Buying guide / Switch
SaaS exit plan: test your data export
An export button is the beginning of an exit plan. The useful test is whether your team can reconstruct the workflow and the records it needs outside the service. Start with a small, representative dataset, document the result and estimate the work that remains. A successful trial should leave an artefact that another person can inspect, not just a screenshot saying the download completed.
By SaaS Ranking ยท Reviewed
Download the checklist (CSV)Inventory the objects that make the workflow work
List records, attachments, comments, relationships, custom fields, identity mappings and relevant history. Add the integrations that read or write each object. Choose examples that exercise the difficult cases: an archived record, a large attachment, a restricted item and a record linked to several others. Define which properties must survive the move. This is your acceptance checklist; a row count alone cannot tell you whether the exported data remains useful.
Run an export and an independent read-back
Export the sample using the route available on the plan you intend to buy. Preserve the files and any schema documentation. Have someone other than the exporter open them in a separate tool and find the selected records. Check identifiers, timestamps, text encoding, attachments and relationships against the original sample. Record missing fields and the work needed to reconstruct them. A proprietary archive that only the original service can restore answers a backup question; it does not yet demonstrate portability to your replacement.
Estimate the full move, including overlap
Measure the time spent on the sample and ask about export limits, batch sizes, rate limits and assistance requirements. Do not extrapolate a small sample blindly: attachments, retries and complex relationships may dominate a full migration. Plan for a rehearsal at a larger representative scale. Budget time for rebuilding permissions, testing integrations, retraining users and running both services during the handover. Enter your current allowance in the cost calculator and label the untested parts of the estimate.
Make cutover a sequence with a recovery route
Name who freezes writes, takes the final export, imports the delta, checks acceptance and opens the replacement to users. Set a decision point at which the team either proceeds or returns to the original service. Confirm the access needed for that return before cancelling anything. For each integration, record who switches credentials and checks the first successful transaction. Keep the old and new identifiers together where other systems depend on them. Treat the rehearsal as evidence for the sequence, not a promise that every future run will be identical.
Finish with access, retention and ownership
After the business owner accepts the move, track the remaining access and data-handling tasks separately. Ask the vendor to describe the process and timing for account closure, retained copies and confirmation of deletion where applicable. Let your responsible reviewers determine what your organisation must keep. Revoke unneeded integration credentials, transfer operating documentation and record who owns the replacement. Keep the final export, acceptance result and unresolved questions together so the next team can understand what was actually completed.
Your working checklist
The download contains these questions plus blank fields for your answer, evidence URL, review date, owner, due date and decision. Complete it in your own spreadsheet.
Inventory
Which records, attachments, relationships and history must survive?
Ask for: Object inventory and acceptance list.
Access
Which plan, permissions and service state allow export?
Ask for: Export guide and trial.
Format
Can a separate tool read the files and documented schema?
Ask for: Sample export and read-back result.
Completeness
Which fields or objects are missing from the sample?
Ask for: Reconciliation record.
Scale
Which limits, assistance and retries affect the full migration?
Ask for: Rehearsal and vendor response.
Integrations
What must change in credentials, mappings and connected workflows?
Ask for: Integration change list.
Cutover
Who decides to proceed or return to the old service?
Ask for: Cutover and recovery plan.
Closure
What happens to access and retained data after acceptance?
Ask for: Closure procedure and owner decision.
Source and scope
UK government guidance recommends balancing the impact of changing providers against the benefit of staying and retaining an option to export data. This editorial checklist turns that planning question into a trial; it does not determine contractual or legal rights.
GOV.UK: Managing technical lock-in in the cloud. Reviewed 2026-10-02.
Put the next step in your file
Find the category for your replacement research, then keep the source, date and your decision together.