To expect HR to inform IT of new starters?

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I work in the IT Department of a college, and we always have new staff wandering into the office asking for usernames.

HR never let us know.

AIBU to expect HR to let us know that "Mr John Smith has started work on 01 January 2015 as a Teacher of a subject"?

Sounds like a security and potentially a safeguarding/data protection issue if new starters can wander in and get access to college IT systems and student data. The college needs some more robust procedures. The responsibility of agreeing these is between HR and IT and should include authorisation from the new recruits line manager agreeing to access of specific systems.

You need to implement identity management. Whatever their ERP is, integrate it with your (AD?), provisioning accounts automatically based on role.

Identity management isn't just about the tech, it's about process, so you need to get your processes sorted first. Have you clearly identified which types of users get which access? How do HR onboard new people? If HR already have a process, why aren't they following it? Have you asked them why? Is there anything you can do to help automate it?

More importantly how do you off-board people? Do you know when they leave and remove their access? Can you easily report on who has access to what? What about toxic role combinations - does the person who raises purchase orders also have the ability to approve them for example?