2 System: routing starts

System, Mon 16 Nov 2026: the start date is reached, so Dana’s live actions and notifications go to Priya, who works them as cover; Dana stays their recorded owner. Priya’s Home shows the band “Covering for Dana Whitfield until Fri 20 Nov” and, first in My actions, Kingsmead “Chase the buyer’s solicitor”, due today, marked “Dana Whitfield’s · you are cover”.

3 Priya works a covered action

Priya opens the Kingsmead action 1, clicks Log a call 2, types the note 3 and saves it 4, then sets Status to Done 5 and clicks Save 6. The action reads “Done by Priya Nair as cover for Dana Whitfield · Mon 16 Nov 2026” with Dana Whitfield still its owner, and the call is on Kingsmead’s Activity.

4 System: a deal email for Dana reaches Priya

System, Tue 17 Nov 2026: Sarah Lomax of Calder Valley Homes, a known Contact, writes to Dana about Heron Fields; Dana’s out-of-office reply is detected through Microsoft 365 as well. The email is logged on the Site and the Contact, and Priya’s notification centre shows “A deal email for Dana Whitfield: Heron Fields: board paper for Fri 20 Nov — Sarah Lomax”, opening the email on Heron Fields’ Activity, marked as routed to Priya.

5 System: Dana is back

System, Mon 23 Nov 2026: routing ended once the end date, Fri 20 Nov 2026, passed, and the actions are back with Dana. Dana’s Home lists “While you were out”: the Kingsmead call and action Priya worked as cover, and the routed Heron Fields email; Priya’s cover band is gone.

6 Tom deactivates the leaver

Fri 27 Nov 2026, Ben Okafor’s last day. Tom clicks Settings 1, then Users 2, opens the row Ben Okafor 3 and clicks Deactivate 4. Ben Okafor has no cover named, so in the dialog Tom picks Sophie Brennan in the Cover select 5 with the end date Fri 11 Dec 2026 6 and clicks “Deactivate and start handover” 7. While the cover is empty, the dialog warns that Ben Okafor’s work would go to the regional lead, or a Partner / MD.

7 System: handover pending

System: Ben Okafor’s sign-in ends and the token “Claude desktop” is revoked. Ben Okafor is “Handover pending”; Ben Okafor’s live actions, notifications and deal emails go to Sophie as cover, with Ben Okafor still their recorded owner. The duty “Regional lead, London & East” has no deputy, so what is routed to it goes to Rhys, a Partner / MD, until a new holder is assigned.

8 Name a successor for each kind

Tom clicks Hand over on Ben Okafor’s row 1. With Rhys reading the page, for each kind Tom picks Sophie Brennan in its select and clicks Hand over: open actions 2, Site function ownership 3, relationship ownership 4, the covers Ben Okafor provided 5 and the mailbox in scope 6. Each kind lists what Ben Okafor holds, one successor per kind, and each row turns “Handed over to Sophie Brennan”; the mailbox row reads “Leaves capture scope once its successor is named”. The duty Ben Okafor held is listed too, to be reassigned in Settings › Duties.

9 Reassign the duty

Tom clicks Duties in Settings 1, opens “Regional lead, London & East” 2, picks Sophie Brennan as holder 3 and clicks Save 4. The duty’s history reads “Ben Okafor → Sophie Brennan · Tom Ashworth · Fri 27 Nov 2026”, audited with the previous holder, and the Partner / MD routing note is gone.

10 System: the handover is done

System: with every kind handed over, Ben Okafor is “Deactivated · Fri 27 Nov 2026” with Reactivate, and the mailbox leaves capture scope. Each hand-over is in the audit log with the leaver and the successor; the two actions are Sophie’s on Sophie’s Home, and past records still show Ben Okafor’s name.

11 Alternative: the cover is also away

Alternative, system: on Wed 18 Nov 2026 Priya’s own out-of-office reply is detected. Dana’s live actions stay with Priya, the first cover, and Dana is told that the cover Priya Nair is also out of office, so the actions stay with Priya.

12 Alternative: the Admin overrides a cover

Alternative: following the previous one, Tom opens Dana’s user record 1 and in its Cover card picks Eleanor Shaw 2, sets Thu 19 Nov 2026 3 to Fri 20 Nov 2026 4 and clicks Save 5. The record reads “Cover set by Tom Ashworth (Admin)” and the routing moves to Eleanor from Thu 19 Nov.

13 Alternative: no cover named

Alternative, system: Dana goes on leave without naming a cover, and Dana’s out-of-office reply is detected. Nothing is routed: Dana’s actions and deal emails stay with Dana, and the flag “Dana Whitfield is out of office with no named cover” shows.

14 Alternative: out of office before the start date

Alternative, system: Dana’s auto-reply starts on the evening of Fri 13 Nov 2026, so routing to Priya starts from the detection, before Mon 16 Nov 2026. If Dana withdraws the reply on return, routing stops and the actions return to Dana.

15 Alternative: a leaver with open approvals

Alternative: on Fri 27 Nov 2026 a proposed update on Lea Bridge Works, drafted from the landowner’s email of Thu 26 Nov 2026 (“Landowner agrees to one more week for the CSA”), waits for Ben Okafor as the Site’s Land owner. It shows in Sophie’s Pending proposals as cover from the deactivation, then as Sophie’s own as successor once Site function ownership is handed over.

16 Alternative: a leaver with no cover

Alternative: Tom deactivates without naming a cover 1. What is routed to Ben Okafor would go to the regional lead, who is Ben Okafor here, so it goes to a Partner / MD: Rhys sees Ben Okafor’s actions as “Awaiting hand-over”.

17 Alternative: a successor deactivated first

Alternative, system: the successor named for a kind, here Relationship ownership, is deactivated before the handover is done. That kind goes back to “Not handed over” and Tom is told in the notification centre.

18 Alternative: the leaver reactivated

Alternative: Tom clicks Reactivate on Ben Okafor’s row 1 while the handover is still pending. The handover stops; the kinds already handed over stay with Sophie, and Ben Okafor is Active again.

19 Alternative: a deactivated user is not offered as cover

Alternative: on Mon 30 Nov 2026 Jamie names a cover for Mon 14 – Fri 18 Dec 2026. Sophie Brennan is already set, handed over in step 8, and the Cover select 1 lists active colleagues only, without Ben Okafor.