In this article, you learn how to enable self-service application access using the Azure Active Directory Admin Center.
Before your users can self-discover applications from the My Apps portal, you need to enable Self-service application access for the applications. This functionality is available for applications that were added from the Azure AD Gallery, Azure AD Application Proxy, or were added using user or admin consent.
Using this feature, you can:
- Let users self-discover applications from the My Apps portal without bothering the IT group.
- Add those users to a pre-configured group so you can see who has requested access, remove access, and manage the roles assigned to them.
- Optionally allow a business approver to approve application access requests so the IT group doesn’t have to.
- Optionally configure up to 10 individuals who may approve access to this application.
- Optionally allow a business approver to set the passwords those users can use to sign in to the application, right from the business approver’s My Apps portal
- Optionally automatically assign self-service assigned users to an application role directly.
Prerequisites
To enable self-service application access, you need:
- An Azure account with an active subscription. Create an account for free.
- One of the following roles: Global Administrator, Cloud Application Administrator, Application Administrator, or owner of the service principal.
- An Azure Active Directory Premium (P1 or P2) license is required for users to request to join a self-service app and for owners to approve or deny requests. Without an Azure Active Directory Premium license, users cannot add self-service apps.
Enable self-service application access to allow users to find their own applications
Self-service application access is a great way to allow users to self-discover applications, and optionally allow the business group to approve access to those applications. For password single-sign on applications, you can also allow the business group to manage the credentials assigned to those users from their own My Apps portal.
To enable self-service application access to an application, follow the steps below:
- Sign in to the Azure portal as a Global Administrator.
- Select Azure Active Directory. In the left navigation menu, select Enterprise applications.
- Select the application from the list. If you don’t see the application, start typing its name in the search box. Or use the filter controls to select the application type, status, or visibility, and then select Apply.
- In the left navigation menu, select Self-service.
- To enable Self-service application access for this application, set Allow users to request access to this application? to Yes.
- Next to To which group should assigned users be added?, select Select group. Choose a group, and then select Select. When a user’s request is approved, they’ll be added to this group. When viewing this group’s membership, you’ll be able to see who has been granted access to the application through self-service access. NoteThis setting doesn’t support groups synchronized from on-premises.
- Optional: To require business approval before users are allowed access, set Require approval before granting access to this application? to Yes.
- Optional: For applications using password single-sign on only, to allow business approvers to specify the passwords that are sent to this application for approved users, set Allow approvers to set user’s passwords for this application? to Yes.
- Optional: To specify the business approvers who are allowed to approve access to this application, select Select approvers, select up to 10 individual business approvers, and then select Select. NoteGroups are not supported. You can select up to 10 individual business approvers. If you specify multiple approvers, any single approver can approve an access request.
- Optional: For applications that expose roles, to assign self-service approved users to a role, select Select Role, choose the role to which these users should be assigned, and then select Select.
- Select the Save button at the top of the pane to finish.
Once you complete self-service application configuration, users can navigate to their My Apps portal and select Add self-service apps to find the apps that are enabled with self-service access. Business approvers also see a notification in their My Apps portal. You can enable an email notifying them when a user has requested access to an application that requires their approval.
Next steps
Setting up Azure Active Directory for self-service group management
Ref: How to enable self-service application assignment – Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Learn