Microsoft Entra Management Tasks: Performing Basic User Management

Introduction

Identity and access management is one of the most important parts of cloud security because every organization needs to control who can access its systems, applications, and data.

As part of my learning journey in Microsoft Entra ID, I explored some basic user management tasks that are commonly performed by Identity and Access Administrators. This lab focused on creating users, assigning access, managing external users, and understanding how roles and licenses work in a tenant environment.

The goal of this exercise was to build my confidence with the Microsoft Entra admin center and understand how user access is managed in a real cloud environment.

Below are the steps needed for this task.
Step 1.

• Open the Microsoft Entra admin center at https://entra.microsoft.com and Log in using the credentials for your tenant.

• From the menu on the left, select Users, then choose All users. Next, select + New user and choose Create new user.

• I entered the required user details as shown below:

Field	Value
User principal name	BhogeswarK
Display name	Bhogeswar Kalita

• Leave the Mail nickname as is, and then take a copy of the Password (auto-generated) and store it in Notepad. You will need it later. Leave Account enabled checked.

I entered the user principal name as BhogeswarK. The domain part was automatically attached from my tenant’s primary domain.

• Select the Properties tab and set the values for first and last name:

Field	Value
First name	Bhogeswar
Last name	Kalita

Note that you can set the User type to Member. If you pick Guest, it will restrict the users capabilities.

• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and set the Usage location to United States or to whatever region you are in. Select the Review + create and Create.

Sub-Step 1: Log in to confirm user

• Open an InPrivate browsing window and connect to the Microsoft Entra admin center at the link https://entra.microsoft.com

• Enter the username and password you just created.

Field	Value
Username	BhogeswarK@ your tenant name .onmicrosoft.com
Password	Auto generated password you saved

• Follow the prompt and change the password, then sign in.
  

• If prompted, follow the on-screen instructions to complete MFA setup by using the Microsoft Authenticator on your device.

• Feel free to explore the Microsoft Entra admin center for a minute.

Close the InPrivate browsing window.

Step 2: Add a license to the user

• Open a new tab in your browser and connect to the Microsoft 365 admin center at https://admin.microsoft.com, then sign in.

• Find the menu on the left side of the screen. Open the Billing item in the menu bar, and select Licenses from the list.

• When the list of licenses appears, select Microsoft Power Automate Free.
  In my case, I selected the available business license in my tenant.

• Select the + Assign licenses item. Then choose Bhogeswar Kalita from the list (user created in previous task), select the Assign button at the bottom of the page.

Notice the message that you have successfully assigned a license.

• Close the tab with Microsoft 365 admin center.

Step 3: Invite an external user to your tenant

• If not already open - Open a browser and connect to the Microsoft Entra admin center at https://entra.microsoft.com, then sign in.

• Scroll through the Identity menu and select Users then select All users. At the top of the page select + New User and then choose the option to Invite external user from the dropdown.

• Enter the information for your new external user:

Field	Value
Email	[e-mail]
Display name	External User
Message	Thank you for joining the company for this short work project. We look forward to building this project together.

Select the Review + Invite button, then select Invite.

Step 4 - Assign a role to a user

• If not already open - Open a browser and connect to the Microsoft Entra admin center at https://entra.microsoft.com, then sign in.

• On the Identity section, select Users then select All users. Choose the user Bhogeswar Kalita created earlier.

• From the newly opened menu, select Assigned roles, then select + Add assignment. From the dropdown menu, choose the role Attribute Definition Reader, select Next, and then select Add.

Note that I could not choose Eligible for Assignment type in my option because my subscription does not have Microsoft Entra ID Premium P1/P2.

Sub-Step 1 - Alternate method to assign a role to a user

• In the Identity menu, select Roles & admins, then search for and select Attribute Log Reader from the list of roles.

• From the top of the screen select + Add assignment, and from the list of users, choose Bhogeswar Kalita and then select Add.

Note: Because my tenant doesn't have PIM configured/licensed, the wizard skips the PIM-specific steps where you choose Active for Assignment type. In this case, my tenant uses direct role assignment.

Step 5: Bulk import users

• From the Identity menu, select Users and then select All users.

• From the top of the page, select the Bulk operations drop-down arrow and then select Bulk create.

Note - Selecting Bulk create will open a new tile. This tile provides a Download link to a template file that you will edit to populate with your user information and upload to add the bulk creation of users.

Select Download to see a sample bulk user CSV file, then open it.

• Since a CSV sample was provided, you can open this and edit it for the number of users you want to add, and replace the UserPrincipalName with your domain name and save the file.

Note - The .csv template provides you with the fields included with the user profile. This includes the required username, display name, and initial password. You can also complete optional fields, such as Department and Usage location, at this time. You do not need to fill out all the fields.

• Select the file folder icon under Bulk create users, then select Submit.

• Wait for the notification that the file uploaded successfully.
  Note - After the users have been created, you will be prompted that the creation has succeeded.

• Check the list of users to see your bulk created users.

Conclusion

Completing this Microsoft Entra ID user management lab helped me understand how basic identity administration tasks are performed in a cloud environment. I practiced creating an internal user, confirming the user account through sign-in, assigning a license, inviting an external guest user, assigning roles, and bulk importing users with a CSV file.

One key lesson from this exercise is that user management is more than just creating accounts. It also involves controlling access, assigning the right permissions, managing licenses, and ensuring users can securely sign in to the organization’s resources.

This lab gave me more confidence using the Microsoft Entra admin center and helped me understand the daily responsibilities of an Identity and Access Administrator. It was a good foundation for learning more advanced identity concepts such as Conditional Access, Privileged Identity Management, MFA, and role-based access control.