From 40 Hours to 4: How to Automate Quarterly Access Reviews Like You Automated AP
Published: November 11, 2025
Here's a puzzle: Your finance team automated invoice processing and cut monthly work from 40 hours to under 4. That was three years ago. The ROI was immediate. Auditors stopped finding issues.
But walk down the hall to IT, and they're still drowning in spreadsheets every quarter. Manually exporting user lists. Chasing managers for access approvals via email. Spending 40+ hours on work that could run itself.
We've helped over 200 companies automate access reviews with the same principles as AP automation, delivering equivalent time savings and compliance benefits. Yet most IT teams haven't made this connection.
Here's how the same four-step playbook that transformed your AP process can automate quarterly access reviews: by systematically connecting data sources, routing review tasks, flagging exceptions, and building the audit trail, so you cut the process from 40 hours to 4.
docAlpha uses built-in AI to handle unstructured documents and exceptions, freeing your team from repetitive data entry and approvals.
Every quarter, IT admins face the same manual nightmare.
They export user data from Okta, then from each SaaS application. They pull employee information from HR systems. Everything gets dumped into spreadsheets.
Then comes the busy work.
Cross-referencing users against departments. Figuring out who reports to whom. Creating review lists for each manager. Sending endless email threads asking, "Does Sarah still need admin access to Salesforce?"
The process mirrors pre-automation AP in painful ways:
The hidden costs add up fast. Compliance teams worry about incomplete audit trails. Security teams find ex-employees with active accounts weeks after departure.
IT admins burn out on repetitive work. One missed review can mean a failed SOC 2 audit.
Modern platforms featuring access reviews eliminate these manual steps entirely. But most companies haven't yet made the connection between AP automation and access management automation.
Recommended reading: 10 Reasons to Automate Your AP Processes
Your AP automation project succeeded because it followed clear principles. Access review automation works the same way.
AP automation used intelligent document processing to automatically capture invoice data. No more typing numbers from paper invoices into systems.
Access review automation connects directly to your identity provider and applications. It automatically pulls user and permission data. No more exports, no more spreadsheets.
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Your AP system routes invoices based on amount, vendor, and cost center. A $500 office supply invoice is sent directly to a department manager. A $50,000 software purchase goes through multiple approvals.
Access review systems should work the same way. High-risk access to financial systems needs a thorough review. Read-only access to a wiki needs less scrutiny. Smart routing focuses attention where it matters.
When AP finds a mismatch between a PO and an invoice, it flags the issue and routes it to the right person. It doesn't just dump problems on someone's desk.
Access review systems should flag anomalies as well. Users with excessive permissions. Accounts that haven't logged in for six months. Permissions that violate the separation of duties. The system should identify these issues and automatically start remediation workflows.
Recommended reading: The Complete Guide to AP Automation and AI: Transforming Accounts Payable in 2026
Your AP system documents every approval, every change, every action. When auditors arrive, you generate reports in minutes.
Access reviews need the same documentation. Who approved what access? When did reviews happen? What actions resulted?
This audit trail should build itself as work happens, not require manual documentation afterward.
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Here's how quarterly reviews work with proper automation:
Time Spent | What Happens | Manual Effort Required |
Hour 1 | System collects access data from all connected applications | None - runs automatically |
Hour 2 | Managers receive review requests in Slack with context about each user | None - automated delivery |
Hour 3 | Managers approve or revoke access in one click; system processes changes | Managers click buttons |
Hour 4 | Compliance reports generate with complete audit documentation | None - auto-generated |
The system automates key steps. It collects each person's activity details, highlights unused access, and provides context, such as last login date and risk scores.
Managers make decisions as part of their normal workflow. No switching between systems. No email chains. Just quick decisions based on clear information.
The system then implements each decision automatically, removing access, adjusting permissions, and creating a detailed, searchable audit trail, completing the entire review process without manual work.
Recommended reading: How to Select the Right AP Automation Tool
You automated AP because manual invoice processing was slow, error-prone, and risky. Access reviews have the same problems.
The ROI looks similar too. AP automation typically saves 70-80% of processing time while improving compliance. Access review automation delivers comparable results.
Your next compliance audit will ask about access reviews. Your security team worries about over-permissioned accounts right now. Your IT team dreads next quarter's manual review process.
Act now; automate your access reviews before the next audit or security issue. Take the first step today and transform your IT team's workflow for good.
Streamline Your Entire AP Process Today
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