What to export before you cancel SaaS subscriptions in a wind-down

What should you export before cancelling SaaS subscriptions?#

Before cancelling SaaS subscriptions in a wind-down, export every system that holds records of how the business worked, plus the user lists and settings that explain those records. Work in order of risk: systems whose admins are leaving or whose renewals come first go first, and the identity provider and email go last.

Order matters because access collapses in a chain. If Okta, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 is closed early, single sign-on fails and nobody can log into the other tools to export them. If the last Salesforce admin leaves before the export, recovering admin rights can take longer than the time left.

Treat each export as unfinished until someone has opened it, compared it with the source and recorded where it is stored.

Who should own the export plan?#

The export plan should have one named owner, usually the wind-down officer or COO, with an IT admin doing the work and counsel reviewing what may be kept. Without a single owner, each department cancels its own tools on its own schedule, and nobody notices what was lost until a lender, buyer or tax authority asks.

Pull the list of systems from what the company actually pays for, meaning vendor lines in the ledger and charges on every company card, rather than from anyone's recollection. Tools bought on a manager's card often hold records nobody else knew about, such as a survey tool full of customer feedback or a project tracker used by a single team. Keep at least one long-standing super admin account active to the end: Google, for example, requires its Data Export tool to be started by a super admin account that is at least 30 days old.

The ordered export checklist by system#

The ordered export checklist below covers the systems most companies with 50 or more employees run. Adjust the order to your own renewal dates and staff departures, but keep identity and email at the end.

The deadline column quotes limits that vendors documented as of 2026. They change over time, and a negotiated contract may override them, so check each vendor's current documentation and your order form before relying on a date.

What to capture besides the records#

Records without context are hard to use, so capture the material that explains them along with the data itself. A ticket export without status definitions or a CRM export without field meanings can take longer to decode than it took to create.

• 1User and role lists, so later readers know which account belonged to which role.
• 2Custom field definitions, picklists and status meanings.
• 3Activity records that sit outside the standard export, such as HubSpot calls and notes, which need a separate export method.
• 4Integration settings and automation rules, which explain records created by bots.
• 5Retention and auto-delete settings, which show what history may already be missing.
• 6Vendor contracts and data processing terms, which govern how exported data can be used.
• 7An export log recording who exported what, when, from which system, with file sizes and hashes.

How to verify an export before you cancel#

Verifying an export means proving it is complete and readable before the source disappears. Compare record counts with the system's own reports, check the first and last dates, open a sample of records with attachments, and confirm that threads and linked items still connect. Download promptly, because export files expire: Google Vault deletes export files 15 days after the export starts, Microsoft Purview eDiscovery exports expire after 14 days and Linear's emailed export link lasts 12 hours.

Store two copies in separate locations controlled by the entity or its successor, encrypt both and limit access to named people. Write down where they are, because in a wind-down the person who knows is often the first to leave.

What not to keep, and what you may need to delete#

Not every record should survive a wind-down. Customer data you processed on a customer's behalf may have to be returned or deleted under your contracts, and privacy laws may require deletion of personal information the business no longer needs.

Payment card data, stored passwords and API keys should not sit in an archive at all. Set a retention schedule that says what is kept, why, for how long and who deletes it, and have counsel confirm it fits the contracts and laws that apply.

Illustrative: an HVAC contractor exports before the lights go off#

Illustrative: a fictional HVAC and plumbing contractor sells its service agreements to a competitor and winds down the remaining entity. Its COO holds admin rights to ServiceTitan, QuickBooks Online, Google Workspace and a call-tracking tool, and the buyer of the service agreements does not take the job history.

The COO exports ServiceTitan first, including jobs, estimates, invoices, equipment records and technician notes, because its contract ends before anything else. Call recordings are set aside for counsel to review before any further use, because they capture customers' voices and details. QuickBooks and payroll records go to the outside accountant under the retention schedule, and Google Workspace stays open until every export has been checked against source counts.

Outcome: when the owner later asks whether the job histories could be licensed, the records exist, their date range is known and a rights review can start from a complete inventory.

How SourceX fits into a wind-down#

SourceX enters a wind-down at Supply, the first step of the SourceX five-step transaction, where preserved records are listed and described. That list is all SourceX needs to judge whether a package is worth pursuing, so exports can stay wherever the wind-down team stored them.

If a package proceeds, Rights, Preparation, Approval and Delivery follow, with the entity or its successor approving every step. Very large exports are never uploaded to SourceX; they stay in the owner's storage or travel on encrypted drives.