Initiate site access reviews for data access governance reports

Some features in this article require Microsoft SharePoint Premium - SharePoint Advanced Management

Site access review in the SharePoint admin center lets IT administrators delegate the review process of data access governance reports to the site owners of overshared sites.

Site access review involves site owners in the review process so they can address the concern of overshared sites identified in data access governance reports. This feature is crucial because:

• IT administrators can't have access to file-level or item-level details due to compliance reasons.
• Site owners are best positioned to review and address oversharing issues for their own sites.

Prerequisites

To use the site access review feature, you must fulfill the following prerequisites:

• Have a Microsoft SharePoint Premium - SharePoint Advanced Management subscription
• Run a non-government cloud tenant environment. Site access review isn't supported in government cloud environments such as GCCH/GCC-Moderate/DoD/Gallatin
• Have admin credentials to access the SharePoint admin center to initiate an access review
• Have site owners respond to the review requests, take necessary actions and complete the review

How site access review works

• Site access review is accessible only for the top 100 sites shown in the data access governance reports. Site access review specifically targets the oversharing scenario identified in the selected data access governance report.
• When you initiate a review, the system generates a context-specific email for the site owner.
• For example, if you initiate a site access review for a report from the "Content shared with 'Everyone except external users'" category, the review email exclusively addresses sharing issues regarding that particular report.

Important

Currently, site access review is available only for "Content shared with 'Everyone except external users'" reports.

Initiate a site access review

1. Sign in to SharePoint admin center with your admin credentials.

2. Expand the Reports section and select Data access governance.

3. Under "Content shared with 'Everyone except external users", select View reports.

4. Select a report and choose the sites you want to review.

   

5. Select Initiate site access review.

6. Add comments in the provided section to give context to site owners.

   

7. Select Send to initiate the review request.

Track initiated site access reviews

To see a list of all initiated site access reviews, select the My review requests tab from the data access governance landing page.

When you initiate a site access review, it remains in a pending state until the site owner completes the review. Once the site owner completes the review, the status and comments are updated with the name of the reviewer and time and date of completion. A review can be marked as failed if site access review couldn't determine a valid email ID for the site owner to deliver the site access review.

Site access review process (for site owners)

When you initiate a review, site owners receive an email for each site that requires attention. The email includes:

• Relevant title

• Your comments (if any)

• A request to review site permissions

• A link to a detailed access review page. This page is specific for the scenario as specified in the data access governance report.

  

Review 'Everyone except external users' site access review requests (for site owners)

Site owners can review and manage access in two main areas:

• SharePoint groups:

  • View which groups contain 'Everyone except external users'
  • See when and by whom the group was added
  • Remove 'Everyone except external users' from groups if necessary:

    1. Selecting the SharePoint group opens the group membership page that displays all members of this SharePoint group.

    2. Select Everyone except external users and Actions and choose to remove users from group.

       

• Individual items (files/folders/lists):

  • See items shared with 'Everyone except external users' in the last 28 days
  • View sharing details (who shared and when)
  • Manage access and remove permissions as needed:

    1. Select Manage access.

    2. Under the 'Everyone except external users' group in the Groups tab, select the group and select remove access. See Stop sharing OneDrive or SharePoint files or folders, or change permissions for more information.

       

Complete site access review requests (for site owners)

Once the site owner takes the necessary actions like modifying or removing permissions, the site owner should:

1. Select Complete review.
2. Add any relevant comments.
3. Submit the completed review.

Comments are shared back to the IT administrator who raised the review request. The review request is then marked as completed.

Manage multiple site access review requests (for site owners)

A site owner can receive review requests for multiple sites, or receive multiple reviews for different scenarios for the same site. A site owner can track all requests by selecting the Site reviews page found in the left panel.

For site owners handling multiple reviews:

1. Access the 'site reviews' page via:
   • The link in the review email
   • The gear icon on the site home page:
     1. Select Site settings.
     2. Select Site reviews.
2. View all pending site access reviews.
3. Complete reviews as necessary.

Related topics

Data access governance

Microsoft SharePoint Premium - SharePoint advanced management