Free template
User access review template — built for Excel
If your access review lives in Excel, you want a workbook that opens clean and just works: the right columns, a dropdown for the keep/revoke call, and no fragile formulas to break. This is that file. It’s a plain .xlsx you can fill in during an afternoon, and it opens fine in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers. No email, no sign-up — download it and go.
Download the Excel template
Free · .xlsx · no email required
What’s in the Excel file
Two worksheets — an instructions tab and the review tab — with the frozen header row and a data-validation dropdown already set up so you’re not building the sheet yourself:
- A frozen header row so the columns stay visible as you scroll a long list.
- User, email, and manager columns to identify whose access each line is.
- System, access level, and role columns for what the person can actually do.
- Last login, to help you spot dormant access worth a second look.
- A Keep / Revoke dropdown (Excel data validation) on the decision column, plus justification, reviewer, and review-date columns.
How to run the review in Excel
Export the current access list from each in-scope system as CSV, paste the rows into the review tab (one row per user + system + access level), and delete the sample rows. Send the workbook to the accountable owner for each system, have them set every line to Keep or Revoke and add a justification where it’s warranted, then fill in the reviewer name and date. Save the finished file as your evidence for the period, carry out the revocations, and keep proof they were done.
Where Excel falls short
Excel is a great place to start, but it’s a weak place to keep audit evidence. The file has no immutable snapshot — anyone can change a cell after the review, and access in the real systems drifts the moment you save. It can’t prove a revocation was actually carried out, and it will never remind you the next review is due. When those gaps start costing you findings or a quarterly scramble, Useboards runs the same review with a snapshot pinned at review-start, revoke decisions that become tracked deprovisioning, reminders, and a one-click CSV evidence pack.
Frequently asked questions
Is this Excel template really free?
Yes — download the .xlsx with no email and no sign-up. It’s made by Useboards; if you outgrow the spreadsheet, our product runs the same review with audit-ready evidence.
Will it work in Google Sheets or Numbers?
Yes. It’s a standard .xlsx, so it opens in Excel, Google Sheets, and Apple Numbers. The Keep / Revoke dropdown is built with standard data validation, which those apps preserve on import.
What’s the difference between this and Useboards?
The Excel file is a static workbook you fill in by hand each period. Useboards automates the review: it snapshots access so the evidence can’t drift, turns revoke decisions into tracked deprovisioning, reminds you when a review is due, and exports an auditor-ready evidence pack.
Related
Outgrown the Excel file?
Run the same review with snapshot evidence and auditor-ready export.