Handover pack
The package a client owner receives at handover: a runbook, the evaluation set, the named owner and an escalation path.
A handover pack is the set of documents and assets that the client's owner receives when a forward-deployed engineering team hands a system over. It is what allows the owner to run the system without the vendor. Without it, the system works only while its builders are around.
The pack has four parts: a runbook, the evaluation set and its latest results, the named owner with the authority to change the system, and an escalation path that says who to call, in what order, when something fails.
In practice
I write the runbook from the failures we have actually seen during the slice and the build, not from an idealised operating model. For each known failure it records the symptom, the likely cause, the check to run and the fix or the escalation. The evaluation set goes across with its scoring rules, so the owner can re-run it after a change.
The pack is tested before the handover is accepted. The owner runs the system for two weeks with the vendor on call but not operating it. Problems found in that period go into the runbook.
Example
[Composite] A retail client's owner ran the returns-triage agent for two weeks. In the first week, a change in the carrier's status codes broke one step. The runbook entry for that failure was written in five minutes because the team had already seen the same pattern in the slice. The owner fixed it without a call.
Common mistakes
- Handing over documents that nobody has run. The test is whether the owner can recover the system alone.
- Leaving the evaluation set with the vendor. The owner needs it to judge changes after handover.
- Naming a team as the owner. A person needs the authority, and a name on the document.
Related terms
Cite this definition
Handover pack. Mayur Patil, mayurpatil.ai, updated 2026-11-01. https://mayurpatil.ai/glossary/handover-pack/