Access management helps control user access, including tracking and authorization as needed. Access management systems are vital as they help bolster organization data security. As organizations grow, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage employee roles and user activity manually.

Automating these workflows helps ensure employees have the correct permission levels and only access the resources they need.

This blog will discuss how we leveraged Microsoft Power Platform – a low-code platform to build a seamless Access Management System by automating repeatable tasks and enhancing employees’ productivity.

Introducing Microsoft Power Platform

Power Platform brings together the robust power of Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents into one business application platform to enable quick and easy app development and provide data insights. Each product of Power Platform is built on the Dataverse, i.e., Common Data Service (Dataverse). Power Platform offers deep integration with GitHub and Microsoft Teams. All four components/products offer a comprehensive platform where you don’t need a code to build the applications.

Dataverse is the core of the Microsoft Power Platform. Dataverse is a secure database hosted in the Azure Cloud platform, prebuilt with a standard set of entities and record types.

Power Platform has following four products/components:

• Power BI – A business analytics service is used to analyze data from different sources and provide interactive visualizations for decision-making. Power BI enables the creation of reports and dashboards from 100+ connectors. Power BI has offerings from Desktop Version to Power BI Service. Power BI also has several REST APIs, which allow users to automate administrative tasks.
  
• Power Apps – PowerApps is a low code application development platform that enables anyone to build web and mobile applications without writing code. PowerApps connects with several hundred systems and databases, making it easy to connect workers with the existing processes. PowerApps also comes with a built-in, fully managed, enterprise-grade datastore, Common Data Service (CDS) for those applications that generate data not destined for a legacy system.
  
• Power Automate – Power Automate, formerly known as Microsoft Flow, is used for automating business workflows and processes across your organization. It helps you create simple automation to advanced scenarios with branches, loops, and more. Power Automate can be used to design end-to-end workflows based on specific trigger actions. Power Automate also comes with several pre-defined workflow templates.
  
• Power Virtual Agents – Virtual agents help users create powerful virtual agents using a no-code graphical interface. It easily integrates your virtual agent with hundreds of services and systems out of the box or creates custom workflows.
  

Microsoft’s Power Platform leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI), Hyper Automation, and Mixed Reality to connect systems, automate processes, improve data insights, and empower employees to do more.

Do you have a governance process that is performed manually and without any reporting?

In today’s modern digital world, organizations have multiple systems where data governance consumes most of the resources and plays a critical role in request management process execution. Most of the time, each process/system is designed independently and works in silos. Such process makes it challenging to raise, track requests, monitor, approve/reject requests, and/or follow-up with the concerned department/person to speed up request fulfilment.

Data governance is a collection of roles, policies, standards, processes, and metrics to enable effective and efficient use of information. It defines who takes what action, on what data, in what situations, and using what methods.

How Power Platform can help your organization automate access management

Access Management System (AMS) helps you to fully automate all manual tasks involved in any access management process using components of Power Platform. AMS is a centralized self-service system where any user can browse different categories of reports available in the organization, raise requests, and take necessary approvals. Right from the interface for raising requests to all intermediate approvals, notifications in each stage and followed by IT support and Power BI Report support interaction if necessary.

AMS also supports monitoring and analysis of access requests by admins through rich visualizations to take necessary actions for fulfilment.

Architecture of AMS

Access Management System Process Flow

1. User raises Power BI report access for self or others from report dashboard
2. User performs below tasks from the dashboard
   1. Browse and view reports if they already have access to them
   2. Fill and submit details for an access request in the embedded Power App form
3. SharePoint Online list works as backend and keeps track of all information related to request process under Access Management system
4. Power App interface allows below activities
   1. Request for specific report access
   2. Check the status of the submitted access request
   3. Cancel/Revoke access request
5. Power Automate triggers process for each request created in the Power App. It automates all process inflow and sends notifications on every stage of flow to relevant actors’ inactivity.
6. Power Virtual Agent interface – A Bot interface to guide the user through the AMS process and/or raise a request on behalf of the user.
7. Rich, insightful reports are available for Admin and Operational/Management purposes.

Why you should plug-in Access Management System

1. Pre-Package solution: Quick and easy to plugin into your organizational ecosystem using online SharePoint + Power Platform + Office 365 setup.
2. Enterprise Central Solution: The solution integrates with multiple access management processes, and the data can be used across various platforms.
3. Customizable solution: Existing solutions caters to fulfill any additional requirement inflow or reporting.
4. Ad hoc -Reports: – Additional to existing reports, users can create ad hoc Power BI reports.
5. Enterprise Central Audit Logs Solution: All requests and details across multiple systems are logged and tracked in the AMS system.
6. Web/Mobile user Interface: Power Platform enables users to access this solution from a web or mobile interface.
7. High-level visibility: Management can have high-level visibility on end-to-end governance processes.

License and Cost

Per app plan (per user/app/month)
Best for businesses that want to license each user to run one app at a time, with the flexibility to stack licenses for each additional app.

Per user plan (Run unlimited apps per user/month)
Best for businesses that want one license for each user, regardless of the number of apps they need to run.

Office 365 or Dynamics 365 plan

Power Apps is included in O365 or D365 license. The user will have access to some Power Apps functionality. However, the user will lose access to the complete Power Apps capabilities, including premium connections and features such as Common Data Service.

For more details visit Microsoft site https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-ca/pricing

How Can We Help?

Cambay Consulting is a leading Microsoft Gold Partner helping organizations like yours to get the most out of their Power Apps and Dynamics 365 system. Contact us today to get started. We aim to provide you with the most current news, tips, and best practices in Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform.

Raghava Vedangi

Vice President - Azure Analytics