PIM Role Activations

Purpose

The PIM Role Activations report provides visibility into how Privileged Identity Management (PIM) roles are being activated across your organization.

The report helps security and IT teams understand who is activating privileged roles, why access is requested, how often elevated permissions are used, and whether activations follow organizational policies.

By monitoring privileged role activations, organizations can detect unusual behavior, strengthen governance, and ensure administrative access is only used when needed.

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What can I use this report for?

Use this report to:

• Monitor privileged role activations

• Identify frequently used administrative roles

• Review justification and approval processes

• Detect activations outside business hours

• Investigate high-risk administrative activity

• Support security audits and compliance reviews

• Verify that privileged access follows the principle of least privilege

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Understanding Role Risk

Roles are classified according to their potential impact on the tenant.

Risk Tier	Description
Critical	Roles with broad administrative control such as Global Administrator
High	Roles with significant administrative privileges
Medium	Roles with limited administrative scope
Low	Roles with minimal security impact

Organizations should regularly review activations involving Critical and High-risk roles.

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Common Use Cases

Review Critical Administrative Activity

Filter on:

• PIM Finding = Critical role elevation

Review who activated privileged roles, why access was required, and whether approval was obtained.

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Identify After-Hours Administrative Activity

Filter on:

• PIM Finding = Outside business hours

Investigate whether elevated access was expected and aligned with operational requirements.

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Review Currently Active Privileged Access

Filter on:

• PIM Finding = Active now

Identify users who currently hold elevated permissions and verify access is still required.

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Analyze Role Usage Trends

Break down by:

• Role

• Role category

• Risk tier

Identify which privileged roles are most frequently activated and where governance efforts should be focused.

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Recommended Actions

Organizations should regularly review:

• Critical role activations

• Activations occurring outside business hours

• Long-duration activations

• Activations without approval requirements

• Frequently activated administrative roles

• Generic or unclear activation reasons

Well-governed privileged access should be temporary, justified, approved when required, and limited to the minimum permissions necessary.

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Key Questions This Report Helps Answer

• Which privileged roles are being activated most frequently?

• Who is activating administrative access?

• Why was elevated access requested?

• Are approvals being used as expected?

• Are privileged roles activated outside business hours?

• Which users currently have active elevated permissions?

• Are high-risk roles being used appropriately?

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Data Source

This report uses data collected from:

• Microsoft Entra ID

• Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management (PIM)

Data is updated during scheduled Bsure collection runs.