Purview is now assigning workload admin roles in Microsoft Entra

Microsoft began assigning new Purview workload admin roles to Entra ID user accounts. As a reminder, last December, Microsoft published three new Entra admin roles for Microsoft Purview.

These roles are managed through Purview role assignments. Any manual assignment in Entra is overwritten by Purview.
Over the past few days, some administrators may have received PIM role assignment emails like the one below. This is due to the roles published last December.

• The Purview Workload Content Reader role for the …. directory was assigned outside of PIM

• The Purview Workload Content Writer role for the …. directory was assigned outside of PIM

• The Purview Workload Content Administrator role for the …. directory was assigned outside of PIM

PIM role assignment notification
PIM role assignment notification

Checking the admin role confirms a direct assignment.

One of the three new roles: Purview Workload Content Administrator
One of the three new roles: Purview Workload Content Administrator

The assignment is also in the Entra audit logs, executed by the PurviewRoleAssignmentMigrator service principal (as mentioned in the notification). The principal ID is 9c5a4e30-19ea-49df-8965-06c1c80e7e89. Filter for the RoleManagement category to list these updates.

Microsoft Entra Audit logs
Microsoft Entra Audit logs

It is a first-party service principal created when the first Purview workload assignment was processed.

PurviewRoleAssignmentMigrator service principal
PurviewRoleAssignmentMigrator service principal

Below is the table from the December post, summarizing which Entra admin roles are mapped to Purview roles.

Purview role

Mapped Entra role

Entra role description

Entra role template ID

Insider Risk Management Analysis

Purview Workload Content Reader

Members can read data from Microsoft 365 (such as SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, or Exchange) when accessing from the Microsoft Purview portal.

e07494ad-1654-4dd2-922e-6f81a71bf00f

Insider Risk Management Investigation

Compliance Search

Export

Privacy Management Admin

Privacy Management Analysis

Privacy Management Investigation

Privacy Management Permanent Contribution

Privacy Management Temporary Contribution

Privacy Management Viewer

Hold

Purview Workload Content Writer

Members can read and edit Microsoft 365 data (such as SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, or Exchange) when accessing from the Microsoft Purview portal.

02d5655b-c1cf-4e5f-98da-5fb919085bf6

Privacy Management Investigation

Search and Purge

Purview Workload Content Administrator

Members can manage or purge Microsoft 365 data (such as SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, or Exchange) when accessing from the Microsoft Purview portal.

3f04f91a-4ad7-4bd3-bcfa-49882ea1a88a

Export + Search And Purge
(both roles together)

As stated in my December post:

As an example, if your account has the Purview role “Privacy Management Investigation”, you will automatically receive the Purview Workload Content Writer role in Entra. If an account has multiple Purview roles, it will receive the highest privilege Entra role in the following order: Administrator > Writer > Reader.

That is why Purview assigned the Administrator Workload role in Microsoft Entra to my account.
The account has the Purview roles “Search and Purge” or “Export + Search and Purge” assigned. These roles are included in two Purview role groups:

  • Data Investigator
  • Organization Management
Accounts with the Purview role groups "Data Investigator" or "Organization Management" are assigned the Purview Workload Content Administrator role in Microsoft Entra
Accounts with the Purview role groups “Data Investigator” or “Organization Management” are assigned the Purview Workload Content Administrator role in Microsoft Entra
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About the Author

Tobias Asböck

Tobias Asböck

Tobias is a Senior System Engineer with more than 10 years of professional experience with Microsoft 365 products such as SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Teams Collaboration, Entra ID, Information Protection, Universal Print, and Microsoft 365 Licensing. He also has 15+ years of experience planning, administering, and operating SharePoint Server environments. In his spare time, Tobias is busy with updates in the Microsoft 365 world or on the road with his road bike and other sports activities. If you have additional questions, please contact me via LinkedIn or support@topedia.com.

4 Comments

  1. Mike
    Thanks for this post and gathering together the detailed explanation as to why the alerts the last couple of days. I appreciate you.
    1. Tobias Asböck✓
      Thanks Mike for the feedback, much appreciated. The PIM updates seems to have triggered quite a lot of email notifications and SOC alerts over the past few days.
  2. Scott Themer
    This was very helpful Tobias, thank you so much!
    1. Tobias Asböck✓
      Thanks Scott, for the feedback. I appreciate it.