The website is live, the final invoice has arrived and you have an admin password. A month later, you need to change your opening hours. You can log in, but you cannot publish. Meanwhile, domain renewal reminders go to someone who no longer works for you.
A good handover lets you operate the website and tells you whom to contact when something breaks. A list of passwords is only part of it. You need company-controlled accounts, a service inventory, a tested recovery process and clear responsibilities.
This checklist works for a completed project or a change of maintenance provider. If you are still writing the brief, start with preparing website materials.
First establish what is being handed over
Ask for one inventory connecting each service to its account, responsible person and next payment. A technology list alone is not useful to an owner. For every item, establish whether you can access it, manage it and contact someone if it fails.
| Item | What to collect | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | Registrar, registered holder, contact email, renewal date | Sign in and verify the details |
| Hosting | Account, billing, deployment process, support contact | Check your permissions and latest payment |
| Content | Admin access and staff roles | Publish a small test change |
| Code or platform | Agreed files, repository or service account | A second maintainer can understand the handover |
| Analytics | Access to the measurement tools in use | Check the correct website and reporting period |
| Recovery | Backup location and restoration instructions | Restore a copy in a separate environment |
For a .cz domain, check the registrar and available registration details in the CZ.NIC register. The registered holder, invoice payer and admin account user are not necessarily the same person. Resolve discrepancies with the registrar before the previous maintainer leaves.
Receive access through accounts you control
Give the supplier a company email address to grant access to. Where the service supports it, use individual accounts and roles. A shared office login makes staff departures and change tracking harder to manage.
During the handover, sign in yourself. Also check the recovery contact and multifactor authentication. Access that depends on the supplier's phone is not under your long-term control. Store passwords and recovery codes in a password manager, not in a spreadsheet attached to the handover record.
Do not revoke all supplier access without checking dependencies. First verify automated deployments, payments and support arrangements. Then remove unnecessary permissions and record any access retained for agreed maintenance.
Worked example: Accounts controlled by the business
illustrative example
| Service | Owner | Supplier | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain | Business account | Technical contact | Business + MFA |
| Hosting | Business account | Contracted admin | Business + MFA |
| CMS | Business admin | Editor / maintenance | Business admin |
| Analytics | Business admin | Limited access | Business + MFA |
At handover, test your own login and recovery procedure.
Four tests that reveal more than a presentation
1. Publish a small change. In a test environment, edit a sentence, upload an image and restore the original. This tests permissions and the clarity of your instructions. For a site without a CMS, ask for a demonstration of the agreed editing process.
2. Send a test enquiry. Use your own test contact details and clearly label the message. Verify delivery, the reply and any record in the receiving system. A green success message below the form does not establish that sales received the enquiry.
3. Have a backup restored. Agree a separate location and inspect the restored pages, content and relevant data. A successful backup notification is not the same as a working recovery process. Do not overwrite the live website for this test.
4. Walk through an outage. Who takes ownership, where are the contacts and what response has actually been agreed? Ordinary maintenance does not necessarily include evening or weekend cover. See what website maintenance includes for a more detailed breakdown.
An example record: replace "done" with a result
Imagine a small company accepting a brochure website. The following is a model, not a record of a real client project:
| Check | Handover result | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Content editing | Owner changed the text and restored it | Attach short instructions |
| Contact form | Test arrived at the company address | Record test time and recipient |
| Backup recovery | Restored copy loaded in a test environment | Record its location and responsible role |
| Domain renewal | Reminders still go to the supplier | Change and recheck the contact |
The last row should not disappear inside a general acceptance statement. Assign a named owner and an agreed deadline. Separate remaining defects from new requests: a broken contracted form is different from a newly requested customer portal.
Files, licences and costs after launch
For a custom solution, collect the agreed source files and deployment instructions. With a rented platform, handover typically concerns the account, settings and available data exports; the platform's own code may not be part of the delivery. Compare the handover against what was ordered and agreed.
List paid fonts, photographs, add-ons and external services separately. For each, check the terms of use for your project, the account holder and renewal arrangements. The amount is only part of the question: an annual subscription may stop working when it expires.
Close the handover with a short record of what was tested, what remains, who will finish it and who owns operations. If ongoing website maintenance follows, agree its scope separately. The first outage is a poor moment to discover that nobody has accepted responsibility for resolving it.
Frequently asked questions
Is admin access enough?
Not for taking over all operations. You also need to clarify the domain, hosting, paid services, data recovery and support. The exact scope depends on the platform and agreed delivery.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. You should be able to perform agreed everyday edits, recognise their results and reach a maintainer for technical work. Training should match what your team will actually do.
What if the supplier will not hand over certain files?
First compare the request with the order, contract and the terms of the services involved. List the specific missing items and ask for clarification of the handover scope. A technical checklist does not determine contractual rights.