The ultimate guide to user management in 2024

User management refers to the processes and tools used to manage access to systems, resources, and data through roles, permissions, and policies. It involves creating user accounts, assigning and updating permissions, managing user roles, and ensuring the security of user data.

Why is user management important?

Enhanced security

Good user management ensures access to sensitive information and critical features is tightly controlled and strictly based on user roles, policies, or permissions. 

For example, an HR manager would have access to employee records, and sensitive data that would be off-limits to someone in a sales position. This segregation prevents data breaches, whether unintentional or malicious, by ensuring users only access the data and functions they need.

Operational efficiency

Proper user management greatly enhances operational efficiency by automating routine administrative tasks like adding new users or updating their roles. 

When a new employee joins the company, a user management system can automatically create their account, assign the appropriate access rights, and place them in the correct groups. This automation not only speeds up the onboarding process but also significantly reduces the potential for human error.

Improved user experience

When you have profiles, login info, and permissions set up for each user, you can provide tailored experiences and show the right data and features to the right people.

The convenience of Single Sign-On (SSO), a common user management feature, also significantly improves the user experience. With SSO, users log in once and gain access to all the systems they're authorized to use without the hassle of logging in repeatedly. 

Compliance and auditing

In industries like healthcare or finance, regulations may dictate strict control over who can see or modify information. Effective user management systems help track who accessed what data and when, which is critical for audits and proving compliance with laws like HIPAA.

The most important user management functions

The core functions of user management include:

1. Authentication/Authorization
2. Email verification
3. User provisioning
4. Access controls
5. User activity monitoring
6. User segmentation and group management
7. Invite members
8. Session management
9. Identity linking
10. Impersonation

Read more: Essential User Management Features (And the Easiest Ways to Implement Them)

The key concepts for robust user management

Provisioning

Provisioning refers to setting up and configuring user accounts and access across your system. You'll want a streamlined process for adding new users, updating information and permissions, and removing accounts when people leave.

Proper provisioning helps maintain security by ensuring that users only have access to the resources necessary for their roles — nothing more, nothing less. This balance is key; too much access can expose your system to risks, while too little can frustrate users and hamper their productivity.

Moreover, by adopting standards like SCIM, you can automate much of the provisioning process. This slashes the time and effort needed to manage user accounts and reduces human errors.

User profiles

Think of a user profile as the digital equivalent of a personal ID card. It contains important information about a user, like their name, job title, and contact details. User profiles help your system track who interacts with it and are often used to personalize user experience. 

User profiles also allow users to update their information, manage their preferences, and adjust their settings. For example, they might set up notification preferences, manage dashboard configurations, or customize display settings.

Role-based access control (RBAC) + permissions

This access control method lets you restrict system access based on a person’s role within an organization. Instead of assigning permissions to individual users, RBAC assigns them to specific roles. Permissions can range from viewing, creating, and editing files to accessing tools or initiating processes.  

Read more: 4 Types of Access Control: What You Need to Know + How to Implement

Here’s a breakdown of some standard roles used in RBAC:

• Admin: These folks have extensive access throughout the system. They manage user accounts, set permissions, and handle major configurations and system settings. This role is generally designated for IT staff who need broad oversight.
• Super admin: They have unrestricted access to all system parts, handling the most sensitive or comprehensive controls.
• Manager: Often, managers get more access than individual contributors because they oversee larger segments or projects and need broader data access to make informed decisions.
• Guest: This role is for guests or external users like temporary employees, consultants, or external partners. They have limited access.
• Read-only: Users can see data but cannot alter it.
• Read-write: Users with this role can view data and make changes within their authorization limits.

A user can have one or more roles, and they automatically inherit all the permissions associated with those roles. This approach helps keep sensitive information accessible only to those who really need it, reducing the risk of security breaches by preventing overly generous access privileges.

Moreover, over time, maintaining an RBAC system proves to be more cost-effective compared to systems where permissions are managed individually for each user.

User groups

User groups cluster users who require similar access into a single category. Think of it as forming a group chat for a project team or department — everyone receives the same message simultaneously. These groups make it easier to manage permissions for multiple users.

For example, suppose you create a group specifically for editors. In that case, you can grant all editors access to the necessary resources in one go, avoiding the hassle of setting permissions for each person individually. When new editors join, adding them to the group automatically gives them all the required access right from the start.

Policies

Policies are the rules that govern how and when users can access different parts of your system. 

