This article is the result of the questions asked during a Connections webinar about Permission Assist. Click here to listen to the recording of the session.
What is Permission Assist?
Permission Assist is an identity and access management (IAM) platform specifically designed for community banks and credit unions.
Financial institutions are often drowning in fragmented data, spreadsheets, and manual processes. With Permission Assist, you can centralize, organize, and streamline user and permission data across your entire application ecosystem—even legacy or siloed systems.
How does Permission Assist source user and permission data?
Permission Assist gathers data directly from your third-party applications using plugins (integrations/connectors). For example, it connects to Active Directory using an API. When a direct connection isn’t available, it imports data from reports (like PDFs or other formats).
What are access models?
An access model is a template of authorized access across all applications. For example, you might have a “Loan Officer” access model for all loan officers to define which applications and permissions a loan officer should have.
Access models are the foundation for all important IAM processes. For example, if you want to automate your onboarding process, and a new teller is hired, how do you know what to automate if you don’t know what applications and permissions a teller should have? Access models inform the process, so you know people are given the right access from the very beginning.
Can Permission Assist recommend ideal access?
Yes. By analyzing existing users and their permissions, Permission Assist can recommend ideal access within an access model. This helps you standardize and optimize access across all of your applications.
Does Permission Assist help with onboarding?
Yes. Permission Assist helps simplify and streamline the onboarding process by leveraging access models. Using access models, Permission Assist knows exactly what users should have. It automatically creates access request tickets and notifies the appropriate provision engineers.
How does Permission Assist handle changes in access models?
Permission Assist tracks changes to applications and permissions. It allows users to view new, changed, or unused permissions, and also supports versioning and change management.
Can reviews be scheduled in Permission Assist?
Yes. Reviews can be created and started at any frequency (daily, yearly, etc.), depending on organizational needs. Reviews can also be scheduled to start automatically on whatever day you decide. However, reviews do not recur automatically; you must ensure import data is up to date before each review and start the review or schedule the review to start automatically.
Can Permission Assist make changes to other applications?
Permission Assist can make changes to other applications if an approved integration exists. It can also work with IT automation platforms, scripting, or manual ticket creation when direct integration is not available.
Are managers able to manage their own employees in Permission Assist?
Yes, managers can manage their own employees, but the extent of their involvement depends on how the system is configured. Permission Assist’s settings allow organizations to define what managers can and cannot do.
Is Permission Assist available as a cloud solution?
Currently, Permission Assist is an on-premises (in-house) system, but cloud-enabled options are being considered for the future.
Who is typically involved in day-to-day use of Permission Assist?
Day-to-day use is usually managed by the information security office/team or IT leadership. In smaller organizations, IT leadership often handles both IT and security. Application experts, provisioning teams, and managers may also be involved, depending on the organization’s structure.
What happens if a required plugin or connector does not exist?
If a plugin or connector does not exist, organizations can sponsor its development for a flat fee, after which it is shared with all clients. In these cases, Continuous maintains the plugin as needed for no additional cost.
Does Continuous help with the initial configuration and onboarding of Permission Assist?
Yes. When you purchase Permission Assist, our Consulting Services team walks you through the implementation process step-by-step. You’ll learn how to add applications, import data, set up access models, initiate personnel events, and create reviews.