---
id: KB-PS-017
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/getting-started/from-trial-to-working-for-real
idioma: en
categoria: primeros-pasos
subcategoria: configuracion-inicial
audiencia: usuario
nivel: basico
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-PS-013, KB-PS-005]
citadoPor: [KB-PS-020]
---

# From trial to working for real

_The day it stops being an experiment and becomes where the work lives: what to tidy first._

**Responde a:** moving from trial to real use · cleaning up test data · starting to use it properly · what to do when the pilot ends

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 |

> [!WARNING]
> 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

**En corto**

- Someone who did not take part in the trial logs in unprompted and does their work.
- A request appears for a case you had not anticipated — a sign it is genuinely in use.
- And nobody asks any more whether something is "in the system or in the folder".

> [!NOTE]
> 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.

## Ejemplos

**A company finishes the pilot and carries on without closing the test files.**

- Closes the tests, removes invented contacts and announces from when this is the real place

→ Reports stop mixing and nobody asks again whether what they see is real.

**Test contacts keep receiving real notices.**

- Deletes the made-up contacts before opening it to the team

→ Nobody outside receives an email from a trial.

**Nobody knows from what date the contents are real.**

- Announces the day from which this is the live place

→ Doubts about whether a file is real disappear.

**The trial process and the final one coexist under similar names.**

- Archives the trial one and leaves a single active version

→ Nobody launches a request from the wrong template.

**Permissions are still the pilot's, with everyone seeing everything.**

- Reviews who should see what before the others come in

→ Access is decided before there is real information inside.

**Reports mix trial data with the first real records.**

- Closes the trial files before the switch

→ The first report shown is usable.