Lesson 6 of 6
The sign-off record
10 min
The last step is the signature itself. A sign-off record turns weeks of testing into a statement someone can rely on later: an auditor next year, a new process owner, or an upgrade team asking what was proven. It should fit on one page, with links to the detail.
The one-page sign-off
| Section | What it says (Contoso order-to-cash UAT) |
|---|---|
| Scope | Order-to-cash for company code 1710, sales area 1710 / 10 / 00, plants 1710 and 1720; 25 scenarios; release R1; QAS client 100 |
| Criteria | Reference to approved acceptance criteria v1.2 and UAT exit criteria |
| Results | 25 of 25 executed; 24 passed; 1 passed after retest; evidence reviewed by sample of 5 |
| Open defects | 0 critical; 0 high; 2 medium accepted (DEF-0412, DEF-0419) with workarounds, owners and fix dates; 3 low deferred |
| Exceptions and conditions | Go-live conditional on output fix DEF-0412 within 30 days; credit team daily review for customer group 03 until fix |
| Evidence location | Test plan and runs in the project's test management tool; risk acceptances attached |
| Decision | Accepted with conditions |
| Signature | Dan, finance process owner; Maria, O2C key user; date |
A one-page sign-off record.
Three possible decisions
| Decision | When to use it | What must accompany it |
|---|---|---|
| Accepted | All criteria met; no accepted risks | Results and evidence references |
| Accepted with conditions | Criteria met except listed, accepted risks | Each condition with owner and date; risk acceptances attached |
| Not accepted | Criteria not met and risk not acceptable | What must change and when the gate will be re-held |
"Not accepted" is a legitimate outcome, not a failure of the process owner. It is the system working. The worst outcome is an "accepted" that should have been "not accepted," because it hides the risk until production finds it.
Conditions deserve care. A condition such as "fix DEF-0412 within 30 days" is only meaningful if someone tracks it and someone has authority to act if it slips. Name the owner of each condition, put the date in the hypercare plan, and agree in advance what happens if it is missed: escalation to the steering committee, an extended workaround, or a rollback of the affected function. Vague conditions are another way for risk to go live unowned.
Process owners sometimes worry that signing makes them personally liable for every defect found later. That is not the point of the record. The record shows that the decision was made carefully, on agreed criteria and real evidence, with known risks accepted openly. A defect found later that no reasonable test would have caught does not undo a good sign-off; a defect that was known and hidden does.
Making the record auditable
- Sign with name, role and date; electronic approval in the test management tool is fine if it is attributable.
- Reference versions: criteria version, test plan version, release or transport scope.
- Link, do not copy: point to the evidence in the test tool so the record stays short and the detail stays intact.
- Retain it according to your company's records policy. For processes in scope of financial controls, ask internal audit how long they need it; it often has to outlive the project by years.
- Store it where it will survive the project: not on a consultant's laptop or a team site that will be archived.
- Criteria agreedBefore execution
- Gates passedEntry and exit criteria checked
- Evidence reviewedSample checked by the process owner
- Risks acceptedOwners, workarounds, dates
- Record signedOne page, versioned, linked, retained
What would you do?
An auditor asks Contoso, a year after go-live, how the business knew billing posted revenue correctly. Which answer is best?
- Keep the sign-off record to one page with scope, criteria, results, open defects, conditions, evidence links, decision and signature.
- Three outcomes: accepted, accepted with conditions, not accepted.
- Make it auditable: attributable signature, versions, links, retention.
- Read it as an auditor would before you sign.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which outcome fits when criteria are met except for listed, formally accepted risks?
2. Why should the sign-off record link to evidence rather than copy it?
3. Who decides how long the sign-off record must be retained?
4. Is "not accepted" a legitimate sign-off outcome?