SC-900 Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Entra Practice Question
A company uses Microsoft Entra ID. The compliance team requires that membership in highly privileged roles, such as Global Administrator, is reviewed quarterly. The review must be automated: role owners are sent an email notification with a list of current members to approve or deny. If a member does not respond within 30 days, their access should be automatically revoked. Which Microsoft Entra ID feature should the team use to set up this periodic review and automatic removal?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Privileged Identity Management (PIM) with Access Reviews, as both involve role management, but PIM handles activation and approval while Access Reviews handle periodic attestation and automatic removal.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Access Reviews
Access Reviews in Microsoft Entra ID is the correct feature because it is specifically designed for periodic, automated attestation of group or role memberships. It sends email notifications to designated reviewers, tracks responses, and can automatically remove users who do not respond within a defined period (e.g., 30 days). This directly meets the compliance requirement for quarterly reviews of Global Administrator membership with automatic revocation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Access Reviews
Why this is correct
Microsoft Entra Access Reviews are specifically designed to manage and automate the periodic review of user access to resources, applications, and roles within Microsoft Entra ID. This feature allows organizations to schedule recurring campaigns where designated reviewers, such as resource owners or managers, certify whether users still require their current permissions. Crucially, Access Reviews can automatically revoke access for users whose permissions are not approved or who fail to respond, directly addressing the compliance requirement for regular access validation and removal of stale assignments.
- ✗
Privileged Identity Management (PIM)
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: PIM enables just-in-time and time-bound activation of privileged roles, but it does not natively perform periodic reviews with automatic removal of static assignments. (PIM can be used together with Access Reviews but is not the primary solution for this requirement.)
When this WOULD be correct
A question asks: 'The security team needs to grant temporary, time-limited access to the Global Administrator role for specific tasks, with approval required before activation.' In that scenario, PIM is the correct answer because it enables just-in-time privileged role activation with approval workflows.
- ✗
Conditional Access
Why it's wrong here
Conditional Access policies in Microsoft Entra ID enforce specific conditions during a user's sign-in attempt to grant or block access to resources. These policies evaluate factors like user identity, device state, location, and application to determine if additional requirements, such as multi-factor authentication or device compliance, are necessary. While vital for real-time access control and security posture, Conditional Access does not provide a mechanism for reviewing or automatically revoking *existing* role assignments based on periodic certification.
- ✗
Identity Protection
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Entra Identity Protection focuses on detecting and remediating identity-based risks by identifying suspicious user behaviors and potential vulnerabilities. It analyzes sign-in patterns, detects compromised credentials, and flags risky events like impossible travel or sign-ins from infected devices. The primary function of Identity Protection is to protect identities from compromise through automated risk-based policies, not to conduct periodic reviews of assigned role memberships for compliance purposes.
When this WOULD be correct
A company wants to automatically detect and block sign-ins from risky IP addresses or users with leaked credentials, and require multi-factor authentication for high-risk sessions. Identity Protection would be the correct feature to configure risk-based Conditional Access policies.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The SC-900 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Access ReviewsCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
Microsoft Entra Access Reviews are specifically designed to manage and automate the periodic review of user access to resources, applications, and roles within Microsoft Entra ID. This feature allows organizations to schedule recurring campaigns where designated reviewers, such as resource owners or managers, certify whether users still require their current permissions. Crucially, Access Reviews can automatically revoke access for users whose permissions are not approved or who fail to respond, directly addressing the compliance requirement for regular access validation and removal of stale assignments.
✗Privileged Identity Management (PIM)Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
PIM provides just-in-time role activation and time-bound assignments, but it does not include built-in automated periodic review workflows with email notifications and automatic removal after 30 days of non-response. That functionality is specific to Access Reviews.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question asks: 'The security team needs to grant temporary, time-limited access to the Global Administrator role for specific tasks, with approval required before activation.' In that scenario, PIM is the correct answer because it enables just-in-time privileged role activation with approval workflows.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates confuse PIM's role management capabilities with Access Reviews, assuming PIM includes review workflows because both deal with privileged roles. They overlook that Access Reviews is the dedicated feature for periodic attestation and automated removal.
✗Identity ProtectionWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Identity Protection is designed to detect and respond to identity-based risks (e.g., compromised accounts, sign-in anomalies), not to manage periodic access reviews or automatic removal of role members.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company wants to automatically detect and block sign-ins from risky IP addresses or users with leaked credentials, and require multi-factor authentication for high-risk sessions. Identity Protection would be the correct feature to configure risk-based Conditional Access policies.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Identity Protection's automated risk remediation (e.g., blocking access) with the automated removal of role members, or assume it handles all identity-related automation including reviews.
Analysis generated from the official SC-900blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Compliance Concepts
Key term
Microsoft Entra ID
Microsoft Entra ID is a cloud-based identity and access management service that lets employees sign in and access resources both inside and outside of your organization.
Key term
Group
A group is a collection of users, devices, or other objects that are assigned permissions and policies together for simplified management in identity and governance systems like Microsoft Entra ID.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SC-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SC-900 exam.