PROTOCOLREFERENCE OUTLINE

Technology Transfer Protocol

A sending-unit to receiving-unit technology transfer protocol covering the transfer of product and process knowledge, analytical methods, and acceptance criteria, with a gap analysis and a transfer report structure. Aligned to WHO TRS 961 Annex 7 and the lifecycle knowledge-management expectations of ICH Q10 and Q12.

What a template is not

A template is a document baseline to adapt inside your own quality system. SPEQ does not approve, validate, or take responsibility for what you issue from it, and using one is not evidence of compliance.

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REGULATIONS MAPPED
WHO TRS 961 Annex 7ICH Q10ICH Q12
DOCUMENT TYPE
Protocol
LAST UPDATED
August 2026
PURPOSE

The protocol that turns a handover into a controlled exercise with acceptance criteria — what knowledge moves, what the receiving unit must demonstrate, and what counts as transferred. Transfers fail on the knowledge nobody wrote down: the operator adjustment, the undocumented hold time, the method quirk only the sending analyst knew. Whether the receiving unit has met the criteria is a decision your quality units make jointly, not a milestone the schedule declares.

What's Inside

Sending and receiving unit roles, with the joint decisions named rather than left to whoever is available
Scope of what transfers — process, product, analytical methods, and the tacit knowledge that needs capturing
Gap analysis across facility, equipment, method, materials and operator capability at the receiving site
Transfer activities with acceptance criteria agreed before execution, including the number of runs required
Analytical method transfer treated separately, because a method can fail transfer while the process succeeds
Deviation and change handling during transfer, so a mid-transfer process change is not absorbed silently
Transfer report and the route by which the knowledge enters the receiving site’s permanent record

How to Use It

1Name the sending and receiving units and the decisions each owns; a transfer with one accountable party is a shipment
2Assemble the process and analytical knowledge, and interview the people who run it — undocumented adjustments are where transfers fail
3Run the gap analysis against the receiving site as it is, not as the project plan says it will be
4Agree acceptance criteria and run counts before execution, so a marginal result is judged against a standard rather than a deadline
5Transfer the analytical methods on their own criteria; process batches that pass on a method that did not transfer prove nothing
6Close with a transfer report, and load the knowledge into the receiving site’s own documents rather than leaving it in the report
DOCUMENT CONTENTS

The full section structure of this template — every section and sub-section, so you can use it as a baseline for your own site document.

Document Control
Document InformationApproval SignaturesRevision HistoryDistribution List
1Parties and Scope
2Knowledge to Transfer
3Gap Analysis
4Transfer Activities, Acceptance Criteria, and Report
REGULATORY CONTEXT

WHO TRS 961 Annex 7 sets out the principles and documentation expected in pharmaceutical technology transfer, including the sending and receiving unit responsibilities. ICH Q10 makes knowledge management a pharmaceutical quality system enabler, and ICH Q12 frames the lifecycle change management a transfer usually triggers. None of them defines your acceptance criteria, your run counts, or when the receiving site is ready to release commercially. Your two quality units decide that jointly; the protocol here is SPEQ synthesis structured to record the decision.

MAPPED STANDARDS
WHO TRS 961 Annex 7ICH Q10ICH Q12
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