Removing a licence, blocking sign-in and deleting an account have different effects. A staff departure needs both an access decision and a continuity plan for the work that remains. Decide the authorised timing with the business owner and administrator before changing the account.

Create a handover record with four columns: resource, current owner, intended successor and acceptance evidence. Include the mailbox, OneDrive work files, shared calendars, team ownership and any business process that still refers to the person’s address. List exceptions rather than assuming every resource follows the mailbox.

Separate the decisions

Microsoft’s departure workflow treats preventing sign-in, preserving mailbox contents, arranging future mail handling, giving authorised access to work data, removing licences and deleting the account as separate steps. Use the current administrator guidance for the organisation’s configuration.

For each mailbox, decide who may read historical work and what should happen to new enquiries. Forwarding and conversion to a shared mailbox are different arrangements. Neither should be selected without an owner and an agreed scope for the information involved.

For OneDrive, identify the actual work files and verify the receiving person’s access before relying on a general handover statement. Confirm applicable retention and licensing conditions with the administrator; do not use a remembered recovery period as a backup plan.

Accept the work before closing dependencies

The successor should open representative files, locate an agreed historical conversation and demonstrate how a new enquiry will be handled. Record what was tested and what still depends on the departing account.

If accounts are synchronised from an on-premises directory, the administrator must use the appropriate identity-management path. A cloud-only deletion recipe may not fit that environment.

Keep the final account or licence change tied to the authorised access timetable and completed preservation checks. If sign-in must be blocked immediately, that can be handled as an access action while the administrator preserves and transfers the business data through the supported process.

References: Microsoft former-employee workflow.