SQL
SQL is a programming language for relational database management systems. Using a connector, you can connect SQL to the HelloID Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution from Tools4ever. This enables HelloID to retrieve information from SQL databases as a supplementary step in the onboarding, offboarding, and role transition process, or to use SQL as an additional source connector for retrieving supplementary data from databases to complement the data available in your HRM system. This article provides more information about these integrations and the capabilities they offer.
What is SQL
SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It is a programming language used to manage and communicate with SQL databases, also referred to as relational databases. Several relational database management systems use SQL, including Microsoft Office Access, MySQL, Oracle Database, and IBM Db2. The language is standardized and enables users to query, add, or update data in a relational database. A notable advantage of SQL is that, unlike many other programming languages, it is straightforward to read and understand, even for beginners.
Why is an SQL Integration Useful?
Organizations store a wide variety of data in SQL databases, which can serve many different purposes. For example, an SQL database can be used by an application to record all accounts in use within your organization. SQL databases can also store historical data, functioning as a logging repository, as well as supplementary personnel data to support your Human Resource Management (HRM) system.
The SQL connector supports integration with common systems, including Active Directory and Entra ID. More details about integrations with these and other systems can be found later in this article.
HelloID for SQL Helps You With
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Increased efficiency: The integration between your source and target systems and SQL through HelloID enables faster account provisioning and faster write-back of data to an SQL database, increasing efficiency and ensuring users have the required accounts and authorizations more quickly.
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No more separate scripts: Retrieving data from or writing data back to an SQL database has traditionally relied on scripts. Depending on your IT environment, this can result in a large number of separate scripts, adding complexity and introducing error risk. The integration of your source and target systems with SQL through HelloID eliminates the need for separate scripts.
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Error-free account management: The integration elevates the management of accounts and authorizations. HelloID ensures users automatically have the correct accounts and are assigned the correct authorizations. Errors in this process can severely impact productivity, as users who lack the right resources or access cannot perform their work effectively.
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Linking account management to the identity lifecycle process: Every organization's workforce is constantly evolving, with new employees joining, existing users transitioning to new roles, and departing employees. The SQL integration aligns the identity lifecycle process with account management, ensuring accounts and authorizations move seamlessly with workforce changes.
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Improved service levels and security: The integration between your source systems and SQL elevates the management of accounts and authorizations, delivering significant benefits for the digital security of your organization and assets. You prevent accounts of former employees from remaining active unintentionally and ensure authorizations are revoked on time. The more authorizations assigned to an account, the further an attacker can spread across your network. The integration simultaneously improves your service level: users can be served and supported more quickly, and employees are fully productive because they always have the correct accounts and authorizations, while less time is spent correcting avoidable errors.
How HelloID Integrates with SQL
HelloID can use SQL in several ways. The IAM solution connects SQL primarily as a target system, where the SQL connector supplements an Active Directory or Entra ID connector. In this case, you can write information back to an SQL database, such as the account created for a new user.
| Change in source system | Procedure in SQL |
|---|---|
| New employee | When a new employee joins, HelloID automatically creates the required accounts in your target systems and assigns the correct authorizations. If an SQL database records all accounts in use within your organization, HelloID writes this information back to the SQL database via the SQL connector. |
| Employee role change | If an employee's role changes, it is likely that the user requires different authorizations and/or accounts. HelloID can use the SQL connector to process these changes and immediately update them in the SQL databases where this information is stored. |
| Employee offboarding | HelloID monitors employee contracts and immediately detects when a contract ends. The IAM solution automatically blocks the employee's user account in your target systems and writes this back to relevant SQL databases through the SQL connector, keeping database information up to date. |
You can also use SQL as a source system, retrieving supplementary data from an SQL database to supplement the information HelloID already has from your other source systems, such as Microsoft Active Directory or Entra ID.
| Change in source system | Procedure in SQL |
|---|---|
| New employee | When a new employee joins, HelloID retrieves various information from your source system. In some cases, supplementary information is available in an SQL database, such as relevant personal data. The available supplementary data depends on the SQL databases you use. |
| Employee role change | If an employee's role changes, this typically requires changes in accounts and authorizations. HelloID can retrieve supplementary information from SQL databases to execute this process, such as data about the employee's new department and the systems that department uses. |
| Employee offboarding | HelloID monitors employee contracts and detects when they end. To revoke authorizations for the departing user and disable user accounts in target systems, the IAM solution can retrieve supplementary information from SQL databases where needed. |
Tailored Data Exchange
Integrating an SQL database with your source and/or target systems requires correct configuration of the SQL connector. The configuration specifies, among other things, which particular SQL database is involved. Since SQL databases in many cases run on-premises, the SQL connector uses the HelloID Agent by default.
You also define in detail which information HelloID retrieves or writes via the SQL connector by specifying the correct SQL query per lifecycle event, which HelloID executes as a command.
Connecting SQL to Systems via HelloID
Using HelloID, you can integrate SQL with various systems, using SQL as either a source or target system depending on your use case. These integrations strengthen the management of both user accounts and authorizations. An example of a common integration is:
- Microsoft Active Directory/Entra ID to SQL integration: In this case, you connect one or more SQL databases to Microsoft Active Directory through a connector via HelloID. This offers multiple possibilities: on one hand, you can retrieve information from SQL databases to supplement the data HelloID obtains from Microsoft Active Directory or Entra ID; on the other hand, you can write information to an SQL database, for example if it stores accounts.
HelloID supports more than 200 connectors, offering a broad range of integration capabilities between your source and target systems and various applications such as SQL databases. The connector and integration catalog grows continuously, enabling integration with virtually all popular systems.
