Administrator guide

For SharePoint and Microsoft 365 administrators who install Handover Pro, and for the site owners who set it up in a site.

What it is

Handover Pro is a SharePoint Framework (SPFx) web part. It runs a tracked handover when someone leaves the organisation, moves to a new role, hands over a project, a piece of work or a client, or goes away and needs cover. It maps what they own or can open in the sites you choose, finds the gaps, interviews them, drafts a cited handover document, moves or shares their access through an approved plan whose changes can be rolled back (except check-ins and discarded check-outs), collects sign-offs and seals a package that can be checked later. The kind of handover decides the questions asked, the decisions suggested for access and whether the person keeps read access to the record afterwards (people staying do; people leaving do not).

It runs entirely inside your tenant, in the browser of the person using it, with that person's own SharePoint permissions. It needs no admin consent, no Azure app registration and no Microsoft Graph permissions. It sends no handover data to Apps 365; the only thing it sends is a small daily check-in about the installation (see Licensing), which a site owner can switch off in Settings.

Requirements

SharePoint Online (Microsoft 365). Works on modern pages, as a full-page app, and as a Microsoft Teams tab. It is not offered as a Teams personal app, which would run against the tenant's root site rather than your handovers site.
A site to run handovers from. Handovers can map other sites too, as long as the coordinator can open them.
The people who start handovers must be owners of that site.

Install

Get Handover Pro from Microsoft Marketplace (AppSource): select Get it now, or in your tenant app catalog (the Apps site) open SharePoint Store, find Handover Pro and add it. Marketplace apps go into the tenant app catalog, which needs a SharePoint administrator or an owner of the tenant app catalog. Alternatively, upload handover-pro.sppkg from Apps 365 to your tenant app catalog, or to a site collection app catalog if you want it in one site collection only.
The package supports tenant-wide deployment: choose to make it available to all sites to skip adding the app to each site.
In the site you will use, add the app from Site contents > New > App, if your catalog requires it.
Add the Handover Pro web part (toolbox group Advanced, with the Handover Pro icon) to a page, for example a page called "Handovers". A full-width section works best.
Open the page as a site owner and press Set up this site.

Web part settings

Edit the page, select the web part and press its settings button. The top line gives the Handover Pro version (1.0.0.0). The first page shows the licence and has two settings, each with a tip under it:

Setting	What it does
Licence	Shows the licence in force, with links to Settings > Licence (where site owners enter keys), to get a key or a 14-day free trial, and to find keys already bought. Keys are not shown here. Keys that an earlier version kept in the web part still count, and a button removes them once they have been added in Settings.
Page address for links (optional)	The SharePoint page links in reminders, calendar entries and Teams messages open. Needed in a Teams tab.
Welcome card and tour	On by default: first-time users are offered a one-minute tour, and people taking part see their part the first time they open a handover. Help is always available either way.

Press Next for a page of good practice: where to put Handover Pro, what to do before the first handover, running handovers well, Teams, and privacy and security.

Running it in Teams

Add the page as a Teams tab, or sync the app to Teams from the app catalog. Teams tabs have no page address of their own, so edit the web part and set Page address for links to the SharePoint page that shows Handover Pro. It must be a page on the same SharePoint address as the site (links never lead outside your tenant). Without it, links in reminders, calendar entries and Teams messages open the site home page; site owners see a reminder about this in the app.

What set-up creates

Set-up creates four things in the site and limits all four to site owners straight away. People taking part get access only to their own handovers' items and folders:

Name	Type	Holds
HP_Handovers	Hidden list	One item per handover, with its people, dates and stage. Each item has its own permissions.
HP_Events	Hidden list	The audit trail: every action, answer, comment, approval and sign-off, as rows that are never edited.
HP_Data	Hidden library	Working data per handover (the register, gaps, interview questions, access plan, change record, the document and the copies locked for sign-off, the seal record) and the site settings.
Handovers	Library	Sealed packages, one read-only folder per handover.

