Performing Entitlement Review with SailPoint IdentityIQ

When to Use

• Quarterly or annual access certification campaigns are required for compliance (SOX, HIPAA, PCI-DSS)
• Organization needs automated manager-based access reviews for all direct reports
• Targeted entitlement reviews are needed for sensitive applications or high-privilege roles
• Separation of Duties (SOD) violations must be identified and remediated
• Orphaned accounts and excessive entitlements need to be discovered and cleaned up
• Audit findings require evidence of periodic access review and remediation tracking

Do not use for real-time access control decisions; IdentityIQ certifications are periodic review processes designed for governance and compliance validation.

Prerequisites

• SailPoint IdentityIQ 8.2+ deployed with database backend (Oracle, MySQL, or SQL Server)
• Application connectors configured for all in-scope systems (Active Directory, LDAP, databases, SaaS applications)
• Identity cubes aggregated with current entitlement data from all connected sources
• Email server configured for certification notifications
• Manager hierarchy defined in the identity model
• Business roles and entitlement glossary populated for reviewer context

Workflow

Step 1: Define Certification Campaign Strategy

Plan the certification scope and reviewer assignments:

// SailPoint IdentityIQ BeanShell - Campaign Configuration
import sailpoint.object.*;
import sailpoint.api.*;
import java.util.*;

// Define campaign schedule for quarterly manager certifications
CertificationSchedule schedule = new CertificationSchedule();
schedule.setName("Q1-2026-Manager-Access-Review");
schedule.setDescription("Quarterly manager certification for all active employees");
schedule.setType(Certification.Type.Manager);

// Configure campaign scope
CertificationDefinition certDef = new CertificationDefinition();
certDef.setName("Q1 Manager Certification");
certDef.setOwner(context.getObjectByName(Identity.class, "cert-admin"));

// Set certification options
certDef.setCertifierSelectionType(CertificationDefinition.CertifierSelectionType.Manager);
certDef.setIncludeEntitlements(true);
certDef.setIncludeRoles(true);
certDef.setIncludeAccounts(true);
certDef.setIncludeAdditionalEntitlements(true);

// Exclude service accounts from manager reviews
Filter exclusionFilter = Filter.ne("type", "service");
certDef.setExclusionFilter(exclusionFilter);

// Configure notification settings
certDef.setNotificationEnabled(true);
certDef.setReminderFrequency(7); // days
certDef.setEscalationEnabled(true);
certDef.setEscalationDays(14);
certDef.setEscalationRecipient("security-governance-team");

// Set active period
certDef.setActivePeriodDays(30);
certDef.setAutoCloseEnabled(true);
certDef.setDefaultRevoke(true); // Revoke if not reviewed

context.saveObject(certDef);
context.commitTransaction();

Step 2: Configure Targeted Entitlement Certification

Set up focused reviews for high-risk applications and privileged entitlements:

// Targeted certification for privileged access review
import sailpoint.object.*;
import sailpoint.api.*;

CertificationDefinition targetedCert = new CertificationDefinition();
targetedCert.setName("Privileged Access Targeted Review");
targetedCert.setType(Certification.Type.ApplicationOwner);

// Scope to specific high-risk applications
List applicationNames = new ArrayList();
applicationNames.add("Active Directory");
applicationNames.add("AWS IAM");
applicationNames.add("Oracle EBS");
applicationNames.add("SAP GRC");
applicationNames.add("CyberArk Vault");
targetedCert.setApplicationNames(applicationNames);

// Filter for privileged entitlements only
String entitlementFilter = "entitlement.classification == \"Privileged\" " +
    "|| entitlement.riskScore > 800 " +
    "|| entitlement.name.contains(\"Admin\") " +
    "|| entitlement.name.contains(\"Root\") " +
    "|| entitlement.name.contains(\"DBA\")";
targetedCert.setEntitlementFilter(entitlementFilter);

// Assign application owners as certifiers
targetedCert.setCertifierSelectionType(
    CertificationDefinition.CertifierSelectionType.ApplicationOwner
);

// Configure approval workflow
targetedCert.setApprovalRequired(true);
targetedCert.setSignOffRequired(true);
targetedCert.setReasonRequired(true);

// Enable SOD policy check during certification
targetedCert.setCheckSodPolicies(true);

…