Free Resource
The Application Decommissioning Checklist
The true cost of retiring an application - and how to actually finish the job. A printable worksheet that surfaces every exit cost before a retirement stalls.
Get the free checklistMarking an app "retire" is the easy part
Most rationalization efforts fail at the same place: an application gets marked "retire," and then it runs for another two years. Nobody budgeted for the exit, nobody found the hidden dependency, and the renewal auto-billed before anyone noticed the notice window had closed.
Retiring an application isn't free, and it isn't a single switch. This checklist makes the real cost - contractual, data, integration, and organizational - visible up front, so a retirement decision turns into a retirement that actually happens.
One honest note on savings: the licensing and support you recover from retiring a typical application is usually smaller than the number quoted before the work begins. Anchor on clarity and completion, not savings - that's what makes the work sustainable.
Work one application at a time.
Assign a named owner and a target date before you start - "Owner X retires application Y by date Z." An unowned retirement is a stalled retirement.
Six groups. Every exit cost accounted for.
The four hidden costs of decommissioning - plus ownership and closure - mapped to the discipline in the Rationalization Playbook. Here's the first group in full; the other 5 - 20 more checks - come with the printable, per-application worksheet your team can tick off as you go.
Contractual & licensing exit
PreviewThe costs that bite when you're not looking.
- Renewal / auto-renewal date recorded
- Notice window and last date to cancel identified
- Early-termination penalties and minimum commitments checked
- License true-down vs. sunk-for-the-term confirmed
- Contractual data-return / deletion obligations noted
- Notice served in writing; final invoice and billing-stop date confirmed
Data & records
4 checksWhat you keep, what you must delete, and proving both.
4 checks in the free download
Integrations & dependencies
4 checksThe hidden wiring that breaks things after go-live.
4 checks in the free download
People & process
4 checksRetirements stall when nobody owns the human side.
4 checks in the free download
Technical shutdown
4 checksThe mechanical steps — logged, not assumed.
4 checks in the free download
Closure & accountability
4 checksMaking the retirement real — and visible.
4 checks in the free download
Printable · fillable · one worksheet per application
Who this is for
Built for the people who own the retirement and have to make it stick.
IT & portfolio leaders
You own the roadmap and the retirement decision. Use the checklist to turn an 'Eliminate' verdict into a finished retirement with an owner and a date.
The execution layer
IT planning, enterprise architecture, or the app owner running the shutdown - the worksheet is the runbook for doing it once, safely.
Finance partners
The contractual and licensing section surfaces the notice windows, penalties, and true-downs that decide whether an exit is worth it this year.
Get the free checklist
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