Sales has sent the email, but delivery still cannot start. A handover acceptance checklist defines the information and conditions the receiving team needs before it accepts responsibility. The aim is a usable start to delivery, not proof that somebody pressed Send.
Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash.
Specify what the receiver needs
Ask delivery to demonstrate a recent job that started well and one that stalled. Identify the minimum approved scope, client contacts, access, dates, constraints and unresolved commitments. Distinguish essential inputs from details that can reasonably follow later.
Give each checklist item a completion test
Replace “brief supplied” with a check such as “the agreed deliverables and exclusions are recorded in the linked brief”. Use authoritative records rather than attachments copied into several places. Name who confirms completeness and who resolves a disputed or missing input.
Add an exception route
What can proceed while an input is missing?
Who can approve that limited start?
What must not be promised to the client?
Where is the missing item tracked?
When does it escalate?
An illustrative handover
An agency receives an approved campaign brief but no access to the client's publishing account. Delivery can begin an agreed planning task while access remains an owned dependency. It cannot silently accept a launch date that assumes the missing access will arrive. Record the boundary so sales, delivery and the client share the same expectation.
Related guidance: practical process-mapping guide.
Review the first few handovers using missing-input counts, follow-up effort and client waiting. Remove checklist items that do not support a real decision, and keep a maintenance owner. Hili Consulting can help define a handoff that the receiving team can genuinely accept.
