Synchronized users in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Office 365
Applies To: Dynamics CRM 2015
Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration with Microsoft Office 365 adds a new dimension to the concept of a user. User records are stored in both systems’ databases, and are synchronized. In addition, different types of users may exist to handle the situation where a user exists in one system but not the other. This topic describes these types of users, the data that is synchronized, and how to create, update, and delete a synchronized user. This applies to customers who access Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online through the Microsoft Online Services environment.
If you have set up directory synchronization between your local on-premises Active Directory and Microsoft Azure Active Directory, see this KB article: List of attributes that are synchronized to Office 365 and attributes that are written back to the on-premises Active Directory Domain Services.
In This Topic
User records for Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
Data synchronization with Microsoft Office 365
Create a user for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online that can be synchronized with Office 365
Update a user for Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
Disable a user for Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
User records for Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
The system user (user) entity stores user records for both Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Office 365. For more information about this entity, see User and team entities.
The following definitions describe the user types that are available through Microsoft Online Services.
Full user
A user who is licensed for full use of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and is synchronized with Office 365. For more information, see Data synchronization with Microsoft Office 365.Non-interactive user
A user who is synchronized with Office 365 but can only access Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online using the web services.Synchronized user
A user who is not licensed to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online but who exists in, and is synchronized with, Office 365. For more information, see Data synchronization with Microsoft Office 365. This user appears as a regular user to other users of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and can own and share records and is similar to a disabled user. This type of user can be created through the Office 365 admin portal or by assigning the user a license through the Admin page. If desired, the license can be removed after the user is synchronized to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.Stub user
A user record that has been created as a placeholder. For example, records have been imported that refer to this user but the user does not exist in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. This user cannot log in, cannot be enabled, and cannot be synchronized to Office 365. This type of user can only be created using the Create method or the CreateRequest message, or through data import. Data import always creates stub users.
The following table describes the different types of users for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and how they interact with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application, web services, and with the Office 365 admin portal.
User type |
Attribute values |
Visible in Office 365 admin portal |
Has Org ID |
Has CRM License |
Enabled in CRM |
Can Access CRM UI |
Can Access CRM Web Services |
Can be Created using UI |
Can be created through bulk import |
Can be created using web service (Create) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full |
SystemUser.accessmode = Full SystemUser.IsLicensed = true SystemUser.IsSyncWithDirectory = true |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No (only in MOP) |
Yes |
Yes |
Non-Interactive |
SystemUser.accessmode = Non-interactive SystemUser.IsLicensed = true or false SystemUser.IsSyncWithDirectory = true |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes or No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes (using MOP & CRM UI) |
No |
Yes |
Synchronized |
SystemUser.accessmode = Full SystemUser.IsLicensed = false SystemUser.IsSyncWithDirectory = true |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Stub user record |
SystemUser.accessmode = any value SystemUser.IsLicensed = false SystemUser.IsSyncWithDirectory = false |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Data synchronization with Microsoft Office 365
For full users and synchronized users, data is synchronized with the Office 365 directory. When a synchronized user is created or updated, the values in these attributes are ignored if there is existing data in the Office 365 database. For synchronized users, any Microsoft Dynamics CRM web service call that modifies the synchronized data returns the following warning: “Some data for this record is controlled by the directory and will not be processed.”
If you have set up directory synchronization between your local on-premises Active Directory and Azure Active Directory, see the following knowledge base article to understand which attributes are synchronized from the local Active Directory to the Azure Active Directory. For more information, see List of attributes that are synchronized to Office 365.
The following table lists the attributes that are synchronized with the Office 365 directory.
Display name (Office) |
CRM attribute name |
|---|---|
First name |
FirstName |
Last name |
LastName |
Display name |
Not synchronized |
User name |
WindowsLiveID1 |
Job Title |
Title |
User name |
Primary email address |
Office Phone |
Address1_Telephone1 |
Mobile Phone |
MobilePhone |
Fax Phone |
Address1_Fax |
Street Address |
Address1_Line1 |
City |
Address1_City |
State or province |
Address1_StateOrProvince |
ZIP or postal code |
Address1_PostalCode |
Country or region |
Address1_Country |
1 The User Name property is synchronized to all three Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online attributes.
2 If the InternalEmailAddress attribute value is updated in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, it will no longer be synchronized.
Create a user for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online that can be synchronized with Office 365
You can use the Create method or CreateRequest message to create all types of users. You can also create some types of users through the web application or through a data import operation.
To create a synchronized user, set the attribute value for SystemUser.IsSyncWithDirectory to true. To create a stub user, set the value to false. After this user is created, this attribute value cannot be updated.
When you create a synchronized user, the email address specified in the systemuser entity instance is verified in the Office 365 directory. If a user with that email address does not exist in the directory, an error is thrown.
When you create a sync user, if a Microsoft Dynamics CRM user exists with the same WindowsLiveID, the existing user’s WindowsliveID attribute is updated as follows: _crm<#>_<WindowsLiveID>@<Domain>, where # is replaced with a number to make the value unique. To find users with conflicting IDs in the web application, you can add WindowsLiveID to the view and sort by this attribute to group all the conflicts together.
If you attempt to create a stub user with the same WindowsLiveID as an existing synchronized user, an error is thrown.
Update a user for Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
You can use the Update method or UpdateRequest message to update all types of users. However, all fields that are synchronized with Office 365 cannot be updated. If you provide values for these attributes they will be ignored. For more information, see Data synchronization with Microsoft Office 365.
Disable a user for Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
To disable a user, set the SystemUser.IsDisabled attribute value to true, and set the SystemUser.DisabledReason value to one of the option set values and call the Update method or UpdateRequest message.
You cannot disable a synchronized user, a non-interactive user, or a support user.
See Also
Connect with Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
Sample: Authenticate users with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 web services
User and team entities
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