Magic Quadrant™ for Privileged Access Management 2025: Netwrix Recognized for the Fourth Year in a Row. Download the report.

Platform

Netwrix Directory Management

Make group lifecycle and access management easy

Automate group membership and access control with Netwrix Directory Manager

Why Netwrix for group lifecycle and access management?

Netwrix Directory Manager eliminates this burden by automating the entire group lifecycle. With SmartGroups (dynamic groups), you can define attribute-based rules that automatically adjust membership as people join, move, or leave. This ensures the right people always have the right access — without constant IT intervention.

Asset Not Found

Automate access decisions with dynamic membership

Netwrix SmartGroups automatically update memberships based on user attributes such as department, role, or location. This prevents access creep and keeps directories clean without endless manual updates.

Reduce IT workload with delegated management

Enable business owners, managers, or group owners to manage membership requests and approvals. This reduces IT bottlenecks while maintaining governance with built-in controls.

Enforce lifecycle and compliance policies

Attestation workflows ensure group owners regularly validate memberships. Expired or unused groups are automatically deprovisioned, preventing excessive permissions and improving compliance.

Scale without complexity

Whether you manage hundreds or thousands of users and devices, SmartGroups scale easily. Attribute-based rules ensure consistent, secure access assignment across even the most complex environments.

Features that simplify group lifecycle and access management

Smartgroups dynamic membership

Example:

Group chaos creates security risk

The IT team discovers that hundreds of Active Directory groups contain outdated members. Former employees still have access to internal file shares and applications because group memberships were never cleaned up.

Dynamic SmartGroups deployed

Using Netwrix Directory Manager, the IT team defines SmartGroups that automatically add or remove users based on department, title, and location. As soon as an employee transfers or leaves, their group memberships update automatically, ensuring access always reflects current roles.

Lifecycle policies clean up stale groups

Groups with no active members or unused for a set period are flagged for expiration. Netwrix Directory Manager automatically expires or deactivates these groups according to defined lifecycle policies, keeping the directory organized and compliant.

Cross-directory sync keeps environments aligned

Changes in Active Directory automatically sync to Microsoft Entra ID, propagating updated memberships and group structures across hybrid environments for consistent access control.

Audit evidence ready to export

When auditors request proof, IT generates a complete report showing who has access to what, who approved it, and when it expires. Audit prep that once took weeks now takes minutes.

Result

With Netwrix Directory Manager, organizations eliminate manual group maintenance and prevent access creep through automation. SmartGroups, delegated management, and lifecycle enforcement ensure every user has the right access at the right time — and no one keeps it longer than they should.

Netwrix Directory Management

Ready to get started?

"We use Directory Manager to give our users a way to manage their accounts. It provides an easy to use portal to change passwords and unlock accounts. Administration is easy, it seamlessly integrates with AD."

Anonymous, IT Assistant Manager

Healthcare and Biotech

Group lifecycle and access management FAQs