The Ultimate Guide To User Access Reviews: Checklist and Best Practices

How confident are you that everyone in your company has exactly the access they need, and nothing more?

In 2024, a study by IBM found that over 25% of data breaches were caused by insider threats, many of them due to excessive or outdated access. That’s not just carelessness; it’s a signal that access controls aren’t keeping up with today’s dynamic workforce.

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In SaaS-heavy environments, employees constantly join, change roles, or leave. And with every transition comes the risk of outdated permissions quietly stacking up, exposing sensitive data, and making you vulnerable to compliance violations.

That’s exactly where user access reviews come in.

In this guide, you’ll learn what a user access review is, why it’s a security and compliance must-have in 2025, how to conduct one, and the best practices and tools to make it easier. 

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Tl;DR 

1. Manual user access reviews are inefficient and error-prone, often leading to security and compliance risks.
2. Automating access reviews saves time, reduces manual mistakes, and helps organizations keep up with growing SaaS stacks.
3. Tools like CloudEagle, ConductorOne, and Saviynt connect directly to your apps, centralizing user access data for easy management.
4. Automated platforms streamline review workflows: Assign reviewers, send reminders, and update permissions, all in one place.
5. Audit-ready reporting and policy enforcement make it easy to stay compliant and eliminate privilege creep across your organization.

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What is a User Access Review?

A user access review (UAR) is a structured process organizations use to periodically review and validate that users have the correct access to systems, applications, and data, based on their current roles and responsibilities.

In simpler terms: it’s how you make sure the right people have the right access at the right time, and no one has access they shouldn’t.

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User access reviews are essential for reducing security risks, preventing insider threats, and maintaining regulatory compliance. They’re not just for large enterprises; any business handling sensitive data or scaling its software usage needs to perform them regularly.

Types of User Access Reviews

There are several ways to conduct a review, depending on your organization’s needs:

• Periodic Reviews: These are scheduled at regular intervals (e.g., quarterly or annually) to assess all users.
• Event-Based Reviews: Triggered by changes like role transitions, terminations, or system upgrades.
• High-Risk Access Reviews: Focused on users with privileged or admin-level access.

What Is the Goal of a User Access Review?

The primary goal is to protect your organization by ensuring every user has access aligned with their current responsibilities, and nothing more. 

It’s a way to tighten internal controls, avoid data exposure, and demonstrate compliance with regulations like SOX, HIPAA, and GDPR.

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Why User Access Reviews Matter More Than Ever

In today’s remote and hybrid work environments, employees use an ever-growing mix of tools and platforms. Without regular user access reviews, outdated permissions can linger unnoticed, becoming ticking time bombs for your organization.

User access reviews are periodic audits that verify whether employees have the correct permissions based on their job roles. By identifying and removing unnecessary access, you reduce the risk of internal threats and remain audit-ready at all times.

What Are the Risks of Not Performing User Access Reviews?

Failing to conduct user access reviews introduces several risks:

• Security breaches: Ex-employees retaining access to critical apps like Google Meet or Slack is a recipe for disaster.
• Compliance violations: Frameworks like SOX and HIPAA require strict access governance. Skipping reviews can lead to fines.
• Privilege creep: Users accumulate permissions over time. Without review, you’ll never know who has access to what.
• Audit stress: Unclear documentation and poor access records will stall or fail audits.

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Who Should Be Performing User Access Reviews?

User access reviews shouldn’t fall on IT alone.

Primary Roles Involved:

• IT and Security Teams: Oversee the technical implementation, manage logs, and enforce policies.
• Department Managers: Understand their team’s actual access needs and validate appropriateness.
• Compliance or Risk Officers: Ensure the reviews are audit-ready and align with regulatory requirements.

Collaborative ownership ensures that access is both accurate and relevant. It also distributes the workload, something especially valuable in larger teams or organizations managing dozens of SaaS apps.

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Which Compliance Regulations Require User Access Reviews?

User access reviews aren’t just good practice, they’re required under several major compliance frameworks.

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Key Regulations That Mandate UARs:

• SOX: Requires strict access control over financial systems to avoid fraud.
• HIPAA: Demands healthcare organizations restrict access to electronic protected health information (ePHI).
• GDPR: Emphasizes data protection and privacy, which includes controlling who can access personal data.
• ISO 27001: Calls for continual risk assessments and access control reviews.
• PCI DSS: Requires organizations handling cardholder data to review access regularly.

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How to Conduct a User Access Review (Step-by-Step)

Conducting a user access review isn't just a compliance checkbox; it’s a security-critical process. Here’s how to do it right, step by step:

Define the Scope

Before jumping in, clearly outline what and who you're reviewing.

