Practical guide

Write a handoff receipt another person can use

Last materially reviewed 2026-09-27

Quick answerRecord what happened, what remains unknown and who owns the next decision.
What to know

Useful fields

Include the batch identifier, input and result counts, mapping version, processing date, reviewer, exceptions and next action. Link private evidence through controlled internal locations rather than pasting addresses into a broadly shared note.

What to know

Avoid one-word completion

“Done” can mean exported, uploaded, processed, reconciled or returned. State the completed stage precisely. An upload acknowledgement is not a fully processed result, and a processed file is not a safely updated source system.

What to know

Fictional receipt

Batch Cedar: 1,000 expected rows; 1,000 accounted for; 45 held for review; no subscription-state changes; return mapping reviewed but not executed. The named owner can now continue without repeating processing or assuming the held records are approved. Replace the example with actual observations, never optimistic estimates.

What to know

Put it into practice

A concise receipt can use five stage labels: prepared, submitted, processed, reconciled and returned. Each should carry an actual observation or remain explicitly pending. For a fictional batch, the prepared file may be verified locally and the provider may acknowledge submission, while processing is still incomplete. Do not let the first two stages imply the last three. Add the expected count, observed count, exception count and owner of unresolved actions. Keep private file references in an appropriately restricted location, and avoid embedding address lists or access tokens in the receipt. If another person takes over, they should be able to identify the next unperformed step without replaying a possibly completed submission. Record an uncertain outcome as uncertain, not failed by assumption or successful by hope. The receipt is useful precisely because it preserves those distinctions and prevents duplicated work. Include the receiving reviewer and the next decision deadline, so an unresolved handoff has an accountable owner rather than disappearing into an archive.

Continue when useful

Next: Close the batch without keeping unnecessary copies

Decide what evidence must remain and what personal data should be removed through an authorised process.

Open Close the batch without keeping unnecessary copies →

Sources used for this page

These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.

  1. Bouncer API introduction — Merchant documentation · docs.usebouncer.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-27