Inventory portable material, inspect one authorised export and rehearse the transition order before disconnecting the old workflow.
Start with the work you need to keep
If an AI supplier becomes unsuitable, what would your team need to continue the work next week? A login and a folder of screenshots may leave you without usable source files, instructions, or a clear manual process.
This original planning guide is for a small business using a staff-reviewed internal assistant. The example is hypothetical and contains no customer records or actual supplier results. Preparing an exit pack does not mean cancelling a service. It means establishing what you can retain, what you can reconstruct, and what remains dependent on the supplier.
NIST’s AI RMF Core includes safe decommissioning and consideration of viable non-AI alternatives. The worksheet below is one practical way to discuss those questions, not a NIST checklist or a statement of legal rights.
What a usable export has to survive
Imagine an internal assistant that helps staff find setup instructions for exhibition displays. The fictional pack contains three approved guides, two task instructions, six test questions, and a list of unresolved limitations. None contains personal information.
Hypothetical manifest entry: “Guide DISPLAY-B; owned by operations; original retained in the team’s approved document store; text export available in rehearsal; expected three sections and one diagram; diagram absent from export; hold for reconstruction review.” This is an example of a finding, not a report of a real test.
-
Open and locate the missing context
Have a colleague open the exported material in an ordinary approved viewer and locate the diagram-dependent instruction. If they cannot, the pack needs the permitted original or an approved replacement explanation. Do not ask a model to reconstruct the missing diagram from context.
-
Perform one task manually
Then ask that colleague to answer one test question manually and identify the supporting source. The aim is to establish whether the business meaning survives. Reproducing identical AI wording or proving compatibility with a replacement supplier is a separate task.
Exit-pack manifest
Create one row per artifact with these fields:
| Manifest field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Artifact and purpose: | what work depends on it? |
| Current location and owner: | who can retrieve and explain it? |
| Permitted use: | what is verified, restricted, or unresolved? |
| Export method and format: | documented, demonstrated, unavailable, or unknown. |
| Completeness check: | expected records, sections, versions, and linked files. |
| Readability check: | where a colleague can open it independently. |
| Reconstruction need: | what configuration or context is missing? |
| Rehearsal record | Last rehearsal, finding, and next action. |
Do not mark a row complete just because a download finished. An archive might omit attachments, source links, instruction versions, or the relationship between records. A portable document can still be operationally incomplete.
Keep approved originals separately from exported derivatives. If the supplier exposes only an extracted text copy, record that limitation and retain the source document through the business’s normal document controls.
Three boundaries around the pack
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Find the materials and owners
List the materials needed to operate the task: approved sources, current instructions, test examples, known failures, reviewer guidance, configuration notes, and integration descriptions. For each, identify its authoritative location and the person responsible for it.
-
Check permitted use
Separate possession from permission. Being able to download a file does not establish ownership, transfer rights, or permission to send it to another vendor. Ask the responsible person to check the actual agreement and applicable restrictions. Record unresolved terms for appropriate review instead of assuming every component is portable.
-
Keep credentials outside the pack
Keep credentials out of the pack. Name the account owner and approved access process without copying passwords, keys, tokens, or recovery codes. A transition may require new permissions; that needs its own authorised process.
Plan the transition before disconnecting
Identify every place that starts or relies on the assistant: a staff link, an embedded widget, a document synchronisation job, an integration, or a scheduled operation. Record who can pause each component and what staff will see afterward.
Draw the intended transition order on paper.
Establish the fallback first; verify necessary permitted records; identify unfinished work; then plan how entry points and dependencies would change.
Do not disable a service merely to test whether the team notices.
A supplier change can also change output quality, access behaviour, or available features. Treat a replacement as a new configuration requiring its own evaluation. A successful export is evidence about that export, not evidence that another product will work the same way.
The owner’s readiness decision
Readiness finding
Close the rehearsal with three lists: usable now, recoverable with specified work, and unavailable or unresolved. Estimate reconstruction effort separately from any supplier fees, and verify fees from the actual agreement before budgeting a move.
Separate retention decision
Keep deletion and retention decisions separate from operational cutover. Leaving a tool does not establish that all stored copies have been removed, or that every record should be deleted. Ask the accountable owner to determine the required process and evidence for the real service.
Review the pack when a significant source, integration, or ownership change occurs. Start with one essential artifact and one manual task. Bring the manifest and its unresolved gaps to an AI consultancy discussion when you need help planning a supportable transition.
Week 42 · interactive local candidate
Can the work survive the export?
Fictional local exercise. This exercise keeps its working inputs in page memory and starts over on reset or reload. It does not automatically submit or save those inputs, call an AI or access accounts. Copies and printouts are outside reset; browser-managed history, extensions and device behaviour are outside this exercise’s control. Use invented examples only; do not enter personal records or credentials. No real transfers or independent verification are performed.
Use a six-artifact manifest for the fictional display-setup assistant. A downloaded or readable file can still lack essential meaning. DISPLAY-B deliberately lacks its diagram; decide how to recover the permitted original before calling it usable. Changing an artifact owner, source location, export format, finding or reconstruction clears that artifact’s earlier checks and rehearsal reference. Enter the evidence first, then record the checks.
Review pending. Change inputs, then review the current version. Earlier results are cleared after every edit.
Week 42: Can the work survive the export?
Fictional local exercise. This exercise keeps its working inputs in page memory and starts over on reset or reload. It does not automatically submit or save those inputs, call an AI or access accounts. Copies and printouts are outside reset; browser-managed history, extensions and device behaviour are outside this exercise’s control. Use invented examples only; do not enter personal records or credentials. No real transfers or independent verification are performed.
All observations and checks below are fictional or reader-reported; none independently verified.
