Azure AD

Sync teams and users in Microsoft Azure 

In large companies, cyber security is paramount. When people from outside the organization can access company data, there’s an increased risk of misusing information. Timesheets are not just  work statements, they’re a reflection of how your business allocated resources to bring in revenue. Each timesheet is associated with client projects, some of which may be confidential.

Consultancies and agencies are most likely to hire part-time contractors, but software companies can also bring in consultants and seasonal hires to help on an ad-hoc basis. To onboard the right people securely, you want to manage access through one system, and that can be Microsoft Azure, SAP, or Okta. 

The Azure integration with Timely ensures that user permissions are updated in real time. When you end a work agreement with seasonal contractors and remove them from your approved Azure teams, they will no longer be able to request log in access to Timely. 

Conversely, when you’ve just started a new contract with a consulting firm, your system administrator can configure access to Timely to anyone with a legitimate corporate email address managed by your hired consultancy. 

Automated authorization workflows reduce the time  spent on managing users across systems, saving your IT organization time so they can focus on business-critical projects instead.

How do I sync users in Microsoft Azure? 

You can create a team synchronization workflow between Azure AD and Timely to automate teams membership management and reduce cyber security risks. 

An Azure AD integration will automatically grant access to Timely for teams sharing the same email membership, allowing them to start using Timely workspaces right away. Amy membership changes are Timely automatically, reducing IT dependencies and speeding up onboarding for large teams.

This integration is only available on Unlimited plans and requires a bit more custom development on both sides. We recommend getting in touch with our technical team to ensure that your Azure team sync connection is set up to meet your needs.

What are the benefits of syncing users through Microsoft Azure?

Build a resilient hybrid business

The challenges of a growing hybrid business are complexity and safety. Both are 100% dependent on your systems and the information architecture upon which you scale your organization. 

A resilient hybrid business is a connected business. With the rise in utilization of APIs and webhooks, many admin processes that once required manual validation and setup can now be automated. At Timely, we continuously evolve our infrastructure to support modern ways of keeping your critical systems connected. The Azure AD integration for user membership synchronization is one way in which we provide large enterprises with the tools they need to continue securing access to business systems and automating workflows.

Automate admin and onboarding processes

As you move from office-first to hybrid work models, your workforce processes change too. The pace of doing business has increased as well. Don’t let user onboarding and management slow down your business. When you create automated workflows to manage user permissions between Timely and Azure, you also reduce the cost of maintenance. 

Imagine setting up access for 50 users in a day. If it takes around 5 minutes to verify and approve access for each user, then your IT department will spend up to one business day on this tedious task alone. Worse, if IT admins are not available, access to Timely will be deferred and could snowball into a slew of delays for weeks or months to come. 

The biggest benefit of process automation is a significant reduction in operating costs. The job of one or two people can be done instantly, at a lower initial setup cost and time investment. On the upside, your IT department can spend time on modernizing and updating your business infrastructure instead of completing low-value manual tasks.