Reviewing user attributes for gaps

What “gaps” actually mean

In practice, attribute gaps fall into a few predictable categories:

• Missing: required fields are blank (e.g., manager, employeeID, mail).
• Invalid: present but wrong format (e.g., userPrincipalName not routable, phone numbers inconsistent).
• Inconsistent: same concept stored differently across OUs/regions (e.g., department names, office codes).
• Stale: correct once, but not updated (e.g., title, manager, location after org changes).
• Risky flags: attributes that create security exposure (e.g., delegation settings, admin indicators).

The goal is not “fill every attribute.” The goal is define what must be accurate for your environment, then continuously detect and correct drift.

Why attribute hygiene matters (real-world impact)

• Access control: dynamic groups, RBAC mappings, and app entitlements often rely on department, title, or location.
• Email & collaboration: mail, proxyAddresses, and UPN mismatches break routing and sign-in consistency.
• Security & incident response: poor metadata slows investigations (who owns this account? where is the user? who is the manager?).
• Lifecycle automation: joiner/mover/leaver workflows fail when “source-of-truth” attributes are missing or stale.
• Compliance: audits love “evidence.” Attributes like employeeID, manager, and accountExpires create traceability.

Build an attribute baseline (the minimum viable directory profile)

Start by defining a baseline per account type. Most organizations need at least three baselines: Human users, service accounts, and shared/room accounts.

Suggested baseline: Human user

Suggested baseline: Service account

• Required identification: clear description (owner, system, purpose), employeeType or a custom marker
• Ownership: managedBy (or manager if used consistently), distribution list for ownership
• Security controls: strong password policy approach, limited logon scope, no interactive sign-in unless justified
• App linkage: servicePrincipalName only when needed; track where it is used

High-value attributes to review (and the gaps they create)

1) UPN, mail, and proxy addresses

• Gap: UPN doesn’t match the primary sign-in domain strategy.
• Gap: mail is empty for mailbox-enabled users.
• Gap: duplicate SMTP addresses in proxyAddresses.
• Impact: sign-in confusion, sync conflicts, mail delivery issues, licensing automation failures.

2) Manager and ownership fields

• Gap: manager missing, invalid DN, or points to a disabled/departed user.
• Impact: access approvals break, investigations stall, org chart tools become unreliable.

3) Department, title, employeeID, employeeType

• Gap: free-text chaos (“IT”, “I.T.”, “Information Tech”, “Tech”).
• Gap: employee IDs missing or non-unique.
• Impact: dynamic group logic misfires, HR-driven automation fails, audit traceability is weak.

4) Account control and lifecycle indicators

• Gap: accounts never expire when they should (contractors, vendors).
• Gap: stale accounts without review (no meaningful logon activity).
• Gap: password-related flags inconsistent with policy.
• Impact: orphaned access, increased attack surface, compliance risk.

5) Privilege and “security smell” attributes

These aren’t “profile completeness” fields, but they belong in the same review because they reveal risky exceptions:

• adminCount set (often indicates protected/admin group history) without a documented reason
• servicePrincipalName present on accounts that shouldn’t run services
• Delegation-related flags in userAccountControl that don’t match policy
• Unusual values in altSecurityIdentities (certificate mappings) without governance

A repeatable process for finding gaps

Step 1: Define “required” per account type

Document a simple rule set. Example: “Human users must have employeeID, manager, department, title, mail, UPN in approved suffixes.” Make exceptions explicit (e.g., interns, contractors).

Step 2: Segment your population before you measure it

Accuracy improves dramatically when you report by segments:

• OU path (e.g., OU=Users vs OU=Service Accounts)
• Account type marker (e.g., employeeType, naming convention, or extension attribute)
• Enabled vs disabled
• Privileged vs standard user

Step 3: Run “blank + invalid + stale” checks

Think in three lenses:

• Blank checks: is it missing?
• Validation checks: is it formatted correctly and within allowed values?
• Freshness checks: is it likely outdated (org changes, no logon for X days, manager disabled)?

Step 4: Produce an actionable report

Reports should answer: which accounts, what’s wrong, who owns the fix, and how urgent. Avoid dumping raw attribute exports without prioritization.

Step 5: Fix with governance, not heroics

• Automate what should be automated (HR-driven updates, templates, validation).
• Route exceptions to owners (manager or system owner).
• Track closure (tickets or an access review workflow).
• Schedule a cadence (weekly for service accounts, monthly/quarterly for users—based on risk).

PowerShell: practical gap checks you can run today

The examples below are intentionally “operations-friendly.” Adjust OUs, domains, and required attributes to match your environment.

