How Application Provisioning works in Azure Active Directory

Article
02/13/2023
17 minutes to read

Automatic provisioning refers to creating user identities and roles in the cloud applications that users need to access. In addition to creating user identities, automatic provisioning includes the maintenance and removal of user identities as status or roles change. Before you start a deployment, you can review this article to learn how Azure AD provisioning works and get configuration recommendations.

The Azure AD Provisioning Service provisions users to SaaS apps and other systems by connecting to a System for Cross-Domain Identity Management (SCIM) 2.0 user management API endpoint provided by the application vendor. This SCIM endpoint allows Azure AD to programmatically create, update, and remove users. For selected applications, the provisioning service can also create, update, and remove extra identity-related objects, such as groups and roles. The channel used for provisioning between Azure AD and the application is encrypted using HTTPS TLS 1.2 encryption.

Figure 1: The Azure AD Provisioning Service

Outbound user provisioning workflow Figure 2: "Outbound" user provisioning workflow from Azure AD to popular SaaS applications

Inbound user provisioning workflow Figure 3: "Inbound" user provisioning workflow from popular Human Capital Management (HCM) applications to Azure Active Directory and Windows Server Active Directory

Provisioning using SCIM 2.0

The Azure AD provisioning service uses the SCIM 2.0 protocol for automatic provisioning. The service connects to the SCIM endpoint for the application, and uses SCIM user object schema and REST APIs to automate the provisioning and de-provisioning of users and groups. A SCIM-based provisioning connector is provided for most applications in the Azure AD gallery. When building apps for Azure AD, developers can use the SCIM 2.0 user management API to build a SCIM endpoint that integrates Azure AD for provisioning. For details, see Build a SCIM endpoint and configure user provisioning.

To request an automatic Azure AD provisioning connector for an app that doesn't currently have one, see Azure Active Directory Application Request.

Authorization

Credentials are required for Azure AD to connect to the application's user management API. While you're configuring automatic user provisioning for an application, you need to enter valid credentials. For gallery applications, you can find credential types and requirements for the application by referring to the app tutorial. For non-gallery applications, you can refer to the SCIM documentation to understand the credential types and requirements. In the Azure portal, you're able to test the credentials by having Azure AD attempt to connect to the app's provisioning app using the supplied credentials.

Mapping attributes

When you enable user provisioning for a third-party SaaS application, the Azure portal controls its attribute values through attribute mappings. Mappings determine the user attributes that flow between Azure AD and the target application when user accounts are provisioned or updated.

There's a pre-configured set of attributes and attribute mappings between Azure AD user objects and each SaaS app’s user objects. Some apps manage other types of objects along with Users, such as Groups.

When setting up provisioning, it's important to review and configure the attribute mappings and workflows that define which user (or group) properties flow from Azure AD to the application. Review and configure the matching property (Match objects using this attribute) that is used to uniquely identify and match users/groups between the two systems.

You can customize the default attribute-mappings according to your business needs. So, you can change or delete existing attribute-mappings, or create new attribute-mappings. For details, see Customizing user provisioning attribute-mappings for SaaS applications.

When you configure provisioning to a SaaS application, one of the types of attribute mappings that you can specify is an expression mapping. For these mappings, you must write a script-like expression that allows you to transform your users’ data into formats that are more acceptable for the SaaS application. For details, see Writing expressions for attribute mappings.

Scoping

Assignment-based scoping

For outbound provisioning from Azure AD to a SaaS application, relying on user or group assignments is the most common way to determine which users are in scope for provisioning. Because user assignments are also used for enabling single sign-on, the same method can be used for managing both access and provisioning. Assignment-based scoping doesn't apply to inbound provisioning scenarios such as Workday and Successfactors.

