PlaybooksClient Summary Template

Client Summary Template

Client Summary Template

A template for the engagement wrap-up document the developer produces at the end of a Plugin Audit & Cleanup engagement. The owner reviews and presents to the client — the developer does not send this directly.

The summary is short, scannable, and lets the owner have a quick conversation with the client about what changed and what's next. It's not a formal "report" — it's a working document that lives inside the agency-client relationship.

Template (copy from here)

# [Client Name] — Plugin Audit & Cleanup Summary

**Engagement period:** [start date] – [end date]
**Total hours used:** [number]

## Headline outcomes

- **Plugins removed:** [count] (from [start count] to [end count] active plugins)
- **Database size reduction:** [before MB] → [after MB] ([percentage reduction])
- **[Specific high-impact win, if applicable]:** e.g., "Removed an unused tracking plugin whose database table had accumulated 5M+ rows and was causing slow nightly backup queries" or "Replaced a heavy synchronous analytics plugin with a lighter implementation"
- **[Other measurable outcome]:** e.g., "Autoloaded options size reduced from 8MB to 2MB"

## What was changed

### Plugins removed

| Plugin | Reason |
|--------|--------|
| [plugin-name] | [brief explanation — leftover from one-time migration / duplicate functionality / no longer in use / etc.] |
| ... | ... |

### Plugins replaced

| Old plugin | Replaced with | Why |
|-----------|---------------|-----|
| [plugin-name] | [new approach] | [brief explanation] |

(Skip this section if nothing was replaced.)

### Database cleanup

- Orphan tables removed: [count]
- Orphan options removed: [count]
- Orphan cron events removed: [count]
- Orphan postmeta/usermeta entries removed: [count]

### Configuration changes

[Anything beyond plugin removal — cache settings, cron job changes, autoload tweaks, etc.]

- [Change 1]
- [Change 2]

## What was kept and why

Plugins confirmed in active use and left in place. Documented here so the client has a record.

| Plugin | Used for |
|--------|----------|
| [plugin-name] | [purpose] |
| ... | ... |

## Recommendations for follow-on work

Things noticed during the engagement that were outside scope but worth considering for future work.

### Higher priority

- **[Recommendation 1]** — [brief explanation of issue and potential impact]
- **[Recommendation 2]** — [brief explanation]

### Lower priority / future consideration

- **[Recommendation 3]** — [brief explanation]
- **[Recommendation 4]** — [brief explanation]

## Before / after performance snapshot

(Optional — include if before/after metrics were captured.)

| Metric | Before | After |
|--------|--------|-------|
| Active plugins | [n] | [n] |
| Database size | [MB] | [MB] |
| Autoloaded options size | [MB] | [MB] |
| Largest table | [name, MB] | [name, MB] |
| GTmetrix grade (homepage) | [grade] | [grade] |
| PageSpeed score (mobile) | [score] | [score] |
| PageSpeed score (desktop) | [score] | [score] |

## Backup and rollback information

- **Latest snapshot before engagement:** [date]
- **Snapshots taken during engagement:** [count, retention period per host policy]
- **Plugins deactivated but retained for rollback (will be deleted after):** [date, plugin list, if applicable]

The host retains snapshots per their backup policy. If anything related to these changes needs investigation, contact the agency directly.

How to use this template

  1. At engagement end (Phase 7): Open the engagement state document. Copy this template into a new Google Doc titled [Client Name] Plugin Audit & Cleanup — Summary.

  2. Fill in from the state doc. Most fields map directly from sections of the state doc — final summary metrics, plugin tier classifications (removed = Tier A/B that passed staging, kept = Tier D), database cleanup numbers, recommendations gathered throughout.

  3. Keep it short. Two to three pages, max. The owner needs something they can read in five minutes before a client call. Resist the urge to over-explain what was done — the headline outcomes and the change tables are the substance.

  4. Hand off to the owner. Share the doc with the owner via Google Drive. Don't send it to the client directly. The owner decides how (or whether) to present it.

  5. Tone notes:

    • Factual and direct, not promotional
    • No marketing language ("transformative", "comprehensive", "industry-leading")
    • No agency self-congratulation
    • Specific numbers wherever possible
    • Recommendations stated plainly, not as upsells

Example headline outcomes section

Real-world example of what good outcomes look like:

Headline outcomes

  • Plugins reduced from 39 to 22 active (44% reduction)
  • Database size reduced from 487 MB to 312 MB (36% reduction)
  • Removed unused popularity-tracking plugin that had accumulated 5.4M-row tracking table causing 47-55 second database queries during nightly backups. Plugin was no longer rendering on the site.
  • Autoloaded options reduced from 8.2 MB to 1.9 MB, improving every page load
  • Staging and dev environments reset to eliminate ~5,500 daily background task timeouts that were competing with production for server resources

Numbers, specifics, no fluff. That's the bar.

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