Before parting ways with a system administrator or IT contractor, take control of domains, email, servers, cloud services and backups, and collect documentation and licences. Complete the handover by checking it: the new responsible person must sign in independently and perform the agreed actions. Then revoke previous permissions, change shared secrets and check that employees can continue working.
What does taking control mean beyond receiving passwords?
A control panel password does not prove that the resource belongs to the company. Account recovery may use the specialist's personal phone, invoices may go to their email, and a domain may be registered to another owner. Start with a resource inventory: purpose, supplier, owner, administrators, recovery method and person responsible for payment.
A manager does not need to become a system administrator. The company needs to be able to appoint a replacement without involving the previous specialist. For each important service, check the corporate owner account and a backup recovery method. Give the contractor separate working permissions so they can be revoked without losing the primary account.
Agree who will participate in the handover and how the result will be verified. One person supplies the information, another checks the technical side, and a company representative accepts the remaining risks. If the system inventory is unknown, start with an IT audit and business risk map to identify dependencies before disabling access.
Which access rights and materials belong on the checklist?
Use the list below as the basis for a handover record. For each item, name the specific service, the new responsible person and the verification result. Do not put passwords, recovery codes or keys in the record itself: use a secure password manager with access controls.
- Domains and DNS: registrar, owner, renewal date, DNS zone access, website and email records, recovery and billing contacts.
- Hosting and website: provider panel, server, content management system, source files and repository, certificates, update and recovery instructions.
- Corporate email: administrator panel, mailbox list, shared addresses, delegated permissions, forwarding, delivery rules and recovery methods.
- Cloud services: organisation accounts, storage, shared folders, workspaces, subscription owners and external participants' permissions.
- Servers and network: equipment inventory, addresses, connection diagram, router settings, VPN, remote access and administrator accounts.
- Business applications: databases, CRM, accounting systems, integrations, scheduled jobs, service accounts and their dependencies.
- Licences and subscriptions: proof of purchase, supplier accounts, terms of use, device assignments and renewal procedures.
- Backups: data covered, copy locations, schedule, access, encryption keys, instructions and the latest restoration result.
- Monitoring and support: error alerts, message recipients, open requests, known issues and supplier contacts.
- Documentation: service diagram, startup procedure after a failure, history of significant changes and a list of items still outstanding.
Ask for working instructions as well as names. "Backups are on the server" does not explain how to retrieve them if that server fails. "Licences were purchased" does not establish the right to use them. Keep every such gap open on the list, with a clear next action.
How can you hand over systems without stopping work?
Transfer control in dependency order. Corporate email is often needed to confirm sign-ins elsewhere, DNS affects the website and email delivery, and service accounts connect applications. Changing everything at once makes failures difficult to diagnose. First set the sequence and identify changes requiring separate approval.
- Record the current settings and create the agreed backups before making changes.
- Create individual accounts for the new responsible person with the necessary permissions and set up multi-factor authentication.
- Check sign-in, account recovery and an ordinary task without help from the previous specialist.
- Transfer contacts, billing and alerts to the appointed company representatives.
- Revoke the previous permissions and recheck the affected services.
Do not migrate email or the website solely to change contractors if the current platform suits the company. Changing the responsible person and migrating solve different problems. We offer email and corporate account support for mailboxes, recovery and delegated permissions; we agree the scope of changes after checking the existing setup.
What should change on the first day after handover?
Start with owner and administrator accounts, recovery channels and remote access. Remove unnecessary roles, end active sessions, and revoke the previous specialist's devices and recovery codes. Check for remaining access through groups, external invitations or separate applications. Changing a password alone may not be enough.
Change shared passwords after checking dependencies. Rotate integration keys and service account secrets in sequence: prepare a new secret, update the systems using it, verify that they work, then revoke the old one. Otherwise, removing the contractor's access may also stop CRM exchanges, backups or notifications.
Check email forwarding rules and technical alert recipients separately. Request the transfer of company materials and agree deletion of copies remaining with the contractor, taking the contract and retention requirements into account. Do not delete logs or operational data when closing an account: they may be needed to continue support or resolve disputes.
How can you tell that the handover is complete?
Ask the new responsible person to demonstrate the result without prompts from the previous specialist. They should sign in to the domain panel, view email settings, receive an alert and find the required backup. For critical data, agree a safe restoration test. It must not change the live database or send test documents to clients.
In the handover record, list transferred resources, verified actions, revoked permissions and outstanding issues. Specific results are evidence; the phrase "access handed over" is not enough. If a resource is registered to an individual or ownership is disputed, record the circumstances and resolve reassignment with the supplier and the parties to the contract.
After the handover, tell employees the new support channel and who handles emergencies. We support operational systems through remote IT support in Kazakhstan: the infrastructure's condition determines the scope and connection arrangements. Use the remaining issues as a task queue so they are not lost after the change of contractor.