IGA/IAM Overview

Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) and Identity and Access Management (IAM) are the foundation of secure access control in modern organizations. Ravenna provides a comprehensive platform to implement these processes through an integrated approach combining workflows, AI agents, tickets, and application management.

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What is IAM?

Identity and Access Management (IAM) focuses on ensuring the right people have access to the right resources at the right time. IAM systems handle user authentication, authorization, and the ongoing management of digital identities throughout their lifecycle.

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What is IGA?

Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) builds on IAM by adding governance, compliance, and audit capabilities. IGA ensures that access decisions are documented, reviewed, and aligned with organizational policies and regulatory requirements.

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JML and access lifecycle management

Identity governance covers the entire employee lifecycle: joiners, movers, and leavers (JML). Organizations typically need to manage two types of access: Birthright access - Baseline permissions automatically granted based on role, department, or location. This access should be managed through your identity provider (Okta, Google Workspace) using group rules that apply access as employee attributes change. Just-in-time (JIT) access - Ad hoc or incremental access requests that fall outside standard birthright access. These are project-based needs, temporary responsibilities, or exceptions that require approval and audit trails. Ravenna focuses on just-in-time access requests, providing the workflow, approval, and automation layer for access that requires human decision-making. For birthright access managed by your identity provider, Ravenna can trigger onboarding workflows and coordinate provisioning for applications not managed through SSO.

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How Ravenna supports IGA/IAM

Ravenna provides an integrated platform that brings together multiple capabilities to support complete IGA/IAM processes. Rather than requiring separate tools for each aspect of identity governance, Ravenna combines workflows, AI, ticketing, and application management into a unified system.

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Applications

Define your application catalog with granular access levels that reflect how your organization actually uses each tool. Map access levels to identity provider groups for automated provisioning, and configure approval strategies for different permission tiers.

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Workflows

Automate the entire access request lifecycle from submission through approval and provisioning. Build approval logic that routes requests based on application, access level, and organizational policies. Integrate with identity providers like Okta and Google Workspace to provision access automatically after approval. Common workflow patterns:

• Route approval requests based on application risk level
• Require multiple approvals for privileged access
• Automatically provision access after approval
• Send notifications to requesters and approvers
• Create audit trails of all access decisions

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Agents

Deploy AI agents that help users request access through natural language conversations. Agents can gather required information, pre-fill forms, and trigger workflows automatically based on what users describe they need. This reduces friction in the access request process while maintaining proper governance controls. How agents help:

• Users describe what they need in plain language
• Agents ask clarifying questions to gather details
• Forms are pre-filled with the right information
• Workflows execute automatically with proper approvals

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Tickets

Every access request becomes a ticket that provides complete audit trails and collaboration capabilities. Tickets document who requested access, why they need it, who approved it, when it was provisioned, and any related communications. This creates the paper trail needed for compliance and security reviews. Ticket capabilities:

• Complete history of every access request
• Collaboration between requesters and approvers
• Status tracking from request through provisioning
• Integration with workflows for automation
• Searchable records for audit and compliance

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Building an IGA/IAM process

Implementing IGA/IAM with Ravenna involves defining your application catalog with access levels, creating request forms, building approval workflows, and integrating with your identity provider for automated provisioning.