Improving efficiency and compliance: Why modernising Workday User Access Reviews matters
For Workday governance leaders, UARs are non-negotiable
User access reviews (UARs) aren’t optional, they are essential for demonstrating that your internal controls are effective. Whether preparing for SOX, e-SOX, ISO 27001, GDPR, or routine internal audits, organisations must ensure employees have the right access and only the right access. In practice, however, running these reviews is often far from straightforward.
Many Workday teams still rely on spreadsheets, exports, and email reminders to run UAR cycles. These processes are familiar but fragile. They drain time, scatter evidence, and create stress for administrators and reviewers alike, especially come audit time. As GRC expectations rise and auditors demand clearer, more consistent evidence, organisations are increasingly rethinking how they manage access reviews inside Workday.
Why user access reviews matter for GRC and ITGC audits
User access reviews are a cornerstone of your key ITGC program. They demonstrate that you understand who can do what in Workday and that you're actively managing privilege creep, changing roles, and security group design. Strong access review practices give auditors confidence that access governance is not only well-designed but operating effectively.
Without a reliable process, gaps emerge in the form of inconsistent reviews, limited transparency, and audit evidence that takes too long to produce or defend. These weaknesses put unnecessary pressure on security teams and Workday administrators, and they can undermine the overall control environment.
Where manual Workday access reviews break down
If you manage access governance, the pain points are clear:
• Reviewers don’t have enough context, so they hesitate or guess.
• Completion rates lag without embedded reminders or clear deadlines.
• Administrators spend days consolidating responses and rebuilding evidence.
• Audit teams wait on reports that should already exist.
• A single spreadsheet error can unravel an entire control.
Manual user access review processes don’t scale. And for companies operating across multiple business units, countries, or regulated industries, the risk and effort compound quickly.
The shift toward user access review automation
Workday customers are increasingly adopting automated access review processes because it strengthens the control environment. Automation makes access review cycles repeatable, predictable, audit-ready, and significantly easier for reviewers to complete. More importantly, it keeps the governance process anchored inside the system being audited. That alone reduces friction, improves accuracy, and eliminates the worst administrative burdens.
A Workday-native path forward
For organisations that want to modernise their approach, Workday-native automation offers the most seamless experience. This is where Kainos User Access Review (Kainos UAR) fits naturally. It brings structure, clarity, and automation to a process that has long depended on manual effort. Reviewers work in a familiar interface. Administrators gain real-time visibility. Audit teams receive evidence the moment the cycle closes. And your business can show auditors that access governance is controlled, consistent, and well-managed.
If you’re responsible for Workday security, governance, internal controls, or audit preparation, modernising your UAR process is one of the most effective steps you can take to reduce risk and increase efficiency. Kainos UAR is the only Workday-native solution helping organisations like yours move beyond spreadsheets and manual reporting, making access reviews easier, faster, and fully auditable.
Ready to strengthen your Workday user access review processes? Explore Kainos UAR today.