Handling Departures and Staff Transitions

Overview

When a team member leaves your organization, properly offboarding their Asana account is essential to avoid losing access to important tasks, workflows, or integrations. Asana provides tools within the Admin Console to help manage this transition smoothly.

Removing a User: What Happens

When you remove a user from Asana using the Admin Console, you’ll be prompted to decide what happens to their work. As part of this process, Asana allows you to:

Create a transition project containing:
- All open tasks assigned to the departing user
- All recently completed tasks (for reference)
Select a Super Admin to receive this project
Reassign tasks to new owners from that project as needed

This ensures no critical work falls through the cracks, and gives your team a clear, actionable view of everything that needs to be redistributed.

How to Remove a User and Transfer Work

Go to the Admin Console > Members.
Find the user you’re removing.
Click the three-dot menu next to their name and select Remove from organization.
In the prompt:
- Opt to create a project with the user’s tasks.
- Choose the Super Admin who will own the transition project.
- Review and confirm the removal.

Once created, the transition project acts as a centralized space to:

Reassign tasks to appropriate team members
Review completed work
Ensure accountability during handoff

Handling Projects and Workflow Rules

If the user you are removing:

Owned projects: Transfer ownership of those projects before removing them. Project ownership can be reassigned from the project’s share settings.
Created rules (automations): Rules will transfer to the new project owner if ownership is reassigned. If this step is skipped, the rules may stop functioning, especially if they include authorization with third-party apps (e.g., Gmail, Google Calendar).

Why This Matters:

Rules connected to third-party tools rely on the auth credentials of the original rule creator.
When you reassign ownership properly, those credentials are updated and reauthorized by the new owner.
This avoids broken automations and missed notifications.

Best Practices

Reassign project ownership first, before removing a user.
Review all rules tied to critical workflows and reauthorize them under the new project owner if needed.
Document offboarding procedures for Asana to ensure a consistent, secure process for all future transitions.
Use the transition project not only for work handoff but also for debriefing and accountability.