Get Started With Entra ID Integration for Staffbase Email

Set up the Entra ID integration to automatically sync contacts and groups with Staffbase Email.

Staffbase Email

Staffbase offers automatic contacts and groups sync using Microsoft Entra ID. You need to set up the integration in the Studio by connecting your Entra ID instance to Staffbase Email. The setup can be divided into two parts. The first part needs to be done in your Entra ID tenant and the second part in the Staffbase Studio.

To prepare for the integration, you need to create an app, give it the necessary permissions, and retrieve the details to be provided during the later steps.

  • You have an Entra ID tenant.
  • You have one of the following permissions to configure provisioning in Entra ID:
    • Application Administrator
    • Cloud Application Administrator
    • Global Administrator

To establish a connection with Staffbase Email and Entra ID, you need to create an app in Entra ID and provide the app details in the Staffbase Studio.

  1. In Microsoft Azure, under Azure services, navigate to Microsoft Entra ID > App registrations.
  2. Click New application.
    The Register an application dialog opens.
  1. Provide a name for the application. For example, Staffbase Email Contact Provisioning or something similar to help you instantly identify the application.
  2. Select the option Accounts in this organizational directory only (Single tenant).
  3. Click Create.
    You have created an application to sync contacts to Staffbase Studio.
The integration remains active only while the client secret is valid. You can define the duration of the client secret validity. If the integration stops working after this period, verify the status of your client secret. In this case, you need to create a new client secret and add it to the Studio.
  1. In Microsoft Azure, navigate to the app you created.
    The overview page for the app opens.
  1. Under Essentials, click Add a certificate or secret corresponding to Client credentials.
    The Certificates & secrets page opens.
  2. Click New client secret.
    The Add a client secret page opens.
  3. In the Description field, provide a name for the client secret.
  4. In the Expires dropdown, select the desired validity period for the client secret.
    The client secret overview page opens.
  5. Copy the value for the client secret you created to a clipboard.

You have created the client secret. You need the value when establishing the connection with the Studio.

You need to retrieve the app details, which you need for the initial configuration step of the Entra ID integration in the Staffbase Studio.

  1. In Microsoft Azure, navigate to the app you created.
    The overview page for the app opens.
  2. Copy the following values to a clipboard:
    • Application (client) ID
    • Object ID
    • Directory (tenant) ID
      You have retrieved the remaining details required to establish the connection with the Studio.

You need to provide the app with the necessary permissions so that Staffbase Studio can connect with your app.

  1. In Microsoft Azure, navigate to the app you created.
    The overview page for the app opens.
  2. Click API permissions.
  3. Click Add a permission > Microsoft Graph > Application permissions.
  4. Under User, select the option for User.Read.All.
  5. Click Add permissions.
  6. Similarly, add permissions under Groups for Group.Read.All
    You have added permissions.
Your admin needs to consent for the newly added permissions. If you have admin rights, you can grant the permissions.

After you complete the preparation in Entra ID, you can proceed to configure the integration in the Staffbase Studio. You need to establish a connection between your Entra ID instance and the Studio, map the Entra ID fields to Staffbase, and optionally sync groups or create exclusion rules.

  • You have an administrator role in the Staffbase Studio.
  • You have configured the necessary profile fields in the Staffbase Studio.
  • You have the following app details from the Entra ID you created in the previous steps:
    • Application (client) ID
    • Object ID
    • Directory (tenant) ID
    • Client Secret

To create the connect you need to provide the details of the app you created in Entra ID.

  1. In the Studio, navigate to Users > Integrations.
  2. Click New Integration.
    The Connect Integrations page opens.
  1. In the Integration Name field, provide a name.
  2. Paste the following details you copied from Entra ID in the respective fields:
    • Application (client) ID
    • Object ID
    • Directory (tenant) ID
    • Client Secret
  3. Click Next.
    You have successfully connected your Entra ID instance to Staffbase Email and now you can map the fields.

After connecting to Entra ID, you can map its fields to the corresponding profile fields in Staffbase Email. The Map Fields page displays all imported fields from Entra ID alongside dropdowns from which you can select the corresponding Staffbase profile fields for mapping.

Ensure that you map the Email and Identifier fields correctly. Only contacts with valid email addresses can be added as contacts. Identifiers help identify each contact in this integration. Also, you need to map only the fields that you want to sync, others can be left out.
  1. In the Map Fields page, click the dropdown corresponding to the imported field you want to map and select a profile field.
  2. Repeat the step until you have mapped all the fields.
  3. Click Next.

This is an optional step, you can exclude certain contacts from being synced.

  1. In the Exclude Contacts page, click Add Rules.
  2. In the first dropdown, select Entra ID field that you want to exclude.
  3. In the second dropdown, select one of the following operators:
    • is
    • is not
    • is empty
    • contains
  4. In the third dropdown, provide the value that you want to exclude.
    The third dropdown does not appear if you selected the operator is empty. The value you enter must match the value used in Entra ID. The values are case-sensitive.
  5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 to add any number of exclusion rules.
  6. Click Next.

This is an optional step, you can select groups that you want to sync from Entra ID.

The groups synced from Entra ID cannot be edited in the Staffbase platform. Any changes to those groups must be done in EntraID.
  • In the Select Groups page, select the groups you want to sync and click Next.

The preview page gives you an overview of the sync. You can make any edits at this stage.

  1. In the Preview and Sync page, review the sync details.
  2. Make changes if needed.
    Confirm all the necessary changes are made, as once the sync starts, it cannot be stopped.
  3. Click Sync.
    You have successfully started the sync. You are redirected to the overview page and the status of your integration changes to In Progress and finally to Active, once the sync is complete.
The duration of the import process varies depending on the amount of contacts/groups data in your Entra ID tenant.

After the initial full sync, the sync switches to an incremental delta sync. This means your data is being kept in sync by reflecting every change within Entra ID on a daily basis.