Links to external files break when the author is not the publisher

I agree with Elizabeth. I also worked for a large corporation with many resources linked in training. Our best practices were to not use local files but shared drives. Some challenges we faced and how we overcame them was:

• Link Broken: Usually due to someone updating the document/file and not "replacing" it--rather they would upload a new version of the file and delete the old one which would break the link. Then we would need to update the module to create a new link to the document. So we made sure any new team members understood the impact revisions of documents had on those assets.
• Access Issue: Usually when someone's role/title in the company did not grant them access to the shared folder the file was stored on. Then we would need to involve our IT department to get involved and grant permissions of that user to the shared folders. Not really something in the L&D team's control and more so of a trial and error thing.

I can also share that many of our documents were policies and procedures and would be constantly updated, and so there was a benefit to using shared drives for file storage from the perspective of easier module maintenance. If files were properly replaced and the links remained working, there was no need to republish the module and update it in the LMS.

I don't think this immediately resolves the issue of the existing development efforts by a former employee, but maybe this is something to consider with future development.

Hope this helps!