It also adds a permission level called Handover Pro add only (read, plus add items). People taking part in a handover use it to add entries to their own folder of the audit trail; it cannot edit or delete anything.

Set-up is safe to run again. If someone changes these lists by hand, site owners see "Handover Pro's lists need attention" with a Repair button that restores the permissions and settings: anyone given access to a whole list directly loses it (the Limited Access SharePoint adds for people taking part stays). Repair never deletes anything.

Handover Pro knows its own lists by their IDs on this site. A list or folder elsewhere with the same name or description is mapped and handed over like anything else.

Do not rename or delete these lists. If a list with one of these names already exists and was not made by Handover Pro, set-up stops and asks you to rename it first.

Who can see what

Person	Can see
Site owners	Every handover in the site. Where they do not take part they see every tab and can take over as coordinator, repair access, finish setting up or sealing, delete working data, end a cover or overlap, remove cancelled handovers and export a person's data. Where they take part they see only that part.
Coordinator	Everything about the handovers they run. Must be a site owner: their right to change the records comes from that, so it ends if they stop being one (a site owner then takes over).
Approver	Every tab, read only, including the whole audit trail (which they can download); after sealing, the package with its records folder.
Person handing over	The Overview, Interview, Document, Sign-off and Activity tabs; Activity lists the whole audit trail. If they are leaving, their access ends when the handover is sealed; if they are staying (role change, work, client, cover), it becomes read only.
Incoming owners or people covering	The Overview, Interview, Document, Sign-off and Activity tabs (the whole audit trail); after sealing, the package except its records folder, and evidence copied for them.
Reviewers named in Settings	Every package sealed after they were named, including its records but not evidence copies, in the Handovers library.
Everyone else	Nothing. Handovers are invisible to people not taking part.

Site owners have full control of the site in SharePoint, so they could change Handover Pro's lists directly. Handover Pro records every change it makes and checks its audit trail, but for a clean record keep the leaver out of the site owners group (the access plan can remove them) or run the handover from a site they do not own.

Licensing

Licence keys are entered in Settings > Licence by a site owner with Enter licence key, which saves the key for this site. A site collection admin then also sees Also save these keys for the whole tenant, which works for a SharePoint admin or an owner of the tenant app catalog: the keys go into a hidden list, Apps365LicenceKeys, on the tenant app catalog, which works even where custom script is blocked there (the default since 2026), and every site reads them. Keys are never shown in the web part's settings, so people who can edit the page cannot see or change them; the settings show only the licence (for example "Licensed, Team plan until 27 October 2027"), a link to Settings > Licence, and links to get a key or a free trial and to find keys already bought. Keys are checked in the browser against Apps 365's public key; nothing is sent anywhere to check them. A key adds to the keys already saved. A key covers the whole tenant, one site collection (and its sites) or one site: a key for another site shows that site's address in Settings and licenses nothing here.

Once a day Handover Pro sends Apps 365 a small check-in: the tenant ID, the site address, the app version, the licence state and the licence IDs in use. No names or handover content. It starts once the site is set up (the set-up page says so). A site owner can switch it off in Settings > Connections (Daily check-in to Apps 365); licensing works the same either way. A check-in switched off in the web part settings of an earlier version stays off.

Plan	Handovers running at once	Sealed handovers (packs) per 12 months
Evaluation (no key)	1	Unlimited, but each package and certificate is marked as an evaluation
Exit Pack	1	1
Team	3	12
Department	15	50
Tenant	No limit	200

A key can state other limits (a Tenant key always allows any number running at once); the app shows the limits in force on the Settings page. A key that states no numbers gets its plan's standard allowance. Plans do not add up: with a Team key and a Department key valid at once (an upgrade), the Department limits apply. Exit Pack keys add on top of any plan, each one more handover (one Exit Pack on a Team plan gives 13 packs and 4 running at once). The same key saved twice counts once. A trial key counts only while no bought key is valid: once a key is bought, trial keys add nothing to the plan, its limits or its end date. The end date shown is the plan's, not a later Exit Pack's.

