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Sample Knowledge Transfer Package

Below are excerpts from a complete Exit Insights package generated for a fictional departure — Jane Martinez, Senior Platform Engineer at Acme Corp, voluntary resignation with a March 1, 2026 last day.

Sample Output — All names, companies, and data below are fictional. This demonstrates the format and depth of an actual Exit Insights package.

1. Executive Summary

Employee: Jane Martinez (EMP-4521)
Department: Engineering
Title: Senior Platform Engineer
Manager: David Chen
Tenure: 4 years, 11 months
Last Day: March 1, 2026

Critical Handoff Items

  1. Alpha Migration Phase 3-5 — Jane is sole architect. Cutover window March 15-23 with no backup lead assigned. [Source: architecture.md, status-update.md]
  2. RDS Connection Pool Configuration — Hard limit of 150 connections divided across 4 services. Undocumented allocation known only to Jane. [Source: On-Call-Playbook, Slack #project-alpha, email]
  3. DataSync Corp vendor relationship — Jane is primary contact for $85K/year contract renewal due April 15. [Source: calendar, email-archive]
  4. Beta Analytics Dashboard — Spec complete but implementation blocked on security review. [Source: dashboard-spec.md]
  5. QBR Process Ownership — Jane runs quarterly business reviews; next one scheduled March 20. [Source: quarterly-review-process.md, calendar]

Knowledge Risk Assessment

  • Overall Risk: HIGH
  • Bus Factor: 7 systems/processes where Jane is sole expert
  • Active Projects at Risk: 2 (Alpha Migration, Beta Dashboard)
  • Undocumented Areas: 13 knowledge gaps identified
  • Tribal Knowledge Items: 9 items tagged HIGH priority

Recommended Actions

  1. Assign Alpha Migration backup lead by Feb 21 — cutover cannot proceed without handoff
  2. Schedule 3 x 60-min knowledge transfer sessions using the Interview Guide (32 questions prepared)
  3. Transfer DataSync Corp relationship to Priya Sharma before contract renewal date

Pre-Departure Transition Timeline

2+ Weeks Before (by Feb 14)

  • Assign backup lead for Alpha Migration
  • Begin knowledge transfer sessions (Session 1)
  • Notify DataSync Corp of contact change

1 Week Before (by Feb 22)

  • Complete Sessions 2 and 3
  • Transfer QBR process documentation
  • Begin credential rotation for shared accounts

Last Day (Mar 1)

  • Execute access revocation checklist (27 accounts)
  • Confirm all transfer matrix items assigned
  • Archive Jane's communication channels

2. Knowledge Transfer Package (Excerpt)

Showing 2 of 9 sections from the full 24-page document.

Active Projects

Alpha Migration (Phase 3-5)

Status: Phase 3 of 5 (70% complete) — At Risk

The Alpha Migration moves the legacy monolith to microservices on EKS. Jane architected the service decomposition and owns the cutover plan. Phases 1-2 (auth service and user service extraction) completed in Q3 2025. Phase 3 (order service) is in-progress with the cutover window scheduled for March 15-23. [Source: architecture.md, status-update.md]

ItemStatusSource
Order service API contractsCompletearchitecture.md
Data migration scriptsIn Progress (60%)code-repo, Slack
Load testingNot Startedstatus-update.md
Rollback procedureDocumentedAlpha-Migration-Runbook

Tribal Knowledge (Excerpt — 3 of 9 items)

RDS Connection Pool Limits HIGH

The shared RDS instance has a hard limit of 150 connections divided across 4 services: Alpha API (50), Beta Analytics (30), Internal Tools (20), Migration Worker (50), with 10 reserved for DBA access. Do NOT increase max_connections — the db.r5.large instance cannot handle more without upgrading. Use read replica for ad-hoc queries during peak hours. [Source: architecture.md, On-Call-Playbook, Slack, email — 6 sources]

Batch Size for Data Migration HIGH

BATCH_SIZE must stay at 500 for the migration worker. Jane tested 1,000 and 2,000 in staging — both caused OOM kills on the t3.medium worker nodes. The 500 limit is not documented anywhere except a Slack thread from October 2025. [Source: Slack #project-alpha, code-repo config]

Vendor Procurement Threshold MEDIUM

Any vendor purchase over $50K requires VP sign-off and a 3-vendor comparison. Jane handles this for DataSync and CloudWatch contracts. The process is in vendor-evaluation-template.md but the approval routing (who signs what) is only in Jane's head. [Source: vendor-evaluation-template.md, email-archive]

3. Knowledge Gap Analysis (Excerpt)

13 gaps identified: 4 HIGH, 5 MEDIUM, 4 LOW. Showing top 3.

