Zoho Directory Integration

Zoho Directory integration with ServiceDesk Plus Cloud syncs all user details in both applications. Any user added in either application will be automatically added to the other. You can also monitor login activities, delete users or disable users' login to ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instance from within Zoho Directory.

This article provides step-by-step instructions on how to set up the integration and sync all user information in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud with Zoho Directory.

Set up the integration

Manage instances

Assign users

Sync settings

Additional resources

Role required: OrgOwner and Admin privilege-enabled users in Zoho Directory.

Set Up the Integration

Log in to ServiceDesk Plus Cloud.
Go to Instances .
Click Zoho Directory.

Alternatively, you can access Zoho Directory from ESM Portal or ESM Directory by clicking Zoho Directory at the top-right of the page. You can also log in to Zoho Directory as an admin.

ESM Directory

ESM Portal

A Zoho Directory account will be created, and the ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instance will be added as an application in it. Also, all self-service login-enabled users in the instance will be added as users in the Zoho Directory account.

To add other instances,

Go to Admin Panel > Applications.
Click Add Application.
On the Choose Application slider, search for ServiceDesk Plus and click Add.

You should now see a list of other ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instances.

Choose your preferred instance and click Next.
Click Add to associate the instance and its users with Zoho Directory.
On the success message page, you can perform any one of the following:
Click Manage Application to edit and manage the instance immediately.
Click Add User to add other users in Zoho Directory to the instance immediately.
Click OK to manage the details later.

Key Points to Remember

You can only integrate one instance at a time. To integrate other instances, go to ServiceDesk Plus Cloud and follow these steps.
While integrating an instance, only the self-service login-enabled users in that instance will be added to Zoho Directory.
After you add ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instances, you can access them under Applications.

Manage Instances

You can perform the following operations to manage instances in Zoho Directory:

Edit display name

Change instance owner

Hide an instance

Deactivate and reactivate an instance

Access instances

Enable admin privilege

Edit Display Name

Each ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instance will be added as a separate ServiceDesk Plus application. You can edit their display name for easy identification. To do that,

Go to Admin Panel > Applications.
On the list view, click the required instance. You should now see a slider displaying all its users and options to edit and manage the details.

Click Edit on the slider.
In the pop-up, edit the display name.
Click Update.

Change Instance Owner

To change the owner of an instance,

Click Change Owner on the application slider.

Select a user from the Choose the new owner drop-down.
Click Change.

Hide an Instance

Hiding an instance will not deactivate or delete it. The instance will no longer be displayed in the launcher or the Admin Panel, but users can still access it using its URL.

To hide an instance,

Click the More icon on the application slider.
Click Hide.

Deactivate and Reactivate an Instance

Deactivating an instance will terminate its integration with Zoho Directory. However, the instance will remain in Zoho Directory and ServiceDesk Plus Cloud.

To deactivate an instance,

Click the More icon on the application slider.
Click Deactivate.

You would need to reactivate the instance in Zoho Directory to enable the integration. To reactivate,

Access the deactivated instance under Applications > Inactive Apps, as shown:

Click the required instance on the Inactive Apps list and click Activate on the slider.
On the pop-up, click Activate.

Access Instances

You can access your ServiceDesk Plus instances and their Admin settings from Zoho Directory.

Go to Applications and click the required instance.
On the slider,
- Click the Open App icon next to the instance name to access the instance.
- Click Settings at the top-right of the slider. You will be redirected to the instance's Admin settings.

Enable Admin Privilege

You can provide users with admin privileges for Zoho Directory. Click here to learn more.

To enable,

Go to Admin Panel > Admins.
Click + Assign Admin.
On the Assign Admin slider,
- Select users from the drop-down.
- Select the required admin roles to assign. For more information, click here.
- Manage their permissions across Zoho Directory.
- Click Assign.

Manage Users

Assign Users

From Zoho Directory, you can associate users with specific sites, departments, and configure roles and permissions to manage their access to ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instances.

To access this setup,

Go to Applications.
Click the required instance.
On the slider, click Assign Users or go to the Conditional Assignment tab.

On the Assign <instance_name> to User(s) slider, go to any of the following tabs to select users in Zoho Directory and configure permissions:

Individual tab to select users manually.
Group tab to select users from group.
Everyone tab to configure for all or specific users in the organization.

Select Users Manually

In the Individual tab,

Select a user from the Choose User drop-down.
To search for or bulk select users, click the plus icon > Select users. In the Select Users pop-up,
- You can search for a user and select them.
- Use filters on the left pane and drop-down on the top to filter out specific users and select them. To deselect users, click the required user on the bottom.
- After you select the required users, click Done.

Under the Department Details section, perform the following:
- Select the site and department you want to associate the selected users with.
- Provide their job title.
Under the Roles and Permissions section, provide the following details:
- Select a ServiceDesk Plus Cloud user type: Requester or Technician.
- Based on the user type, the following fields will appear on the slider:

The permissions you configure here will overwrite the ones defined in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud.

Fields	Requester	Technician	Description
Allowed to view		-	Users can view their requests, their site/department requests, or all requests.
Sites	-		Select one or more sites from the drop-down. The technicians will have access to these sites only.
Groups	-		Select one or more groups from the drop-down. The technicians will have access to these groups only.
Select Role	-		Select a role to provide admin privileges to technicians. You can provide more than one role under Enable Custom Privileges.
Project Role			Assign a role to users for their projects.
VIP User		-	To mark requesters as high-priority users.
Service Request Approver			Enable the checkbox to make the user an approver for service requests.
Purchase Order Approver			Enable the checkbox to make the user an approver for purchase orders.

• After you configure, click Assign.

