Accept the real production configuration before cancelling an essential incumbent. Repeat the critical tests after provisioning; a trial account and purchased package must not be assumed identical.
Pre-go-live checklist
- Required users, clubs, competitions, seasons and modules are provisioned.
- Contractually permitted exports and integrations work.
- Player mappings and exception handling have named owners.
- At least one end-to-end recruitment task succeeds in production.
- Scouts can locate the supporting evidence without the evaluator’s help.
- Support routes, escalation responsibilities and documentation are recorded.
- Training is scheduled for actual workflows rather than generic features.
- A permitted export/restore test demonstrates practical portability.
- Cancellation notices and any dual-running period are approved.
- Trial files, credentials and third-party access are retained or removed as authorised.
On exit, distinguish supplier-owned data from club-created notes and other materials. Follow the agreed retention and deletion requirements, including treatment of backups and embedded licensed content. Do not assume that possession of an exported file creates continuing usage rights.
What should you monitor after purchase?
Use proposed reviews at 30, 60 and 90 days, then align monitoring with the club’s recruitment and renewal cycle. Track completed tasks, newly closed evidence gaps, coverage exceptions, verification effort, integration failures, training needs and actual use of paid entitlements.
Re-run selected checks after material schema, model, coverage or rights changes. Hudl’s published Statsbomb release notes provide a concrete example of a vendor-maintained change record that an operational owner can monitor. (hudl.com)
Treat underuse as a diagnostic question: is the product unnecessary, poorly configured, difficult to use or serving an infrequent but essential task? Do not equate login counts with recruitment value.
Sources cited on this page
- hudl.comwww.hudl.com