Agency Handoff Guide
Dran Admin Cleaner (DAC) can help you prepare a WordPress website for client handoff by simplifying the admin experience while keeping trusted maintenance access available to the people responsible for the website.
This guide provides a practical workflow for agencies, freelancers, and developers preparing a completed WordPress website for everyday client use.
The goal is not to remove as much of WordPress as possible.
The goal is to give the client a clear workspace containing the tools they need while keeping technical and maintenance areas available to the people responsible for the site.
Before You Start
Complete the main website setup before building the final DAC configuration.
Ideally, the website should already have:
- Its production theme installed and configured.
- Required plugins installed and activated.
- Client user accounts created.
- Appropriate WordPress roles assigned.
- Main content workflows established.
- Major development and configuration work completed.
DAC works best as part of the handoff process after the WordPress admin environment has become relatively stable.
Installing or replacing plugins later may introduce new menus, notices, Dashboard widgets, and Admin Bar items that require another DAC review.
1. Identify Who Will Maintain the Website
Start by deciding who should retain trusted DAC management access.
For example:
Agency Developer → Website and DAC maintenance
Agency Support → Ongoing client support
Client Administrator → Business administration
Content Editor → Content management
The people responsible for maintaining DAC should be clearly separated from the users receiving the simplified admin experience.
Configure the Owner and any trusted Managers before applying broader cleanup settings.
See Owner & Manager Access for details.
2. Define the Client Audience
Next, configure Global Audience.
Choose the audience mode that best matches the website:
- Everyone — apply cleanup to all users who are not bypassed.
- Only selected — apply cleanup only to selected roles or users.
- Everyone except — apply cleanup broadly while leaving selected roles or users unaffected.
For most client handoffs, Only selected is a good starting point because it lets you target the client role without affecting unrelated accounts.
For example:
Audience mode
- Only selected
Selected roles
- Editor
If only specific accounts should receive the cleanup, select those users instead of targeting an entire role.
Owners and Managers automatically bypass the shared cleanup configuration.
Keep the Global Audience as simple as possible.
See Audience for details.
3. Identify the Client's Real Tasks
Before hiding anything, determine what the client actually needs to do.
Common client tasks may include:
- Editing pages.
- Publishing articles.
- Uploading media.
- Managing products or orders.
- Reviewing form submissions.
- Managing comments.
- Viewing reports.
- Updating specific business information.
Write down the important workflows before cleaning the interface.
For example:
Client needs
- Pages
- Posts
- Media
- Forms
- WooCommerce Orders
Client does not normally need
- Plugins
- Theme configuration
- Developer tools
- Cache configuration
- Backup settings
This gives you a practical basis for deciding what should remain visible.
4. Clean Up the Admin Menu
Use Menu Cleaner to remove navigation that is unnecessary for the client.
Keep the sections required for normal work and hide technical areas they do not need to navigate regularly.
You may also rename menu labels when WordPress or plugin terminology is unnecessarily technical.
For example:
Posts → Articles
Do not hide something simply because the client probably will not use it.
If removing an item makes the workflow harder to understand, keep it.
Remember that hiding a menu item does not prevent direct access to the underlying page.
5. Add Page Locks Selectively
Use Page Locks when a client should not be able to access a specific admin page.
Possible candidates may include:
- Plugin management pages.
- Theme configuration pages.
- Maintenance tools.
- Selected technical plugin settings.
Do not attempt to lock every technical-looking WordPress page.
Page Locks have their own targeting conditions, independent from Global Audience.
For each Page Lock, verify:
- Which roles or users it targets.
- Which page it protects.
- Where affected users are redirected.
- Whether related workflows still work.
Add restrictions only where there is a clear requirement.
6. Clean Up Notices
Once the main navigation is ready, review the admin experience for unnecessary notices.
Use Notice Cleaner to reduce messages that do not require client action.
Typical examples may include:
- Upgrade promotions.
- Review requests.
- Optional setup reminders.
- Integration suggestions.
- Other maintenance-related notices.
Keep warnings or information that users genuinely need.
A quieter admin interface can make meaningful messages easier to notice.
7. Simplify the Dashboard
Review the WordPress Dashboard from the client's perspective.
Use Dashboard Cleaner to hide widgets that do not contribute to everyday work.
For a content-focused client, you might keep:
- At a Glance
- Activity
- Form Submissions
while hiding technical, promotional, or maintenance widgets.
The goal is a focused Dashboard, not an empty one.
8. Clean Up the Admin Bar
Use Admin Bar Cleaner to remove unnecessary toolbar shortcuts.
Technical shortcuts for caching, backups, SEO administration, or maintenance may be useful to your agency but irrelevant to the client.
Keep navigation, account, and content shortcuts that still provide value.
Review the Admin Bar in both the WordPress admin area and the frontend when relevant.
9. Preview the Client Experience
Once the shared cleanup configuration is ready, use Preview to inspect each important client role.