GAP-001: Staging Environment Setup Guide — HIGH

Area: Infrastructure / Shared environments

Evidence: Jane shared staging gotchas in Slack #general but committed to writing a formal guide "this sprint" — never created. [Source: Slack #general messages 8-11]

Business Impact: New engineers will hit avoidable 2-3 day delays setting up staging

Recommended Action: Consolidate Jane's Slack messages into a staging setup guide

Suggested Owner: Raj Patel (post-departure)

GAP-002: Alpha Cutover Rollback Decision Tree — HIGH

Area: Migration / Disaster Recovery

Evidence: Runbook covers happy-path rollback but not partial failure scenarios. Jane discussed "what to do if only 2 of 4 services cut over" in a 1:1 with David Chen — no written record. [Source: Alpha-Migration-Runbook, calendar]

Business Impact: Partial cutover failure without decision tree could cause 4-8 hour outage

Recommended Action: Document partial failure scenarios before March 15 cutover window

Suggested Owner: Jane Martinez (pre-departure)

GAP-003: QBR Slide Deck Template Location — MEDIUM

Area: Process / Business Operations

Evidence: quarterly-review-process.md describes the process but doesn't link to the actual slide template. Jane creates slides from scratch each quarter from a personal template. [Source: quarterly-review-process.md]

Business Impact: Successor will spend 3-4 hours recreating slide format each quarter

Recommended Action: Save current QBR template to shared drive

Suggested Owner: Jane Martinez (pre-departure)

4. Security Review (Excerpt)

Confidential

5 findings: 1 CRITICAL, 2 HIGH, 2 MEDIUM. Showing top 3.

#TypeSource FileLocationAction
C1API Keycode-repo/config/production.jsonLine 42, cloudAnalyticsApiKeyREDACT + Rotate
H1Database Passwordcode-repo/config/production.jsonLine 8, db_passwordREDACT + Rotate
H2Personal Emailemail-archive/vendor-contract.emlBody, jane.m.personal@gmail.comREDACT
Summary: 5 sensitive data instances found across 3 files. 1 requires immediate credential rotation. 3 have been automatically redacted in the handoff package. 1 requires human review.

5. Integrity Report (Excerpt)

Confidential
These findings are automated pattern detections, not evidence of wrongdoing. Many flagged patterns have routine explanations. Review each finding in context.

3 patterns detected: 1 MEDIUM, 2 LOW. Overall assessment: LOW RISK.

After-Hours Bulk Commit — MEDIUM

Type: after_hours_bulk

Repository: code-repo

Date: 2026-01-28 23:47 UTC

Detail: 14 files changed in a single commit at 11:47 PM, outside normal working hours (9AM-6PM).

Cross-Reference: Slack message from Jane on Jan 28: "pushing the staging fix tonight so we don't block QA tomorrow" [Source: Slack #project-alpha]

Likely Explanation: Urgent staging fix before next-day QA cycle. Corroborated by Slack message.

Config File Modification — LOW

Type: config_change

Repository: code-repo

Date: 2026-02-10

Detail: production.json modified — API key value changed. Change made during final 3 weeks.

Likely Explanation: Routine key rotation as part of quarterly security cycle.

Assessment: LOW RISK — all 3 detected patterns have routine explanations corroborated by other artifacts. No deleted files, force pushes, or bulk deletions found.

6. Relationship Map (Excerpt)

14 contacts mapped (9 internal, 5 external). Showing key contacts.

