# CPQ replacement archive context checklist | SourceX

Canonical: https://refer.sourcex.si/resources/cpq-replacement-archive-context-checklist
Last updated: 2026-10-20

Run the checklist at three moments: before the CPQ replacement is announced, before cutover to the new quoting tool, and before licenses or org access for the outgoing system end. At each one, confirm where the exceptions that led to each final commercial agreement are kept (approval records, earlier drafts, field history and seller-manager threads), who owns them, and what is lost if the item is skipped. Every date comes from the company's project plan or license terms.

This checklist belongs to the [CPQ replacement guide](/guides/moment-cpq-replacement-revops-consultants), which maps where a single pricing exception leaves records. Use this page to keep those records in view until the outgoing system goes dark.

## Fixing the three dates

The vendor's roadmap does not set the clock. Salesforce, for example, describes its own product as end of sale rather than end of life: existing customers can keep using it, add users, renew and receive support, with Revenue Cloud Advanced named as the successor. So the dates that matter are the company's own.

| Milestone | Where the date usually comes from | If no date exists |
|---|---|---|
| Announcement | The RevOps roadmap or the replacement project charter | Start milestone one with the CRO and the system administrator |
| Cutover | The new tool's go-live plan and the data migration window | Record who owns go-live and come back once it is set |
| Outgoing system switch-off | License renewal date, or the decision to make the old org read-only or retire it | Leave it open with one item: "confirm whether the old org stays readable" |

Mark each item **confirmed**, **unknown** (with a name and a date) or **at risk**. Record descriptions only: no deal numbers, customer names, price concessions or approval comments.

## Milestone one: before the replacement is announced

Scope is still flexible. History questions are cheap now and expensive later.

| Confirm | Owner | If skipped |
|---|---|---|
| Which approval mechanism the current system uses (built-in approvals, an approvals package, or email) | System administrator | Nobody knows where decisions were recorded |
| Roughly how many deals per year needed an exception approval, and for how many years | Deal desk or sales operations lead | The exception trail has no size or shape |
| Which fields have field history tracking turned on, and since when | Salesforce or CRM administrator | Changes to terms are assumed to be tracked when they are not |
| Who can authorize a licensing discussion about pricing and approval history | CEO (in an owner-run company, the owner) | An interested company has nobody able to say yes |

The third row matters because tracking is selective. Salesforce documents that field history tracking covers a limited number of fields per object and starts only from the date someone turns it on, and that without Field Audit Trail it keeps history for up to 18 months in the interface and up to 24 months through the API. The [field history retention explainer](/questions/salesforce-field-history-tracking-retention) goes deeper.

## Milestone two: before cutover

The migration plan decides what moves. Superseded material is the first thing left behind.

| Confirm | Owner | If skipped |
|---|---|---|
| Whether approval records and their comments migrate, or only the rules are rebuilt | Migration lead | Every past decision stays in the old system only |
| Whether earlier, rejected drafts are kept or dropped as out of date | Migration lead | The "before" half of each negotiation disappears |
| Whether resubmitted deals keep the earlier approval round that justified them | System administrator | The reason for approval is lost behind a clean final quote |
| Where seller and manager discussion of exceptions lives (email, chat, CRM activity) and whether it is linked to quotes | Sales operations lead | The reasoning is scattered and unconnected |

The third row is specific to how approval engines behave. In Salesforce CPQ with Advanced Approvals, each approver gets an approval record that tracks its status, and on resubmission approvers are not asked again if the tested field has not changed. That keeps deals moving, and it means the round that explains a deal can sit in an earlier record rather than on the final quote. The [deal desk approval process page](/data-types/deal-desk-approval-process) describes these records as a data type.

## Milestone three: before the old CPQ is switched off

Once licenses lapse or the org is retired, history that was not exported may be out of reach.

| Confirm | Owner | If skipped |
|---|---|---|
| The actual date access to the old CPQ ends, from the license or the retirement decision | Finance or RevOps lead | The team finds out after the date |
| Whether the old org stays readable, for how long, and who decides | CRO or CFO | Approval history becomes unreachable without anyone choosing that |
| Who can export approval records, quote versions and field history, by name | CPQ administrator | Nobody has the access or the knowledge in time |
| Where exported history will live and that it keeps the links between quote, approval and final order | IT lead | Records survive but cannot be read as one negotiation |

The [ERP replacement handoff checklist](/resources/a-data-opportunity-handoff-checklist-for-an-erp-replacement) applies the same milestones across a wider quote-to-cash program, and the [ERP replacement introduction plan](/guides/a-practical-introduction-plan-for-advisors-supporting-an-erp-replacement) covers advisors on those projects.

## The owner summary and what follows

Illustrative. A fictional 230-person medical equipment distributor finished all three milestones before replacing its CPQ. The summary for the CFO:

| Area | State | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Approval records | Confirmed | Six years of approval records with comments in the old org |
| Rejected quote versions | At risk | Migration plan excludes superseded versions |
| Field history | Partial | Discount and term fields tracked; history limited to the platform window |
| Rep-manager threads | Unknown | Email only; sales operations checking whether quotes are referenced |
| Old org access | Confirmed | Read-only for one year after cutover; CFO decides on extension |
| Authorized contact | Confirmed | CEO, with the CFO as sponsor |

The "at risk" line is a decision for the company: keep superseded versions or accept losing them. The rest is a sound description of the exception trail at metadata level.

If the CEO wants to explore licensing, disclose first. You are a SourceX referral partner. SourceX licenses approved business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation, and manages agreement, rights review, data preparation, delivery and payout. If a qualifying license completes and every payment condition is met, SourceX may pay you a reward that it funds separately and never deducts from the company's payout.

Then check fit: 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history, rights to license the records and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 90% of the data is in English. Customer contracts can limit how pricing history is used, so the company's counsel weighs in. SourceX's current data needs, the rights review result and any offer stay unknown until SourceX reviews an application.

Introduce with the [CPQ replacement introduction email](/resources/cpq-replacement-introduction-email), after signing the Channel Partner Agreement. Attribution goes to the first valid introduction within the 90-day window, credited when the company submits a verified application, with one partner per company. A reward becomes payable after SourceX has paid the referred company under its signed agreement and the payout conditions in the program terms are met, including finance approval and your tax and payment details. The cumulative cap is $100,000 per referred company.](/rewards) explains. The [RevOps partner page](/for/revops-consultants) covers how this fits a wider practice.

## Next step

> **Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000.** Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.

If the checklist shows the approval exceptions survive switch-off and the owner wants to talk, [register as a partner](/register), confirm fit on [who qualifies](/who-qualifies) and read the [program terms](/terms) before introducing.

## Sources

- https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.cpq_advanced_approvals.htm&language=en_US&type=5
- https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.tracking_field_history.htm&language=en_US&type=5
- https://www.salesforce.com/sales/cpq/end-of-life/
- https://refer.sourcex.si/terms
- https://refer.sourcex.si/rewards