There are different types of policies in user management. They include:

• Access control policies define who can access which resources within your organization and under what conditions. For instance, you might have a policy that only allows HR department personnel to view employee personal records or restricts access to financial performance data only to senior management.
• Password policies: Password policies dictate passwords' complexity, rotation, and expiration. They might require passwords to include a mix of letters, numbers, and special characters, mandate changing passwords every 90 days, or lock accounts after several failed login attempts. 
• Audit and monitoring policies define how and when user activities will be monitored and audited. They help create a traceable record of actions, essential for detecting and responding to unauthorized or inappropriate behavior. Monitoring can include tracking logins, file accesses, and changes to system configurations. 

Managing these policies manually can become impractical as your user base expands. User management software simplifies this process by automatically enforcing policies based on predefined rules. It also grows with your business, ensuring that the same policies are applied consistently to new users as they join.

Additionally, these systems have built-in auditing and reporting tools that automatically log user actions and generate detailed reports based on user activity. This helps comply with various regulatory standards and gain valuable insights into user behavior and system security.

The key protocols for user management

SSO (Single Sign-On)

SSO is one of the authentication methods enabled by user management systems. The two most common SSO protocols are:

• SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language): SAML is an XML-based open standard that allows identity providers (IdPs) to pass authorization credentials to service providers (SPs).
  SAML is primarily used for web-based SSO in enterprise environments. However, it’s complex and doesn’t work well with non-browser-based apps.
  

• OIDC (OpenID Connect): OIDC is built on top of OAuth 2.0 and is a simpler way of implementing SSO than SAML. It uses JSON, which is easier to read and parse, and supports various types of apps, including web, mobile, and native applications. 

OIDC is supported by corporate IdPs like Okta and Microsoft Entra and social identity providers like Google or Facebook for social logins.

Read more: OIDC vs SAML: Key Differences and Which to Use

OAuth (Open Authorization)

OAuth is a widely used authorization framework that allows delegated authorization. It lets users grant third-party applications access to their web resources without sharing their login credentials. For instance, a user can enable your app to access their documents on Google Drive via OAuth.

OAuth also enables users to specify scopes and permissions, giving them control over the level of access your app has. For example, you might request permission to read data but not write, or you may only ask for access to specific types of data.

SCIM

SCIM, or System for Cross-domain Identity Management, is a standard designed to simplify and automate the management of user identities in cloud-based applications and services.

It defines a standard user schema and protocol standardizing user data structure and sharing. This uniformity allows different systems — like SaaS applications, identity providers, and enterprise directories — to integrate and exchange user identity details seamlessly.

SCIM enables automated processes for creating, updating, and removing accounts as user statuses change. This is particularly useful in large organizations where employees frequently join, move within, or leave the company. 

By automating these aspects of user management, SCIM significantly reduces the burden on IT departments. It minimizes human error, accelerates user management tasks, and updates access rights in real-time.

What’s next in user management?

Several trends are currently shaping the future of user management:

Zero trust security model

The traditional "trust but verify" model is being replaced by the zero-trust model, which operates under the principle that no users or devices should be trusted by default. Zero-trust architectures require rigorous identity verification for every user and device trying to access resources on a private network, regardless of where the request originates.

AI in identity verification

Artificial intelligence is being integrated into user management to enhance identity verification processes. AI can detect patterns of normal and abnormal user behavior and quickly flag potential issues for human review.

Passwordless authentication

Passwordless authentication is a significant trend in user management, representing a shift away from traditional password-based security methods towards more secure and user-friendly alternatives. 

This approach involves using other means, like biometric data, hardware tokens, or software tokens, to verify a user's identity without requiring them to remember and enter a password. 

Enhanced user experience

There is a growing emphasis on balancing security with user experience. This dual focus is crucial as more companies adopt a product-led growth strategy, where the product primarily drives user acquisition, expansion, and retention. 

To meet these needs, applications adopt user management solutions prioritizing security and convenience. This approach aims to reduce user friction and boost productivity by developing more intuitive user interfaces and simplifying the login process to involve fewer steps.

The bottom line

The right user management system not only streamlines the admin aspects of managing your app’s users (authenticating them, managing access, securing identities, etc.) but also plays a crucial role in how users perceive and interact with your SaaS app.

User management by WorkOS is one of the best platforms for managing your users. Here’s what it offers:

• Enterprise-ready authentication: WorkOS supports Single Sign-On, email/password combos, magic links, multi-factor authentication, and social logins.
• Automatic user provisioning: Keep your app’s user data perfectly synced with identity providers and directories. You can choose SCIM for ongoing synchronization or JIT (Just-in-Time) provisioning for on-the-fly provisioning at login.
• Organization policies: Easily customize authentication policies for each organization you onboard.
• UI options: Use AuthKit, the customizable hosted UI with done-for-you authentication flows, or build your own and connect it to the user management APIs.
• Complete user visibility: Gain total visibility over your app’s user sessions through the WorkOS dashboard.

Ready to get started? Sign up for WorkOS today, and start selling to enterprise customers tomorrow.