Use the Manager Attribute in the Admin Portal and API

Attributes are how access and role decisions are made. Introducing the Manager attribute helps Admins centralize and streamline their user management across recourses. Admins will no longer have to manually set the Manager attribute in external bound directories. The Manager attribute can be exported to downstream directories. 

Note:

Google Workspace is currently available for exporting Manager, as our teams work on adding other Directories. 

Prerequisites

  • Both the Manager and the user who will be reporting to the Manager have to already exist.

Considerations

  • The manager’s unique ID is stored as the value for the manager attribute. This allows us to be flexible when exporting manager to downstream resources.
  • The Manager attribute export is limited to Google Workspace for now. Stay tuned for more to come in the future!
    • Within Directory Integrations, Manager will function like other existing attributes, remaining unchecked (not exported) by default. Admins can select the manager attribute to be exported if desired.

Warning: If Export is selected, existing Managers in downstream directories could be overwritten with empty values if they don't already exist in JumpCloud.

Adding and Removing Managers in the Admin Portal

To add a Manager

  1. Log in to the JumpCloud Admin Portal.
  2. Go to USER MANAGEMENT > Users
  3. Click on a user to bring up their information. 
  4. Click on the Details tab. 
  5. Scroll down to Employment Information and click on it to expand the section.
  6. Under Manager, you can search for the user you want to assign as Manager.

Important:

Only one user can be entered in the Manager field. If another user is added, it will override the other user. 

  1. Select the user and click save user.

To remove a Manager

  1. Go to USER MANAGEMENT > Users.
  2. Click on a user to bring up their information.
  3. Click on the Details tab.
  4. Scroll down to Employment Information and click on it to expand the section.
  5. Under Manager, click the ( x ) next to the user’s email to remove this Manager.
  6. From here, you can either assign another Manager or leave it blank.
  7. Click save user

Adding, Removing and Deleting the Manager Attribute in JumpCloud’s API

To add a Manager

  1. Log in to both your JumpCloud Admin Portal, and your preferred API client account.
  2. In your admin portal, go to USER MANAGEMENT > Users
  3. Select the user that you would like to add a Manager for. 
  4. Find the Unique ID (UID) at the end of the URL – there is a numerical + alphabetical character string in between /users/ and /details.  
  5. Copy only the numbers and letters, leaving behind any punctuation. 
  6. Go to your API account dashboard. 
  7. In the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) field, after https://console.jumpcloud.com/api/systemusers/, paste the user’s UID and click Send.
    • Make sure that you are sending a GET request.
  8. The response should include “manager”: null.
  9. Copy the entire body and paste it into the Body of the API request. 
  10. Find the line with the “manager”: attribute and delete the null within the quotation marks “ ”.
  11. Go back to your JumpCloud admin portal. 
  12. Under USER MANAGEMENT > Users. Search for the user that you want to be the Manager for the user above. 
  13. Click on the user, and copy their UID, (the directions on finding this are above). 
  14. Return to your API client and paste the user’s UID in between the quotation marks “ ”. 
  15. Change the dropdown from GET to PUT.

Note:

Double-check that your user’s UID is in the top API request field following the https://console.jumpcloud.com/api/systemusers/ URL, and the Manager’s UID is in the Body field below following the “manager”: attribute.

  1. Click Send
  2. You should receive a ‘200 OK’ Status
  3. Scroll down to confirm that the “manager”: attribute has the new UID populated instead of null
  4. Now, go back to your JumpCloud admin portal and refresh the page. 
  5. Select your user who you just assigned a Manager for. 
  6. Click on the Details tab. 
  7. Expand the Employment Information section and confirm that the new Manager you assigned for the user is populated in the Manager field.

To remove a Manager

  1. Log in to both your JumpCloud Admin Portal, and your preferred API client account.
  2. You need to send a GET request for the user that you want to remove the Manager for. You will need the user’s UID first, (the directions on finding this are above). 
  3. Copy/paste the Manager’s UID into the URI field, after https://console.jumpcloud.com/api/systemusers/ and click Send
  4. The results will display in the second API request field. Scroll down to the line, “manager”: and delete the UID following “manager”: Replace it with null
  5. Change the dropdown from GET to PUT, and click Send.
  6. You should receive a ‘200 OK’ Status
  7. Scroll down to confirm that the “manager”: attribute has null instead of the Manager’s UID. 
  8. Now, go back to your JumpCloud admin portal and refresh the page. 
  9. Select your user who you just removed the Manager for. 
  10. Click on the Details tab. 
  11. Expand the Employment Information section and confirm that the Manager field is empty. 

To delete a Manager

  1. Log in to both your JumpCloud Admin Portal, and your preferred API client account.
  2. You need to send a GET request for the Manager you want to delete. You will need the user’s UID first, (the directions on finding this are above).
  3. Copy/paste the Manager’s UID into the URI field, after https://console.jumpcloud.com/api/systemusers/ and click Send
  4. The results will display in the API response.

Note: If you try to send a DELETE request, you will receive an error message stating that you need to remove or replace them as a Manager for all direct reports. Fortunately, we have an API flag that you can use to help minimize the effort for this process.

  1. The flag cascade_manager=null is a query parameter for the DELETE request. This will remove the Manager from all their direct reports and delete the account. 
  2. Copy this flag and paste it in the URI field, after the https://console.jumpcloud.com/api/systemusers/ and UID, add a question mark ?, followed by the API flag provided.
  3. Make sure the dropdown selected is for the DELETE request, and click Send.
  4. You should receive a ‘200 OK’ Status
  5. Scroll down to confirm that the “manager”: attribute has null instead of the Manager’s UID. 
  6. Now, go back to your JumpCloud admin portal and refresh the page. 
  7. Select a user who you just deleted the Manager for. 
  8. Click on the Details tab. 
  9. Expand the Employment Information section and confirm that the Manager field is empty.
  10. Close out of the user’s information panel and search for the Manager that you just deleted. There should be no results, indicating that the Manager has been deleted. 

FAQs

What happens when an Admin deletes a Manager?

Via the Admin Portal: You receive a confirmation prompt with a list of the selected user(s) that are currently Managers of other users. By deleting these Managers, all direct reports will have their Manager attribute cleared. Via API: If a DELETE request is sent for a current Manager, the request is rejected with a message stating that the Admin needs to remove or change the Manager for all direct reports. Optionally, the Admin can use an API flag in order to clear the Manager attribute on all direct reports when sending the DELETE request.

What directories can Manager be exported to?

Google Workspace, with other integrations to come in the future.

Can I import Managers?

At the time of the initial import, the Manager attribute is not supported. It is available only after the initial import has been completed.

Will a user be able to see that they are a Manager?

Users won't have access to view if they are a Manager.

Can Managers assign Groups?

Managers can't assign Groups at this time.

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