Teams and Entra ID group synchronization

Unlock the full potential of your organizational management with Teams and Entra ID Groups Synchronization. Streamline user management, department assignments, and role configurations by integrating absentify with Microsoft Entra ID and Teams groups.

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Benefits of synchronization

• Automated user management: Automatically create and update user accounts in absentify.
• Streamlined departmental updates: Synchronize Microsoft group changes with absentify departments in real-time.
• Manager synchronization: Align group owners in Microsoft with department managers in absentify.
• Enhanced onboarding and offboarding: Simplifies processes while maintaining system accuracy.

By leveraging this integration, organizations can optimize their operations, ensuring that team management processes are both efficient and accurate.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure the following:

• An absentify account with admin rights.
• Microsoft Entra ID access with admin rights.
• Microsoft Teams and Entra ID integrations activated. Refer to our guide on Teams and Entra ID permissions.

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Getting started

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Step 1: Access the synchronization settings

1. Navigate to Settings > Integrations > Microsoft Entra ID/Teams Group Synchronization in absentify.
2. Select Configuration, then select Add a Microsoft Entra ID/Teams group synchronization.

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Step 2: Configure the synchronization

1. Name your synchronization:
   • Use a name that matches the group in Microsoft and the associated department(s) in absentify for easy identification.
2. Select the Microsoft group:
   • Select the group from Microsoft Entra ID or Teams that you want to synchronize.
3. Select the absentify departments:
   • Select the absentify departments for this group. All group members are added to every selected department.
   • To put users into different departments, use a separate Microsoft group for each department.

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Customizable synchronization options

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Enable auto-creation of user accounts

Automatically create absentify accounts for users in Microsoft groups who are not yet in the system. New accounts start as inactive. An administrator can activate them, or you can turn on Activate users automatically on their start date. Then absentify activates them on their employment start date from Microsoft Entra ID, and they receive the welcome email.

1. Toggle Enable auto-creation of user accounts to activate this feature. When this is on, Activate users automatically on their start date appears below it. Turning auto-creation off turns automatic activation off too.
2. Add users to the Microsoft group under Admin Center > Groups > Members.
3. Users will appear under Settings > Users as inactive accounts, ready for profile setup and activation. They will have a pro-rata allowance based on default settings and their employment start date (the employee hire date in Microsoft Entra ID when one is set).

Key points:

• Users already in the workspace: When users who already exist in the absentify workspace are added to a synced group, they are added to every department linked to the group, in addition to the departments they already belong to. Their approver settings do not change.
• Users not yet in the workspace: When users who are not yet part of the absentify workspace are added to a synced Entra ID group, they are created as inactive users and added to every department linked to the group. Their approvers are the managers of the first of these departments, in alphabetical order, that has a manager. All active workspace administrators receive an email about the new user. If automatic activation is off, the email asks them to review the profile and set the account to active. If automatic activation is on, the email says whether activation is scheduled for the employment start date, or that it is happening because that date has already been reached.
• Manual department changes: If Manage department membership on group updates and archive users not assigned to departments is on, you cannot add users to a synced department or remove them from it by hand. If it is off, you can, but the next change to the Microsoft group adds its members to every linked department again.
• Disabled accounts are filtered: absentify only syncs users whose Microsoft Entra ID account is enabled (accountEnabled: true). Disabled accounts—such as terminated or unlicensed users—are automatically excluded from synchronization and will not appear in the user directory.

When Activate users automatically on their start date is on, users without an employment start date stay inactive. When you turn this option on for a group that already has inactive synced users, those whose start date is today or later are scheduled for activation. Users whose start date has already passed stay inactive, so they are not activated in bulk. New users that a later synchronization creates are activated right away if their start date has already passed. If that later synchronization creates many users whose start date has already passed, they stay inactive. Activate them yourself. To stop automatic activation for one inactive user, open that user under Access & permissions and select Stop automatic activation. If Enable auto-creation of user accounts is on, group sync sets an archived user in the Microsoft group to Active. When absentify archived that user automatically after their last working day (Archive automatically after their last day in their profile), group sync leaves them archived. The Microsoft sync logs then show a skipped Reactivate Member. When their hire date in Microsoft Entra ID is after that last working day, group sync sets them to Active.

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Manage department membership and archive users

Keep absentify departments aligned with Microsoft group changes. When users are removed from a Microsoft group, they are automatically archived or unlinked in absentify.

1. Toggle Manage department membership on group updates and archive users not assigned to departments.
2. Update group membership in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center under Group > Members.
3. Sync the updated group with the desired department in absentify.

Key points:

• Users still assigned to other departments: When users are removed from a synced Entra ID group but still belong to other departments, absentify removes them from the synced department only. They remain active in the workspace, and their other department assignments remain unchanged.
• Users with no other department assignments: When users are removed from a synced Entra ID group and have no remaining department assignments, they will be automatically archived in the workspace.

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Sync group owners as department managers

Automatically assign Microsoft group owners as absentify department managers. This ensures management roles remain consistent with organizational changes.

1. Toggle Sync group owners as department managers.
2. Update group owners in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center under Group > Owners.
3. Sync the updated group with the desired department in absentify.

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Troubleshooting

If something doesn’t work as expected during the synchronization of Microsoft Entra ID or Teams groups, consider the following troubleshooting steps:

• User not created or updated: Ensure the user is properly listed as a member of the selected Microsoft group and that permissions for Entra ID access are correctly configured in absentify.
• Departments not synced: Double-check that the correct department is mapped in the synchronization configuration and that the group-to-department mapping was saved.
• User not archived after removal: Archiving may be delayed if users are removed from multiple groups in quick succession. Wait 10–15 minutes and check again.
• User cannot be added to the workspace: A user can only exist in one absentify workspace. If the user already exists in another workspace, the sync log will show a skipped entry with the user’s name and email. If that other workspace is being deleted, the Microsoft sync logs show a skipped Create Member with Error Code USER_IN_WORKSPACE_BEING_DELETED. absentify syncs the group again in about 5 minutes. After the deletion finishes, the next sync creates the user. If that other workspace is not being deleted, the user cannot be added automatically, and the admin who configured the sync will receive an email notification. If you want to learn more about managing multiple workspaces within the same tenant, see our guide on limiting multiple workspace creation for the same tenant.
• Manager sync was automatically disabled: If a group owner is not part of the absentify workspace, manager sync is disabled automatically and the department manager field becomes editable. Fix the group owner in Entra ID, then re-enable the Sync group owners as department managers toggle in the group sync settings.
• User stays archived after they rejoin the group: If absentify archived them automatically after their last working day, group sync leaves them archived. Open the Microsoft sync logs and look for a skipped Reactivate Member. Update their employment dates, then set Account Status to Active.
• Still not syncing correctly? Check the Microsoft sync logs to see whether the sync was triggered and completed successfully. You can also view any error messages or skipped events related to the user or group update. Automatic activation appears there as Schedule Activation, Activate Member, or Cancel Activation.