Hack the Domo Stack: Automate User Offboarding with Confidence and Respect

Manual user offboarding has long been one of the most time-consuming parts of managing a Domo instance. The process typically means spending hours transferring DataSets, Cards, and Workflows before you can remove a user. Without automation, MajorDomos often end up racing against the clock—sometimes late into the evening or over the weekend—to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.  

And when offboarding a power user, it’s often easier to turn them into an integration user and call it a day. When things do get missed, orphaned content can clutter your instances, introduce governance gaps, and lead to stale data.

But what if you could avoid these pitfalls without the long hours? What if you could trigger an alert through an existing HR or IT process that would immediately remove access, safely transfer every asset, and log the whole event—all without a person stepping in?

You can stop wishing because that’s exactly what the automated offboarding solution I built in Domo delivers. In this month’s edition of Hack the Domo Stack, I'm excited to show you how it works and how you can deploy it in your organization. You can find all the code and an installation script at my GitHub here, or just keep reading to learn more about it.  

The challenge: Manual offboarding creates risk

Traditional offboarding in Domo requires administrators, commonly called MajorDomos, to find and transfer by hand every object a former user owns. That includes DataSets, DataFlows, Cards, Pages, Alerts, and even hidden objects like AppDB Collections. It’s tedious work. And it’s easy to make mistakes or miss something.

Inefficiency isn’t the only consequence. When you leave content owned by a deleted user, it becomes harder to manage and maintain that content. Teams lose context and ownership becomes unclear. Over time, that can lead to governance headaches, data inaccuracy or loss, process disruptions, and even security risks.

For organizations that value both people and process, offboarding a user shouldn’t feel like damage control. It should be part of a smooth, respectful transition.

The solution: Automated offboarding

This solution uses Code Engine and Workflows to create an automated and tracked process that responds the moment HR systems (like Workday) flag an employee’s departure.

Here’s how it works:

1. The Workflow triggers from your data. Whether HRIS, IDP, or something else, it’s up to you.

2. The former user’s active sessions are immediately deleted, protecting against unsanctioned access and malicious action.

3. An email is sent to an admin with options to proceed with or cancel the automation. The Workflow pauses until it receives a response.

4. If proceeding, the Code Engine Package identifies and transfers all owned objects to another user (set to the former user’s manager in the example).

5. Domo Everywhere Publications and Sent Back Approvals can't be transferred. Beast Modes with only invalid dependencies are deleted.

6. Every transfer, unsupported transfer, and deletion is logged for auditing purposes, and a notification is sent to the new owner to ensure visibility and encourage cleanup or transferring ownership to an SME.

This process runs quickly, quietly, and completely. You’ve eliminated the manual work while maintaining the same control, and everyone can move forward with confidence.  

Implementation guide  

To make this process even easier, I’ve created a script that creates everything needed for the automation in your Domo instance. The best part is, it takes less than a minute to run. You can access the script, the complete instructions, and the raw code here: https://github.com/brycewc/majordomo-user-offboarding.

Additional best practices to consider

• Customization: Change the new object owner, approval chain, alerted administrator, or trigger system.
• Error identification: Set up alerts for Workflow failures and unsupported objects.
• Access management: Grant permissions carefully, making sure only authorized users can trigger, approve, or edit the Workflow.
• Documentation: Keep your logic and process guides up-to-date, especially as your Domo instance evolves.

Handling change with respect and clarity

Change is never simple, especially when it involves people. Thoughtful automation won’t make those moments easy, but it can make them smoother and more respectful for everyone involved. Your goal is to show respect both for departing colleagues and for those inheriting new Domo assets. We hope this guide lightens the load of this challenging process and mitigates the stress that comes from these changes.