01 A client wanted a copy of our presales agent
A client asked us for a copy of the agent we use in presales, the work that prepares a potential sale. We agreed, with one exclusion: its long-term memory about MING. Passing that on would also pass on what it had learned about our company. That is the boundary described in our public account.[S1]
It is a small request with a useful consequence. The way an agent does a job and the information it has accumulated while doing it need separate decisions. You may want another team to use the same role without giving it the same company knowledge.
The same distinction helps when responsibility changes inside a company. Imagine the colleague who looks after an agent moving to another team. Who checks tomorrow’s work? Which stored notes should the role retain? Does a connection still depend on that colleague’s account? This is an illustrative extension of the case, not a reported departure at MING.
02 The incoming owner needs authority and time to supervise the work
Start with the task the team still needs. In our proposed handover, an agent prepares information for sales conversations. The incoming person needs to know what a usable preparation looks like, which questions the agent must leave open and who decides what reaches a customer. That conversation should happen before anyone treats the new name in the system as completion.
Our definition of an agent role connects agreed work, decision authority, a cost line and a named human.[S2] At handover, ask the incoming person to confirm those commitments. Include time for review, a deputy and a route to technical help. Someone may be able to edit the agent without having the authority or capacity to own its day-to-day work.
Keep the administration explicit too. Microsoft documents administrator reassignment of Copilot Studio agents when an owner leaves or changes role. That is a platform-specific operation, not proof that the work is ready to continue.[S3] The organisation still needs to agree who supervises the outcome.
03 Review the stored knowledge before deciding what travels with the role
For this guide, “memory” means information retained for later work. Ask the operator to show where it lives: saved notes, uploaded files, conversation records or an external knowledge source. These are possible places to inspect, not a description of the storage architecture of our presales agent.
Take an ordinary sales preparation. It might use a current service description, notes about a client and an old draft of an offer. The next owner needs to distinguish approved reference material from something that is outdated, restricted or still awaiting a decision. A folder called “agent memory” does not make that distinction for them.
Have the relevant information owners decide what the continuing role may use. Record the source, purpose, access and unresolved questions. Do not copy everything merely because an export is available. Our client-copy example excluded MING’s memory; an internal change of supervisor may call for a different boundary. This guide does not determine legal ownership or retention obligations.
04 Write down what changes and what the team has agreed to keep
A short handover record gives the incoming person something concrete to check. Use it to expose unanswered questions before relying on the agent again. The entries below are our proposed template, not a record of a completed migration.
| Part of the handover | What to agree | What the next person checks |
|---|---|---|
| Task and responsibility | Expected result, review, owner, deputy and operating budget. | They can explain the next task and arrange help or a pause. |
| Retained knowledge | Approved sources, permitted use and unresolved access or retention questions. | The task uses the agreed material; restricted material stays outside its scope. |
| System connections | Which identity each connection uses and who maintains it. | The approved read or action works under the intended access. |
| Open work | Pending drafts, commitments and exceptions, with the person handling each. | Nothing is treated as complete just because the agent changed hands. |
Check connections separately from the owner field. For its standard harness, Copilot Studio documents connections using either author or user authentication, with their own connection states.[S4] Ask the administrator which dependencies apply to your installation and how to test them. Do not keep a departing person’s access active merely to avoid doing the handover properly.
05 Let the incoming person check a task and handle an exception
Rehearse the proposed sales preparation with approved test material in a controlled setting. The new owner checks the output against its sources and explains what would be allowed to reach the customer. Then try a missing source or unavailable connection. Can they see what is unresolved, stop affected work and involve the right person?
This is a proposed acceptance exercise, not a test we claim to have completed. Agree in advance what would prevent the handover: unexplained access, missing evidence, an unowned exception or a task the new person cannot assess. Record the result and the remaining work. A successful ordinary draft cannot settle all of those questions.
Our agent acceptance guide explains how to set the test boundary. The guide to human responsibility helps distinguish owning the role from reviewing a particular result.
06 Prepare one handover while the current owner can still help
Choose an agent the team relies on. Put its current owner, the incoming person and the technical operator around the same task. Complete the record, resolve the knowledge boundary and run the agreed checks. If nobody is leaving yet, use the exercise to see what a deputy would need during an absence.
For help fitting that responsibility into your team, bring the task and its unresolved handover questions to a Hybrid Organisation discussion . A useful starting point is one role someone else needs to be able to supervise.
07 The source establishes a knowledge boundary, not a proven offboarding result
Evidence and limits
- The opening is a published MING account of a request for an agent copy. Underlying records are private; no completed transfer is established here.
- The internal handover, figure, record and rehearsal are our proposed method. They are not a measured employee-departure case.
- Microsoft documentation supports specific administrative and connection distinctions. Other platforms may work differently.
- No continuity guarantee, quantified benefit, legal ownership finding or blanket permission to transfer stored information is claimed.