Check:
- Is the admin menu understandable?
- Can users find their everyday tools?
- Are unnecessary technical areas removed?
- Are useful notices still visible?
- Is the Dashboard focused?
- Is the Admin Bar clear?
- Does the overall workflow still make sense?
Do not evaluate the interface only from a developer's perspective.
Ask:
If I were the client and logged in tomorrow without assistance, could I complete my normal work?
Preview is intended for role-based cleanup review.
Page Locks should be tested separately using actual WordPress accounts.
10. Test With a Real Client Account
Preview is useful during configuration, but final testing should be performed with an appropriate WordPress user account.
Use a test account that represents the client's actual role and permissions.
Test the workflows the client will use regularly.
For example:
Login → Edit a page → Upload an image → Publish an article → Review a form submission → Return to Dashboard
If the client uses WooCommerce or another application inside WordPress, test those workflows as well.
Pay particular attention to third-party plugins and anything affected by Page Locks.
11. Test Direct Access to Locked Pages
For each important Page Lock, test the page using its direct URL.
Confirm that:
- The intended client role or user cannot access the locked page.
- The redirect destination works correctly.
- Related workflows still function.
- Users who should retain access remain unaffected.
Because manual Page Locks use their own targeting conditions, test the actual accounts affected by each rule.
Do this before handing over login credentials or telling the client the site is ready.
12. Verify Recovery Access
Before handoff, confirm that DAC's safety mechanisms are ready.
Check that:
- The correct Owner is configured.
- Required Managers have access.
- Recovery information is stored securely.
- The Recovery URL is available outside WordPress admin.
- You understand how to enable Safe Mode if necessary.
- Hosting or server access remains available when it is part of your maintenance arrangement.
Do not store the only copy of your Recovery URL somewhere that depends on WordPress admin access.
13. Create a Final Backup
Once the client configuration has been tested and approved, create a DAC backup.
Give it a meaningful name, for example:
Client handoff - final configuration
This becomes the known working configuration for the handoff.
If future DAC changes create an unexpected problem, you have a clear rollback point.
Continue using your normal WordPress backup solution as well.
Remember that a DAC backup protects DAC configuration, not the complete website.
14. Export a Reusable Starting Point
If the configuration represents a setup your agency frequently uses, consider exporting it.
You might maintain reusable starting configurations such as:
- Content Website
- WooCommerce Website
- Corporate Website
- Simple Client Handoff
An export can provide a useful starting point for future projects.
Do not treat it as a universal preset.
Every destination website should still be reviewed for different plugins, roles, users, admin pages, and Page Locks.
15. Explain the Simplified Experience to the Client
A good handoff should not leave the client wondering why their WordPress admin area looks different from tutorials or screenshots they find online.
Briefly explain that the admin interface has been simplified around the tasks they normally perform.
For example:
Your WordPress admin area has been simplified to keep the tools you use regularly easy to find. Some technical and maintenance areas are managed separately by the website administrator.
You do not need to explain every DAC setting.
Focus on what the client can do and where they should go when they need help.
After Handoff
Review the DAC configuration when the website or client's responsibilities change significantly.
Useful times to review it include:
- After installing a major new plugin.
- After removing or replacing plugins.
- After changing the theme.
- When the client's responsibilities change.
- When new users or roles are introduced.
- When plugins add new admin menus or Dashboard widgets.
- When the client reports difficulty finding or accessing something.
A client handoff configuration does not need constant maintenance, but it should evolve when the website or workflow changes.
Handoff Checklist
Before considering the DAC setup complete, verify:
- Owner is correctly configured.
- Trusted Managers are correctly configured.
- Global Audience targets the intended client roles or users.
- Required admin menus remain available.
- Unnecessary menu items are cleaned up.
- Page Locks are used only where necessary.
- Page Lock targeting conditions have been reviewed.
- Direct URL access to important locked pages has been tested.
- Important notices remain visible.
- Dashboard widgets are appropriate for the client.
- Admin Bar shortcuts are appropriate.
- Important client roles have been previewed.
- Important workflows have been tested with actual WordPress accounts.
- Recovery URL is stored securely.
- Safe Mode procedure is understood.
- Final DAC configuration has been backed up.
A Practical Handoff Workflow
The complete process can be summarized as:
Configure Owner & Managers → Define Global Audience → Identify Client Tasks → Clean Admin Menu → Add Necessary Page Locks → Clean Notices → Simplify Dashboard → Clean Admin Bar → Preview Client Roles → Test With Real User → Test Page Locks → Verify Recovery Access → Create Final Backup → Hand Off to Client
You do not need to use every DAC feature on every website.
A successful handoff is one where the client can comfortably complete their work while the people responsible for maintaining the website retain the access they need.
Next Step
For a shorter reusable setup process, continue with Recommended Setup.
If you encounter unexpected behavior while preparing a client website, see Troubleshooting.