Abstract: The disclosed technology teaches a method of identifying roles to coalesce. The disclosed role coalescence engine includes compiling roles from an enterprise database and associated role features respective to each role (such as members who belong to a particular role or access privileges assigned to a particular role), computing a similarity measure between pairs of roles with respect to a single role feature, and clustering role pairs based on the similarity measure. The method further includes generating a cluster visualization based on the clustered role pairs and causing display of the cluster visualization to a user with controls for selecting a particular cluster of the cluster visualization. Coalescence of role databases results in improved security for identity governance and administration tools by reducing unauthorized or inappropriate access.