Assign Owners and Handoffs

Marketing sends Priya's walkthrough request to Sales, and a workflow changes the record owner. Marketing believes the work is done. Sales hasn't reviewed the request and can't find the fit evidence. An owner-field update is useful data. It's not a completed handoff.

Accountability is its own dimension too

Marketing stays accountable until Sales accepts it or returns it with a valid reason. The worked review deadline is one business day after submission; an overdue item goes to Revenue Operations review while Marketing stays accountable. Sales acceptance confirms an active project and a valid relationship. At that moment Priya becomes Sales-ready, work status changes to Sales follow-up, and Acme may become Prospect under its own rule.

A receiver needs a real rejection path, and reasons go somewhere specific: Duplicate to identity review, Missing evidence back to the sender, Wrong owner to Revenue Operations, No active project to the documented recycle path.

A rejected handoff stays owned

Sales rejects the handoff because no active project is documented. The lab records the rejection reason and time, returns the item to Marketing's recycle path, and preserves the submission. It does not set Priya to Sales-ready, and it does not erase the request. Marketing later supplies the missing evidence; Sales accepts, and the earlier rejection is now fully explainable.

Carry this into your business

Pick the handoff that creates the most disagreement today, and ask the sending and receiving teams to name the exact moment accountability changes hands, and what a receiver is actually allowed to reject.