Top 5 best practices for user lifecycle management

Back when you had one or two applications in your tech stack, user lifecycle management was a breeze. But as SaaS usage grows, so do the complexities of managing the user lifecycle at scale. 

These challenges are further compounded by the decentralized nature of SaaS applications, where user data and access controls are often spread across multiple systems, making it difficult to maintain a comprehensive view of user activity and ensure consistent enforcement of security policies.

As a result, IT admins face numerous challenges such as maintaining data security, ensuring compliance, and controlling costs. To address these issues, organizations need to adopt an effective approach to user lifecycle management.

In this guide, we’ll explore the top 4 best practices for effective user lifecycle management.

1. Automate, automate, automate!

Manual user provisioning? Yeah, no thanks. It’s slow, error-prone, and a total time suck.

Provisioning hardware, setting up each account, and granting access to the right groups and files all done by hand is a recipe for disaster. Automation is your friend here.

Tools that integrate with your HRIS can automatically create accounts, assign permissions, and even provision hardware.

And when someone leaves? Access can be revoked automatically.

2. Centralize your identity management

Juggling multiple systems for user identities is a nightmare. Who has access to what? Where do I update this password? It’s chaos. 

A centralized Identity and Access Management (IAM) system is key. Think of it as the one-stop shop for all things user identity. It simplifies management, improves security, and makes auditing a breeze. Plus, it makes things easier for your users too – single sign-on (SSO) is a beautiful thing.

3. Implement the principle of least privilege

Just because someone’s in marketing doesn’t mean they need access to the company’s financial records. Dishing out excessive permissions is a security risk waiting to happen. 

The principle of least privilege means giving users only the access they absolutely need to do their jobs. It minimizes the damage if an account gets compromised and makes compliance audits much smoother. Think granular permissions, role-based access control – the whole nine yards.

4. Regular audits

People change roles, projects shift, and sometimes access gets granted that’s no longer needed. Regular audits of user accounts and permissions are essential. It’s like spring cleaning for your IT systems. 

Identify and remove outdated accounts, revoke unnecessary access, and ensure everything is still aligned with the principle of least privilege. 

Pro tip: schedule these audits, don’t just do them “when you have time” (because let’s be honest, that never happens).

5. Document everything

While initially this might be a pain, documenting the entire ULM process will greatly help you in the future.

This should include onboarding to offboarding, including specific roles and permissions. This single source of truth makes troubleshooting easier and simplifies compliance.

This not only helps when someone goes on vacation, but is a great way to train new IT staff. Confluence, internal wikis, or a shared document all work!

Automate the entire user lifecycle with BetterCloud

More than a user lifecycle management tool, BetterCloud is the only unified SaaS lifecycle management platform. Designed to help IT teams, BetterCloud manages all users, apps, and spend, as well as automates user lifecycle processes like onboarding, offboarding, and SaaS-related help desk tasks.

See how BetterCloud can help you manage and secure your entire SaaS environment, request a demo.