Employee Termination: What Gets De-provisioned and How Data Retention Works

When an employee leaves your organization, submitting a termination request promptly is critical for protecting company data, preventing unauthorized access, and ensuring you are not paying for unused licenses.

This article explains what gets de-provisioned when a termination request is submitted, what you can choose to retain, and how data retention works.

How to Submit a Termination Request

1. Visit https://theitexperience.com/supportrequest
2. Select Employee Termination as the request type
3. Complete all required fields on the termination form (see below)
4. Submit the request

Required Information

The following information is required on the termination form:

• First Name and Last Name of the departing employee
• Employee Email — the company email address assigned to the employee
• Termination Date — the employee's last day of employment
• Retain Hosted Resources? — Yes or No (see explanation below)
• Other Information — any additional instructions, including specifically what should be retained if "Yes" is selected

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What "Retain Hosted Resources" Means

The Retain Hosted Resources? field is the most important question on the termination form. It tells us how to handle cloud resources such as Microsoft 365, OneDrive, Dropbox, Adobe Creative Cloud, and similar services.

If You Select "No"

If no employee data is requested to be retained, the employee's account(s) will be deleted. This means:

• The Microsoft 365 account, mailbox, and OneDrive will be permanently removed
• Any files stored only in the user's cloud profile will be removed with the account
• Dropbox, Adobe, and other SaaS licenses assigned to the user will be reclaimed
• The license is freed up and your organization stops being billed for it
Account deletion is permanent once the provider's retention window has passed (typically 30 days for Microsoft 365). After that point the data cannot be recovered. If there is any chance you may need access to the employee's data, select Yes and specify what should be retained.

If You Select "Yes"

If you select Yes to retain hosted resources, please specifically note what you are requesting to retain in the Other Information field. These can be such items as email, OneDrive, data stored on the computer, etc.

Common items to specify include:

• Email — convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox, forward to a manager, or export to PST
• OneDrive — transfer ownership to another user (typically the manager) or export the contents
• Data stored on the computer — copy files from the local profile before the device is wiped or reassigned
• Teams chats or channel files — preserve before the account is removed
• SharePoint sites or documents owned by the user — reassign ownership
• Adobe or other application data — files saved in third-party applications that need to be preserved

The more specific you can be, the faster we can complete the request and the less likely something important is missed.

A common request is to convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox and transfer OneDrive ownership to the manager. Shared mailboxes do not require a paid Microsoft 365 license, so you can keep the historical email accessible at no ongoing cost.

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What Gets De-provisioned

As soon as a termination request is submitted, our technicians will begin the de-provisioning process. Most requests are completed the same business day.

The standard de-provisioning steps include:

• Disabling the user's Microsoft 365 sign-in to immediately prevent further access
• Resetting the password and revoking active sessions and refresh tokens
• Removing the user from distribution lists, shared mailboxes, and security groups
• Disabling VPN and remote access
• Removing access to network shares and line-of-business applications
• Reclaiming SaaS licenses (Microsoft 365, Adobe, Dropbox, etc.) — unless retention is requested
• Wiping or collecting company-owned devices per your organization's policy
• Removing access to mobile devices enrolled in Mobile Device Management (MDM)

High-Risk Terminations

If the separation is involuntary, contentious, or otherwise sensitive — for example, a termination for cause or where the employee may attempt to retaliate against company systems — please call us directly so we can coordinate immediate access removal.

Need Help?

If you are unsure how to handle a specific employee's data — for example, regulatory retention requirements, ongoing legal matters, or transition of client-facing email — contact us or note your concerns in the Other Information field and our team will follow up before any deletion takes place.