Automated user provisioning keeps your team's access to Chainels in sync

Every time someone joins, changes role, or leaves your organisation, their access to Chainels has to be updated. What that used to mean was someone manually inviting a new community manager, updating their details by hand, and remembering to remove them the day they leave. It works, but it takes unnecessary time, and a single misstep can leave an old account lingering with access it shouldn't have.

Automated user provisioning takes that work off your plate. Once it's connected, Chainels stays automatically in step with your organisation's existing user directory which means the right people get access when they should, and lose it the moment they shouldn't.

What automated provisioning actually is

Many larger organisations already manage their staff accounts in one central place, an "identity provider" such as Microsoft Entra (formerly Azure AD) or Okta. It's where IT adds new employees, updates their details, and disables them when they leave.

Automated user provisioning connects that system to Chainels using an industry standard called SCIM. In plain terms, it lets your identity provider create, update, and deactivate the Chainels accounts of your team members on its own, so your Chainels access always mirrors your official employee list.

It is worth noting that automated user provisioning manages who has an account and access. Signing in is still handled by single sign-on (SSO). The two work side by side, with provisioning deciding who has an account and SSO letting them in.

What happens automatically

Once the connection is set up, three things happen automatically.

1. Onboarding. When you add a team member to the right group in your directory, a matching Chainels account is created for them with access to the communities it should cover. They can sign in straight away through SSO, and because it's an internal, automated step, they don't receive a separate invitation email to action.
2. Staying in sync. When someone's details change in your directory, such as a new surname, a different phone number, or a language preference, that change flows through to their Chainels account on the next sync.
3. Offboarding. This one matters most for security. The moment a person is disabled or removed in your directory, their access to the connected communities is revoked and their account is cleaned up.

You stay in control

Automated provisioning is deliberately scoped and safe by design.

It only covers your management users, meaning your community managers and staff. Tenants are unaffected.

Core user details such as name, email, job title and access status are synced from your identity provider into Chainels. That keeps staff accounts up to date without needing the same changes to be made manually in two places. Community roles and permissions still stay managed in Chainels.

The connection is tightly bounded. It can only act within the specific communities you've granted it, through a dedicated service account. It can't reach anything outside that scope.

Frequently asked questions

Who is this for?

Organisations that manage a sizeable team of community managers and already run a central identity provider like Microsoft Entra or Okta, and want access to Chainels to follow their joiner–mover–leaver process automatically.

Is it the same as single sign-on?

No, but they're complementary. SSO handles logging in. Provisioning handles who has an account in the first place, and keeps it current. Most organisations use both together.

Does it affect our tenants or members?

No. The way tenants and members are managed today doesn't change.

What happens when someone leaves?

As soon as they're disabled or removed in your directory, their access to the connected communities is withdrawn automatically, and their account is removed once nothing remains, typically within one sync cycle.

Which identity providers are supported?

The feature is built on the SCIM 2.0 standard and is being validated first with Microsoft Entra, with Okta and other standards-compliant providers in mind.

Who sets it up?

It's configured together with whoever manages your identity provider, usually your IT team, using a service account on the Chainels side. Your account manager can help you get started.

The bigger picture

Automated user provisioning is about giving larger teams a way to manage Chainels access at the same pace they manage everything else: automatically, consistently, and securely. Set it up once, and the right people simply have the right access, from their first day to their last.