A renewal key can be added as soon as it arrives: it carries a start date (the day after the current key ends), shows as Starts later when entered, and takes over by itself on that day. Once it is saved, the 30-day warning stops and Settings shows when the renewal starts. Renewal keys need Handover Pro 0.17.0 or later. A key Apps 365 has withdrawn (for example after a refund) shows as withdrawn when entered and stops counting from the release that lists it. Packs count handovers sealed in the last 12 months, so each frees up a year after its seal. Packs and the number of handovers running at once are counted in each site, so a key saved for the whole tenant gives each site using it the plan's allowance. Site owners are warned on the Handovers page 30 days before a key ends. When a key expires, existing handovers stay readable and new ones run as an evaluation until a new key is added. Cancelled handovers do not count. Settings shows this tenant's ID, which Apps 365 needs to make a key. If the licence cannot be read just now (for example the tenant app catalog does not answer), site owners see a warning and sealing waits until it can be checked, so a package is never marked as an evaluation by mistake. The same happens when a saved key cannot be used at all (damaged, or signed with a key this version does not know): update Handover Pro, or ask Apps 365 for a new key.

Settings

Site owners change these on the Settings page. The interview due date and the privacy notice apply to handovers started after saving, and standard questions to interviews prepared for the first time after saving. Retention applies to all handovers; evidence limits and reviewers apply to every package sealed after saving. Each number is kept within its range (interview 0 to 30 working days, retention 30 to 3650 days, evidence 0 to 200 files and 1 to 250 MB). A licence key adds to the keys already saved, for the site or the tenant. If the settings cannot be read when the page opens, nothing that depends on them (saving settings or keys, starting a handover, preparing an interview, sealing) runs until the page is refreshed.

Setting	Default	What it does
Interview due	5 working days before the last day	When the interview of the person handing over is due.
Delete working data after sealing	365 days	After this, site owners are reminded to delete each sealed handover's working data. The package and audit trail stay. Cancelled handovers are flagged for removal after the same number of days.
Evidence files copied per package	25	Files only the person handing over knew about are copied into the package for the person taking each one over.
Largest evidence file	25 MB	Larger files are listed but not copied.
Privacy notice	A standard notice	Shown to the person handing over before they answer. It needs at least 20 characters.
People who can read sealed packages	None	For example HR or compliance: they can open every package sealed from then on, including its records, without being site owners. They never see evidence copies.
Standard questions	None	Questions added to every interview prepared for the first time after saving.

The About section at the foot of Settings shows the Handover Pro version. Give it when you ask for support.

Sealed packages for auditors

Each sealed package explains itself, so it can be read years later without Handover Pro:

README.txt: who and what the handover covered, what it did not cover, the outcome, every file, who can open which folder, and how to check the package.
SHA256SUMS.txt: the fingerprint of every file, in the format standard tools read (sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt, or Get-FileHash in PowerShell). Someone who cannot open every folder runs sha256sum --ignore-missing -c instead and compares the number of OK lines with the files they could download.
certificate.pdf: people, sign-offs, score, outcome and fingerprints, on as many pages as it needs.
records/ also holds CSV copies of the audit trail, the access changes and the gap decisions (with reasons).
evidence/<person>/index.csv names the original of each evidence copy.

The fingerprint of the whole file list is also recorded in the handover's audit trail (HP_Events). Keep a handover's audit trail as long as its package: Check package in Handover Pro uses both.

Reports

Site owners can download from the Handovers page:

Every handover (CSV): one row per handover with the columns ID, Handover, Kind, What, Handing over, Coordinator, Taking over, Approver, Date, Stage, Score, Sealed on, Days from date to seal, Evaluation, Cancelled on and Package.
Accepted risks and access left as it is (CSV): every such decision across the site, with the stage, the reason given, who decided and when. Cancelled handovers are left out. Useful for management reviews and auditors.

Every text cell in these and the package's CSV files is quoted, and text that starts like a formula is made plain text, so a spreadsheet never runs anything in them.