• Identify all systems, platforms, and apps involved, starting with high-risk tools like HR software, cloud storage, DevOps platforms, or finance systems.
• Clarify which departments, teams, or business units will be covered.
• Define the user types, employees, contractors, third parties, or service accounts.

Gather User Access Data

Pull access information for all in-scope systems.

• Use your identity provider (e.g., Okta, Azure AD) or user access review software to extract current permissions and access logs.
• Ensure data includes roles, permissions, group memberships, and login activity.
• Capture metadata like when access was granted and by whom.

Identify Access Owners

Determine who is responsible for reviewing each user's access.

• Usually, this will be department heads, team managers, or application owners who understand role responsibilities and access requirements.
• Access owners must be clearly accountable and given a deadline to complete their part of the review.
• You can use role-based reminders or automated notifications to keep them on track.

Review Access Rights

This is the core of the process: evaluating whether current access matches current responsibilities.

• Each reviewer should check if the user’s access is:
  
  • Still needed for their role
  • Overly permissive or excessive
  • In conflict with SoD (Segregation of Duties) policies
    
    
• Look out for red flags:
  
  • Inactive users with access
  • Admin privileges for junior staff
  • Cross-department access that isn’t justified

Document the Review Process

Compliance frameworks (like SOX, HIPAA, ISO 27001) require audit-ready documentation.

• Record:
  
  • Who reviewed what and when
  • The access status (approved, modified, revoked)
  • Justifications for keeping unusual access (if any)
• Use audit logs generated by your access review tool or create a structured review report.

Revoke Unnecessary Access

Act on your review findings promptly.

• Remove access for users who no longer need it, either manually or by using automation rules.
• For high-risk apps, apply immediate revocation.
• Update role-based access groups if systemic changes are needed (e.g., department-wide cleanups).

Set a Review Cadence

User access reviews are not one-time events; they should be ongoing and repeatable.

• Best practice:
  
  • Quarterly reviews for sensitive systems (e.g., finance, HR, customer data)
  • Bi-annual or annual reviews for low-risk tools
• Build this into your broader IT compliance calendar and notify reviewers ahead of time.
• Automate reminders, reviewer assignments, and approvals with user access review tools.

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Must-Have User Access Review Checklist in 2025

A user access review checklist is a practical tool that helps organizations verify users have only the access they need to systems and data. The checklist typically involves setting the review scope, identifying all users, checking their permissions, and keeping a record of the review process.

Here’s what a strong checklist should include:

1. Identify target systems and applications
2. Pull the latest user access data
3. Confirm active employees vs. terminations
4. Match access with role-based responsibilities
5. Involve department heads for verification
6. Flag excessive or admin-level permissions
7. Document approvals and removals
8. Revoke unnecessary access
9. Archive review logs for audits
10. Schedule the next review cycle

This user access review checklist standardizes your process, reduces human error, and keeps your organization audit-ready.

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How Often Should User Access Reviews Be Performed?

There’s no one-size-fits-all frequency, but here are industry benchmarks to guide you:

• Quarterly: Ideal for fast-growing or regulated companies.
• Bi-Annually: Suitable for mid-sized teams with moderate change rates.
• Annually: Minimum standard for low-risk or smaller organizations.

Events like employee offboarding, role changes, or new vendor integrations should also trigger ad-hoc reviews.

When you automate user access reviews, increasing frequency becomes much easier and more effective.

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How to Automate User Access Reviews

If you’re doing manual reviews with spreadsheets and email approvals, you're probably spending more time than you need and introducing risk.

That’s where automating user access reviews becomes a game-changer.

Challenges of Manual User Access Reviews

• Tedious data collection from multiple platforms
• Inconsistent documentation
• Delayed access revocations
• Difficulties tracking review completion

Automation platforms solve this by syncing with your SaaS tools, consolidating access data, assigning reviewers, and documenting everything automatically.

How to Automate User Access Reviews

• Connect an automation platform (like CloudEagle.ai, ConductorOne, or Saviynt) to your SaaS and cloud apps via integrations or APIs.
• The platform automatically pulls user and access data into a unified dashboard.
• Set up review schedules and assign reviewers within the tool.
• Reviewers receive automated notifications and can approve or revoke access directly in the platform.
• The system documents all actions, updates permissions, and maintains audit trails automatically.

Benefits of Automation:

• Saves time and reduces manual errors
• Ensures timely reviews and compliance
• Makes it easy to scale reviews across dozens of apps
• Provides detailed audit logs

Tools like CloudEagle.ai, ConductorOne, and Saviynt offer automation features that remove the burden from IT and enable faster, smarter reviews.

