How to Build Scalable Onboarding and Offboarding Processes for End Users

User onboarding and offboarding are crucial processes that can be very time-consuming and risk-prone, which makes them serious points to execute carefully within an MSP IT team workflow. Attempting to approach these procedures manually can lead to delays, errors, and various access risks, so automation and standardization have become essential for scale.

Keep reading to learn how to leverage PowerShell, CMD, registry configurations, and Group Policy tools to create repeatable provisioning and deprovisioning workflows.

How to build automated onboarding and offboarding processes for end users

These processes involve many moving parts, from account provisioning and policy enforcement to device configuration to deprovisioning. If you want to ensure error-free and consistent operations, a repeatable and automated workflow is crucial. Here are various methods that you can use.

📌 Prerequisites:

• Directory access (Active Directory or Entra ID)
• Script-based automation capabilities (PowerShell)
• RMM platform for endpoint configuration and script deployment, like NinjaOne

💡Tip: Check out Things to look out for before proceeding.

📌 Recommended deployment strategies:

Method 1: Use templates for user onboarding profiles

This method aims to automate the onboarding process by standardizing user account creation. It ensures role-based consistency across Active Directory (AD) or Entra ID environments.

📌 Use Cases:

• New employee onboarding at scale
• Contractor or temporary staff provisioning
• Mergers and acquisitions with bulk user migrations

📌 Prerequisite: Role-based templates, including naming conventions, OU structure, and group memberships

Steps:

1. Define templates for each role or department, such as:
   • Display name format
   • Username or UPN structure
   • OU placement or group membership
   • Application access (M365, Teams, SaaS apps)
2. Use PowerShell to create new accounts (sample script below):

3. For bulk onboarding, loop the script against a CSV containing user details.

Method 2: Automate onboarding registry and local configuration

This method tags devices or users with onboarding metadata in the Windows Registry. You’ll create keys as markers that tools like RMM platforms or scripts can query to enforce rules or generate reports.

📌 Use Cases:

• Audit readiness for compliance checks
• Policy scoping for role-based security baselines
• Tracking user or device onboarding across multiple clients

📌 Prerequisite: Local registry modification permissions (admin or SYSTEM)

Steps:

1. Open PowerShell and create a registry path to store metadata about the onboarding event (sample script below):

2. Verify the newly created keys via CMD:

reg query HKLM\SOFTWARE\Org\Onboarding

3. Use the keys for auditing or automation. Here are some examples:

• Auditing: Query these registry keys in bulk via NinjaOne or PowerShell scripts to confirm all devices in Finance are properly tagged and onboarded using:

Get-ItemProperty -Path “HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Org\Onboarding” | Select FirstLoginUser, Department, OnboardedDate

• Policy Enforcement: Apply conditional GPOs or scripts only if the Department value matches (e.g., Finance, HR, Sales). This ensures devices get the right printers, mapped drives, or app bundles.
• Lifecycle Tracking: Compare the OnboardedDate to HR records or ticket timestamps to verify onboarding SLAs.

Method 3: Deploy onboarding tasks with Group Policy

This method enforces consistent configuration and policy settings during login or device provisioning.

📌 Use Cases:

• Corporate offices with shared devices
• Environments with strict password and security controls
• Automated drive or printer mapping for new hires

📌 Prerequisite: Group Policy Configuration rights

Steps:

1. Configure GPOs to:
   • Map drives or printers
   • Apply default wallpapers or login banners
   • Enforce password policies, such as password length, lockout, and MFA (Multi-factor authentication) prompts
   • Deploy application settings
2. Add logon scripts under:

User Configuration > Windows Settings > Scripts (Logon)

3. Use GPO loopback processing for shared devices:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Group Policy 

Setting: User Group Policy loopback processing mode → Merge

Method 4: Build an offboarding workflow using PowerShell

This method automates the entire onboarding lifecycle by including various tasks into one script and deploying it via RMM so that technicians don’t need to run tedious commands one by one.

📌 Use Cases:

• Employee exits (voluntary or termination)
• Contractor offboarding with fixed end dates
• Compliance-driven industries, such as finance and healthcare

📌 Prerequisite: AD or Entra ID or Graph API access

Steps:

1. Create scripts for key offboarding tasks. Here are some examples:

• • Disable user account:

• • Remove group memberships:

• • Archive mailbox (Exchange Online):

• • Preserve OneDrive data:

• • Revoke sessions via Graph API:

2. Instead of executing manually, bundle all the scripts that you need into a single PowerShell script that accepts a username/UPN as input. For example:

3. Automate execution by deploying the script via NinjaOne or scheduled task. You may also trigger the script automatically when HR closes a termination ticket or marks a user as inactive.

Method 5: Track offboarding via registry and scheduled tasks

This method lets IT teams document offboarding events on local machines and schedule cleanup tasks.

📌 Use Cases:

• Environments requiring a documented chain-of-custody for devices
• Non-domain-joined workstations
• Local cleanup task enforcement in BYOD environments

📌 Prerequisites:

• Local registry modification permissions
• Task Scheduler permissions

Steps:

1. Write local offboarding logs for non-domain devices (sample script below):

This creates a local record that the device has been offboarded, including who did it and when.

2. Schedule cleanup of profiles (sample script below):

This creates a scheduled task named WipeProfiles that runs one time at 1:00 AM under the SYSTEM account. It executes the script located at C:\Scripts\RemoveProfiles.ps1.