FIXED FICTIONAL EXERCISE CONTEXT
{
"artifacts": [
{
"name": "Approved source guides",
"purpose": "Three guides DISPLAY-A, DISPLAY-B and DISPLAY-C for manual setup answers.",
"expected": "Three current guide versions, every section, linked file and diagram; DISPLAY-B has three sections and one essential diagram.",
"location": "Fictional approved document store",
"owner": "Operations",
"format": "Text export in ordinary approved viewer",
"finding": "DISPLAY-B diagram is absent from the text export. Reconstruct only from the permitted original or approved explanation."
},
{
"name": "Task instructions",
"purpose": "Two current instructions for finding and drafting staff-reviewed answers.",
"expected": "Two versioned instructions with source references and reviewer steps.",
"location": "Fictional instruction register",
"owner": "Service owner",
"format": "Plain text",
"finding": "Export method and versions need rehearsal."
},
{
"name": "Test questions",
"purpose": "Six questions with expected source-backed manual answers.",
"expected": "Six questions, expected answers, source references and known failure cases.",
"location": "Fictional test register",
"owner": "Quality reviewer",
"format": "CSV or readable text",
"finding": "Ask a colleague to answer one question and cite the source."
},
{
"name": "Known limitations",
"purpose": "Keep unresolved failures and reviewer guidance visible.",
"expected": "Current limitations and their owners, including diagram-dependent answers.",
"location": "Fictional review log",
"owner": "Quality reviewer",
"format": "Readable document",
"finding": "Do not mark missing context repaired because an export opened."
},
{
"name": "Configuration description",
"purpose": "Reconstruct the bounded assistant without secrets.",
"expected": "Source/instruction versions, settings descriptions, account owner and approved access process; no keys or tokens.",
"location": "Fictional operations notes",
"owner": "Implementation owner",
"format": "Readable document",
"finding": "A description is not replacement-supplier compatibility evidence."
},
{
"name": "Entry points and dependencies",
"purpose": "Plan staff links, widget, sync job and unfinished work during a transition.",
"expected": "Every starter/dependent component, pause owner, staff message and manual route.",
"location": "Fictional dependency register",
"owner": "Operations",
"format": "Readable list",
"finding": "Do not disable the actual service to run this tabletop exercise."
}
],
"scope": "Possession, permitted use, independent readability and a source-backed manual task are separate reader-reported observations."
}
CURRENT INPUTS (fictional / reader-entered)
{
"rows": [
{
"owner": "Operations",
"location": "Fictional approved document store",
"permission": "unknown",
"format": "Text export in ordinary approved viewer",
"complete": "unknown",
"readable": "unknown",
"manual": "unknown",
"finding": "DISPLAY-B diagram is absent from the text export. Reconstruct only from the permitted original or approved explanation.",
"next": "",
"rehearsal": "",
"reconstruction": ""
},
{
"owner": "Service owner",
"location": "Fictional instruction register",
"permission": "unknown",
"format": "Plain text",
"complete": "unknown",
"readable": "unknown",
"manual": "unknown",
"finding": "Export method and versions need rehearsal.",
"next": "",
"rehearsal": "",
"reconstruction": ""
},
{
"owner": "Quality reviewer",
"location": "Fictional test register",
"permission": "unknown",
"format": "CSV or readable text",
"complete": "unknown",
"readable": "unknown",
"manual": "unknown",
"finding": "Ask a colleague to answer one question and cite the source.",
"next": "",
"rehearsal": "",
"reconstruction": ""
},
{
"owner": "Quality reviewer",
"location": "Fictional review log",
"permission": "unknown",
"format": "Readable document",
"complete": "unknown",
"readable": "unknown",
"manual": "unknown",
"finding": "Do not mark missing context repaired because an export opened.",
"next": "",
"rehearsal": "",
"reconstruction": ""
},
{
"owner": "Implementation owner",
"location": "Fictional operations notes",
"permission": "unknown",
"format": "Readable document",
"complete": "unknown",
"readable": "unknown",
"manual": "unknown",
"finding": "A description is not replacement-supplier compatibility evidence.",
"next": "",
"rehearsal": "",
"reconstruction": ""
},
{
"owner": "Operations",
"location": "Fictional dependency register",
"permission": "unknown",
"format": "Readable list",
"complete": "unknown",
"readable": "unknown",
"manual": "unknown",
"finding": "Do not disable the actual service to run this tabletop exercise.",
"next": "",
"rehearsal": "",
"reconstruction": ""
}
],
"fallback": "Staff use the separately retained approved originals and existing review process.",
"unfinished": "List unresolved requests before any planned cutover.",
"order": "fallback-first",
"cutoverOwner": ""
}
Review pending. No current result; any earlier review was invalidated by input changes.
LIMITATIONS AND WARNINGS
• Every permission, completeness, readability and manual-task check is reader-reported; this tool opens no files and verifies no agreement.
• A successful export does not establish ownership, transfer rights, replacement compatibility, deletion or retention requirements.
• Keep keys, passwords, tokens and recovery codes out of the pack. Use the authorised account-owner process separately.
• Fallback, unfinished-work plan or cutover owner is missing. Do not treat this pack as a cutover approval.
• One or more artifacts remain held or need reconstruction; group these separately from usable materials.Use the text-only exercise
The complete unchanged manuscript remains readable if the controls are unavailable.
Return to The owner’s readiness decisionSources checked 4 October 2026
Sources & review
Primary sources checked on . The checklists and planning examples are AI-assisted editorial guidance, not source quotations or reported client results.
This AI-assisted guide uses fictional examples for practice. It does not report client results or establish that a live system will behave the same way.
Originally published: .