Standardizing employee offboarding across a wide-ranging portfolio can present significant challenges, even for established MSPs. But it’s never impossible, especially for those who already have an RMM such as NinjaOne integrated into their workflow. We’ll get into that throughout this guide while exploring some practical steps for designing an IT offboarding cycle.
Core termination workflow components
Standardizing the offboarding workflow requires breaking that process down into clear, iterative stages that work across every client environment. To get started, here are the core components to consider when designing an offboarding journey.
1. Pre-termination coordination
Ideally, a client should be able to notify the MSP at least 24–48 hours before a termination. The timing of this notice is crucial because it gives IT time to prep tickets, identify the scope of support and action required, and coordinate with other relevant stakeholders.
Example scenario: An involuntary termination requires same-day action with no grace period, while a voluntary exit may allow for planned knowledge transfer.
2. Identity and access revocation
Access management is arguably the step that demands utmost urgency. Assigned access should be terminated upon HR’s confirmation. For IT, this usually signals the deactivation of accounts in Active Directory or Azure AD, removal of VPN connections, revoking of SaaS app licenses, and wiping of MFA tokens.
Here’s a mock PowerShell snippet for AD environments:
$user = ‘[email protected]’
Disable-ADAccount -Identity $user
Get-ADUser $user | Get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership | Where-Object { $.Name -ne ‘Domain Users’ } | ForEach-Object { Remove-ADGroupMember -Identity $ -Members $user -Confirm:$false }
💡 Note: This script is for on-premises Active Directory only. It will disable the chosen user account and remove it from every group except the required primary group (Domain Users). To use it, make sure you have the RSAT Active Directory module installed, run the command with domain admin rights, and replace the example username with the real employee’s SamAccountName or UPN.
Integrating user and access management into PSA workflows or RMM policies is among the most effective ways to minimize human error and swiftly manage credentials. NinjaOne RMM even adds remote control and auditing capabilities to a well-rounded onboarding and offboarding suite.
3. Asset management and data preservation
Managed devices (e.g., laptops, phones) and security tokens must be collected, carefully wiped, and logged during the offboarding process. Simultaneously, archiving or reassigning employee accounts, chat logs, or project files requires delicate work to ensure smooth and secure transitions.
Lost or unreturned devices pose compliance risks, while unarchived data can result in permanent knowledge loss. Some of the common steps taken during this stage are archiving an Exchange mailbox, reassigning Microsoft Teams ownership, and flagging the laptop for redeployment.
4. Documentation and verification
Audit trail can make or break the resilience of any offboarding framework. If not already automated, technicians should be able to log completed requests and each step taken to deliver the process. Then, these records should be stored in the PSA or RMM for compliance audits and client reviews.
Documentation proves that the MSP not only took action but did so in a standardized, accountable way.
When taken together, these components create a repeatable system that minimizes oversight and maintains auditability, which is crucial for conflict resolution, reporting, and compliance.
NinjaOne platform integration ideas for offboarding workflows
Manual effort is critical for signing off and approval, but routine tasks should be considered for automation if there’s a system that allows it, like a PSA or an RMM. In the latter instance, NinjaOne can add value to the offboarding cycle by:
- Identify stale accounts and support license cleanup: Use NinjaOne’s reporting and inventory tools to identify inactive devices or underutilized accounts, providing data to support license cleanup.
- Track offboarding tasks through NinjaOne dashboards: Utilize NinjaOne’s dashboards to track the status of user devices and confirm whether offboarding tasks, such as disabling accounts, executing scripts, or collecting endpoints, have been completed or remain pending.
- Archive termination documentation and asset return records: Leveraging NinjaOne’s logging and audit features to capture offboarding action, such as account disablement, script execution results, and device status, and syncing these records with the PSA ticket to provide a complete audit trail for compliance and client review.
- Schedule reports for audit and compliance reviews: Scheduling NinjaOne reports to review offboarding actions, such as account disablement, device status, and script execution results, ensuring audit readiness and visibility into any exceptions.
Best practices for standardizing an offboarding workflow
Even with a formidable workflow on hand, offboarding can quickly become inconsistent when applied across different environments. Each client has its own HR practices, system stack, and tolerance for risk. To keep everything reliable and auditable, MSPs need to lean on a centralized offboarding template, which the previous steps helped to accomplish.
A standardized template may outline:
- Verification and closure requirements
- Technical steps (account disabling, MFA removal, data archiving)
- Required pre-termination inputs (employee name, role, systems, assets)
Updating and enforcing this template or variations of it provides clear responsibilities between clients and MSPs. With that in mind, not all offboarding events carry the same weight or fit the same workflow.
So, collaborating closely with stakeholders is needed to ensure all important variables are accounted for, including expectations that feed into the act of choosing the ideal IT management tool.