Groups. With an Azure AD Premium license plan, you can use groups to assign access to a SaaS application. Then, when the provisioning scope is set to Sync only assigned users and groups, the Azure AD provisioning service provisions or de-provisions users based on whether they're members of a group that's assigned to the application. The group object itself isn't provisioned unless the application supports group objects. Ensure that groups assigned to your application have the property "SecurityEnabled" set to "True".
Dynamic groups. The Azure AD user provisioning service can read and provision users in dynamic groups. Keep these caveats and recommendations in mind:
- Dynamic groups can impact the performance of end-to-end provisioning from Azure AD to SaaS applications.
- How fast a user in a dynamic group is provisioned or de-provisioned in a SaaS application depends on how fast the dynamic group can evaluate membership changes. For information about how to check the processing status of a dynamic group, see Check processing status for a membership rule.
- When a user loses membership in the dynamic group, it's considered a de-provisioning event. Consider this scenario when creating rules for dynamic groups.
Nested groups. The Azure AD user provisioning service can't read or provision users in nested groups. The service can only read and provision users that are immediate members of an explicitly assigned group. This limitation of "group-based assignments to applications" also affects single sign-on (see Using a group to manage access to SaaS applications). Instead, directly assign or otherwise scope in the groups that contain the users who need to be provisioned.

Attribute-based scoping

You can use scoping filters to define attribute-based rules that determine which users are provisioned to an application. This method is commonly used for inbound provisioning from HCM applications to Azure AD and Active Directory. Scoping filters are configured as part of the attribute mappings for each Azure AD user provisioning connector. For details about configuring attribute-based scoping filters, see Attribute-based application provisioning with scoping filters.

B2B (guest) users

It's possible to use the Azure AD user provisioning service to provision B2B (guest) users in Azure AD to SaaS applications. However, for B2B users to sign in to the SaaS application using Azure AD, you must manually configure the SaaS application to use Azure AD as a Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) identity provider.

Follow these general guidelines when configuring SaaS apps for B2B (guest) users:

For most of the apps, user setup needs to happen manually. Users must be created manually in the app as well.
For apps that support automatic setup, such as Dropbox, separate invitations are created from the apps. Users must be sure to accept each invitation.
In the user attributes, to mitigate any issues with mangled user profile disk (UPD) in guest users, always set the user identifier to user.mail.

Note

The userPrincipalName for a B2B user represents the external user's email address alias@theirdomain as "alias_theirdomain#EXT#@yourdomain". When the userPrincipalName attribute is included in your attribute mappings as a source attribute, and a B2B user is being provisioned, the #EXT# and your domain is stripped from the userPrincipalName, so only their original alias@theirdomain is used for matching or provisioning. If you require the full user principal name including #EXT# and your domain to be present, replace userPrincipalName with originalUserPrincipalName as the source attribute.
userPrincipalName = alias@theirdomain
originalUserPrincipalName = alias_theirdomain#EXT#@yourdomain

Provisioning cycles: Initial and incremental

When Azure AD is the source system, the provisioning service uses the Use delta query to track changes in Microsoft Graph data to monitor users and groups. The provisioning service runs an initial cycle against the source system and target system, followed by periodic incremental cycles.

Initial cycle

When the provisioning service is started, the first cycle will:

Query all users and groups from the source system, retrieving all attributes defined in the attribute mappings.
Filter the users and groups returned, using any configured assignments or attribute-based scoping filters.
When a user is assigned or in scope for provisioning, the service queries the target system for a matching user using the specified matching attributes. Example: If the userPrincipal name in the source system is the matching attribute and maps to userName in the target system, then the provisioning service queries the target system for userNames that match the userPrincipal name values in the source system.
If a matching user isn't found in the target system, it's created using the attributes returned from the source system. After the user account is created, the provisioning service detects and caches the target system's ID for the new user. This ID is used to run all future operations on that user.
If a matching user is found, it's updated using the attributes provided by the source system. After the user account is matched, the provisioning service detects and caches the target system's ID for the new user. This ID is used to run all future operations on that user.
If the attribute mappings contain "reference" attributes, the service does more updates on the target system to create and link the referenced objects. For example, a user may have a "Manager" attribute in the target system, which is linked to another user created in the target system.
Persist a watermark at the end of the initial cycle, which provides the starting point for the later incremental cycles.

Some applications such as ServiceNow, G Suite, and Box support not only provisioning users, but also provisioning groups and their members. In those cases, if group provisioning is enabled in the mappings, the provisioning service synchronizes the users and the groups, and then later synchronizes the group memberships.

