---
title: Getting Started
slug: getting-started
createdAt: 2025-07-25T02:42:18.686Z
---

Activate Privileged Access Management (PAM) allows organisations to securely manage, control and audit access to privileged accounts across their environment.  

This guide outlines the initial configuration process for importing existing privileged accounts (such as administrator accounts) into Activate and assigning ownership for ongoing management.

# Initial Configuration

Before configuring PAM, ensure your **Activate Licence** includes the **PAM Licence**.

The following example provides an overview of configuring **Activate Privileged Account Resources** and importing existing privileged accounts into Activate.

Activate caches information for privileged accounts in its database. Accounts created outside Activate PAM will not appear immediately — a background task synchronises privileged accounts from **Active Directory** into Activate at regular intervals.

In this example, we’ll configure **Administrator Accounts (ADM)**.

# Configure Privileged Accounts

1. **Open Activate Studio** 
2. Navigate to **Resources > Privileged Accounts > Administrator Account**. 
3. In the **Parameters** panel, right-click the blank area and select **New Parameter → Blank**. 
4. Rename the new parameter to **Members**. 
5. Change the **Type** to **OU Reference**. 
6. Double-click the **Members** parameter to edit its value. 
7. Enter the name of the **OU** that contains the Administrator Accounts, then click **Find**. 
8. Select the required OU and click **OK**. 

You will now have a single parameter named **Members**, with the value set to the OU you selected.

1. In the Explorer pane, right-click the **Administrator Account** resource and select **PrivilegedAccount Tasks > Reset Cache From AD**. This imports all user accounts stored in the OU configured in Step 8. 
2. Once completed, you should see your existing Administrator Accounts listed in both the **Activate Web Portal** and **Activate Studio**. 

# Assign Account Owners

To assign owners to the synchronised accounts:

1. Log in to the **Activate Web Portal** as a user with the **Activate Service Desk** role. 
2. Select the **Privileged Accounts** icon on the home page. 
3. Click on the account type you want to manage (e.g., *Administrator Account*). 
4. Select the account (e.g., *ADM\_WEvans*). 
5. Click the **Add Owner** icon on the ribbon bar. 

If the **Add Owner** or **Remove Owner** icons are not visible, ensure the *System Role / Service Desk Users* role has appropriate security rights on the **Privileged Accounts Resources** node.

1. Search for or select the user who will be the owner of the account. 
2. Click **Submit** to start the workflow. 

If no owner is assigned, approval requests for the privileged account default to the **Activate Service Desk Role**. When logged in as a Service Desk user, these requests may auto-approve.

Once the job has completed, return to the account record — the **Owner** will now be displayed.