Feature Sunset Plan Template

Feature Sunset Plan: [Feature name]

An internal plan for retiring a customer-facing feature: why it is being retired, who is affected, the dated milestones from announcement to data deletion, the replacement and migration path, how customers get their data out, the communication sequence, and how exceptions and rollback are handled. The public announcement itself is written with the deprecation notice template (docs/deprecation-notice); API versions follow the API versioning and deprecation policy (architecture/api-deprecation-policy). Based on common product-management practice; the data and contract section names EU, UK and US rules as dated examples with official links. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example. This is a planning format, not legal advice: check the current official texts, your customer contracts and a qualified professional.

Document control

Approvals

Revision history

1. Decision and rationale

2. Impact assessment

3. Milestones

4. Replacement and migration path

Migration support: [self-serve guide link], [automated converter, if any, with its known limits], [office hours or assisted migration for S1].

5. Data export and deletion

Questions for your legal or privacy contact:

• Do customer contracts, the terms of service or a service description promise this feature, a notice period or a data return period?
• Does any personal data in the feature fall under a data portability or deletion obligation, and is the export format structured, commonly used and machine-readable?
• Does a cloud or data processing contract have switching or exit terms that apply to this change?
• Do refunds or credits apply to customers who paid for the feature specifically?

Dated examples of rules to check (check the current official text):

• EU: General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 20 (right to data portability) and Article 17 (right to erasure): https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj. The EU Data Act, Regulation (EU) 2023/2854, applicable since 12 September 2025, contains rules on switching between data processing services; check whether your service falls in scope: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/data-act
• UK: UK GDPR Article 20 and the ICO guidance on the right to data portability (respond within one month, extendable in some cases): https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/individual-rights/individual-rights/right-to-data-portability/
• US: Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 41 to 58, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices; announcements and marketing must not misstate what customers keep: https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statutes/federal-trade-commission-act

6. Communication plan

7. Monitoring, exceptions and rollback

Exceptions:

• Who can approve: [Example: product lead with customer success lead]
• Maximum extension: [Example: 60 days, read-only only]
• Record: every exception logged with account, reason and end date

Pause or rollback: [Conditions under which milestones move, for example a replacement gap found that blocks S1 accounts, and who decides]. If dates move, update section 3 and reissue every message in section 6.

8. Closure

• Feature code, flags and configuration removed
• Data deleted as set out in section 5, with evidence kept
• Help centre articles, screenshots and API documentation updated or redirected
• Deprecation notice page updated to "retired" and kept at its URL
• Lessons learned recorded (what customers struggled with, what to change next time)

Related templates and references

• Deprecation notice for the public announcement, migration guide
• API versioning and deprecation policy when an API is involved
• Release notes, communication plan
• Renewal and churn risk plan for heavy users at risk
• Terms of service, SLA outline, refund and cancellation policy
• Data subject request procedure
• Decision log, roadmap, beta program plan (product/beta-program-plan)

Standard and licence note

Based on common product-management practice for retiring customer-facing features; it follows no single published standard. The data and contract section names Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Regulation (EU) 2023/2854, the UK GDPR with ICO guidance and the US Federal Trade Commission Act as examples only, checked on 2026-10-30; laws and guidance change, so check the current official text and a qualified professional before relying on it. All wording is original. This is not legal advice. Template licence: MIT.