AI explains Okta Workflows' role in identity automation: streamlines identity management processes through automated workflows, ensuring seamless user access and security.
In the digital world, keeping stakeholders informed is crucial, especially when it comes to new user onboarding. Okta Workflows offers a solution to this challenge with a flow that notifies users when a new account is created in Okta.
This flow, known as "Notify when a user is created in Okta", is typically set up to be triggered by the Okta-User Created event. Once activated, it performs a series of actions designed to gather user details and send notifications.
How it Works
The flow begins with the Trigger: the Okta-User Created event. This sets the flow in motion as soon as a new user is added to the Okta directory.
Next, the flow moves on to the Actions. After detecting a new user, it:
- Retrieves detailed user profile information, such as email, manager, and department.
- Optionally queries or enriches data by reading user information by ID.
- Sends notifications to specified recipients. This could include emails, Slack messages, or tickets in ITSM tools like ServiceNow.
The notifications contain key information about the new user and can be customized with conditional logic. For example, notifications can be set to only be sent if the user is in a certain group or location.
Finally, the flow can be Exported for reuse or sharing. Okta Workflows flows can be exported as JSON files from the Workflows console, allowing admins to save the "Notify when a user is created in Okta" flow for backup, versioning, or sharing across Okta tenants.
Components
- Trigger: Okta-User Created event
- Actions: Read user details → Send notifications → Optional logic
- Notifications: Emails, Slack messages, ServiceNow tickets (if integrated)
- Exporting: Export flow from Okta Workflows console as JSON
By automating communication in this way, Okta Workflows helps ensure that stakeholders are immediately informed when a new user is onboarded.
Learning Resources
For those new to Okta Workflows, the Getting Started with Okta Workflows page offers a wealth of resources to help get you started. The #our website-workflows channel on the MacAdmins Slack is another great resource for learning from the community. Okta Learning also provides videos to help users master the platform.
Max Katz, Staff Developer Advocate for Okta Workflows, has written a blog post demonstrating how AI, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, can be used to describe an Okta Workflows flow. Max previously led developer advocacy for Appery, a cloud-based mobile app platform, and the North America Developer Advocacy team at IBM.
Community office hours, community forum, and email are available for those who have questions about Okta Workflows. Max regularly writes on his blog at http://maxkatz.net.
The flow called "Notify when a user is created in Okta", initiated by the Okta-User Created event, leverages Okta Workflows technology to automate communication related to new user onboarding in the cloud identity environment. This flow gathers user details, sends notifications to specified recipients using email, Slack messages, or ServiceNow tickets, and can be customized based on user group or location. Furthermore, this flow can be exported as a JSON file from the Okta Workflows console for backup, versioning, or sharing across Okta tenants.
