Manage in-flight requests during service retirement

Overview

When a service is retired, any requests that were submitted before retirement was announced — or that are received during the notification period — represent real customer needs that have not yet been met. Abandoning these requests because the service is being retired is a failure of the service delivery commitment. It creates customer harm, erodes trust, and reflects poorly on the service management capability.

Best Practice

Establish an explicit policy for the handling of in-flight requests during a service retirement. At minimum, all requests submitted before the retirement announcement should be fulfilled to completion under the retiring service’s SLA. Requests submitted during the notification period should be fulfilled or redirected to the designated alternative service with customer notification of the transition. No request that was submitted in good faith while the service was active should be abandoned without customer communication and an alternative resolution path.

Benefit(s)

Proper handling of in-flight requests during retirement demonstrates that the organization honors its service delivery commitments even when the service landscape is changing. Customers who submitted requests in good faith receive what they asked for or are provided with a clear alternative. Trust in the service management capability is maintained through the transition. The retirement is remembered as professionally managed rather than disruptive.