How to Conduct a Comprehensive User Access Review for Your HR Systems in 6 Steps

In today’s complex regulatory landscape, ensuring the security and compliance of your Human Resources (HR) systems is not just good practice—it’s imperative. HR systems hold the most sensitive employee data, making them prime targets for internal and external threats. A comprehensive user access review is a foundational cybersecurity measure, crucial for maintaining data integrity, protecting privacy, and adhering to regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and industry-specific mandates. This guide provides a clear, actionable framework for HR leaders and IT professionals to systematically evaluate and secure access to their critical HR information.

Step 1: Define Your Scope and Objectives

Before diving into the review, clearly articulate what you aim to achieve. Your scope should identify all HR systems (e.g., HRIS, payroll, ATS, performance management platforms) that need to be reviewed, along with any integrated third-party applications. Define specific objectives, such as achieving compliance with a particular regulation, reducing the risk of data breaches, or streamlining access provisioning. Consider the timing and frequency of the review – annual, bi-annual, or triggered by specific events like a merger or system migration. Establishing these parameters upfront ensures a focused and efficient review process, preventing scope creep and aligning with your organization’s broader security and operational goals.

Step 2: Identify All Users and Their Roles

This step involves creating a complete inventory of every individual or system account that has access to your HR platforms. This includes active employees, former employees, contractors, third-party vendors, and system-to-system integration accounts. For each user, document their current role within the organization and the specific HR systems they interact with. It’s common to uncover “orphaned” accounts for employees who have left the company or whose roles have changed, yet their access persists. This comprehensive identification process is critical to ensure no access point is overlooked, laying the groundwork for a thorough evaluation of permissions against business necessity.

Step 3: Document Current Access Permissions

With your user inventory complete, the next crucial step is to meticulously document the existing access permissions for each user across all identified HR systems. This means detailing exactly what each user or role can see, edit, or delete within each system. Go beyond high-level role assignments and delve into granular permissions. For instance, does a HR generalist need access to executive compensation data? Can a recruiting coordinator approve payroll? Many HR systems offer built-in reporting features to extract this information, but manual compilation may be necessary for legacy systems or custom integrations. A clear, centralized record of current permissions is essential for the subsequent evaluation phase.

Step 4: Review Permissions Against Business Needs

Now, compare the documented access permissions against the actual business needs and responsibilities of each user. This is where the principle of “least privilege” comes into play: users should only have the minimum level of access required to perform their job functions. For each permission, ask: “Is this access absolutely necessary for this user’s role?” Engage with department managers and system owners to validate the necessity of each access point. Look for anomalies, such as elevated privileges granted historically and never revoked, or access to modules that are irrelevant to a user’s current duties. This critical evaluation helps to identify over-provisioned access that poses a security risk.

Step 5: Remediate and Revoke Unnecessary Access

Based on your review, it’s time to take action. This step involves systematically implementing changes to revoke any unnecessary or excessive access permissions. This might include deactivating accounts for former employees, downgrading privileges for users whose roles have changed, or removing access to sensitive modules not required for daily tasks. Ensure these changes are carefully planned and executed to avoid disrupting legitimate business operations. Communicate changes transparently to affected users and stakeholders. It’s also wise to implement a robust access change management process for the future, so that all access provisioning and de-provisioning follow a structured, policy-driven workflow.

Step 6: Document Findings and Schedule Next Review

The final step is to thoroughly document all findings from your user access review, including the scope, methodology, identified discrepancies, and remediation actions taken. This documentation serves as an audit trail for compliance purposes and provides valuable insights for future reviews. Crucially, establish a clear schedule for the next user access review, making it a regular and ongoing process rather than a one-off event. Consider leveraging automation tools to help monitor access changes in real-time or to streamline the review process itself. Regular reviews are essential to maintain a strong security posture, adapting to organizational changes, system updates, and evolving threat landscapes.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Keap Data Protection: Why Automated Backups Are Essential Beyond Access Controls