Software Rollout Plan Template
Four documents and three sheets that measure adoption as a task at a cadence, then name every holdout and the one action that fits them.
Free download · No account needed
Rollout Plan
Two adoption numbers, both real, measuring different things
Larkfield Freight. 150 seats committed, 138 assigned, renewing 31 March.
| Measure | Definition | Count | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor dashboard | Any action in the tool in 30 days | 121 of 138 | 87.7% |
| Ever did the task | Logged one conversation in 90 days | 94 of 138 | 68.1% |
| At cadence | Logged one in each of the last four weeks | 61 of 138 | 44.2% |
The sixty people in the gap
Every one of them opened the tool. None logged a customer conversation weekly, which was the single thing it was bought to make happen. A calendar invite that opens the tool is an action, and so is a notification click.
Both numbers stay in every report with both definitions attached, because 87.7% is the figure the vendor's account team will quote on the day notice is due.
The 33 who did the task at some point and are not at cadence are the most interesting rows on the sheet. They tried it and stopped, which is a manager conversation rather than a session.
Every software rollout plan you can download is a phase table: pilot, training, go-live, hypercare, review. Adoption is a status column somebody updates, and the number reported upward comes from the vendor's own dashboard. Microsoft, which documents its own definition, counts an active user as anyone who performs an action in the date range. That is exactly the right instrument for whether a licence is doing anything, and the wrong one for whether the workflow you bought it for is running.
Larkfield Freight had 150 seats committed and 138 assigned. The dashboard said 121 active, or 87.7%. Logging a customer conversation in each of the last four weeks, which was the whole business case, said 61, or 44.2%. The 60 people in between had all opened the tool and none had done the thing. Their vendor's licence report records a last-active date per user, and a last-active date cannot express a cadence at all.
Then the 77 holdouts get a reason code, and the codes split three ways rather than one. 49 to enable, 9 whose old spreadsheet was still live, 19 whose role never needed it, plus 12 seats nobody was ever given. Two of the six codes cost nothing to diagnose, because a sheet join finds them. A seat utilisation review prices the whole portfolio; this prices one tool, per person, before the notice window shuts. Notice was 60 days, so the report was due 28 November.
What's in the pack
Adoption Tracker
One row per licensed person with the task count per week, so cadence is computable and every exclusion stays visible with its reason.
Holdout Report
A reason code per person, how the reason was established, one action, an owner and a date, with the reclaimable seats priced.
Training Register
Who attended, who did the task in the room, and who did it the following week, plus the role mismatches a sheet join finds for free.
Rollout Plan
The four-part adoption definition, both numbers with both definitions, the schedule computed backwards from notice, and the seat recommendation.
Enablement Guide
A session per role built around the one measured task, in an order that unblocks before it teaches and starts expectation the same week.
Manager Talk Track
The opening sentence for each reason code, written out, because managers need the uncomfortable first line rather than a whole script.
Adoption Comms
Every message with a send date and sender, including the switch-off notice and the mid-rollout report that publishes both numbers honestly.
The reason-code split
Six codes mapping to three actions, which is what separates an enablement problem from a licensing one inside the same holdout list.
How to use it
- 1
Open in River, or take it blank
Open the pack in River and hand it your licence list and usage export, or download the Word documents and CSV sheets and do it yourself.
- 2
Start with the contract
The renewal date and the notice period for a seat reduction. Everything else is scheduled backwards from that one clause.
- 3
Define the task and the cadence
One task the tool was bought to make happen, at the frequency the workflow needs, over four weeks, against assigned seats.
- 4
Code every holdout, then push
Each holdout gets one reason and one action. Work the enable list for four weeks, then re-measure before notice is due.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes. The zip is Word documents and CSV sheets, no account and no card. Edit with AI is the optional half: the agent joins your licence list to your usage export and codes the holdouts. Other packs sit in the template library.
What format are the downloaded files?
Word (.docx) for the four documents and CSV (.csv) for the three sheets, zipped together. Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets open the sheets straight off the download, and the plan and talk track open in Word or Pages.
Our tool only exports a last-active date. Can we still use this?
Partly, and the pack says so rather than downgrading quietly. A last-active date cannot express a cadence, so the best available substitute is whether the task was ever performed. That is a weaker instrument and it still separates the people who tried from the people who never did.
Isn't ranking managers by adoption rate unfair to some teams?
It is a diagnostic for where enablement effort goes, not a performance measure, and the pack says that in the document a manager reads. A team whose workflow the tool genuinely does not fit ranks badly whatever its manager does, which is why the even-spread case is treated as a design problem.
The notice deadline has already passed. Is this pointless now?
No, but the goal changes and the pack makes you say so on day one. The output becomes an enablement plan plus a target for the next renewal, rather than a seat reduction this year. The reason codes and the manager ranking are worth the same either way.
Where does this sit next to a systems migration?
A migration moves the data and ends when the load reconciles. This starts after that. The system migration plan sizes the freeze window, the CRM implementation plan designs the target, and this one gets the team using it.
What does 'Edit with AI' actually do?
It signs you up, installs this pack as a private workspace, and puts the agent in front of the three sheets with nothing in them. Send the contract dates, the licence list and the usage export, and the first thing back is the report deadline.
Find out who is actually using the tool you bought
Take the Word documents and CSV sheets blank, or open this pack in River and get the cadence number and the reclaimable seat count.
Edit with AI