1) Find enabled users missing required attributes

# Requires RSAT ActiveDirectory module
$required = @('employeeID','department','title','manager','mail','userPrincipalName')

$users = Get-ADUser -Filter "Enabled -eq 'True'" `
  -Properties $required, DistinguishedName, SamAccountName, DisplayName

$missing = foreach ($u in $users) {
  $gaps = @()
  foreach ($r in $required) {
    if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace([string]$u.$r)) { $gaps += $r }
  }
  if ($gaps.Count -gt 0) {
    [pscustomobject]@{
      SamAccountName   = $u.SamAccountName
      DisplayName      = $u.DisplayName
      DN               = $u.DistinguishedName
      MissingAttributes= ($gaps -join ',')
    }
  }
}

$missing | Sort-Object MissingAttributes, SamAccountName |
  Export-Csv ".\ad-attribute-gaps-enabled-users.csv" -NoTypeInformation

2) Validate UPN suffix is in an approved list

$approvedSuffixes = @('contoso.com','corp.contoso.com')

Get-ADUser -Filter "Enabled -eq 'True'" -Properties userPrincipalName |
  Where-Object {
    $upn = $_.userPrincipalName
    if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($upn) -or ($upn -notmatch '@')) { return $true }
    $suffix = $upn.Split('@')[-1].ToLower()
    $approvedSuffixes -notcontains $suffix
  } |
  Select-Object SamAccountName, DisplayName, userPrincipalName |
  Export-Csv ".\ad-upn-invalid-suffix.csv" -NoTypeInformation

3) Find users whose manager is missing or disabled

$users = Get-ADUser -Filter "Enabled -eq 'True'" -Properties manager

$result = foreach ($u in $users) {
  if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace([string]$u.manager)) {
    [pscustomobject]@{ SamAccountName=$u.SamAccountName; DisplayName=$u.DisplayName; Issue="ManagerMissing"; ManagerDN="" }
    continue
  }

  $mgr = Get-ADUser -Identity $u.manager -Properties Enabled -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
  if (-not $mgr) {
    [pscustomobject]@{ SamAccountName=$u.SamAccountName; DisplayName=$u.DisplayName; Issue="ManagerNotFound"; ManagerDN=$u.manager }
  }
  elseif ($mgr.Enabled -ne $true) {
    [pscustomobject]@{ SamAccountName=$u.SamAccountName; DisplayName=$u.DisplayName; Issue="ManagerDisabled"; ManagerDN=$u.manager }
  }
}

$result | Export-Csv ".\ad-manager-issues.csv" -NoTypeInformation

4) Dormancy view: last logon timestamp and password last set

$cutoffDays = 90
$cutoff = (Get-Date).AddDays(-$cutoffDays)

Get-ADUser -Filter "Enabled -eq 'True'" -Properties lastLogonTimestamp,pwdLastSet |
  Select-Object SamAccountName, DisplayName,
    @{n="LastLogon";e={ if ($_.lastLogonTimestamp) {[DateTime]::FromFileTime($_.lastLogonTimestamp)} else {$null} }},
    @{n="PwdLastSet";e={ if ($_.pwdLastSet) {[DateTime]::FromFileTime($_.pwdLastSet)} else {$null} }} |
  Where-Object { ($_.LastLogon -eq $null) -or ($_.LastLogon -lt $cutoff) } |
  Export-Csv ".\ad-dormant-enabled-users.csv" -NoTypeInformation

5) Service account baseline: missing owner + description

# Example heuristic: service accounts in a dedicated OU
$ou = "OU=Service Accounts,DC=contoso,DC=com"

Get-ADUser -SearchBase $ou -Filter * -Properties description, managedBy |
  Where-Object {
    [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace([string]$_.description) -or
    [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace([string]$_.managedBy)
  } |
  Select-Object SamAccountName, DisplayName, description, managedBy |
  Export-Csv ".\ad-service-account-metadata-gaps.csv" -NoTypeInformation

Common fixes (and how to avoid breaking things)

Prefer authoritative sources

If HR is your source of truth for department, title, manager, and employeeID, the best “fix” is a reliable sync process (direct integration, identity governance tool, or controlled import workflow). Manual cleanup without an upstream fix is just repainting over rust.

Standardize values (stop free-text drift)

• Use a controlled vocabulary for department, company, office, employeeType.
• Publish allowed values and enforce them in provisioning processes.
• Where possible, drive dynamic groups off stable codes (e.g., extensionAttribute values) rather than human-entered names.

Be careful with sign-in and email attributes

• Changing userPrincipalName can impact sign-in experiences and app mappings, especially in hybrid environments.
• Changing proxyAddresses can break mail routing if not coordinated.
• Fix duplicates carefully—treat duplicates as incidents, not “cleanup tasks.”

Make ownership explicit for non-human accounts

Service and shared accounts should always have a clearly documented owner and purpose. If ownership is unclear, treat it as a risk—because it is.

Operational checklist

• Define required attributes per account type (human/service/shared).
• Define validation rules (UPN suffix, email format, allowed departments).
• Segment reporting (OU/account marker/privileged vs standard).
• Run monthly gap reports (or more frequently for high-risk OUs).
• Route remediation to owners (manager/system owner) with deadlines.
• Fix upstream provisioning to prevent recurrence.
• Track exceptions (temporary accounts, vendors) with expiry and review dates.

Quick FAQ

Should every user have every attribute filled?

No. Define what’s required to run your security, access, and operations processes. Treat the rest as optional enrichment.

What’s the fastest win?

Require employeeID, manager, department, and a consistent employeeType (or equivalent marker), then build reports that highlight missing values in enabled accounts.

How do you keep attributes accurate over time?

Prevent gaps at creation (templates/provisioning), integrate authoritative sources (typically HR), and run recurring drift detection with a defined remediation workflow.