Career studio / Cybersecurity
Build evidence for the Identity and Access Analyst role
A small learning organization has joiners, role changes and leavers. Build an access review that checks business need, approval, expiry and removal without expanding anyone’s privileges.
Your outcome: Role-access matrix, joiner-mover-leaver workflow and review evidence.
Start with the right expectations
Who this is for
Basic IT administration and the distinction between authentication and authorization.
This path develops a demonstrable work sample for the named role. It does not replace employer-specific experience, professional qualifications or supervised practice.
Plan your study time
Use a flexible six-week project schedule: one week for each of the first four stages and two weeks for the portfolio and review. Allow roughly 3–5 hours per week for the case work, in addition to course study. This is a planning suggestion, not a measured course duration or a promise of job readiness.
Read the course access notes before starting. Free viewing or reading does not automatically include certificates, graded assessments, software licences or paid cloud resources. Core case work can be documented with a free editor and spreadsheet; optional implementation tools may have additional requirements.
Your course sequence
Start in the order below. Use the course outline to select the sections relevant to the stage tasks, and complete foundation exercises before moving on. Full provider courses can be substantially longer than this project schedule. These are course resources, not a claimed count of individual lessons.
Resource 01 / Google
Free IT Security Course: Networks and Access Control
Purpose: Build the foundations. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
Access: Free Video
Certificate: Free video viewing; a Google certificate is not included
Resource 02 / Microsoft
Free Microsoft Entra Course: App Authentication
Purpose: Develop the role-specific method. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
Access: Free Video
Certificate: Free video viewing; Microsoft certification is not included
Resource 03 / Google
Introduction to Cloud Identity: Free Google Administration Course
Purpose: Strengthen practical application. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
- Explore domain setup and the basic organization of the Admin console.
- Review user lifecycle tasks, permissions, administrator roles and organizational units.
- Understand introductory security, single sign-on and mobile-management topics.
Access: Free Cloud Identity instruction; free Google Skills account required. Domains, product editions and practical administration access are separate.
Certificate: Course completion badge advertised after required activities; no professional certification or academic credit.
Learn, make, check
Keep a decision log as you work. For each stage, capture the assumption, your work product, a check and the change you made after that check. The acceptance criterion is the stopping condition for the stage.
Stage 1 / suggested project week 1
Define the access model
Understand: Authentication proves identity; authorization controls permitted actions.
Make: List roles, resources and allowed actions for a fictional learning platform.
Check before moving on: Separate ordinary use from administrative access.
Study companion: Free IT Security Course: Networks and Access Control. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 2 / suggested project week 2
Apply least privilege
Understand: Access should match a defined task and approval.
Make: Review the supplied grants for unnecessary privileges and stale ownership.
Check before moving on: Do not remove or add real access as part of the exercise.
Study companion: Free Microsoft Entra Course: App Authentication. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 3 / suggested project week 3
Handle lifecycle changes
Understand: A role change can leave old privileges behind.
Make: Design joiner, mover and leaver checklists with evidence and timing requirements.
Check before moving on: A mover review covers old access as well as new access.
Study companion: Introduction to Cloud Identity: Free Google Administration Course. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 4 / suggested project week 4
Document the review
Understand: A decision needs a reviewer, reason and follow-up.
Make: Write keep, remove or investigate recommendations with a named fictional owner.
Check before moving on: Label unresolved business need as pending rather than inventing approval.
Study companion: Introduction to Cloud Identity: Free Google Administration Course. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 5 / suggested project weeks 5–6
Present your portfolio
Assemble the four work products into Role-access matrix, joiner-mover-leaver workflow and review evidence. Write a README explaining the problem, your assumptions, the decisions you made, tests actually performed and what remains incomplete.
Give a five-minute walkthrough: one minute for the problem, two for the work and evidence, one for trade-offs and one for the next improvement. If you have not implemented a proposed system, label it a design or prototype rather than a deployed solution.
Acceptance: a reviewer can locate each work product, reproduce the key reasoning and identify the limits without a private explanation from you.
The portfolio brief
A small learning organization has joiners, role changes and leavers. Build an access review that checks business need, approval, expiry and removal without expanding anyone’s privileges.
Deliver: Role-access matrix, joiner-mover-leaver workflow and review evidence.
| account | current role | grant | status |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Support | Finance export | Role changed |
| B | Trainer | Course editor | Active |
| C | Former contractor | Admin | Contract ended |
Use these small inputs to make the reasoning visible. They are not a representative dataset, a real client engagement or evidence of production performance. Where the brief requires additional sample records, create them yourself, label them synthetic and explain why you added them.
The ZIP includes the case CSV, four stage worksheets, course sequence, decision log, test log, portfolio README template, review rubric and reference reasoning. It is a starter kit for your work, not a completed application, professional report or proprietary project file.
Check your reasoning
A colleague moves from finance to support. Is granting support access enough?
Write your answer and assumptions before opening the reference.
Read the reference reasoning
No. Review and remove or explicitly reapprove finance access according to policy, while preserving an audit trail and avoiding disruption to justified duties.
Portfolio review rubric
| Criterion | Points | Evidence required |
|---|---|---|
| Problem and scope | 4 | A clear user, need, boundary and assumptions |
| Role-specific work | 8 | 2 points for each of the four stage acceptance checks |
| Reasoning and validation | 4 | Independent checks, actual results and uncertainty |
| Communication and reproducibility | 4 | A usable README, source links and reviewable work products |
Aim for at least 16/20 as a self-review target, with no missing stage acceptance check. This is a WikiFree practice rubric, not an industry credential or a hiring assessment.
Interview practice
How would you handle a privilege whose business owner cannot be identified?
Answer using the case: context, your action, evidence and limitation. Describe this honestly as a self-directed project. Do not present fictional organizations, invented interviews or practice results as paid work experience.
Your progress
Use this checklist as a personal study aid. Progress is stored in this browser when local storage is available; it is not an account record or a certificate.
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Questions before you start
Will this path qualify me for a job?
It helps you study relevant foundations and produce a work sample. Employers may require additional skills, qualifications and experience. Review actual role requirements before applying; no job or certification is guaranteed.
Are all tools and certificates free?
The linked learning routes were selected for free viewing or reading. Follow the separate access and certificate notes on each course. Paid tools and cloud deployment are optional; document a local design when implementation resources are unavailable.
Can I follow this on a phone?
You can read the path and many learning resources on a phone. Coding, detailed spreadsheet work, design tools and mobile-app development are easier or require a suitable computer. The page is designed to reflow; that is not a claim that every physical device has been tested.
Questions & discussion
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