Internal Contacts

NameRoleRelationshipProjectsHandoff?
David ChenEng ManagerDirect managerAllN/A
Raj PatelPlatform EngineerPeer, closest collaboratorAlpha, On-CallYes
Priya SharmaSenior EngineerCross-team partnerBeta DashboardYes
Lisa ParkVP EngineeringSkip-level, QBR sponsorQBRYes

External Contacts

NameOrganizationMeetings (12mo)FrequencyHandoff Priority
Sarah JonesDataSync Corp18Bi-weeklyHIGH
Mike TorresCloudWatch Solutions6MonthlyMEDIUM

7. Interview Guide (Excerpt)

32 questions across 3 sessions. Showing Session 1.

Session Format: 3 sessions x 60 min each. Priority 1-2 in Session 1, Priority 3-4 in Session 2, Priority 4-5 + Closing in Session 3.

Session 1: Critical Knowledge Gaps & Project Alpha

1. Walk me through how you set up the staging environment from scratch — what are the gotchas that aren't documented?

[Context: GAP-001 — staging guide was promised but never written]

2. If the Alpha cutover partially fails — say 2 of 4 services migrate but 2 don't — what's the decision tree?

[Context: GAP-002 — rollback runbook only covers full rollback, not partial failure]

3. What's the ONE thing that would go wrong first if no one was watching the Alpha migration?

[Context: Identifies highest-risk unmonitored dependency]

4. You mentioned the RDS connection pool is divided across 4 services with specific allocations. How did you arrive at those numbers, and what happens if we need to add a 5th service?

[Context: Tribal knowledge — 6 sources mention this but with inconsistent values]

8. Transfer Matrix (Excerpt)

26 items requiring transfer. Showing Active Projects section.

#ItemRoleStatusProposed OwnerTransfer ByNotes
1Alpha MigrationLead, ArchitectAt Risk (70%)[TBD — Manager Decision]Feb 21Critical: cutover Mar 15-23
2Beta DashboardSpec AuthorBlockedPriya SharmaFeb 28Awaiting security review
3DataSync RelationshipPrimary ContactActivePriya SharmaFeb 21$85K renewal Apr 15
4QBR ProcessOwner, PresenterRecurring[TBD — Manager Decision]Feb 28Next QBR Mar 20
5On-Call RotationParticipantRecurringRaj PatelMar 1Remove from PagerDuty
Transfer Summary: 26 items requiring transfer. 18 have proposed owners (69%). 8 require manager decision. 3 critical items with deadline within 2 weeks.

9. Access Revocation (Excerpt)

Confidential

27 accounts across 6 categories. Showing Code & Development.

#SystemAccountAccess LevelPriorityRevoked?
1GitHubjane.martinezOwner/MaintainerP1
2AWS Consolejane.martinez@acmePowerUserP1
3Jirajane.martinezProject AdminP2
4DataSync Portaljane@acme.comAdminP2
Summary: 27 accounts to revoke. P1 (same-day): 8. P2 (within 1 week): 12. P3 (within 2 weeks): 7. Credential rotations needed: 3.

10. First 30 Days Plan (Excerpt)

4-week successor action plan. Showing Week 1.

Week 1: Orientation & Immediate Handoff (Mar 1-7)

Day 1-2: Access & Context

  • ☐ Get access to all systems in access-revocation.md (27 accounts)
  • ☐ Read executive-summary.md and handoff-package.md end-to-end
  • ☐ Meet with David Chen (manager) for context briefing
  • ☐ Join Slack channels: #project-alpha, #beta-dashboard, #platform-eng

Day 3-4: Project Alpha Immersion

  • ☐ Review architecture.md and Alpha-Migration-Runbook
  • ☐ Set up local development environment using staging guide
  • ☐ Shadow Raj Patel on current Alpha tasks
  • ☐ Review data migration scripts (60% complete)

Day 5: Immediate Risks

  • ☐ Confirm cutover window (Mar 15-23) is still feasible
  • ☐ Intro call with Sarah Jones at DataSync Corp
  • ☐ Review knowledge-gaps.md and prioritize gap remediation
Key Metrics to Track: Alpha migration completion % (target: 85% by Week 2), Knowledge gaps closed (target: all HIGH gaps by Week 3), Vendor relationships transitioned (target: all HIGH by Week 2).

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