Access Governance Dashboard Case Study

The Challenge: Manual Access Reviews Were Killing Productivity

A Fortune 500 financial services company was drowning in manual access review processes

⏰

Time Drain

40 hours per quarter spent on manual access reviews across multiple systems

Security team manually exporting user lists from 12 different systems
Managers spending weeks reviewing spreadsheets
Follow-up emails and phone calls to chase approvals

Hidden Risks

⚠️

Critical security gaps were invisible in the manual process

Orphaned accounts from terminated employees
Excessive permissions accumulating over time
Shared accounts with unclear ownership

📊

Compliance Nightmare

Audit findings due to incomplete documentation and delayed reviews

Missing approval records for 15% of accounts
Reviews completed weeks after deadlines
No visibility into review completion status

Business Impact

$75K Annual labor cost for manual reviews

25% Of reviews completed late

3 Audit findings in previous year

My Approach: Data-Driven Automation Strategy

How I transformed manual chaos into intelligent automation

1

Discovery & Analysis

Conducted comprehensive analysis of existing processes and data sources

Mapped all 12 identity systems and their APIs
Analyzed 6 months of historical access review data
Interviewed 15 stakeholders across security and business teams
Identified key pain points and automation opportunities

2

Solution Design

Designed an integrated dashboard that would automate data collection and provide intelligent insights

Created unified data model combining all identity sources
Designed risk scoring algorithm based on access patterns
Built workflow automation for review assignments
Developed real-time monitoring and alerting system

3

Stakeholder Alignment

Ensured buy-in from all stakeholders through collaborative design sessions

Conducted design workshops with security and business teams
Created mockups and prototypes for feedback
Established success metrics and KPIs
Developed change management and training plan

Implementation: Building the Solution

Technical details and architecture decisions that made the project successful

Technology Stack

🐍

Python

Data processing, API integration, and automation scripts

📊

Tableau

Interactive dashboards and data visualization

🗄️

PostgreSQL

Centralized data warehouse for identity information

🔗

REST APIs

Integration with 12 different identity systems

Solution Architecture

Data Sources

Active Directory SailPoint AWS IAM Salesforce +8 more systems

↓

Data Processing

Python ETL Scripts Data Validation Risk Scoring

↓

Data Warehouse

PostgreSQL Database Unified Data Model

↓

Presentation Layer

Tableau Dashboard Email Notifications Mobile Access

Implementation Phases

Phase 1: Foundation (2 weeks)

Set up data warehouse infrastructure
Develop API connectors for top 5 systems
Create basic data model and ETL processes

Phase 2: Core Features (3 weeks)

Build risk scoring algorithm
Develop main dashboard views
Implement automated review workflows

Phase 3: Integration (2 weeks)

Connect remaining 7 identity systems
Add advanced analytics and reporting
Implement notification system

Phase 4: Deployment (1 week)

User training and documentation
Production deployment
Performance monitoring setup

Results: Transformational Business Impact

Quantifiable improvements that exceeded all expectations

⏱️

75% Time Reduction

From 40 hours to 10 hours per quarter

Equivalent to $50K annual labor savings

🔍

150+ Risks Identified

Previously hidden security vulnerabilities

Including 23 orphaned admin accounts

✅

100% Compliance

Zero audit findings in subsequent reviews

Complete audit trail and documentation

Before vs. After Comparison

Review Process Time

Risk Detection Rate

Stakeholder Feedback

"This dashboard has completely transformed how we approach access governance. What used to take our team weeks now takes days, and we're catching risks we never saw before."

Chief Information Security Officer Fortune 500 Financial Services

"The automated workflows have eliminated the back-and-forth emails and phone calls. Managers can now complete their reviews directly in the system with full context."

Identity & Access Management Director Same Organization

Lessons Learned: Key Insights for Future Projects

What I learned and how it informs my approach to similar challenges

👥

Stakeholder Engagement is Critical

What I learned: Early and continuous engagement with end users prevented scope creep and ensured adoption.

Applied to future projects: I now conduct weekly stakeholder check-ins during development phases.

📊

Start with Data Quality

What I learned: 30% of initial development time was spent cleaning and standardizing data from different systems.

Applied to future projects: I now include data quality assessment as a separate project phase.

🔄

Iterative Development Works

What I learned: Delivering working features every 2 weeks kept stakeholders engaged and allowed for course corrections.

Applied to future projects: I use agile methodology for all dashboard and automation projects.

📈

Measure Everything

What I learned: Having baseline metrics made it easy to demonstrate ROI and justify additional investments.

Applied to future projects: I establish measurement frameworks before starting development.

Access Governance Dashboard