Work back from the notice deadline
Find the renewal date, cancellation notice period, required notice method and the person authorized to send it. Record the last day of access separately from the end of billing. Ask the current provider how long a final export takes and whether access continues while it is prepared.
Assign a transition owner and involve records, communications, IT and procurement. Inventory every account and its administrator. Add open records requests, preservation holds and any accounts that have closed or changed ownership since the archive began.
Your notice deadline may fall before the new service is ready. Make that conflict visible early and agree a fallback, such as an extension where available. Do not assume a trial period, export request or sales conversation changes the existing contract.
Separate archive import from platform history
Ask both providers to explain these three options in writing. They solve different problems, and a transition may use more than one.
| Approach | What to confirm |
|---|---|
| Keep the legacy archive or its exports | Where the records will live, who can search them, the file formats, access costs and how long they remain available. |
| Import into the new archive | Whether import is supported at all, which formats and fields survive, how versions and media are handled, and how results will be reconciled. |
| Retrieve history from the social platform | What is still available to the new connection, with limits by platform, account type, permissions and date. Previously deleted or unavailable content may not be recoverable. |
If you are considering Brolly: Brolly does not currently import third-party archives, as stated in the buyer's guide. Plan a separate way to retain and retrieve legacy records. Historical content available directly from a social platform varies by platform, permissions and API behavior; it is not a replacement for the old archive.
Have the records owner decide how historical records must remain accessible under your existing policies. Name the person responsible for the legacy store after the old contract ends. A folder of files without a retrieval owner or access procedure is an unfinished transition.
Request a sample before the final export
Agree the export scope: accounts, date ranges, captured versions, comments, supported media, metadata and available audit or integrity evidence. Ask for a manifest or equivalent inventory and an explanation of the counts. Vendors may count posts, comments, versions and media differently.
Open the sample outside the current service. Check a normal conversation, an edited item, a captured deletion and a media item where these exist. Confirm whether media is included as files or referenced by links that might later stop working. Check time zones and the relationship between a reply and its parent.
For the final package, reconcile agreed accounts and dates against the manifest, record discrepancies and sample the contents. Verify checksums where supplied. Preserve the original package and verification evidence, and use working copies for review or conversion.
Document what cannot be exported and how access to it will continue, if required. Resolve those exceptions before approving closure; a successful file download alone does not establish that the agreed historical scope is present.
Verify each account during an agreed overlap
Where both providers and the social platform support it, run the new connection while the existing service continues. Confirm permission and connection behavior with both providers first. If parallel capture is not possible, agree a controlled change window, the expected exposure and the fallback.
Use the evaluation scorecard to check capture, versions, deletions, search and export on the relevant platforms. Keep evidence for each account. Assign someone to monitor connection status and investigate missing or delayed items.
Then rehearse a request that spans the transition date. Retrieve historical material from the legacy store and newer material from the new archive. Record how reviewers will search both, reconcile overlapping date ranges and identify duplicates without discarding required context.
Give every transition task an owner
| Stage | Task | Evidence before closing the task |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Confirm renewal date, notice deadline, cancellation method and authorized contact. | Contract extract and acknowledged notice requirements. |
| Plan | Inventory accounts, owners, permissions, open requests and historical date ranges. | Account inventory with an owner for every account. |
| Plan | Identify applicable retention decisions and preservation holds with the records owner. | Approved list of records that must remain accessible. |
| Preserve history | Agree export scope, media, metadata, versions, costs and delivery time with the current provider. | Written exit specification and sample export. |
| Preserve history | Choose the destination for legacy records and assign access, security and retrieval responsibilities. | Repository location; access test; named custodian and retrieval procedure. |
| Preserve history | Reconcile the received export against agreed accounts and date ranges; investigate gaps. | Manifest, available counts, sampling log and documented exceptions. |
| Preserve history | Open exports outside the old service and verify supplied integrity evidence. | Readable files and media; verification results; original package retained. |
| Prove new capture | Connect each agreed account to the new provider while existing coverage continues where supported. | Connection and capture evidence for each account. |
| Prove new capture | Run the agreed capture, search and export tests and record limitations. | Completed evaluation scorecard and accepted exceptions. |
| Prove new capture | Rehearse a request spanning legacy records and the new archive. | Documented searches across both stores; overlap and duplicate handling. |
| Approve change | Obtain records, IT and procurement sign-off and confirm the fallback if checks fail. | Named approvers, dated decision and fallback owner. |
| Close out | Submit authorized notice, confirm final access and export dates, then remove only obsolete connections. | Acknowledgment, final export and verified ongoing capture in the new service. |
| Close out | Confirm contract closure, legacy access and any authorized deletion arrangements. | Closure record; retained evidence; deletion confirmation only where approved. |
The downloadable checklist adds an owner, due date, status and evidence field for each task. Use the actual contract dates, rather than a generic schedule, and keep overdue or blocked tasks visible at the decision point.
Make cancellation a documented decision
Before authorizing notice, confirm that historical access has an owner and a verified retrieval method, new capture meets the agreed requirements, and unresolved exceptions have named acceptance. Have procurement confirm the notice method and final charges. Records and IT should confirm their parts of the transition.
Record a fallback if any mandatory check fails. After authorized notice is sent, keep the acknowledgment, final export and agreed access end date. Remove only obsolete connections and verify that new capture continues afterward.
Handle any provider-side deletion through your approved records and contractual process. Preserve closure evidence with the decision record. Do not treat the end of a subscription as authority to dispose of records.
Get the PDF workbook
The switching worksheet includes: contract dates, an account and history inventory, thirteen transition tasks, ownership and evidence fields, an exceptions log, a fallback plan and a final approval record.
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Common questions
Can Brolly import our existing provider’s archive?
Brolly does not currently import third-party archives. Arrange continued access to the old archive or a verified export held in a suitable repository. Confirm the current position and your specific historical requirements during evaluation.
Will reconnecting the accounts recover all historical content?
Do not assume so. Available history depends on the platform, account type, permissions and API behavior. Content that has been deleted or is no longer available at source may not be retrievable.
How long should we run both providers?
Long enough to verify the agreed account coverage and workflows, subject to technical support and contract terms. Set the period from your tests, export lead time and notice deadline; there is no universal overlap duration.
Can we cancel once the new accounts are connected?
Connection alone is insufficient evidence for a transition decision. Verify capture and retrieval, confirm historical access, resolve mandatory gaps and obtain the approvals required by your organization first.
Talk through your move to Brolly
Bring your notice deadline, account inventory and historical access requirements. We can clarify supported capture and source-platform history so you can plan the transition with your current provider.