Security & IAM
The identity governance, access control, and security operations layer for the Civic platform — every module that needs RBAC, SSO, or security monitoring plugs into Security & IAM.
Uptime SLA
Auth Check Latency
Compliance
Role Templates
Purpose-Built for Canadian Municipalities
How It Works
The identity journey, step by step
From first registration to golden record resolution — how a resident's identity evolves across the platform.
New Staff Onboarding
A new municipal employee is provisioned with the correct roles and access from day one.
How it works
HR creates a new employee record in the HRIS. Security & IAM auto-provisions the staff user account, assigns the role template matching their position (e.g., Bylaw Officer), associates them with their department, and sends a welcome email with SSO activation instructions. The employee logs in via Azure AD, completes MFA enrollment, and has immediate access to exactly the modules their role requires.
Step 1 of 5
Purpose & Scope
What this module owns
Clear ownership boundaries prevent duplication and ensure every capability has exactly one authoritative home.
Owns
15Delegated to
4Citizen/resident identity
Audit event storage
Network infrastructure security (firewalls, WAF)
Application-level business rules
These capabilities are handled by dedicated modules and consumed via stable API contracts — keeping boundaries clean and ownership unambiguous.
Core Capabilities
What it does
5 capability groups comprising 9 discrete capabilities — each with API surface, business rules, and data ownership.
Multi-level role inheritance with module → entity → action → field-level permission granularity and department scoping.
Role Hierarchy
Multi-level role inheritance (e.g., Department Admin inherits from Department User, which inherits from Base User).
Permission Granularity
Module → Entity → Action → Field level (e.g., permits.application.approve, crm.citizen.sin.view).
Department Scoping
Roles can be scoped to department, ward, facility, or organization-wide.
Data Scoping
Attribute-based filters limit visible records (e.g., 'Clerk sees only their ward's cases').
Pre-built role templates for common municipal positions with support for temporary roles and cross-module composite roles.
Role Assignment
Assign roles to individual users, groups, or org units.
Role Templates
Pre-built templates for common municipal positions (Clerk, Treasurer, CBO, Fire Chief, Planner, Bylaw Officer, IT Admin, CAO).
Temporary Roles
Time-limited role assignment for acting positions, project secondments.
Cross-Module Roles
Composite roles spanning multiple modules (e.g., 'Finance Manager' = AP + AR + GL + Budget roles).
Real-World Scenarios
Who uses this, and how
4 persona-driven scenarios showing how Security & IAM works in practice — from resident registration to privacy compliance.
Finance Director
Segregation of Duties Enforcement
The Finance Director needs to ensure no single person can both create and approve purchase orders, meeting SOC 2 audit requirements.
Steps
- 1Finance Director reviews the current role structure in the IAM management console
- 2Creates two distinct roles: 'PO Creator' and 'PO Approver' with mutually exclusive permissions
- 3Configures a conflict rule preventing both roles from being assigned to the same user
- 4Assigns roles to Finance staff based on their responsibilities
- 5Runs a compliance report showing zero segregation-of-duties violations
- 6Exports the report for the external SOC 2 auditor
Outcome
Complete segregation of duties with automated enforcement. Any attempt to assign conflicting roles is blocked automatically, and the compliance posture is audit-ready at all times.
View scenario
EOC Commander
Cross-Department Emergency Access
During a declared municipal emergency, the Emergency Operations Centre commander needs temporary access across multiple department systems.
Steps
- 1The EOC Commander activates the emergency management protocol in the IAM portal
- 2Selects the pre-configured 'Emergency Operations' composite role spanning Public Works, Utilities, Fire, and Transit
- 3IAM grants elevated cross-department access with a 24-hour window
- 4All emergency access actions are logged with enhanced audit detail
- 5After the emergency, IAM auto-revokes all elevated permissions
- 6A post-incident access review is generated documenting all cross-department actions taken
Outcome
Critical cross-department coordination enabled in minutes without compromising normal access controls. Full audit trail preserves accountability.
View scenario
IT Administrator
Service Account & API Key Governance
The IT team performs a quarterly review of all service accounts and API keys to ensure compliance with the security policy.
Steps
- 1IT Admin opens the API Key governance dashboard
- 2Reviews 34 active API keys across 12 service accounts
- 3Identifies 3 keys approaching the 90-day rotation deadline
- 4Rotates the keys with zero downtime using the rotate endpoint
- 5Flags 2 keys with no usage in 60 days for decommissioning review
- 6Generates the quarterly service account report for the CISO
Outcome
All API keys are within rotation policy. Unused keys identified for cleanup. The CISO receives a clear compliance posture report with zero overdue rotations.
View scenario
Privacy Officer
PII Field-Level Access Review
The Privacy Officer audits which roles can view SIN numbers, ensuring only authorized staff have access to restricted data.
Steps
- 1Privacy Officer queries the permission model for all roles with 'sin.view' capability
- 2Discovers 4 roles with SIN access: HR Admin, Payroll Processor, Tax Assessment Officer, Social Services Worker
- 3Verifies each role's SIN access aligns with business justification
- 4Removes SIN access from Tax Assessment Officer (determined unnecessary)
- 5Confirms dynamic masking is active — unauthorized users see '***-***-***'
Outcome
SIN access reduced to minimum necessary roles. Dynamic masking confirmed operational. Privacy audit report filed for PIPEDA compliance.
View scenario
Internal Architecture
How it's built
4 architectural layers comprising 24 components — from API gateway to data quality engine.
4 layers · 24 total components
Security & IAM
Every module owns a single bounded context, exposes stable APIs, and can be composed into any Civic product — that's the architecture that scales.
Krutik Parikh
Creator of Civic
Data Model
Entity Architecture
7 entities with 7 relationships — the authoritative schema for this bounded context.
Entities
Select an entity to explore its fields and relationships
API Surface
Integration Endpoints
18 RESTful endpoints across 4 resource groups — plus 11 domain events for async integration.
/api/v1/auth/login
Local authentication (if not using SSO)
/api/v1/auth/sso/saml/callback
SAML SSO assertion consumer
/api/v1/auth/sso/oidc/callback
OIDC SSO callback
/api/v1/auth/mfa/verify
Verify MFA challenge
/api/v1/auth/logout
Terminate session
/api/v1/auth/session
Get current session info
Ecosystem
Products that depend on this module
9 Civic products consume Security & IAM — making it one of the most critical platform services in the ecosystem.
Cybersecurity Platform
PAM, SIEM integration, threat monitoring, vulnerability scanning
View product →
HR & Payroll
Staff provisioning/deprovisioning lifecycle; SIN field restricted access
View product →
ERP / Finance
Segregation of duties; GL posting authorization; period close access
View product →
Council & Agenda
Role-based access to draft vs. published agendas; closed session restrictions
View product →
Elections
Returning officer role; ballot access controls; results embargo
View product →
Court / POA
Justice of the Peace role; sealed records access; judicial independence
View product →
Social Housing
Waitlist administrator role; tenant information confidentiality
View product →
Emergency Management
EOC commander role; cross-department emergency access elevation
View product →
Property Tax
Assessment data access; tax account modification restrictions
View product →
Technical Specifications
Performance, Compliance & Configuration
Availability
Auth Latency
Session Store
Compliance
Encryption
Key Management
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
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