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Top User Access Review Software & Tools in 2025

As user access reviews grow in complexity, the need for purpose-built user access review software has become critical. Manual spreadsheets and email reminders just don’t cut it anymore.

What to Look For in User Access Review Tools

Here are the must-have features in any user access review tool:

• SaaS Integration: Connects directly with apps like Salesforce, GitHub, Google Meet, and Microsoft 365 to pull real-time access data.
• Role Mapping & Policy Enforcement: Supports custom role definitions and allows access reviewers to verify permissions based on job functions.
• Comprehensive Audit Trails: Captures every reviewer's action, who approved, revoked, or escalated, and stores it in a searchable log for audit defense.
• Automated Reminders: Notifies managers and stakeholders when reviews are due or incomplete.
• One-Click Access Revocation: Allows instant permission changes from the same dashboard, no need to jump between admin consoles.
• Scalability & Performance: Works across large enterprises with complex org structures and multiple access tiers.
• Compliance Templates: Pre-built workflows for SOX, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and other frameworks streamline your setup and reviews.

Here are five top-rated tools leading the access review space in 2025:

1. CloudEagle.ai

• Strengths: Seamless SaaS integration, automated procurement, custom workflow automation, and detailed audit logs.
• Ideal For: Mid-to-large enterprises looking to combine user access reviews with SaaS cost optimization.
• Bonus: Centralizes vendor data, tracks app ownership, and ensures complete SaaS lifecycle governance.
• Why It Stands Out: CloudEagle.ai doesn’t just perform access reviews; it ties them into contract management, budgeting, and compliance.

2. ConductorOne

• Strengths: Built specifically for identity security with deep integrations into Okta, Google Workspace, and GitHub.
• Ideal For: Security-first organizations or DevSecOps teams needing strict control over IAM processes.
• Why It Stands Out: Offers fine-grained access policies, approval chains, and access request workflows, great for regulated industries

3. Saviynt

• Strengths: Enterprise-scale identity governance with broad cloud and on-prem integration capabilities.
• Ideal For: Large enterprises with hybrid environments, legacy systems, or complex internal hierarchies.
• Why It Stands Out: Strong compliance alignment (SOX, HIPAA), access analytics, and zero trust support.

4. Zluri

• Strengths: SaaS Management Platform (SMP) with built-in user access review automation and cost optimization.
• Ideal For: IT and procurement teams managing hundreds of SaaS apps.
• Why It Stands Out: Combines access reviews, license tracking, and usage analytics in a single platform, great for cleaning up shadow IT.

5. SailPoint

• Strengths: Industry veteran in identity governance, offering robust lifecycle management and AI-driven recommendations.
• Ideal For: Heavily regulated sectors like finance and healthcare.
• Why It Stands Out: Advanced role mining and machine learning-based risk scoring set it apart for complex environments.

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User Access Review Best Practices to Follow

To build a sustainable and secure review program, follow these best practices:

• Establish clear ownership for every app and data set
• Standardize your review cadence based on risk level
• Document every step to maintain compliance readiness
• Continuously improve the process based on past audits
• Use automation tools to reduce errors and save time
• Align with role-based access control (RBAC) principles
• Educate stakeholders so they understand the ‘why’ behind reviews

By embedding these practices into your IT governance, you'll build a resilient, scalable access review process.

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Final Takeaway 

Taking back control of user access is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity for security and compliance. Manual reviews can’t keep up with the pace of today’s growing SaaS stacks and evolving regulatory demands. 

Automating access reviews ensures that only the right people have the right permissions at the right time.

CloudEagle.ai streamlines this entire process, offering automated reviews, centralized visibility, and audit-ready reporting from a single platform. Its seamless integrations and policy-driven controls help organizations eliminate privilege creep and reduce SaaS risk effortlessly.

Book a free demo with CloudEagle.ai today and discover how easy and effective access governance can be.

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Frequently Asked Questions 

1. What is the user access review process?‍

The user access review process involves regularly evaluating and validating user access rights to ensure individuals have only the permissions needed for their roles, enhancing security and compliance.

2. Who should be performing a user access review?
User access reviews should be performed by IT administrators, security teams, and department managers to ensure appropriate access levels and maintain compliance across systems and applications.

3. How to conduct a user access review?
To conduct a user access review, follow a user access review checklist: define the scope, list users and access, verify permissions, adjust as needed, and document the review process.

4. How do you automate an access review?
To automate user access reviews, use software that integrates with your systems, consolidates access data, assigns reviewers, sends reminders, and automatically documents all actions for compliance.

5. What is sod in user access review?
In user access review software, SoD (Segregation of Duties) ensures no single user has conflicting responsibilities that could lead to fraud or errors, enhancing compliance and internal controls.

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