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Managing Source Account Schemas

Each source supports a variety of details about each user who has an account, such as their name, email address, and other information. These pieces of data are known as attributes.

The set of account attributes each source stores and how they're organized is known as the account's schema.

To best represent your data, you can configure IdentityNow's sources to use an account schema matching the one you use in the external connector.

Each source schema has one attribute marked as the Account Name and one attribute marked as the Account ID. These attributes should not be edited once they have been created and the source aggregated. Learn more about these attributes and their impact here.

Prerequisites:

  • At least one source has been created
  • If your source is a direct connect source, it has been successfully connected to IdentityNow

Most sources have an account schema as soon as they're configured. To view your account schema, in the Admin interface, go to Connections > Sources and select the source you want to edit. Go to Import Data > Account Schema.

If your source doesn't have an account schema, you can create one by adding attributes to the source in IdentityNow that match the attributes on the source system.

Editing an Account Schema

To manage your source's account schema:

You can add and delete attributes from an account schema, as well as indicate whether an attribute supports multiple values.

  • To add a new attribute, select +Add New Attribute and fill out all required fields.
  • To delete an attribute, select the Delete icon in the Actions column beside the attribute.

  • To mark an attribute as multi-valued, meaning it can support more than one value in a single attribute, select the checkboxes next to the attributes you want to edit. At the top of the table, select the Multi-Valued checkbox.

  • To remove the Multi-Valued setting on an attribute, select the checkboxes beside the attributes you want to edit. Clear the checkbox for the Multi-Valued setting. You can also do this in the Edit Attribute overlay.

  • To mark an attribute as an entitlement, select the Edit icon beside the attribute and select the Entitlement checkbox. Select Save.

  • To edit a source's Account Name or Account ID attributes:

    Select the Options menu and select Edit Schema.

    Under Account ID and Account Name, choose the attributes that should be used to provide those values.

    Select Update.

Warning

Updating the Account Name or Account ID attributes for a source after aggregating accounts is strongly discouraged and can cause significant errors.

The Account Name attribute is immutable, and editing it after accounts have been aggregated can cause duplicate accounts and identities to be aggregated and created. The Account ID attribute is used in multiple places across systems to reference accounts. Changing the Account ID can break these references in serious and unexpected ways.