AZ-305 Practice Question: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company uses Microsoft Entra ID and wants to automate the lifecycle management of user accounts in their SaaS applications, such as Salesforce and ServiceNow. The solution should automatically create, update, and deactivate accounts when users join, move, or leave the organization. Which Microsoft Entra ID feature should they use?
Microsoft Entra ID Provisioning automates user account creation, update, and deactivation in SaaS applications via SCIM or built-in connectors.
B
Microsoft Entra ID Connect
Why wrong: Microsoft Entra ID Connect synchronizes on-premises directory objects to Microsoft Entra ID, not to SaaS applications.
C
Microsoft Entra ID Application Proxy
Why wrong: Application Proxy enables secure remote access to on-premises web applications, not lifecycle management.
D
Microsoft Entra ID Entitlement Management
Why wrong: Entitlement Management manages access packages and access reviews but does not automatically create or deactivate accounts based on user lifecycle.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Microsoft Entra ID Provisioning
Microsoft Entra ID Provisioning (specifically, HR-driven provisioning) automates the creation, update, and deactivation of user accounts in SaaS applications like Salesforce and ServiceNow based on changes in the organization's HR system or directory. It uses SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management) protocol to synchronize identity lifecycle events, ensuring accounts are automatically created when users join, updated when they move, and deactivated when they leave.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Microsoft Entra ID Provisioning
Why this is correct
Microsoft Entra ID Provisioning automates user account creation, update, and deactivation in SaaS applications via SCIM or built-in connectors.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Microsoft Entra ID Connect
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Entra ID Connect synchronizes on-premises directory objects to Microsoft Entra ID, not to SaaS applications.
✗
Microsoft Entra ID Application Proxy
Why it's wrong here
Application Proxy enables secure remote access to on-premises web applications, not lifecycle management.
✗
Microsoft Entra ID Entitlement Management
Why it's wrong here
Entitlement Management manages access packages and access reviews but does not automatically create or deactivate accounts based on user lifecycle.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Microsoft Entra ID Connect (which syncs to Entra ID) with provisioning to external SaaS apps, or they mistakenly think Entitlement Management handles account creation when it only manages access rights, not identity lifecycle.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, Microsoft Entra ID Provisioning uses the SCIM 2.0 standard to communicate with SaaS applications, mapping attributes from the source (e.g., HR system or Entra ID) to the target app's schema. It supports delta queries and incremental synchronization, so only changed attributes are transmitted, reducing network overhead. A real-world scenario where this matters is when a large enterprise with thousands of employees needs to ensure that a terminated user's Salesforce account is deactivated within minutes of the HR system update, preventing unauthorized access.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-305 question in full detail.
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions — This question tests Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Microsoft Entra ID Provisioning — Microsoft Entra ID Provisioning (specifically, HR-driven provisioning) automates the creation, update, and deactivation of user accounts in SaaS applications like Salesforce and ServiceNow based on changes in the organization's HR system or directory. It uses SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management) protocol to synchronize identity lifecycle events, ensuring accounts are automatically created when users join, updated when they move, and deactivated when they leave.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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