Manage Access Requests

JumpCloud Access Requests allows admins to create approval flows to manage user access requests efficiently. End users can then use these approval flows to submit their access requests.

You can add, edit, and delete request approval flows from the Access Requests section in the JumpCloud Admin portal. 

To view the Access Requests console:

1. Login to the JumpCloud admin portal.
2. Go to Security Management > Access Requests.
   
   
   
   You will see the Access Requests console displaying two tabs:
   • Request Queue - Your central hub for managing all user access requests that require approval.
   • Approval Flow - Lets you create and manage approval flows that users can use to submit access requests.

Configuring Access Requests Settings

Before you proceed to create approval flows, it is important to configure the Access Requests settings for your organization.

1. Click Settings at the top right of the Access Requests console.
2. Use the Resource Requests toggle to enable the feature, allowing end users to request access to resources from their user portal. If disabled, users will not see the Requests option.
3. Specify the Notifications settings as required:
   • Receive Resource Request Notifications via
     • Email
     • Slack (coming soon)
   • Send end user notification emails for the following events
     • Request Received Confirmation – Sends an email when a request is submitted.
     • Request Approval/Denial - Sends an email when a request is approved or denied.
   • Webhook Notifications - This option allows you to select existing webhook channels within the platform to receive event notifications related to Access Requests. See Create Webhook Channels to learn more.
     • Click Select Channel.
       • In the Select Channel window, click the Webhook Channels search bar to view the available webhook channels.
       • Select the webhook channels that you want to use to receive notifications. You can also search and select the channels by name. The selected channels appear as chips below the search bar. Click the x (delete) icon to remove chips if needed.
       • Click Add. The selected channels are displayed under Webhook Channels.

• Expand each channel to view the specific events for which notifications can be received.
  • Select the events that you want to receive notifications for. Jump to Events: Access Requests for a list of the available events .
• Click Save.

Events: Access Requests 

This is a list of the events related to Access Requests for which you can receive notifications via webhooks.

Access Requests Events

Viewing Directory Insights

Directory Insights data is useful for auditing & compliance or for troubleshooting issues. You can use the Directory Insights data to know more details about the events created for access requests. Go to Insights > Directory and expand each event to view the details. You can switch to the JSON view for more details. See View the Directory Insights Data Activity Log to learn more.

Creating User Groups

Before creating approval flows in JumpCloud Access Requests, ensure you have your User Groups configured. Approval Flows are created and assigned to existing User Groups. See Get Started: User Groups to learn more.

To make the best use of Jumpcloud Access Requests, consider carefully organizing your users and creating user groups accordingly so they can be directly mapped to resources.

For example, while the entire engineering team may need access to Github, only Managers and above would need admin access to it. In this case, create user groups as follows - 

• Engineering User - End users in engineering team
• Engineering Admin - Engineering Managers and above
• Engineering All - All users in engineering team including managers and above

Following this example, here’s how the approval flow must be created and assigned.

• Approval Flow Creation and Assignment:
  
  Create separate approval flows for different access levels:
  • GitHub User approval flow: Assign this approval flow to the Engineering User group. Configure it for auto-approval to streamline access for standard users. This allows you to track GitHub access without manual intervention for each request.
  • GitHub Admin approval flow: Assign this approval flows to the Engineering Admin group. Configure it for manual approval to maintain control over administrative access. This allows for review and decision-making on each request.

• Approval Flow Best Practices
  • Automated Approvals: Setting up approval flows for resources that can be auto approved can significantly take down your workload. 
  • Manual Approvals: Reserve manual approval for critical resources requiring careful oversight.

In this example, GitHub User access can be auto-approved, allowing you to track all users granted access to GitHub without needing to approve each request individually. However, GitHub Admin access may require manual approval, allowing you to review and decide on each request.