The answer is Microsoft Entra Access Reviews with automatic removal and a grace period. This solution directly addresses the need to remove user access on termination access reviews by automating revocation when a user leaves or changes roles, while the configurable grace period—up to 30 days—allows administrators to reverse the action if needed. Access Reviews provide a full audit trail of every decision, satisfying the audit requirement, and the automatic removal feature ensures that access to critical SaaS applications is revoked without manual intervention. On the AZ-305 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of identity governance lifecycle automation, often appearing as a distractor against manual removal or simple conditional access policies; a common trap is choosing Entra ID Governance’s entitlement management alone, which lacks the built-in reversal window. Memory tip: think “Review, Revoke, Reverse”—Access Reviews handle all three, with the grace period acting as your 30-day safety net.
AZ-305 Practice Question: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
You are designing an identity governance solution for a multinational company. The company uses Microsoft Entra ID and has a requirement to automatically remove user access to critical SaaS applications when the user leaves the organization or changes roles. You need to ensure that the access removal is audited and can be reversed within 30 days if needed. What should you implement?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Microsoft Entra Access Reviews with automatic removal and a grace period
Microsoft Entra Access Reviews allow you to automatically remove user access to SaaS applications when a user leaves or changes roles, with a configurable grace period (up to 30 days) for reversal. This meets the audit and reversal requirements because Access Reviews provide a full audit trail of decisions and can automatically revoke access, while the grace period allows administrators to restore access within the specified timeframe.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Conditional Access policies to block access for inactive users
Why it's wrong here
Blocking access is not removal; the account remains active.
✗
Azure Automation runbooks to delete user accounts upon termination
Why it's wrong here
Deletion is permanent and cannot be reversed easily.
✗
Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management (PIM) to require approval for access assignments
Why it's wrong here
PIM is for privileged roles, not for general application access.
✓
Microsoft Entra Access Reviews with automatic removal and a grace period
Why this is correct
Access Reviews can automate removal and allow reversal within the review period.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is confusing identity governance features: candidates often pick PIM (Option C) because it involves approvals and access, but PIM is for privileged roles, not for ongoing user access to SaaS applications, and it lacks the automatic removal and grace period required for non-privileged access.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Access Reviews in Microsoft Entra ID leverage the Entra ID entitlement management framework, where each review cycle generates a detailed audit log in the Microsoft 365 audit log and Azure Monitor. The grace period is implemented by setting the 'action to apply on denied users' to 'Remove access' with a 'Duration before access is removed again' value of up to 30 days, during which the user's group membership or application assignment is temporarily restored if an administrator reverses the decision.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-305 question in full detail.
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions — This question tests Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Microsoft Entra Access Reviews with automatic removal and a grace period — Microsoft Entra Access Reviews allow you to automatically remove user access to SaaS applications when a user leaves or changes roles, with a configurable grace period (up to 30 days) for reversal. This meets the audit and reversal requirements because Access Reviews provide a full audit trail of decisions and can automatically revoke access, while the grace period allows administrators to restore access within the specified timeframe.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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