What should an outgoing board officer hand over?

Hand over an index of the current records, the role's responsibilities, recurring tasks and calendar, useful contacts, and unfinished work with its next action and owner. Explain which copies are approved and which are drafts. Add a short note about practical lessons and unresolved questions, then check that the successor can use it.

How do we check access without sharing the outgoing officer's password?

Have the authorized access manager invite the successor or assign their role through the service's normal process. Ask the incoming officer to sign in with their own account, open a current record and check access for an ordinary task. Record any missing access and who will resolve it. Keep passwords and recovery codes out of the handover note.

What if the previous officer cannot help with the handover?

Start with records the organization already holds, working with the chair and authorized account managers. Make an index of confirmed documents and a separate list of gaps. Use official recovery or ownership-transfer processes for missing access. Distinguish recollections from records and give each unresolved item someone to follow it up.

What happens to our records when the board changes?

The short answer

A folder of files is a starting point. The next secretary also needs to know which minutes are approved, where the next agenda begins and who is waiting for a reply. Before an officer steps down, collect the records in the board's agreed location, add a brief handover note and check that the successor can find and use the material through their own account.

What should an outgoing officer hand over?

Start with the material needed to do the job. PTO Today's procedures-book guidance recommends a reference for each officer's responsibilities, with governing documents, useful contacts, calendars and examples of previous work. Use that principle to make a small working index; there is no need to copy the whole archive into another folder.

Role and boundaries: the role description, current bylaws and relevant board procedures, with a note on which decisions go back to the board.
Current records: where approved minutes, the current member list and other role-relevant records are kept. Label drafts clearly and link to the agreed copy.
Open work: each unfinished task, its current status, the next action, who is responsible and the agreed report-back date or meeting.
Recurring work: the meeting and event calendar, regular preparation tasks, and an example of the last completed cycle.
People and access: the contacts needed for the role, the systems it uses, who manages access and which records have restricted access.
Lessons and loose ends: what helped, what caused confusion and what still needs checking. Mark an unknown as unknown instead of presenting a guess as settled practice.

A board handover note you can fill in

Copy this original outline into the board's usual document. Replace each bracket, use links to the current records and keep the note with the material it explains. Keep passwords, recovery codes and sensitive personal details out of it.

Role and handover: [role], from [outgoing officer] to [incoming officer], checked together on [date].
Start here: [location of current records]. Approved or final copies are marked [how]. Drafts are kept [where].
The next job: [task], using [record or example], with [person or role] available for questions.
Still open: [item]. Current status: [what has happened]. Next action: [what remains]. Responsible person or role: [who]. Report back: [agreed date or meeting].
The regular cycle: [recurring task and when it starts]. Useful example: [link].
Access: [systems and record locations needed]. Access manager: [role or contact]. Checked using the incoming officer's own account: [date or still pending].
Unconfirmed or missing: [record, access or question]. Person following up: [who]. Next check: [when].
One thing to know: [a practical lesson, with enough context to explain it]. Follow-up conversation: [agreed date or occasion].

A worked example for a new secretary

This hypothetical example shows the difference between handing over a folder and handing over the work. The meeting names and tasks are examples, not records of a real organization.

Secretary handover: approved September minutes are in Board records / Approved minutes. October's agenda is a draft in Upcoming meetings. The venue coordinator is checking room availability and will report at the next board meeting; no booking has been approved. The next task is to ask the chair which items belong on that agenda. The incoming secretary can open the approved minutes through their own account, but access to the agenda folder is still pending with the access manager.

The note separates a final record, an unfinished decision and a specific access gap. The new secretary can see what to do next without treating a draft as approval or guessing which person should fix the missing permission.

Walk through the handover using the new officer's account

BoardSource describes orientation as an opportunity to meet colleagues, clarify expectations and ask questions. Pair the written note with a practical conversation. Use the following walkthrough to check whether the handover is usable.

Have the authorized access manager invite the incoming officer or assign their role through each service's normal process. The successor signs in with their own account; do not pass around the departing officer's password.
Ask the incoming officer to open the handover note, find one approved record and identify the matching draft or next task. Let them do the finding so an unclear folder name or broken link becomes visible.
Check the access needed for an ordinary task. If a safe practice draft is available, confirm that the officer can work there without changing an approved record or sending a real message.
Review one unfinished item together. The successor should be able to explain its status, the next action and whom to ask when information is missing.
Write down any gap, its owner and the next check. Review the outgoing officer's access with the authorized access manager as part of the agreed transition, following the organization's rules.

What if the previous officer is unavailable?

Ask the chair and the person responsible for each account to identify the records already held by the organization. Build a starting index from confirmed material and list the gaps beside it. Use the provider's official account-recovery or ownership-transfer process where access is missing; do not use somebody else's identity or assume possession of an old password establishes authority.

Separate a recovered record from someone's recollection. Record where a document came from and mark uncertain dates, versions or decisions for the board to check. Give each gap a person to follow it up, starting with the material needed for the next meeting or immediate task. A clearly incomplete handover is more useful than a complete-looking folder full of guesses.

How SorrelSites supports the board record

SorrelSites brings board meetings, minutes, motions, action items and documents into the organization's account. It also provides briefings for incoming officers. A handover conversation still matters: check the records available to the successor, explain unfinished work and identify anything that remains outside the account.

Sources and further reading

PTO Today's Procedures Book: Your PTO's Instruction Manual and BoardSource's Board Orientation are linked below and were checked October 3, 2026. They inform the role-reference and orientation principles. The checklist, fill-in handover note, secretary scenario and practical walkthrough are original SorrelSites material for boards to adapt.