Role Mining is the process of analyzing existing user access patterns to discover and define meaningful role structures — using data to build RBAC rather than designing roles manually from scratch.
⚙️ How Does It Work?
IGA platforms analyze entitlement data across users to identify clusters with similar access. These clusters become candidate roles. Analysts review and refine the candidates into formalized roles.
📍 Where Is It Used?
IGA implementations, RBAC rollout projects, organizations cleaning up access sprawl after years of manual provisioning.
💡 Real-World Example
A company has 3,000 employees with individually assigned entitlements. SailPoint role mining analyzes the data and identifies that 200 Software Engineers all have the same 15 entitlements. It proposes a Software Engineer role, replacing 3,000 individual assignments with one.
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