Reference attributes explained (4254744)

How to configure Quick Connect to synchronize reference attributes correctly?

For example, how to synchronize user's Manager field between two Active Directory domains?

Quick Connect Sync Engine 5.2 introduced a new feature:

Read and Write Attribute Values of Referenced Objects

REFERENCE ATTRIBUTES

This feature allows you to read and write attributes of an object referenced by an attribute of the object being updated.

The value of a reference attribute is a reference to another object.

For example, the user's Manager attribute contains distinguished name of another user account in Active Directory.

Quick connect will process reference attributes as described below.

Option 1: Direct Synchronization Rule

When a direct synchronization rule is configured for the Manager atttribute (manager -> manager), Quick Connect will resolve references and update the target correctly if:

1. Managers are included in scope
2. Managers are mapped between the source and target connections correctly

If you configure a direct synchronization rule for a user's Manager attrirube in a Provisioning or Update step:

1. Quick Connect will resolve the reference to the user's manager in the source domain
2. Using the mapping rules, Quick Connect will locate the corresponding manager in the target domain
3. Quick Connect will write the distinguished name of the manager located in Step 2 into the target user's Manager attribute

Option 2: Referenced Object Attribute Rule

1. Referenced Object Attribute rules can be used in both Provision and Update step types
2. The Referenced Object Attribute option is available in a dropdown next to attribute syncronization rules (see attached screenshot).
3. If the target reference attribute does not have a value, Quick Connect is unable to resolve the reference and therefore will not be able to upate the referenced object. Configure additional step to sync the reference attribute directly first (see Option 1 above).