Creating a PIM Framework That Works

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Is your organization rolling out Privileged Identity Management (or PIM)? If you haven't already, you're probably in the same boat as a lot of organizations. Rolling out Privileged Identity Management isn't about another checkbox, it's a shift towards strengthening access, accountability, and agility. With this in mind, I wanted to give you an effective strategy to begin your journey into PIM and provide some insights from my experience.

Discovery and Assessment

  • Take stock of the current roles that are active within your tenant already across the applications, from Entra ID itself, to Azure and your Microsoft 365 apps.

  • Once you have your inventory of roles gathered, determine who has access and why - are there any roles that are no longer needed? Is the role necessary if a lesser role can achieve the same task? Check for overprivileged accounts.

  • Identify high-risk roles such as Global Administrator, Exchange Administrator, etc.

  • Identify service principals and applications that have high-risk permissions.

  • Review existing access governance controls and determine if they are still effective or need adjustment.

Design and Planning

  • Define who and what requires elevation such as break glass accounts, routine administrative tasks, etc.

  • Consider a tiered-approach model for assigning roles, assigning roles that have the greatest risk to the more trustworthy and experienced personnel.

  • Where possible, set group-based eligibility and filter based on Administrative Units.

  • Create workflows for who will approve, the conditions for approval, and turnaround time for assigning PIM roles.

  • Ensure that parameters such as MFA and justification are enabled for said roles.

Build

  • Enable PIM for Entra roles, Azure roles, and PIM within groups.

  • Configure role settings such as time bound access, approval requirements, and designate who will be notified when PIM roles are activated.

  • Integrate Conditional Access to control who can assign PIM roles and on what devices, IP ranges, etc.

  • Ensure clear naming conventions for audit logs to provide clarity should review be required.

Rollout

  • Anticipate questions and problems ahead of time, think of ways that people can get stuck and begin resolving now so that you are prepared for later.

  • Build a proper change management plan and training material, ensure that all stakeholders are aware of this change and their roles as well as responsibilities.

  • Create an emphasis on why PIM matters and it's contribution to the overall security posture of the organization.

  • Start with IT admins and security teams and iron out any pain points.

  • Gather feedback on usability and any impediments that can affect workflows.

Monitor and Evaluate

  • Enable alerts for unusual elevation patterns (e.g., after-hours, repeated activations)

  • Run access reviews regularly to validate eligibility and usage

  • Audit activation logs for justification quality and policy compliance

  • Refine policies based on behavior and feedback

  • Report to stakeholders with meaningful metrics (e.g., reduced standing access, approval rates)

And that's the jist of it. These tidbits will help you to build a solid foundation on getting PIM started in your organization! Perhaps I'll build another tool specifically around this framework, if you'd like that let me know and I'll eventually get around to it. Until next time friends!






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