Incremental cycles

After the initial cycle, all other cycles will:

Query the source system for any users and groups that were updated since the last watermark was stored.
Filter the users and groups returned, using any configured assignments or attribute-based scoping filters.
When a user is assigned or in scope for provisioning, the service queries the target system for a matching user using the specified matching attributes.
If a matching user isn't found in the target system, it's created using the attributes returned from the source system. After the user account is created, the provisioning service detects and caches the target system's ID for the new user. This ID is used to run all future operations on that user.
If a matching user is found, it's updated using the attributes provided by the source system. If it's a newly assigned account that is matched, the provisioning service detects and caches the target system's ID for the new user. This ID is used to run all future operations on that user.
If the attribute mappings contain "reference" attributes, the service does more updates on the target system to create and link the referenced objects. For example, a user may have a "Manager" attribute in the target system, which is linked to another user created in the target system.
If a user that was previously in scope for provisioning is removed from scope, including being unassigned, the service disables the user in the target system via an update.
If a user that was previously in scope for provisioning is disabled or soft-deleted in the source system, the service disables the user in the target system via an update.
If a user that was previously in scope for provisioning is hard-deleted in the source system, the service deletes the user in the target system. In Azure AD, users are hard-deleted 30 days after they're soft-deleted.
Persist a new watermark at the end of the incremental cycle, which provides the starting point for the later incremental cycles.

Note

You can optionally disable the Create, Update, or Delete operations by using the Target object actions check boxes in the Mappings section. The logic to disable a user during an update is also controlled via an attribute mapping from a field such as accountEnabled.

The provisioning service continues running back-to-back incremental cycles indefinitely, at intervals defined in the tutorial specific to each application. Incremental cycles continue until one of the events occurs:

The service is manually stopped using the Azure portal, or using the appropriate Microsoft Graph API command.
A new initial cycle is triggered using the Restart provisioning option in the Azure portal, or using the appropriate Microsoft Graph API command. The action clears any stored watermark and causes all source objects to be evaluated again. Also, the action doesn't break the links between source and target objects. To break the links, use Restart synchronizationJob with the request:

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/servicePrincipals/{id}/synchronization/jobs/{jobId}/restart
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Content-type: application/json
{
   "criteria": {
       "resetScope": "Full"
   }
}

A new initial cycle is triggered because of a change in attribute mappings or scoping filters. This action also clears any stored watermark and causes all source objects to be evaluated again.
The provisioning process goes into quarantine (see example) because of a high error rate, and stays in quarantine for more than four weeks. In this event, the service will be automatically disabled.

Errors and retries

If an error in the target system prevents an individual user from being added, updated, or deleted in the target system, the operation is retried in the next sync cycle. The errors are continually retried, gradually scaling back the frequency of retries. To resolve the failure, administrators must check the provisioning logs to determine the root cause and take the appropriate action. Common failures can include:

Users not having an attribute populated in the source system that is required in the target system
Users having an attribute value in the source system for which there's a unique constraint in the target system, and the same value is present in another user record

Resolve these failures by adjusting the attribute values for the affected user in the source system, or by adjusting the attribute mappings so they don't cause conflicts.

Quarantine

If most or all of the calls that are made against the target system consistently fail because of an error (for example invalid admin credentials) the provisioning job goes into a "quarantine" state. This state is indicated in the provisioning summary report and via email if email notifications were configured in the Azure portal.

When in quarantine, the frequency of incremental cycles is gradually reduced to once per day.

The provisioning job exits quarantine after all of the offending errors are fixed and the next sync cycle starts. If the provisioning job stays in quarantine for more than four weeks, the provisioning job is disabled. Learn more here about quarantine status here.

How long provisioning takes

Performance depends on whether your provisioning job is running an initial provisioning cycle or an incremental cycle. For details about how long provisioning takes and how to monitor the status of the provisioning service, see Check the status of user provisioning.

How to tell if users are being provisioned properly

All operations run by the user provisioning service are recorded in the Azure AD Provisioning logs (preview). The logs include all read and write operations made to the source and target systems, and the user data that was read or written during each operation. For information on how to read the provisioning logs in the Azure portal, see the provisioning reporting guide.

