What is SCIM?
SCIM is the open standard that lets an identity provider push user accounts and group membership into another system automatically, so joiners and leavers propagate without anyone doing it by hand.
Also called System for Cross-domain Identity Management.
It is the mechanism behind automatic deprovisioning in most enterprise SaaS. When someone is disabled in the directory, SCIM removes them downstream.
Social platforms largely do not support it. Their access models predate enterprise identity management and are built around individual logins and platform-native roles, which is why social accounts are so frequently the one place a leaver's access survives.
In the absence of platform support, the practical substitute is a cross-reference: take the directory's own list of current employees and compare it against who actually holds access on each platform, then close the difference.
Related terms
- Joiner-mover-leaverJoiner-mover-leaver is the access control process covering the three points at which a person's access should change — when they join, when they change role, and when they leave.
- Ghost accessGhost access is a live grant on an account held by someone who should no longer have it — a former employee, a finished agency, a contractor whose engagement ended.
- Social media governanceSocial media governance is the set of controls that establishes who owns a brand's social accounts, who can reach them and how that access is granted and removed — as distinct from managing what gets published on them.
- Business managerA business manager is the platform-side container that owns a brand's accounts, pages and ad assets and controls which people and partner organisations can access them.