The first 100 days set the cost trajectory.

Days 1 to 14: the baseline.

The first two weeks build the baseline. Every TSA service line is mapped against the TSA schedule with a documented price, volume metric, and counterparty. The first invoice is decomposed into its line items. The fee schedule, the volume drivers, the pass-through items, and the markup percentages are pulled into a single working file. Without this baseline, every subsequent challenge is anecdotal.

The baseline includes three views. The TSA contract view, what the agreement says is owed. The invoice view, what the seller is actually billing. The operating view, what services Newco is actually consuming. Gaps between the three views are the first source of takeout. Services billed but not consumed are the easiest cut. Services consumed but not in the contract are a different problem and need to be brought into scope properly.

The team also confirms the governance structure. Who chairs the TSA committee, how often it meets, what reports are required, and where the dispute escalation path runs. Cost takeout depends on a working governance forum. The pattern overlaps with the broader TSA monthly operating rhythm.

Days 15 to 30: the catalog cut.

By the end of week four, the disciplined buyer has run a service catalog rationalization. Every line in the TSA service catalog is reviewed against actual operating need. Each line gets one of three dispositions. Keep at current volume. Reduce in scope or volume. Drop entirely. The disposition list goes to the seller in writing with a proposed effective date.

Three categories deliver the bulk of the catalog cuts. Stranded headcount allocations where Newco does not need the named seller employee, license bundles that include modules Newco does not use, and infrastructure capacity that was sized for the parent. Each cut needs a precise scope description because vague cuts do not stick. The seller will continue to bill for ambiguous lines until the scope is closed.

The structured catalog cut also identifies services Newco can self-provide faster than the seller wants to deliver. A simple cloud account, a separate domain, or a basic helpdesk tool can replace a TSA line at a fraction of the cost. The deeper pattern lives in the TSA service catalog rationalization article.

Days 31 to 60: invoice validation.

Days 31 to 60 are the invoice validation phase. Each TSA invoice is decomposed and tested. The fixed fee lines are checked against the schedule. The volume based lines are tested against the actual volume driver. The pass-through lines are checked against the underlying vendor invoice. The markup is checked against the agreed cap. Every variance becomes a credit claim or a billing dispute.

The most common findings are predictable. Volume based lines billed at last year's volume rather than current volume. Pass-through lines billed at full vendor cost without removing the parent's volume rebate. Markup applied to lines that should have been excluded under the contract. Fixed fee lines invoiced for services that have already been terminated. A 100 day invoice validation pass typically recovers 5 to 15 percent of the run rate as one time credits and another 5 to 15 percent as ongoing rate corrections.

The validation work has to be backed by a clean evidence trail. The seller will dispute findings without documentation. The disciplined buyer keeps a finding log with the variance amount, the contract clause cited, the supporting calculation, and the date submitted. The pattern overlaps with the TSA invoice validation process approach.

Days 61 to 80: exit acceleration.

Days 61 to 80 shift the focus from fighting the bill to ending the bill. Every TSA service line gets an exit date. The exit date is locked in writing with the seller. The exit work plan, the cutover steps, the data extraction, and the final true up are scoped and resourced. The buyer's operating partner sees the exit calendar in the monthly report.

The early exits matter most because TSA fees compound. A line at 100,000 dollars per month exited in month four saves 800,000 dollars over the original twelve month term. The same line exited in month nine saves 300,000 dollars. The disciplined buyer prioritizes early exits even when the integration work is harder, because the savings funds the integration cost several times over.

Exit also requires the seller's cooperation. The seller's TSA team has to deliver the data, the documentation, and the knowledge transfer on a schedule. The TSA contract should include a defined transition assistance clause. If the contract does not include one, the renegotiation has to add one. The deeper play sits in the TSA extension fee renegotiation article.

Days 81 to 100: stranded cost sweep.

The final phase is the stranded cost sweep. Stranded costs are the costs that survive the TSA exit because Newco still pays for capacity it no longer uses. A leased data center contract that runs 18 more months. A software enterprise agreement that does not match Newco's standalone footprint. A service contract with a vendor whose role is now duplicated.

The sweep produces a stranded cost inventory with elimination dates. Some lines can be canceled outright with a notice period. Some lines can be downsized at the next renewal. Some lines have to be carried until natural expiry. The buyer's plan books the elimination on the date the cost actually drops out of the run rate, not the date the decision is made.

The stranded cost work feeds the value creation plan directly because it changes the EBITDA glide path. The pattern overlaps with the broader TSA stranded cost elimination approach. Specialist support on the entire 100 day cost takeout is part of the TSA Renegotiation service when the buyer needs the program managed at scale.

More on TSA cost reduction.