A tool will not integrate your acquisition. A spreadsheet that nobody owns is just a more organized way to lose the business you bought. I have watched teams build beautiful trackers and still lose their best technician in week three, because the tracker had no line for the one conversation that mattered.
So this page is not a pile of templates. It is a map. It shows which tool does which job, in which phase, and who on your team has to own it for it to work. It also tells you what is not built yet. If a tool is listed as coming, you will not find a download button hiding behind it.
Get the 100 day integration tracker (XLS)
The spreadsheet I would start with if you close in the next 30 days. Every task gets an owner, a due date, and a status, sequenced across the first 100 days.
One email with the download, and occasional Building Results notes. Opt out any time.
What is available today
Five tools exist right now. I would rather give you five that work than nine that are half done.
The Post-Merger Integration Checklist (editable XLS)
The full task list from pre-close through day 100, organized by phase, with an owner and status on every line and an opening baseline tab. It identifies the work. You get it from its own page: the post-merger integration checklist.
The 100 Day Integration Tracker (XLS)
The sequencing tool. It takes the work and lays it against your team's actual capacity, week by week, so you do not schedule ten things for the one person who can do them. You get it from the form on this page. The thinking behind it is in the first 100 days integration plan.
The Integration Playbook (PDF)
The decision tool. It walks the operating model choice, decision rights, sequencing by risk, the governance cadence and the exit criteria, with worked logic for each. You get it from the form on the post-merger integration playbook page.
The Expectations Charter checklist (XLS)
The pre-close tool. Nine topics to settle with the seller in order, a log for the promises they have already made, a data room risk tab and a transition plan dated from the close. You get it from the form on the pre-close integration and seller transition page.
The Integration Risk Diligence checklist (XLS)
The data room tool. Forty nine questions in nine areas, from change of control and key people to systems, spend and seller money, each with where to look and why it matters, plus a risk register and a scorecard. You get it from the form on the pre-close integration and seller transition page.
The tools, by phase
This is the whole set, including what is not built. The status column is the honest part. Where I list an owner, that is the person whose name goes on the line, because a tool without an owner is a wish.
| Tool | What it is for | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-close | |||
| Expectations Charter checklist (XLS) | Getting the seller's role, timeline, and promises to employees and customers into writing before the LOI. | Deal lead, with the president | Available |
| Integration risk diligence checklist (XLS) | Reading the data room for integration risk: change-of-control clauses, key-person dependency, customer concentration, handshake deals. | Deal lead, with finance | Available |
| Decision rights matrix | Settling who decides what between you and the acquired management team, before the first disagreement. | President | Coming |
| Day 1 to 30 | |||
| Post-Merger Integration Checklist | The task list that keeps the first month about stabilizing the business, not changing it. | Integration lead | Available |
| Critical person retention map | Naming the few people who hold the business, why they matter, and what keeps each of them. | General manager, with HR | Coming |
| Day 1 to 100 | |||
| 100 Day Integration Tracker | Sequencing every task against capacity, with an owner, a date, and a status. | Integration lead | Available |
| Customer continuity plan | Account ownership, contract consent, and message timing for the customers who pay the bills. | Sales leader | Coming |
| Day 101 and beyond | |||
| Synergy and growth register | Separating bankable synergies from aspirational ones, cost from revenue, with a named owner on every number. | Finance leader, with operations | Coming |
| Integration Playbook (PDF) | Making and defending the hard calls: operating model, consolidation, change management. | President | Available |
Coming means not built. I am not giving dates here because I would rather ship a tool than promise one. If a coming tool is the one you need, the pages linked above already carry the thinking behind it.
How to pick which tool first
Do not start with the tool that looks most complete. Start with the one that closes your biggest exposure for where you are right now. Walk through these in order.
Four questions, in order
- Have you signed yet? If not, the exposure is the seller. Start with the pre-close and seller transition plan, because expectations set after the LOI are harder to reset than expectations set before it.
- Do you close in the next 30 days? Start with the checklist, then load the tracker. You need a task list and a sequence at the same time, and the first month leaves no room to build either.
- Are you already past day 1 and feeling behind? Start with the tracker. Find the three things that carry the most risk to people and customers, and put one owner on each this week.
- Is it a small add-on to a business you already run? Use the checklist as a scan, not a project. Decide your operating model first: preserve and strengthen, selectively integrate, or substantially consolidate. Most of the list collapses once that is decided.
The operating model comes before any tool
Every tool on this page assumes you made one decision on purpose: how much of the acquired business you will leave alone. Preserve and strengthen a company with a strong local identity, and half the consolidation tasks do not apply. Substantially consolidate two overlapping operations, and the retention and customer tools matter more, not less. One size does not fit all. Pick the model, then pick the tools.
Stabilize before you improve
The tools line up in a deliberate order. Stabilize first, then keep the people, then keep the customers, then watch the profits and cash, and only then drive growth. If you reach for the synergy register in week two, you are improving before you have protected. A growth number without an owner is a wish, and a synergy chased in week two usually costs you a technician in week six.
Three ways tools fail
In my experience, tools fail in the same three places, and none of them is the spreadsheet.
1. Nobody owns the tool
If the tracker belongs to the team, it belongs to nobody. Name one integration lead who updates it weekly and reports from it. The tracker should be the agenda for the weekly meeting, not a document someone updates the night before.
2. The tool tracks tasks, not people
Integration is change, and change lands on individuals. Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement (the ADKAR sequence) are how people actually move, and no task list captures them. Expect the valley of despair: performance and morale dip before they climb. A tool that shows green while your best people go quiet is not telling you the truth.
3. The tool starts too late
Integration starts before the close, not on day 1. By the time the tracker is open, the seller has already told employees and customers what to expect. The earlier you set expectations, the fewer tasks you inherit.
The tools help you learn it without breaking it. They do not replace the learning.
Start with the 100 day tracker
Free editable spreadsheet. Owner, due date, and status on every task, so the first 100 days run on a schedule and not on memory.
When a tool is not enough
Templates get you organized. They do not make the judgment calls: which key person to retain, whether to touch a compensation plan, when to start cross-selling. If you are in the middle of an integration and need someone to work the problem alongside you, see post-merger integration consulting.
Questions
What are post-merger integration tools?
Post-merger integration tools are the checklists, trackers, registers, and templates used to combine two businesses after an acquisition closes. Each one does a different job: identifying tasks, sequencing them, protecting people and customers, or tracking synergies. A tool is only useful when a named person owns it.
Which post-merger integration tool should I use first?
It depends on where you are. Before signing, set seller expectations. Within 30 days of closing, use the checklist and the 100 day tracker together. Already past day 1, start with the tracker and put one owner on each of the riskiest items.
Are all of these tools available to download?
No. Five are available now: the checklist, the 100 day tracker, the playbook PDF, the Expectations Charter and the Integration Risk Diligence checklist. The rest are marked coming in the table and cannot be downloaded yet. I would rather say that than imply otherwise.
Do I need software to run an integration?
Not to start. For a lower-middle-market add-on, a spreadsheet with a clear owner beats a platform nobody opens. Software helps once you are running several integrations at once. Before that, discipline matters more than the system.