De-provisioning

The Azure AD provisioning service keeps source and target systems in sync by de-provisioning accounts when user access is removed.

The provisioning service supports both deleting and disabling (sometimes referred to as soft-deleting) users. The exact definition of disable and delete varies based on the target app's implementation, but generally a disable indicates that the user can't sign in. A delete indicates that the user has been removed completely from the application. For SCIM applications, a disable is a request to set the active property to false on a user.

Configure your application to disable a user

Confirm the checkobx for updates is selected.

Confirm the mapping for active for your application. If your using an application from the app gallery, the mapping may be slightly different. In this case, use the default mapping for gallery applications.

Configure your application to delete a user

The scenarios will trigger a disable or a delete:

A user is soft deleted in Azure AD (sent to the recycle bin / AccountEnabled property set to false). 30 days after a user is deleted in Azure AD, they're permanently deleted from the tenant. At this point, the provisioning service sends a DELETE request to permanently delete the user in the application. At any time during the 30-day window, you can manually delete a user permanently, which sends a delete request to the application.
A user is permanently deleted / removed from the recycle bin in Azure AD.
A user is unassigned from an app.
A user goes from in scope to out of scope (doesn't pass a scoping filter anymore).

By default, the Azure AD provisioning service soft deletes or disables users that go out of scope. If you want to override this default behavior, you can set a flag to skip out-of-scope deletions.

If one of the four events occurs and the target application doesn't support soft deletes, the provisioning service will send a DELETE request to permanently delete the user from the app.

If you see an attribute IsSoftDeleted in your attribute mappings, it's used to determine the state of the user and whether to send an update request with active = false to soft delete the user.

Deprovisioning events

The table describes how you can configure deprovisioning actions with the Azure AD provisioning service. These rules are written with the non-gallery / custom application in mind, but generally apply to applications in the gallery. However, the behavior for gallery applications can differ as they've been optimized to meet the needs of the application. For example, the Azure AD provisioning service may always sende a request to hard delete users in certain applications rather than soft deleting, if the target application doesn't support soft deleting users.

Scenario	How to configure in Azure AD
If a user is unassigned from an app, soft-deleted in Azure AD, or blocked from sign-in, do nothing.	Remove isSoftDeleted from the attribute mappings and / or set the skip out of scope deletions property to true.
If a user is unassigned from an app, soft-deleted in Azure AD, or blocked from sign-in, set a specific attribute to true / false.	Map isSoftDeleted to the attribute that you would like to set to false.
When a user is disabled in Azure AD, unassigned from an app, soft-deleted in Azure AD, or blocked from sign-in, send a DELETE request to the target application.	This is currently supported for a limited set of gallery applications where the functionality is required. It's not configurable by customers.
When a user is deleted in Azure AD, do nothing in the target application.	Ensure that "Delete" isn't selected as one of the target object actions in the attriubte configuration experience.
When a user is deleted in Azure AD, set the value of an attribute in the target application.	Not supported.
When a user is deleted in Azure AD, delete the user in the target application	This is supported. Ensure that Delete is selected as one of the target object actions in the attribute configuration experience.

Known limitations

If a user that was previously managed by the provisioning service is unassigned from an app, or from a group assigned to an app then a disable request is sent. At that point, the user isn't managed by the service and a delete request isn't sent when the user is deleted from the directory.
Provisioning a user that is disabled in Azure AD isn't supported. They must be active in Azure AD before they're provisioned.
When a user goes from soft-deleted to active, the Azure AD provisioning service will activate the user in the target app, but won't automatically restore the group memberships. The target application should maintain the group memberships for the user in inactive state. If the target application doesn't support this, you can restart provisioning to update the group memberships.

Recommendation

When developing an application, always support both soft deletes and hard deletes. It allows customers to recover when a user is accidentally disabled.

Next Steps

Plan an automatic user provisioning deployment

Configure provisioning for a gallery app

Build a SCIM endpoint and configure provisioning when creating your own app

Troubleshoot problems with configuring and provisioning users to an application.