Learn what to do when an employee leaves your department, including how to request account separation, which separation type to choose, and how to keep their work and email from being lost.
Requesting account separation
Every departing employee needs an Employee Separation request, regardless of the reason they're leaving. The request must be submitted by someone at the director level or above. If you supervise the employee but aren't a director, bring it to your director.
Accounts are disabled, never deleted. Submit as soon as you know the departure date. For terminations, start with HR instead (see Immediate separations).
Have this ready
Employee name and ID • Separation type • Effective date and time • Who should receive their email • Anything else IT needs to know
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Choose a separation type
Pick the option that matches the departure. The separation type controls how fast access ends and what happens to their email.
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Immediate termination
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Use when: the employee is being let go, has abandoned the job, or there's a security concern.
What happens: access to email, systems, and files ends within minutes of the request. Phones and tablets lose access to university data.
Timing: during or right after the termination meeting, coordinated through HR. See Immediate separations.
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Standard separation with transition period
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Use when: the employee resigned with notice or is retiring, and your department needs time to pick up their work.
What happens: the employee loses access, but your department can still get into the account during the transition. Their email forwards to the supervisor or colleague you name for 60 days. Extensions are available on request.
Timing: end of business day on the separation date.
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End of assignment
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Use when: a contract or temporary appointment has ended and their responsibilities are already handed off.
What happens: access ends on the date you specify. No email forwarding.
Timing: end of business day on the separation date.
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Before they leave
Personal OneDrive and mailbox data does not stay
Files in an employee's OneDrive and messages in their mailbox are permanently deleted 30 days after their license is removed. If forwarding or department access is in place, the license stays until you confirm you no longer need it, so the 30 days start from that confirmation.
Files in Teams and SharePoint belong to the department and are kept indefinitely. Anything your department will need should be there before the employee's last day.
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Files and ownership
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Email
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- Move department work out of their OneDrive and into the right Team or SharePoint site.
- Hand off ownership of any Teams, SharePoint sites, shared mailboxes, or distribution groups they own.
- Decide who takes over their Salesforce records and other system responsibilities.
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- Choose a forwarding recipient for the request.
- Have them set an auto-reply pointing senders to the new contact.
- Move role-based email (an office or service address people write to) into a shared mailbox so it doesn't depend on one person.
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Immediate separations
Start with HR, not the request form.
HR coordinates the timing with OIT ahead of the termination meeting, and OIT disables access during or right after the meeting. Submit the Employee Separation request afterward to document it.
There's no time to prepare files or hand off ownership, so anything that isn't already in Teams or SharePoint has to be recovered after the fact.
The best protection is to keep department work in shared spaces all the time, not just when someone is leaving.
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After they leave
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Equipment
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Return their computer and accessories to OIT in Miller Hall 226.
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Phone line
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Department software
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Forwarding
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Forwarding lasts 60 days. If you need longer, contact the IT Service Desk before it ends. Once you confirm you no longer need forwarding or access, their mailbox and OneDrive are deleted 30 days later, so save anything you need first.
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Moving to another department
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Don't submit Employee Separation
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Do this instead
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The employee is staying at North Central, so their account stays active. Separating it would cut them off from their new role.
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- Complete the files and ownership handoffs before the move. Anything left in their OneDrive goes with them.
- The new department's director submits a Department Transfer request, which covers removing your department's access and setting up theirs.
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Special situations
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The death of an employee, suspension or administrative leave, faculty emeritus status, and legal holds are coordinated by Human Resources. Contact HR in these situations.
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