Getting started
From trial to working for real
The day it stops being an experiment and becomes where the work lives: what to tidy first.
Almost every rollout has an odd moment: the trial went well, the decision is to continue, and nobody declares the change. The result is a half-and-half space where real files live alongside tests, and where nobody knows whether what they are looking at is real.
What to tidy before saying "this is now the real thing"
- 1
Test files: close or delete, but decide
An open test file pollutes every count and shows up in any report.
- 2
Invented contacts
If you tested by sending to yourselves under fake names, remove them: they end up receiving real reminders.
- 3
Templates built on the fly
Review texts and lists: the ones made for testing often say things you would not say to a client.
- 4
And who comes in from now on
Two people ran the trial; real use is done by whoever touches that process.
Important
The second point causes the frights. A test contact with a real address — yours, a colleague's, a client's used "because it was handy" — is still in the system and receives whatever goes out from there. Automatic chasing does not distinguish what was a test from what was not.
What to declare out loud
| What is said | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| From when this is the real place | Without a date, half the team will carry on as before |
| Which processes are in now and which are not yet | It stops someone putting in the wrong thing and concluding it does not work |
| Who to ask when something does not add up | It is what prevents silent abandonment |
| And what happens to the old system | Read-only, reference only, or nothing: but stated |
Watch out
The commonest mistake here is wanting to bring everything in at once because "it's already been tested". The trial validated one process with two people; adding five processes and fifteen people in the same week turns any small problem into a reason to go back. What works is one process at a time, two or three weeks apart.
Signs the step went well
Worth knowing
Any test files you decide to keep, mark them as such in their name. A year from now, someone will find them searching for something else and needs to know within two seconds that it was not real.
›Should test documents be deleted?
If they were genuinely yours, no need: close the file and move on. If they were invented, better out.
›What if the trial was run by someone no longer on the project?
Check what was left in their name before continuing: alerts and tasks included.
›Can we go back if it goes badly?
Yes, and that is why entering process by process beats all at once.
A real case
The situation
A company finishes the pilot and carries on without closing the test files.
What you do
- Closes the tests, removes invented contacts and announces from when this is the real place
What you get
Reports stop mixing and nobody asks again whether what they see is real.
The situation
Test contacts keep receiving real notices.
What you do
- Deletes the made-up contacts before opening it to the team
What you get
Nobody outside receives an email from a trial.
The situation
Nobody knows from what date the contents are real.
What you do
- Announces the day from which this is the live place
What you get
Doubts about whether a file is real disappear.
The situation
The trial process and the final one coexist under similar names.
What you do
- Archives the trial one and leaves a single active version
What you get
Nobody launches a request from the wrong template.
The situation
Permissions are still the pilot's, with everyone seeing everything.
What you do
- Reviews who should see what before the others come in
What you get
Access is decided before there is real information inside.
The situation
Reports mix trial data with the first real records.
What you do
- Closes the trial files before the switch
What you get
The first report shown is usable.
This article answers
- moving from trial to real use
- cleaning up test data
- starting to use it properly
- what to do when the pilot ends