Once the foundation is ready, you can begin setting up the core elements of Zoho Directory.
This stage focuses on bringing your users into Directory, organizing them, adding applications, and giving employees access to the applications they need.
Decide how to bring users into Zoho Directory
Before adding users, decide how identities should enter and be maintained in Zoho Directory.
The best method depends on the number of employees you have and where your organization's user information currently resides.
Scenario
| Recommended approach
|
Small number of users
| Add users manually
|
User information is available in a spreadsheet
| Bulk import users
|
Users are managed in Active Directory
| Configure directory synchronization
|
Users are managed through LDAP
| Configure the appropriate directory integration
|
Users are maintained in another identity system
| Check available integration and synchronization options
|
What to consider
Ask:
- Where is the authoritative employee information currently stored?
- How frequently are users added or removed?
- Who maintains employee details today?
- Do you want users to be maintained directly in Zoho Directory or synchronized from another source?
- How should changes to employee information reach Zoho Directory?
Why it matters
This is one of the most important setup decisions.
If employee identities are already maintained in another system, manually recreating them in Zoho Directory could result in duplicate data and additional administrative work.
Choosing the right user-management method makes ongoing onboarding, updates, and offboarding easier.
Learn more:
Add,
import, or synchronize users
Add or import users
Once you have chosen your user-management approach, bring your employees into Zoho Directory.
Available options
Depending on your environment, you can:
- Add users individually
- Import multiple users using a file
- Synchronize users from an existing directory
- Use supported integrations to bring users into Zoho Directory
What to review
Make sure important employee information is accurate before users are added.
Check:
- First and last name
- Primary email address
- Employee information
- Work location
- Designation
- Department or team details
- Other attributes your organization relies on
Why it matters
User information becomes the foundation for many later Directory operations.
Accurate user data makes it easier to:
- Organize users
- Assign applications
- Create groups
- Apply access conditions
- Delegate administration
- Manage employee lifecycle changes
Organize users with groups
Once users are available, organize them into groups based on how your organization works.
Groups can represent teams, functions, projects, locations, or other logical collections of users.
What to consider
Groups do not necessarily have to mirror your formal organization chart.
Create groups based on how you want to manage users and provide access.
For example, employees from different departments who use the same application could be placed in a common group.
Why it matters
Groups make administration easier.
Instead of repeatedly assigning applications or settings to individual users, administrators can manage access for a collection of users.
Best practice
Create meaningful groups that can be reused for access management instead of creating a large number of narrowly defined groups.
Add and configure applications
Next, add the applications your employees need to access.
Zoho Directory can become the central place from which administrators manage application access and sign-in configuration.
You can add
Depending on your environment, applications may include:
- Zoho applications
- Applications available through the app catalog
- Pre-integrated SSO applications
- Custom applications used by your organization
What to do
Start with the applications that are most widely used or business-critical.
For each application, identify:
- Who needs access
- Whether SSO needs to be configured
- Whether automated provisioning is supported or required
- Who owns the application internally
Why it matters
Adding applications to Zoho Directory gives administrators greater visibility into which applications are connected to the organization and who should have access to them.
It also prepares those applications for centralized access management and SSO configuration.
Start small
You do not need to add every application your organization uses on day one.
Start with a few important applications, validate your setup, and expand gradually.
Assign applications to users or groups
After adding applications, decide who should have access to each one.
Applications can be assigned to the appropriate users or groups based on your organization's requirements.
What to do
Review each application and identify:
- Which teams need access
- Whether access should be given to individuals or groups
- Whether access should depend on user attributes or other conditions
- Who should approve access to sensitive applications
Best practice
Where possible, manage access through groups rather than repeatedly assigning applications to individual users.
Why it matters
A structured approach to application assignment:
- Reduces repetitive administrative work
- Helps maintain consistent access
- Makes onboarding easier
- Simplifies access changes when employees change roles
- Makes offboarding easier to manage
Think about least privilege
Users should generally receive access only to the applications required for their responsibilities.
Avoid assigning applications simply because they may be useful later.
Before moving to advanced setup
At the end of Part 2, your organization should ideally have:
- Basic organization information configured
- Domain verified
- Users available in Zoho Directory
- Users organized appropriately
- Important applications added
- Application access assigned
You now have the core identity and application-management structure in place.
The next step is to strengthen access through authentication, security controls, delegation, automation, and monitoring.