A company email address can make domain control and mailbox control look like one job. They are not the same. The domain is the address foundation—for example, the part after the @—while mailbox administration covers accounts and settings used to send and receive mail. If one person handles both today, it can be easy to overlook who can renew the domain, change its technical settings, or manage individual mailboxes. A simple division of responsibilities, backed by current records, helps the business know who to contact and what access needs attention.
The useful bits
- Record who controls the domain registration separately from who administers mailboxes.
- Keep an access and renewal record in a business-controlled location, without storing passwords in it.
- After a change, confirm that the right people can access their assigned services.
Two kinds of control
Domain ownership is commonly used to describe responsibility for the domain registration and its registrar account. The person with that access may be able to manage renewal and domain-level settings. Mailbox administration is different: it concerns work accounts, such as creating or managing mailboxes, and the policies available in the email workspace. Exact permissions depend on the provider and account setup.
A registrar login is not automatically a mailbox login, and being a mailbox administrator does not necessarily grant access to the registrar. Treat these as separate systems with separate access records. The distinction matters most when a staff member leaves, a service provider changes, or renewal notices arrive.
Assign responsibility, not just a name
For each system, write down the responsible role and a named primary contact, plus an alternate contact where practical. For example, the business owner or designated operations lead might oversee the registrar relationship, while an IT administrator handles day-to-day mailbox changes. These are examples, not required job titles; a small company may assign both responsibilities to one person.
Make the boundary explicit. Who receives renewal reminders? Who is allowed to approve changes to domain settings? Who can add or remove mailboxes? Who should be contacted if mail stops working? If an outside provider is involved, note what it is expected to manage and which business contact remains accountable for decisions.
Keep a compact control record
Maintain a record in a business-controlled location that the appropriate people can reach if the primary contact is unavailable. Include the domain name, registrar and account recovery contact, renewal date or reminder process, and the person responsible for registrar access. Separately record the mail service, its administrator contacts, and the process for requesting mailbox changes.
Do not put passwords or one-time codes in a general ownership spreadsheet. Record where approved credentials are managed and who is authorized to use them. Keep the record current when people, providers, recovery contacts, or responsibilities change. Limit access to those who need the information.
- Domain: registrar, responsible role, renewal reminder owner, recovery contact.
- Mail: service, administrator and alternate, mailbox request process.
- Changes: date, approver, what changed, and who confirmed the result.
A handoff example
Suppose a company uses alex@example.com for its operations lead and sam@example.com for its mail administrator. Alex may be responsible for the registrar account, while Sam manages mailboxes in the email workspace. If Sam leaves, the business should arrange a replacement administrator through the appropriate account process; it should not assume that changing a mailbox password transfers control of the domain.
With BITTU Mail, authorized workspace or domain admins can inspect only domains they are authorized to administer in /workspace. Available controls depend on role, plan, and provisioning state, and permissions are enforced server-side. Sign-in, account recovery, and account actions go through mail.bittuicloud.com. Keep registrar access distinct from these mail account actions.
Domain: example.com Registrar responsibility: [role or team] Primary contact: [name or business contact] Alternate contact: [name or business contact] Mail administration: [role or team] Mailbox changes requested through: [business process] Last reviewed: [date]
Check that the split works
Ask the responsible contacts to confirm, through their normal authorized access, that they can reach the systems assigned to them and know the correct recovery route. Confirm that the registrar contact can identify the renewal process, and that the mail administrator can handle an ordinary mailbox request within their permissions. Do not test this by making an unnecessary domain change or sharing credentials.
When someone’s role changes, update the record, remove or revise access through the relevant provider process, and confirm the replacement contact can perform the assigned task. A mailbox alias is not automatically a separate mailbox or login, so record whether an address is an individual mailbox or an alias when that distinction affects administration.
The check is complete when responsibilities are understood, the listed contacts can reach their assigned systems, and the record matches the current arrangement. If any access or ownership detail is unclear, pause changes and confirm it with the appropriate account or domain provider before proceeding.
About this guide
Prepared with AI assistance for the BITTU Mail editorial library. Check important details against your original messages and current account settings. Product access depends on your role, plan and provisioning state. Provider interfaces and requirements can change.
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