SCIM protocol

SCIM is a protocol that automates the exchange of user identity data between identity providers and service providers. It uses RESTful APIs with JSON to standardize operations like provisioning, deprovisioning, and synchronization of user accounts and groups, ensuring secure integration across systems.

SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management) is an open standard protocol designed to automate the exchange of user identity information between identity providers (IdPs) and service providers (SPs), such as enterprise SaaS applications. SCIM simplifies and secures the provisioning, synchronization, and deprovisioning of user accounts and groups across systems. SCIM operates over RESTful APIs using JSON payloads. It defines a schema for identity resources like User and Group, and standardizes how these resources are created, updated, deleted, and queried. This enables seamless integration between systems like Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, and the Security application.

Main operations that can be done using SCIM:

  • User provisioning: automatically creates user accounts when new employees join.
  • User deprovisioning: removes access when users leave.
  • Group provisioning: assigns users to functional groups, such as sales or engineering.
  • Synchronization: keeps user attributes consistent across platforms, such as email or job title.