Entra ID Access Reviews: Beginner Guide

Key insights

• Access Reviews let administrators periodically check who still needs access to groups, teams, and applications.
  They enforce certification and support Zero Trust ideas by removing unused or risky accounts.
• You need an Entra ID P2 (or Governance) license and a role like Identity Governance Administrator to create reviews.
  Some features, such as group-owner driven reviews, are available in preview and may require added permissions.
• Creating a review follows a clear workflow: pick the resource type, set the scope, choose reviewers, and define frequency and duration.
  Admins can enable settings like auto-apply to remove access automatically when reviews end.
• Reviewers see tasks in the My Access portal or via email links and respond with simple choices (Yes/No) and optional comments.
  The interface shows progress and lets reviewers change decisions until the review closes.
• Access Reviews support automation with recurring schedules, smart recommendations, and auto-removal of denied access.
  All results and changes are recorded in audit logs for compliance and reporting.
• Key benefits: stronger security, easier compliance, and reduced privilege creep by enforcing least-privilege across accounts.
  Best practices include scoping reviews to guest users when needed, using managers or owners as reviewers, and running reviews on a regular schedule.

Andy Malone [MVP] released a practical YouTube walkthrough titled "Entra ID Access Reviews — The Beginner's Guide," aimed at administrators who need a hands-on primer. In the video, he explains the purpose of Entra ID Access Reviews, demonstrates the setup process, and highlights recent preview features that are not yet fully released. Furthermore, Malone structures the tutorial with clear timecodes so viewers can jump to topics like roles, creating reviews, and multi-resource catalogs.

What the video covers

First, Malone defines what Access Reviews are and why they matter for governance in cloud environments. He then moves through the practical steps of creating reviews, choosing reviewers, and configuring recurrence and auto-apply settings. Moreover, the video includes a demo of creating both single-resource and multi-resource (catalog) reviews to show how the feature scales across teams and applications.

Second, Malone highlights admin and reviewer experiences, showing the portal flows and how decisions are recorded for auditing. He also points out preview capabilities that let group owners play a larger role, signaling Microsoft’s direction for broader delegation. Overall, the segment gives viewers a realistic look at both configuration and day-to-day usage.

How Access Reviews work

Malone walks through the core workflow that governs Access Reviews, starting with prerequisites and required roles. Administrators choose a scope such as groups, teams, or applications, and then assign reviewers that can include self-review, managers, or designated people. After the review period, decisions can be auto-applied to remove access and the results remain auditable in the admin center.

Furthermore, the video explains how reviewers receive prompts and how Microsoft surfaces recommendations for inactive or risky accounts. Malone emphasizes that reviewers can approve or deny access and often provide justifications for their choices to maintain a clear audit trail. This combination of automation and recorded human decisions supports compliance frameworks and traceability.

Creating and managing reviews

In the demonstration, Malone shows step-by-step creation of a new access review, highlighting settings such as recurrence, review length, and auto-apply rules. He then builds a multi-resource catalog review to illustrate how administrators can manage many resources from a single configuration. Additionally, he discusses reviewer assignment strategies and how to tailor scopes for guest users, managers, or group owners.

However, Malone also points out operational tradeoffs when choosing automation levels and recurrence schedules. For example, frequent automated removals reduce permission creep but can cause disruption if reviewers don’t have current context. Therefore, he suggests pilot tests and staggered rollouts to balance operational risk and governance benefits.

Benefits and tradeoffs

Malone frames Access Reviews as a useful tool to enforce least-privilege access and support audit requirements by creating a regular attestation process. In addition, automation and smart recommendations help large organizations reduce manual effort and focus reviewer attention on high-risk accounts. Consequently, teams can maintain stronger compliance posture while scaling governance across many groups and applications.

Nevertheless, there are tradeoffs to consider, such as the need for the appropriate licensing, typically Microsoft Entra ID P2 or equivalent governance licensing, and the risk of reviewer fatigue. Over-reliance on automation may lead to mistaken removals if recommendation signals are imperfect, so organizations must weigh the speed of automated enforcement against the accuracy of manual review. Thus, a balanced approach that mixes automation with human oversight often delivers the best results.

Challenges and practical advice

Malone does not shy away from challenges, noting common issues like ambiguous reviewer responsibilities, complex guest user scenarios, and the overhead of multi-stage reviews. He recommends clear reviewer guidance, maintaining up-to-date ownership records, and monitoring audit logs to detect unintended consequences. These practices reduce confusion and improve the reliability of review outcomes.

In closing, Malone encourages administrators to start with targeted pilots and to use the preview features carefully to evaluate benefits without disrupting production. Ultimately, his tutorial offers a practical roadmap: prepare the environment, define conservative scopes, educate reviewers, and iterate based on observed results. For teams seeking to align with Zero Trust principles and to document access decisions, the video provides actionable steps and sensible tradeoffs to guide implementation.

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