Select Users from Groups

In the Group tab,

Select one or more groups in Zoho Directory from the Choose Group drop-down. Click here to know how to add users to a group in Zoho Directory.
Enable the following options as required:
- Also apply condition to existing users: By default, the criteria under rule setting will be applied to new users. Enable the option to apply for existing users in the chosen groups.
- Overwrite the roles assigned manually to users: To overwrite the manually assigned roles in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud via Zoho Directory.
Under the Configure the condition section,
- Rule setting: Set criteria to filter users.
  - Choose All members to apply the condition you configure here to all the chosen users.
  - Choose Users matching the criteria to filter users by criteria. Define whether users should match all or any condition.
  - Click Edit under This rule is applicable to <choice> to edit the choice, if needed.
  - Click Add Rule to configure a different set of criteria.
  - After you configure, click Assign under Rule Settings.
- Application setting: Provide the chosen users the necessary permission to access the ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instance and click Save.
Finally, click Assign at the bottom of the slider.

Assign ServiceDesk Plus instance to all users

Go to the Everyone tab on the slider to define permissions for all or specific users in your organization to access ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instance. For more information, refer here.

Conditional Assignment

You can also assign users under the Conditional Assignment tab in the application slider.

Click Get Started. After the first configuration, you will find the Assign Group button. Clicking that button will redirect you to the Group tab. You can switch tabs based on your needs.
Follow these steps for configuration.

You should now find the configurations listed under the tab.

Hover over the required configuration and click Edit if needed.
You can force sync a configuration for existing members in Zoho Directory, in case you missed to apply its conditions for them while configuring. To do that,
- Hover over the required configuration.
- Click .
- Click Re-schedule for existing members.

Click Deactivate to deactivate the set condition.
Click Delete to delete the condition.

Unassign Users

Unassigning users in Zoho Directory will delete them or disable their login in the ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instance, based on the configuration. To do that,

Go to Applications.
Click the required instance.
On the slider, search for the user.

Hover over the required user and click Yes, Unassign.

Alternatively, you can unassign an instance from a user under Admin Panel > Users.

Click the required user.
Go to the Applications tab.
Hover over the required instance and click Unassign.

Click Yes, Unassign in the pop-up.

Deactivate Users

Deactivating users in Zoho Directory will delete them or disable their login from associated ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instances, based on the configuration. However, you can activate them in Zoho Directory and reassign instances.

To deactivate users,

Go to Users.
Click the required user in the list. Use Advance Filters at the top of the page to filter users based on specific entities.
On the slider, click Deactivate.

Alternatively, you can click icon next to the required user in the list and select Deactivate.

You can find the deactivated users under Users > Inactive Users, as shown:

Delete Users

Deleting users will delete them from both Zoho Directory and ServiceDesk Plus Cloud or disable their ServiceDesk Plus Cloud login, based on the configuration. To delete a user,

Go to Users.
Click the next to the required user.
Click Delete.

ServiceDesk Plus Cloud Configuration

When a user is deactivated or deleted in Zoho Directory, you can either delete the user or disable their login in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud. To configure that,

Go to ServiceDesk Plus Cloud.
Go to Setup > General Settings > Advanced Portal Settings > Zoho Directory Sync Settings.

Edit User Permissions

In Zoho Directory, you can edit a user's permissions to ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instance either via Applications or Users.

Edit via Applications

Go to Applications.
Click the required instance to view its users.
In the Members tab on the slider, search for the user name. Use the filter icon to filter out the users based on user type, site, department, roles, and more.
Hover over the required user and click Edit.
Edit the necessary details on the Update <user_name> pop-up and click Update.

Edit via Users

Go to Users.
Click the required user. Use filters to search users based on a specific category.

You should now see a slider showing the user's details, categorized under three tabs.

Info: Displays basic information about the user. Click Edit on the slider to edit their details.
Applications: Lists all the applications and ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instances the user is associated with. Click the plus icon to assign a new instance or any application.
Groups: Lists all the groups the user is associated with. Click the plus icon to associate a new group in Zoho Directory.

Sync Settings

Sync settings allow you to sync and update user details in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud with Zoho Directory and vice versa whenever they are added or updated in both applications.

Field Mapping

Field mapping allows you to map the default and custom fields in Zoho Directory to ServiceDesk Plus Cloud Users fields. Any changes made in the mapped fields will be dynamically synced across both applications.

Field mapping must be configured for each instance individually.

To configure the field mapping,

Go to Applications.
Click the required instance.
On the slider, go to the Sync Settings tab.
Click Edit against Field Mapping.

You should now see a pop-up, displaying ServiceDesk Plus Cloud instance and Zoho Directory fields for mapping. You can also choose a sample user to verify their mapped details.

Click the drop-down against the required ServiceDesk Plus Cloud field and select a Zoho Directory field to map with it.
After you map all the required fields, click Save.
Only the selected (check box-enabled) fields will be in sync for both applications. The unchecked fields are listed under the Unmapped tab.
Click All Fields to view all mapped and unmapped fields.
You can reset all the configuration by clicking Reset fields on the top-right.

Points to Remember

Only the default and custom fields related to basic, work, site, and department information will be listed for field mapping.
- Basic and work information fields will be synced only via field mapping.
- Site and department information can be synced via field mapping. If not mapped, these will be synced via conditional assignment or user form.
Roles and Permissions fields will not be listed for field mapping because a user can have different levels of roles and permissions in different applications. They are synced only via user form or conditional assignments.
First Name, Display Name, and Last Name fields of both applications are mapped by default and cannot be edited. The First Name field mapping cannot be disabled.

Quick Sync

Quick Sync in Zoho Directory allows you to force sync the user details in the mapped fields in both applications. To access Quick Sync,

Go to Applications.
Click the required instance on the list.
On the slider, go to the Sync Settings tab.
Click Sync.

Additional Resources

Zoho Directory Documents

Sync Related Documents