When the receiving team can accept the work

Build the checklist from the receiving task

Ask the receiving team what it needed to accept a recent piece of work. A file marked final may still lack the approval, reference or access needed to use it.

For a request approval, the receiver may need a current supporting document and the decision authority. For a request passed to another department, it may need the current specification and permission to open the supporting record.

Work being handed over

Identify the completed item and where the receiving team can inspect it.

Current records and decisions

Link the approved version and its decision record. Make superseded versions recognizable.

Receiving role

Name who accepts the work and how the sender knows it has been accepted.

Conditions for starting

Record the access, dependencies and unresolved issues that affect the next task.

Return route

State who corrects an incomplete item and how it comes back for acceptance.

Handle returns as part of the handoff

Give the sender a specific reason for a return. “Missing approval for the current version” identifies what to supply. “Incomplete” leaves the receiver to explain it again.

Try the checklist on a completed handoff and one that was returned. Remove information the receiver did not need. Add the file, decision or reference it had to request separately. Check that someone covering an absence can follow the same route.

List the steps in the handoff worksheet, then copy it. Complete the readiness and ownership fields with the teams involved, including where an exception should go.