ignoring lingering data on parent backups—breaches privacy regulations and prolongs audit exposure.
• Failing to escalate amber items early—small issues become red-flag emergencies in the final week.
A rigorously enforced exit strategy, backed by hard sunset dates, fee escalators, and crystal-clear readiness criteria, turns TSAs into a short, controlled bridge rather than a lingering cost trap.