3. Provide the removal script (in C:\Scripts\RemoveProfiles.ps1, from the example) which should:
   • Identify local user profiles stored under C:\Users\.
   • Exclude critical system accounts, such as Administrator, DefaultAccount, Public, WDAGUtilityAccount, and the currently logged-in user.
   • Check for inactivity. For example, only target profiles that haven’t been used in the last 30 days.
   • Remove profiles safely, including both the folder in C:\Users\ and the related registry entries, so Windows doesn’t think the profile still exists.
   • Log every action taken, including which profiles were removed, skipped, or encountered errors. Logs should be written to a safe location (e.g., C:\Scripts\Logs\ProfileCleanup.log).

Method 6: Document exceptions and client-specific policies

This method handles non-standard cases, including exceptions and other policies mandated by clients.

📌 Use Cases:

• Legal hold requirements for mailboxes
• Contractors needing limited-term access
• Department-specific application bundles

📌 Prerequisites:

• SOP documentation or PSA ticketing templates
• Agreement with HR and compliance teams on exceptions
• Version-controlled policy documentation

Steps:

1. Create a baseline end-user onboarding and offboarding workflow.
2. Document deviations, such as the following:
   • Legal holds on mailboxes
   • Contractor vs. employee access duration
   • Retention period for user files
   • Department-specific app bundles
3. Store these in a shared SOP or PSA system for technician reference.

⚠️ Things to look out for

Why automating the onboarding and offboarding process matters

Onboarding and offboarding are very common activities, but they can significantly impact an organization. Inconsistent handling can lead to multiple security gaps, compliance risks, and unwanted delays, so you should consider standardizing and automating these processes to reap various benefits, such as:

• Reducing human errors: Automated templates can minimize mistakes by applying the same rules across every user and environment. This ensures more accurate group memberships, password policies, and role-based access.
• Strengthening security: Automated user offboarding prevents retained access to sensitive systems, reducing exposure to malicious activity or accidental data leaks. Additionally, it ensures compliance with security policies like MFA enforcement, password complexity, and endpoint restrictions.
• Increasing efficiency: Technicians can save time, while users can immediately access the necessary tools and apps. This makes it easier to scale processes across multiple clients or departments.
• Ensuring compliance and audit readiness: Automated workflows generate logs and audit trails that can be tied to HR records and compliance frameworks, such as HIPAA, SOC 2, and GDPR. It ultimately reduces the risk of audit failures caused by undocumented access rights or missed deprovisioning.

Additional considerations when creating onboarding and offboarding processes for end users

A standardized onboarding and offboarding process for end users is crucial, but various factors can affect the success of each step if not adequately prepared for. Here are a few considerations to keep in mind:

BYOD devices

You don’t fully control personal devices, but are still accountable for corporate data. Therefore, you must select the right enrollment model during onboarding to make offboarding much easier, with tasks like remote wipe or removing company apps.

Cloud-only tenants

When provisioning and policy live in the cloud (Entra ID/M365/SaaS) and not in GPO, you can integrate Power Automate or Graph API for lifecycle triggers.

Audit logs

If it’s not recorded, it didn’t happen. For traceability, store local logs or RMM output for each step of onboarding and offboarding.

New user training

Even perfect provisioning fails if users don’t know where to find help or how to use their tools. As much as possible, automate the delivery of helpdesk contacts, MFA setup steps, and security dos and don’ts.

Troubleshooting common issues

Accounts are not disabled after offboarding

Active Directory replication delays between domain controllers or insufficient admin rights may cause this issue. Review script execution logs to confirm credentials and target OU, and then confirm the technician’s account has the proper delegation before trying to force AD replication via PowerShell.

Registry tags are missing

Ensure that onboarding and/or offboarding scripts are deployed with SYSTEM rights. Run the script manually as SYSTEM via psexec or NinjaOne, and check registry keys. Then verify with reg query HKLM\SOFTWARE\Org\Onboarding.

Mapped drives or printers are not appearing

Enable loopback processing (especially for shared machines) under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Group Policy > User Group Policy loopback processing mode → Merge. You also want to ensure target OU and group memberships are correct.

User still has access after offboarding

First, invalidate refresh tokens using this command:

Invoke-MgInvalidateUserRefreshToken -UserId “[email protected]”

This PowerShell command (via Microsoft Graph) signs the user out of all applications and services that rely on Microsoft Entra ID, immediately revoking their active sessions. The user will no longer be able to access cloud resources until reauthenticated (which won’t succeed if the account is disabled).

Then remove delegated access. Check for and revoke access to shared mailboxes, calendars, SharePoint sites, or OneDrive folders. You should also audit external SaaS applications not tied to Entra ID and remove the user from those systems manually or via automation.

How NinjaOne can optimize onboarding and offboarding workflows

Instead of relying on scattered scripts and manual steps, IT teams can leverage NinjaOne’s RMM capabilities for various tasks. Here’s how NinjaOne can support these crucial processes.

Ensuring efficient onboarding and offboarding processes

To ensure a secure and compliant onboarding and offboarding process, you want to standardize everything and automate tasks with various tools, from PowerShell to cloud automation. This should help minimize human errors and close security gaps that are common in manual procedures. Always remember some simple considerations and troubleshooting steps to vastly improve your service offering in the long run.

Related topics:

• Improving Your Onboarding and Offboarding Process for New Users
• How to Improve End User Management in 2025
• How to Improve End User Management
• IT Process Automation: Common IT Tasks to Automate
• Onboarding New Devices in Half the Time