As people join, change roles, or leave, the list of who's in Knowly has to keep up. Doing that by hand — adding new joiners, updating details, removing people who have left — gets heavy at scale. Directory sync keeps Knowly in step with your organisation's identity provider automatically, so the right people have access without anyone maintaining a second list inside Knowly. It's often called SCIM, after the standard behind it.
Availability
Directory sync (SCIM) is usually available for organisations with an Enterprise setup.
It's set up together with Knowly. There isn't a switch inside Knowly you flip yourself.
If an option like Dynamic list is locked with a Requires SCIM integration badge, directory sync isn't enabled for your organisation yet. See If a feature is locked for what to check next.
What directory sync keeps up to date
You manage people in your identity provider, and Knowly follows what the directory tells it:
new people in your directory are added to Knowly
changes to their details, like name or email, update in Knowly
people removed or deactivated in your directory lose access in Knowly
the groups they belong to come across too
Because the directory is the source of truth, you make these changes there rather than keeping a separate list current inside Knowly.
Directory groups become audiences you can reuse
The user groups in your directory come across as well, and you can build on them inside Knowly. Use a group as a filter when you create a dynamic list — an audience that stays up to date on its own — and connect that list to a learning journey. See What are dynamic lists in Knowly? for how that works.
If your directory includes a manager for each person, that information can come across too and drive automatic manager assignment on a connected learning journey. See Assign managers automatically from a dynamic list.
What you manage in the directory, and what you don't
With directory sync on, your directory is the source of truth for the people in your organisation. You add and remove organisation members — administrators, managers, and team members — in your directory rather than by hand in Knowly. The usual add and remove options inside Knowly are turned off, since the next sync would only bring people back in line with what your directory says.
Learning-journey participants who come from your directory through a connected dynamic list follow it too. When someone leaves the directory, they leave those journeys.
When someone leaves your directory
When a person is removed or deactivated in your directory, Knowly acts on it automatically. Depending on how your directory sync is set up, Knowly either suspends their access — signing them out and blocking new sign-ins — or removes them from the organisation and deletes their personal data. Your IT or identity team agrees which of these fits when the connection is set up.
Because the directory drives access, remove people there rather than only in Knowly. If you remove someone only in Knowly, the directory may send them back on the next sync. See Removing a participant from your organisation for how organisation removal and directory sync fit together.
Setting up directory sync
Directory sync is set up together with Knowly, alongside SSO — the two go together and use the same connection to your identity provider, so you plan and turn them on as one. Your IT or identity team connects your directory, and Knowly confirms the setup and which details flow across. See Setting up SSO for your organisation for the sign-in side of that connection.