If your SaaS bill is climbing, start with access reviews rather than a license spreadsheet alone. In Microsoft Entra, access reviews let you regularly confirm who still needs access to groups, apps, roles, and access packages, and then remove access when reviewers say it is no longer needed Microsoft Learn. That gives you a practical way to find stale access that often leads to over-assigned licenses, especially when people change jobs, move teams, or leave projects behind.
The key tradeoff is simple: removing access does not automatically mean a license becomes free for reuse. Microsoft’s guidance documents access removal and assignment cleanup, but you still need a separate licensing check before you reclaim a subscription seat or change a renewal plan. Treat access review results as evidence, not as automatic license accounting.
Start with access reviews, not assumptions
Microsoft documents access reviews as a way to help organizations “regularly” check whether users still need access to enterprise applications, groups, and role assignments, with recurring schedules available weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually Microsoft Learn. That matters because many SaaS waste patterns are actually access problems: old project groups, lingering app assignments, and guests who were never removed.
A useful first pass is to review:
- Security groups and Microsoft 365 groups that grant SaaS access
- Enterprise applications connected to Microsoft Entra ID
- Access packages that bundle app access with other resources
- Privileged roles for app administrators or owners
Microsoft says reviewers can be the users themselves, group owners, or other designated decision makers, and reviewers get notified through the access panel. By default, Microsoft Entra sends a reminder halfway to the end date if the reviewer has not responded Microsoft Learn. For small teams, that reminder behavior is useful because it reduces the need for manual follow-up.
Practical step: start with one business-critical SaaS app and one shared group that grants access to that app. Review both, then compare the results. If a user loses group membership but still has a direct app assignment, you have found a cleanup issue that a group-only audit would miss.
Use entitlement management to keep access from drifting back
Access reviews find cleanup candidates. Entitlement management helps stop the same problem from returning. Microsoft describes entitlement management as automating access requests, assignments, reviews, and expiration, with access packages that can bundle groups, applications, SharePoint Online sites, and other resources Microsoft Learn.
That matters for license hygiene because over-assigned licenses often return when access is granted ad hoc. If a department can keep adding people to a SaaS app without an end date, you will keep buying seats for people who no longer need them.
Microsoft’s documentation says access packages can include policies that define who may request access, who approves it, and how long the assignment lasts. It also says recurring access reviews can be part of the package, and time-limited assignments can prevent people from retaining access indefinitely Microsoft Learn. For schools and small businesses, that is especially useful for temporary staff, contractors, and project-based access.
A good operating pattern is:
- Group related SaaS access into an access package.
- Require approval from the manager or resource owner.
- Set an expiration date on the assignment.
- Schedule recurring review before renewal.
- Remove the package when the business need ends.
Tradeoff: this adds process overhead up front. But it is usually easier than chasing down “who still needs this app?” every renewal cycle.
Turn review results into a license renewal decision
Once access reviews are complete, export or record the decisions and compare them with your license inventory. Microsoft’s guidance does not say that access removal automatically frees a license, so you need a separate verification step before you reduce counts or cancel renewal seats.
Use the review results to answer three questions:
- Who no longer needs the app at all?
- Who still needs the app but no longer needs elevated access?
- Which seats are assigned to people with no current business use?
Then check whether the app is licensed directly per user, assigned through a group, or bundled with a suite. That matters because the reclaim action may differ. For example, if access is assigned through a Microsoft Entra security group, removing the user from the group may be enough to stop future assignment, but you still need to confirm the license assignment method in your tenant before expecting a seat to become available.
Use Microsoft’s My Access portal for the review workflow when appropriate. Microsoft says users can request access, review their own access, and review access for others in the portal, while administrators configure access packages and access reviews from the Microsoft Entra admin center Microsoft Learn. That gives a practical division of labor: users and owners make the decision; IT verifies the license impact.
A simple verification checklist:
- Confirm the review closed and changes were applied
- Confirm the user no longer appears in the app assignment list
- Confirm any group-based assignment was removed
- Check whether the license is directly assigned or group-based
- Update the renewal note with the number of seats no longer justified
Build a repeatable process
For small businesses and schools, the goal is not a one-time cleanup. It is a repeatable review cycle that supports renewal planning.
A workable quarterly process looks like this:
- Week 1: identify the top SaaS apps by cost or headcount
- Week 2: run access reviews for those apps and their supporting groups
- Week 3: remove unused assignments and document exceptions
- Week 4: compare the results with current license counts and upcoming renewals
Use access reviews for documented decisions and entitlement management for ongoing guardrails. Microsoft documents that access reviews can apply to groups, enterprise applications, roles, and access packages, and that access package assignments can expire and be reviewed again later Microsoft Learn. That combination gives you a practical way to reduce unnecessary access without pretending the license cleanup is automatic.
For IT teams, the strongest control is not a dashboard; it is a process that links access, ownership, review, and renewal. If you can prove who still needs access, you can make a better SaaS renewal decision. If you can also show who lost access and when, you have a cleaner audit trail for both security and spend control.
Start small, verify every change, and treat each review cycle as input to licensing—not as proof by itself that a seat has been recovered.