Transition Plans vs. Handover Notes: What's the difference?


Many businesses use the terms transition plan and handover notes interchangeably. Although both can streamline employee transition periods, the two can have very different meanings and processes attached to them.
In this article, we'll explore the difference between a transition plan and a handover note and explain everything you need to know to create the best documents for your company.
When faced with a business change (for example, while doing an employee transition, dealing with external factors like emerging competitors or customer needs, or having to go through new team operations and shifts), you will want to ensure a smooth transition process for everyone involved.
This is why most companies create thorough documents, such as transition plans and handover notes, to ensure the changes don't hamper daily tasks and operations. However, there are some differences between transition plans and handover notes, so let's take a closer look at when you should use each.
A transition plan is a type of project handover document or set of documents that contain all the details, such as activities and processes someone (or a team) will need to follow to implement a good transition. It's a way of making sure nothing slips through the cracks.
This plan can vary slightly depending on the kind of shift that is going to take place. For example, if we're talking about a transitioning employee, a business owner change, or a re-shuffling of responsibilities within a company.
Handover notes, or a handover document, is a single record containing daily tasks, projects, schedules, upcoming events, and/or deadlines. Typically, handover notes are written by an outgoing employee for their successor and cover all the ongoing activities a new team member will need to keep in mind.
You can think of handover notes as a guide for the incoming person, informing them of the duties of the job and how to perform them.
The main difference between a transition plan and handover note is that a transition plan goes further than describing a job and actually plots a path to upskilling their replacement over time. When someone receives it, they should be able to understand not just what their roles and duties are but also all the routines that involve other teams and activities. A handover note, on the other hand, is just a document.
Any organizational shift can be daunting at first, but if you follow these steps, you shouldn't have trouble navigating it.
The first step to creating a good transition plan is to understand how the knowledge will be shared to facilitate a smooth handover. A useful way to think about someone's duties and responsibilities is to list your recurring tasks. However, capturing this information is about determining routines which often include different teams, roles, activities, and processes. For instance:
Many organizations dealing with employee transitions or structural changes choose to use a transition plan template (or handover plan template) as a blueprint to ensure all the relevant information and assets are included. These documents can be helpful for standardizing all critical details using a shared language, reducing errors, and saving time. Here's an example transition plan template you can use in your organization.
Although using a template is an excellent first step towards guaranteeing that all assets and knowledge remain protected and can be easily shared, there's an even better alternative to both transition plans and handover notes - in the traditional sense, at least.
With imprend, you can simplify your handover process by capturing the entire context behind all work undertakings and presenting it in the form of teams, projects, roles, activities, and processes. The system automatically converts textual information into hierarchical diagrams (hiagrams) that you'll be able to easily explore and share with others. Try imprend today and streamline your staff transition and handover.