Exit test scorer · free, runs in your browser
An export button is not an exit. Score what you have actually tested.
This is the interactive form of the five-step exit test: export, open, restore, operate, reconcile. Answer each step with the honest option rather than the flattering one, and the page returns a verdict, the single test worth running next, and the export fidelity to carry into the cost estimate.
It scores your evidence about a product, not the product itself. Nothing is sent to a server, nothing is stored, and no vendor is named or scored.
Reading
11 / 30 weighted
Archive, not a migration path.
Data can leave. The working state — relationships, history, permissions, and the settings that make the records mean something — is not proven to leave with it. Budget the reconstruction as labour, not as a free export button.
Check by check
- 1. ExportPartial
A self-serve export exists, but it needs an admin role or a higher plan than the one we would buy.
- 2. OpenThin
Records only. Relationships, history, and settings did not come with them.
- 3. RestorePartial
The format is documented and readable, but no destination we found documents importing it.
- 4. OperateThin
Access ends at cancellation. Every export has to happen before the last day, and nothing else is written down.
- 5. ReconcileFailed
No import attempted.
Run this test next
5. Reconcile scored worst.
Import the export into one named alternative on a clean account, compare totals and decision-critical samples, and write down every gap with the hours it would take to repair.
Carry the result into the cost
Pick “Archive only (data leaves, working state does not)” in the lifecycle cost estimator.
Open the lifecycle cost estimator and set “Export fidelity” to Archive only (data leaves, working state does not).
This scores your evidence about a product, not the product itself. A strong reading means you tested the export and wrote down what happened; a weak one usually means nobody has run it yet. Software Sausage names and scores no vendor here — the product name and every answer stay in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
An untested export is the most common failure in this whole test: the button exists, nobody has ever pressed it, and the first press happens during the migration.
What each step proves
| Step | What it settles | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Export | Export a representative workspace with the permissions and plan you would buy. Record the format, the omissions, the elapsed time, and the privileges it required. | ×1 |
| 2. Open | Working state means relationships, history, permissions, attachments, and custom fields — the parts that make the records mean something. Count them against what the live workspace shows. | ×2 |
| 3. Restore | An archive that cannot reconstruct the working state somewhere is evidence, but it is not a migration. “Somewhere” has to be a named destination, not the idea of one. | ×3 |
| 4. Operate | The raw data export does not carry workflows, credentials, alerts, identities, reports, or the human procedures around them. Neither does it carry your access: the grace period, the deletion timeline, and who is allowed to pull the data are terms, not features. | ×1 |
| 5. Reconcile | Compare totals and decision-critical samples, document the gaps, estimate the repair labour, and name the owner. This is the step that turns an opinion about the export into evidence. | ×3 |
Restore and reconcile carry the heaviest weight because they are the only two steps that produce evidence rather than an impression. Everything before them describes a file; those two say whether the file becomes a working system somewhere else.
How the score works
Each step scores 0 to 3 points, multiplied by the weight above, for 30 points in total. The rule is short enough to argue with:
- Untested if any step has no answer. An unfinished test has no verdict, whatever the answered steps say.
- No usable export if no export exists at all, or the weighted score falls below 10 of 30.
- Working migration path, verified if restore and reconcile both score full points and no step scores below 2. Nothing else earns the word verified.
- Archive, not a migration path for everything in between — which is where most honest answers land.
| Working migration path, verified | You have moved this data into a named alternative and reconciled it. That is evidence rather than a promise, and it is rare. Re-run the test before each renewal: export behaviour changes with plans. |
|---|---|
| Archive, not a migration path | Data can leave. The working state — relationships, history, permissions, and the settings that make the records mean something — is not proven to leave with it. Budget the reconstruction as labour, not as a free export button. |
| No usable export | On the evidence you have, the working data cannot leave in a form anything else can read. That is a term to negotiate before signing, not a problem to discover at renewal. |
| Untested | At least one check has no answer, so there is no verdict to give yet. An untested export is the most common failure in this whole test: the button exists, nobody has ever pressed it, and the first press happens during the migration. |
What this does not know
- Whether your answers are right. The scorer reads what you typed; it has no access to the product, its documentation, or your account.
- Anything about a specific vendor. No product is named, scored, or ranked here, and no vendor pays for placement on this site.
- Whether the export still behaves this way. Export paths change with plans and releases, so a verdict expires — re-run the test before each renewal.
- What the migration costs. This page scores evidence; the lifecycle cost estimator turns the fidelity into hours and money.
Read the five steps in full in the field note, then price the result with the lifecycle cost estimator.