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No users are being provisioned

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Note

Starting 04/16/2020 we have changed the behavior for users assigned the default access role. See the section below for details.

After automatic provisioning has been configured for an application (including verifying that the app credentials provided to Microsoft Entra ID to connect to the app are valid), then users and/or groups are provisioned to the app. Provisioning is determined by the following things:

If you observe that users aren't being provisioned, consult the Provisioning logs in Microsoft Entra ID. Search for log entries for a specific user.

You can access the provisioning logs in the Microsoft Entra admin center by browsing to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > Provisioning logs. You can also select a specific application and then select Provisioning logs in the Activity section. You can search the provisioning data based on the name of the user or the identifier in either the source system or the target system. For details, see Provisioning logs.

The provisioning logs record all the operations performed by the provisioning service, including querying Microsoft Entra ID for assigned users that are in scope for provisioning, querying the target app for the existence of those users, comparing the user objects between the system. Then add, update, or disable the user account in the target system based on the comparison.

General Problem Areas with Provisioning to consider

Below is a list of the general problem areas that you can drill into if you have an idea of where to start.

Provisioning service does not appear to start

If you set the Provisioning Status to be On in the Enterprise applications > [Application Name] >Provisioning section of the Microsoft Entra admin center. However no other status details are shown on that page after subsequent reloads, it's likely that the service is running but hasn't completed an initial cycle yet. Check the Provisioning logs described above to determine what operations the service is performing, and if there are any errors.

Note

An initial cycle can take anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours, depending on the size of the Microsoft Entra directory and the number of users in scope for provisioning. Subsequent syncs after the initial cycle are faster, as the provisioning service stores watermarks that represent the state of both systems after the initial cycle. The initial cycle improves performance of subsequent syncs.

Provisioning logs say users are skipped and not provisioned even though they are assigned

When a user shows up as “skipped” in the provisioning logs, it's important to review the Steps tab of the log to determine the reason. Below are common reasons and resolutions:

  • A scoping filter has been configured that is filtering the user out based on an attribute value. For more information on scoping filters, see scoping filters.
  • The user is “not effectively entitled”. If you see this specific error message, it's because there's a problem with the user assignment record stored in Microsoft Entra ID. To fix this issue, unassign the user (or group) from the app, and reassign it again. For more information on assignment, see Assign user or group access.
  • A required attribute is missing or not populated for a user. An important thing to consider when setting up provisioning is to review and configure the attribute mappings and workflows that define which user (or group) properties flow from Microsoft Entra ID to the application. This configuration includes setting the “matching property” that is used to uniquely identify and match users/groups between the two systems. For more information on this important process, see Customizing User Provisioning Attribute Mappings for SaaS Applications in Microsoft Entra ID.
  • Attribute mappings for groups: Provisioning of the group name and group details, in addition to the members, if supported for some applications. You can enable or disable this functionality by enabling or disabling the Mapping for group objects shown in the Provisioning tab. If provisioning groups is enabled, be sure to review the attribute mappings to ensure an appropriate field is being used for the “matching ID”. The matching ID can be the display name or email alias. The group and its members aren't provisioned if the matching property is empty or not populated for a group in Microsoft Entra ID.

Provisioning users assigned to the default access role

The default role on an application from the gallery is called the "default access" role. Historically, users assigned to this role aren't provisioned and are marked as skipped in the provisioning logs due to being "not effectively entitled."

Behavior for provisioning configurations created after 04/16/2020: Users assigned to the default access role will be evaluated the same as all other roles. A user that is assigned the default access won't be skipped as "not effectively entitled."

Behavior for provisioning configurations created before 04/16/2020: For the next 3 months, the behavior will continue as it's today. Users with the default access role will be skipped as not effectively entitled. After July 2020, the behavior will be uniform for all applications. We won't skip provisioning users with the default access role due to being "not effectively entitled." This change will be made by Microsoft, with no customer action required. If you would like to ensure that these users continue to be skipped, even after this change, apply the appropriate scoping filters or unassign the user from the application to ensure they're out of scope.

Next steps

Microsoft Entra Connect Sync: Understanding Declarative Provisioning