Troubleshooting

You see	What to do
"Handover Pro's lists need attention"	Press Repair (site owners). It restores permissions and settings without deleting anything, and takes away access anyone was given to a whole list directly.
"Setting up did not finish" on a handover	Usually someone could not be added to the site yet. Add them, then press Finish setting up, or remove the handover.
"Sealing did not finish"	The coordinator or a site owner presses Finish sealing on the Sign-off and seal tab. Nothing already sealed changes. If it says the leaver can still open the records, remove their site owner, admin or Microsoft 365 group owner rights first. For someone staying, the last step makes their records read only.
A cover is still "in place", or shows "Due back"	When the person is back, the coordinator or a site owner presses End the cover on the Sign-off and seal tab. It takes away the access given for the cover. If the working data was already deleted, remove that access in SharePoint. Change the return date there if the person is away for longer. If it is not sealed yet, change the return date in Manage this handover, or roll back and cancel.
"Overlap due to end"	The person handing over kept access alongside the new owner until this date. The coordinator or a site owner presses End the overlap or Keep their access on the Sign-off and seal tab, or sets a later date.
"Sealing is blocked by problems in the coordinator's entries"	Some of the coordinator's audit entries did not check out. Press Record what happened on the Audit tab and give a reason.
"No handover packs left"	Packs count handovers sealed in the last 12 months. Add a pack to your licence, or wait until a year after the earliest seal.
A plan warning that someone "could not be added to one or more sites"	Sealing waits for it. Check they can sign in to those sites, then press Rebuild plan.
A plan warning that changes "would touch Handover Pro's own records"	Sealing waits for it. Check the sites and lists in scope with a site owner: nothing in Handover Pro's own lists is ever changed.
"Access to this handover was not fully updated"	A change of people stopped part-way. Press Repair access on the Overview.
Someone "Cannot open this site yet"	Add them to the site, or share the page with them, before sending reminders.
A handover limited to folders shows no owner or group gaps	That is by design: when every list on a site is limited to folders, the site's owners, site collection admins, groups and site-wide permissions are not part of the handover, and the access plan never changes them. Make sure the people taking over can open those folders.
A list "could not be read" in the map	The coordinator cannot open it. Give them access (or make them a site collection admin) and scan again, or accept the risk with a reason.
"Cancelled, due for removal"	A cancelled handover's working data is past the retention period. Open it and press Remove handover; its records go to the site recycle bin.
"is no longer a site owner" on a handover	The coordinator lost their site owner rights, so they can no longer run it but still have its access. A site owner takes over, which removes it.
A group shows no gap although the person is in it	The group gives no access in the sites in scope (for example it belongs to another subsite), so nothing needs handing over.
A site with Microsoft 365 group owners offers only "Fixed outside Handover Pro" or "Accept the risk"	Handover Pro cannot see or change the group's owners. Check in Teams or Outlook that someone other than the person owns it.
SharePoint is busy	Wait a minute and try again. Long jobs (scan, apply, rollback, ending a cover or an overlap) pace themselves, and stop part-way rather than failing every change when SharePoint keeps throttling or the connection drops. Pressing the same button again carries on from where they stopped.
"You are already running this in another window" after a window closed	The job is held for 3 minutes after the window that ran it stopped. The message says from what time it can carry on.

Known limits

The map shows access as it was when it was scanned. If the person is given new access afterwards, press Scan again and Find gaps again before sealing.
Handover Pro does not remove sharing links, change site collection admin rights or Microsoft 365 group owners, or see Power Automate flows, Planner plans or meetings. The interview asks about these, and the gaps record what was done by hand.
Files a person added to a library that needs check-out and never checked in are visible only to them, so the scan cannot find them. Someone leaving is asked about them in the interview.
Site owners have full control in SharePoint. Handover Pro detects changes to its records but cannot prevent them.

Removing Handover Pro

Remove the web part from the page and the app from the site. The lists and libraries stay, with their data and permissions, so sealed packages remain available. Delete them by hand only if you no longer need the records.