Application onboarding is the first real task most SailPoint IdentityIQ (IIQ) engineers are given, and one of the first things interviewers ask about. It means connecting an application to IIQ so its accounts and entitlements are read in, matched to the right people, and governed.

Here is the order that works, step by step.

1. Decide: authoritative or not?

An authoritative application (usually HR) is the source of truth that creates identities. A non-authoritative application (Active Directory, a database app, a SaaS tool) only holds accounts that must be matched to identities that already exist. Get this wrong and you create duplicate identities.

2. Pick the connector type

Start simple. A delimited file connector (CSV) is the easiest way to learn, then JDBC for database applications, then directory connectors such as Active Directory , then web services for REST APIs. The concepts stay the same; only the connection details change.

3.…