What is an access review in Microsoft Entra ID?
Checked October 28, 2026 by Accred Consulting
An access review is a recurring check in which reviewers confirm that each person still needs a group membership, app assignment, or admin role, and access that is no longer needed is removed. Microsoft Entra access reviews require Microsoft Entra ID Governance or Microsoft Entra Suite, with some capabilities in Entra ID P2. Business Premium includes P1, not P2.
What an access review covers
- Group and Microsoft 365 group memberships, including guests.
- Access to enterprise applications.
- Privileged role assignments.
Reviews can repeat weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually, and reviewers can be the resource owner, the person’s manager, or the users themselves.
Licensing
| Plan | Access reviews |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Entra ID P1 (Business Premium, Microsoft 365 E3) | Not included |
| Microsoft Entra ID P2 (Microsoft 365 E5) | Capabilities previously available in P2 |
| Microsoft Entra ID Governance or Microsoft Entra Suite | Included |
Microsoft licenses identity governance per user: every member user in scope of a review, or who configures one, needs a license.
Running a review that actually removes access
- Pick a scope small enough to finish: one app, one group, or one role.
- Name the reviewers and a deadline.
- Decide what happens to people nobody reviews.
- Apply the decisions, then check that access was actually removed.
- Record the outcome so the next review starts from it.
Accred Manage has its own access-review workflow for a connected tenant. It plans each fix, runs removals such as taking someone out of a group only after an Owner or Admin approves them, and then checks that the access is gone.
Questions
Does Microsoft 365 Business Premium include access reviews?
No. Business Premium includes Microsoft Entra ID P1. Access reviews require Entra ID Governance or Entra Suite, with some capabilities in Entra ID P2.
How often should access reviews run?
Entra access reviews can recur weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. Privileged roles and guest access are usually reviewed more often than ordinary groups.
Does Accred Manage remove access automatically?
Not automatically. Manage plans each access-review fix, runs removals such as taking someone out of a group only after an Owner or Admin approves them, and then checks that the change took effect.
Sources
- What are access reviews? · Microsoft Learn
- Microsoft Entra ID Governance licensing fundamentals · Microsoft Learn
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