Agency Onboarding
Changing agencies
Plan an agency change around notice, account access, working files, live campaigns and clear responsibilities during the overlap.
Change agencies with a dated transition plan and one client owner for decisions about live work. Before the outgoing agency’s access ends, confirm your business can administer its accounts, obtain the materials it is entitled to use and keep essential activity running. The sequence depends on the agreements and how each account was set up.
Decide what needs to change
State the reason for the move in terms the next arrangement can address: missed work, weak results, changed priorities or a service the current team does not provide. Compare the concern with the agreed brief, later changes, client inputs and available results. One disappointing metric does not establish its cause.
Decide whether the incoming agency will take over the same work, investigate the problem first or provide a narrower service. Give candidates the unresolved facts without asking them to accept a diagnosis they have not checked.
Choosing Between Full Handover vs. Diagnostic Review
- Pros: Incoming agency takes over existing work
- Faster continuity, minimal disruption to live campaigns
- Cons: May inherit unresolved issues without proper diagnosis
- Risk of repeating mistakes if root cause is not understood
- Pros: Incoming agency investigates problems first
- Better insight into performance gaps and strategy improvements
- Cons: Longer transition time; potential campaign delays
- May require temporary pause in certain activities
Set the exit and start dates
Read the outgoing agreement for notice, fees, unfinished work, confidentiality and handover obligations. Record when the outgoing agency may last change live work, when the incoming agency may first do so, and who can pause activity between those dates. Set those dates using the agreement’s notice, early-termination and handover provisions.
Keep a transition register with an owner and due date for each item:
| Item | Decision before transfer |
|---|---|
| Live work | Continue, pause or replace each campaign or scheduled release? |
| Accounts | Who can administer each account, and what agency access exists? |
| Materials | Which final and editable files are due under the agreement? |
| Measurement | Which reports, definitions and known gaps must the new team understand? |
| Approvals | Who may authorise changes or spending during the overlap? |
Transition Plan for Changing Agencies in Australia
- Review outgoing agreement for notice periods, fees and handover obligationsRefer to contract terms and Australian Contract Management Guide (2025)
- Confirm final date for outgoing agency to make live changesSet using notice and early-termination clauses in agreement
- Set first date for incoming agency to begin workEnsure no overlap in active account control without approval
- Define who can pause or modify campaigns during the transitionAssign one client decision-maker to avoid conflicting actions
Transition Register: Key Items to Confirm Before Agency Change
- Live workContinue, pause or replace each campaign or scheduled release?
- AccountsWho can administer each account? What access remains?
- MaterialsWhich final and editable files are due under the agreement?
- MeasurementWhich reports, definitions and known gaps must the new team understand?
- ApprovalsWho may authorise changes or spending during the overlap?
Confirm the handover terms
Check the document you are working from includes any agreed variations. Confirm the parties’ legal names and, where relevant, ABNs and ACNs so the transition record identifies the businesses covered.
Translate the handover terms into specific checks: what work or results are due; what conditions make work complete; how and when payment is due; and how the agreement treats intellectual property and confidential information. Note any requirements for faulty or incomplete work, subcontracting, insurance or dispute handling that affect the transfer.
Record whether the contract allows early termination and what it says about variations. List any unclear terms affecting work or materials as unresolved, and identify who must confirm them before transfer.
Protect continuity
Have an authorised client user confirm access to each important account before removing anyone else. Check advertising, analytics, website, tag management, file storage and billing separately. Record account IDs, access changes and their owners.
Before unlinking a Google Ads manager account, check the platform’s current guidance and identify any dependencies in use. For each other platform, check what unlinking or access removal changes before making it.
Collect the working material the new team needs within the agreed rights and licence limits: current plans, approved assets, relevant settings, decisions, report definitions and unresolved issues. A report export cannot explain every campaign decision or replace an editable file that the agreement requires. Check what personal information the incoming team needs and may receive before transferring folders or datasets.
Protecting Continuity During Agency Transition
- Confirm authorised client access before removing othersCheck advertising, analytics, website, tag management, file storage and billing separately
- Verify dependencies before unlinking Google Ads manager accountFollow current platform guidance and assess impact of access removal
- Collect working materials within licence limitsInclude current plans, approved assets, settings, decisions and unresolved issues
- Assess personal information transfer requirementsEnsure compliance with Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and Cyber Security Guide
Give the overlap one decision maker
The client sets priorities and approves consequential changes. Give each agency a written remit: who maintains existing work, who prepares replacements, who answers handover questions and who may change live settings. Where both can access an account, name one change owner at a time and keep a dated record.
Close with an acceptance check: can authorised client and incoming users reach the required accounts, find the agreed files, identify what is live and see outstanding commitments? Record gaps and owners. Once necessary work and checks are complete, remove outgoing access that is no longer needed, including manager links and shared credentials where applicable.
In this guide
- Planning a handover without losing access to accountsMap account administrators, confirm incoming permissions and check Google Ads dependencies before removing an outgoing agency’s access.
- Collecting working files and campaign historyRequest usable creative files, campaign settings, reports and decision records for an incoming agency, subject to agreement and licence limits.
- Separating a performance problem from a poor briefCompare the brief, delivered work, client inputs and outcome measure before deciding what to correct in an agency engagement.
- Managing the overlap between an outgoing and incoming agencyAssign live changes, approvals, reporting and incident decisions while outgoing and incoming agencies work through a transition.
