Department Handover Brief

# Department Handover Brief

## Purpose
Complete whenever a team member transitions out of a role or responsibilities shift between departments to prevent knowledge loss.

## When to Use
A handover document template for transferring responsibilities between departments or team members covering active items, contacts, processes, and pending decisions.

## Instructions
1. Review the template below and familiarise yourself with the structure
2. Replace all [bracketed placeholders] with your business details
3. Customise the tone and formatting to match your brand
4. Save in your preferred tool (Notion or Asana)

---

# Department Handover Brief

**Handover From:** [Name], [Role]
**Handover To:** [Name], [Role]
**Effective Date:** [Date]
**Handover Period:** [Start Date] to [End Date]
**Prepared:** [Date]

---

## 1. Role Overview

**Position:** [Job Title]
**Department:** [Department Name]
**Reports to:** [Manager Name]
**Direct reports:** [Names and roles, or "None"]

**Core purpose of the role:**
[Two to three sentences describing the role's primary function. For example: "This role is responsible for managing all client onboarding processes, from initial sign-up through to the 90-day review. It involves coordinating between sales, operations, and support to ensure every new client receives a consistent, high-quality experience."]

---

## 2. Active Projects and Tasks

| Project/Task | Status | Priority | Deadline | Key Notes |
|-------------|--------|----------|----------|-----------|
| [Project 1] | [In Progress / Waiting / Pending] | [High/Med/Low] | [Date] | [Critical context] |
| [Project 2] | [In Progress / Waiting / Pending] | [High/Med/Low] | [Date] | [Critical context] |
| [Project 3] | [In Progress / Waiting / Pending] | [High/Med/Low] | [Date] | [Critical context] |
| [Project 4] | [In Progress / Waiting / Pending] | [High/Med/Low] | [Date] | [Critical context] |

**Immediate priorities (first two weeks):**
1. [Priority 1 with context]
2. [Priority 2 with context]
3. [Priority 3 with context]

---

## 3. Key Contacts

| Contact | Organisation/Role | Relationship | Phone | Email | Notes |
|---------|------------------|-------------|-------|-------|-------|
| [Name] | [Company/Role] | [e.g. "Primary client contact"] | [Phone] | [Email] | [Any important context] |
| [Name] | [Company/Role] | [e.g. "Vendor account manager"] | [Phone] | [Email] | [Any important context] |
| [Name] | [Internal Role] | [e.g. "Go-to for billing queries"] | [Phone] | [Email] | [Any important context] |

---

## 4. Regular Processes and Cadences

**Daily:**
- [Process 1, e.g. "Review and respond to client support queue by 10:00 AM"]
- [Process 2, e.g. "Update project tracker in [Tool]"]

**Weekly:**
- [Process 1, e.g. "Monday 9:30 AM - Team standup via Zoom"]
- [Process 2, e.g. "Friday - Send weekly client update emails"]

**Monthly:**
- [Process 1, e.g. "First Monday - Pull monthly KPI report from [Tool]"]
- [Process 2, e.g. "Last week - Prepare and send invoices via Xero"]

**Quarterly/Annual:**
- [Process 1, e.g. "Quarterly business reviews with top 10 clients"]
- [Process 2, e.g. "Annual contract renewals - start outreach 60 days prior"]

---

## 5. Systems and Access

| System | Purpose | Access Level | Login Notes |
|--------|---------|-------------|-------------|
| [System 1, e.g. "HubSpot"] | [Purpose, e.g. "CRM - client records and pipeline"] | [Admin/User] | [How to get access] |
| [System 2, e.g. "Xero"] | [Purpose, e.g. "Invoicing and financial reporting"] | [Admin/User] | [How to get access] |
| [System 3, e.g. "Asana"] | [Purpose, e.g. "Project and task management"] | [Admin/User] | [How to get access] |

**Shared drives/folders:** [Links to key shared resources]
**Password manager:** [Details of how credentials are stored]

---

## 6. Pending Decisions

| Decision | Context | Stakeholders | Deadline | Recommendation |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|---------------|
| [Decision 1] | [Context] | [Names] | [Date] | [Your recommendation] |
| [Decision 2] | [Context] | [Names] | [Date] | [Your recommendation] |

---

## 7. Tips and Institutional Knowledge

[This section is for the practical, undocumented knowledge that makes the role run smoothly.]

- [Tip 1, e.g. "When working with [Client Name], always copy [Stakeholder] on emails. They prefer to stay informed even if they do not respond."]
- [Tip 2, e.g. "The monthly report takes about 2 hours. Start it on Thursday afternoon so you have Friday morning to review before sending."]
- [Tip 3, e.g. "The [Vendor Name] account manager is responsive on Slack but slow on email. Use Slack for urgent requests."]
- [Tip 4, e.g. "Keep the team Asana board updated daily. [Manager Name] reviews it every morning and uses it to prepare for client calls."]

---

**Handover completed by:** [Name] | **Date:** [Date]
**Handover received by:** [Name] | **Date:** [Date]

---

**Complexity:** intermediate | **Setup time:** 20 minutes | **Tools:** Notion, Asana, Slack