Step by Step Guide to Azure Assign Application to User

To assign an application to a user in Azure, you'll need to navigate to the Azure portal and select the Active Directory section.

From the Active Directory section, click on the "Enterprise applications" tab to view a list of all the applications in your organization.

To assign an application to a user, you'll need to select the application you want to assign from this list.

With the application selected, click on the "Users and groups" tab to manage who has access to it.

You can assign the application to a user by clicking the "Add user" button and searching for the user's name or email address.

A fresh viewpoint: Azure Active Directory Users

To assign Azure roles, you need to have the right permissions. Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments/write permissions are required, such as those held by Role Based Access Control Administrators or User Access Administrators.

Having the correct permissions is crucial for this process.

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Assigning users and groups to an application is a straightforward process in Azure Active Directory. You can select individual user accounts and grant them access to the application, or you can assign a group to the application and determine access based on group membership.

To assign users individually, you'll need to be an IT admin with directory Cloud Application Administrator permissions. This allows you to select individual user accounts and grant them access to the application.

Group-based assignment is another option, which requires Microsoft Entra ID P1 or P2 permissions. This allows you to assign a group to the application, and specific users' access is determined by whether they're members of the group at the time they try to access the application.

Here are the two primary assignment modes:

Note that nested group memberships aren't supported for group-based assignment to applications at this time.

A unique perspective: Azure Application Security Group

Configuring the permissions is a crucial step in assigning an application to a user in Azure.

First, select API permissions from the left sidebar. To do this, navigate to the appropriate page and click on the API permissions option.

Next, click on Add a permission to begin the process of configuring permissions. This will allow you to select the type of permission you need.

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Select Microsoft APIs and choose Microsoft Graph to change the access level. This will enable you to modify the permissions for your app.

Under Delegated permissions, check the boxes next to Sign in and read user profile and Read directory data. These permissions will allow your app to read the directory.

If requested, Grant Admin Consent to complete the process. This will ensure that your app has the necessary permissions to function correctly.

Finally, click Save at the top to save these changes and complete the permission configuration process.

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Microsoft Application Access is a bit different than other applications, as they are assigned and managed through license assignment or user consent. This means that users can get access to Microsoft applications through various methods.

For applications in the Microsoft 365 or other paid suites, users are granted access through license assignment either directly to their user account, or through a group using the group-based license assignment capability. This is a convenient way for organizations to manage access to Microsoft applications.

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Some applications combine license assignment and user consent methods. For example, certain Microsoft applications are part of a Microsoft 365 subscription, but still require consent. Users can access Microsoft 365 applications through their Office 365 portals.

Here are the three main ways a user can get access to a Microsoft-published application:

These methods ensure that users have the right level of access to Microsoft applications, whether it's through a direct license assignment or through user or administrator consent.

Microsoft Applications, such as Exchange, SharePoint, and Yammer, are assigned and managed differently than non-Microsoft SaaS applications.

There are three main ways a user can get access to a Microsoft-published application: through license assignment, user consent, or administrator consent.

For applications in the Microsoft 365 or other paid suites, users are granted access through license assignment either directly to their user account or through a group using group-based license assignment capability.

If this caught your attention, see: Azure Role Assignment

Some applications combine these methods, requiring both license assignment and user consent.

You can show or hide Microsoft 365 applications in the My Apps with the Office 365 visibility toggle in your directory's User settings.

Users can access Microsoft 365 applications through their Office 365 portals.

To assign users to certain Microsoft applications, you can use the Microsoft Entra admin center or PowerShell.

Here are the three main ways users can get access to a Microsoft-published application:

Registering an app in Azure is a straightforward process. You'll need to log into the Azure portal to get started.

To create an app registration, click the search bar and select Azure Active Directory. If necessary, type "Azure Active Directory" to find it.

In the Azure portal, navigate to the App registrations section under the Manage tab. Click + New registration and enter a name for your app.

You'll need to copy the Application (client) ID and the Directory (tenant) ID for later use.

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To generate a client secret, click Certificates & secrets under the Manage tab, and then click + New client secret. Enter a description and select 24 Months for the expiration period.

The client secret value will be displayed, so be sure to copy it to a text editor for safekeeping.

Here's a quick rundown of the steps to create an app registration:

Microsoft Entra ID provides several customizable ways to deploy applications to end users in your organization, including Microsoft Entra My Apps, Microsoft 365 application launcher, direct sign-on to federated apps, and deep links to federated, password-based, or existing apps.

You can determine whether users assigned to an enterprise app can see it in My Apps and Microsoft 365 application launcher. This is useful for applications like Salesforce, where different teams have varying levels of access.

In many organizations, Salesforce is primarily used by the marketing and sales teams. Members of the marketing team often have highly privileged access, while members of the sales team get limited access. A broad population of information workers may have restricted access to the application.

Exceptions to these rules can complicate matters. It's often up to the marketing or sales leadership teams to grant a user access or change their roles independently of these generic rules.

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You can assign users to an application in a more complex way using Microsoft Entra ID. This allows you to preconfigure applications for single sign-on (SSO) and automated provisioning.

With Microsoft Entra ID, applications can be configured to automatically represent all members of specific teams using attributes like department or role. For example, you can create a dynamic group for the marketing team using the department attribute.

To enable exception mechanisms, you can create self-service groups for each role. For instance, you can create a "Salesforce marketing exception" group as a self-service group and assign it to the Salesforce marketing role. This allows the marketing leadership team to add or remove users, set a join policy, or approve or deny individual users' requests to join.

As users are added to different groups, their role assignment is automatically updated in the application. Administrators can easily view usage and assignment status using Microsoft Entra ID reporting.

Here are some key benefits of using Microsoft Entra Conditional Access for complex application assignment: