How a sync works

A sync compares a company’s directory users with its ConnectWise contacts, decides what to do with each, and writes the result to ConnectWise. The same sync also updates the company’s mapped agreement additions.

Matching users to contacts

ConnectActive reads the users of every source of the company and the company’s ConnectWise contacts, and pairs each user with a contact. Once a user and a contact are matched, ConnectActive remembers the pair by the directory’s own identifier for the user, so a renamed user stays matched to the same contact.

For each pair or unpaired user, ConnectActive plans an action:

Situation	Action
Active user with no contact	Create Contact
Active user matched to a contact	Keep the contact up to date (below)
Disabled or departed user matched to an active contact	Deactivate ConnectWise Contact
Contact with no user	Deactivate it, unless ignored
Ignored user or contact	Nothing, ever, until you stop ignoring it

In a sync you run by hand, you see the plan on the Matching Form and change it before committing (Review and commit a sync). Automatic syncs apply it, keeping the matches, ignores and Agreement settings you committed.

What ConnectActive writes

For a matched contact ConnectActive keeps the last name in step with the directory, and fills phone numbers, email address and title when they are blank in ConnectWise. It overwrites them only when the company’s Overwrite Options say so. It leaves the first name alone unless Overwrite CW First Name with AD Values is ticked, because ConnectWise often holds the name a contact goes by (Bob) where the directory holds their legal first name (Robert).

A created contact gets the user’s first and last name, title, email address, phone and mobile numbers, and, if the company says so, a portal password (Company settings).

As configured, ConnectActive also sets contacts’ sites, Contact Types and custom fields, the contacts of workstations, and the count, user list and price of mapped agreement additions.

Which users are active

• Disabled accounts are inactive. With Sync Licensed Disabled Users as Active, a disabled Microsoft 365 user who still has a license stays active.
• Unlicensed Microsoft 365 accounts are treated as disabled, while Treat Unlicensed Microsoft 365 Accounts as Disabled is ticked (the default).
• Unused or abandoned accounts, such as an account that has not signed in for 30 days or has no first or last name, get no new contact and drop off company-wide additions, unless Treat Unused or Abandoned Accounts as Active is ticked. An account with a Microsoft 365 license assigned is not treated as unused for not signing in.
• Filters limit the sync to chosen groups, licenses or OUs (Filter which users sync).
• Auto Ignore keywords ignore matching new accounts in every company (Ignore accounts automatically).

When ConnectActive syncs

Trigger	When
Daily sync	Once a day for every active company whose first sync has been committed
A change in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace	Usually within minutes: a change to a user, group or license starts the company’s sync
A PowerShell upload	Each run of the company’s script starts its sync
You	Sync, Sync All or Sync All Failed on the Companies tab, or Perform Sync on a company

Changes are not followed within minutes for a company whose last sync failed, one that does not sync contacts, one that uses another company’s connection, or one whose directory has more than 3,000 users. Those sync on the daily schedule.

A failed company is retried automatically every few hours. ConnectActive emails the addresses in Report Failures To, once, after the delay set in Report Failures Timing. A company that has failed for over 30 days, and whose settings have not changed in that time, is no longer retried automatically: fix it and sync it by hand.

The company list

Tab	Companies
Active Syncs	Active and syncing successfully
Failed Syncs	Whose automatic sync is failing; the row shows the failure and its message
Not Syncing	Set up but not in the daily sync, most often because the first full sync has not been committed
Deactivated	Taken out of the daily sync with Deactivate

Each row counts the company’s contacts as (Active/Matched/Ignored), shows the sync method, the last sync date (or QUEUED while a sync waits to run), and, for Microsoft 365, how many licenses are bought but not assigned.