What is API-based account provisioning?

• A. Manually create users in each app.
• B. Use API keys to automate app provisioning.
• C. Export user data to spreadsheets for provisioning.
• D. Using application programming interfaces to create and manage users in apps or directories.

Answer: (D)

API-based account provisioning means automating the creation and ongoing management of user accounts across multiple applications or directories by using application programming interfaces. Rather than adding someone to each service by hand, a provisioning system uses APIs to create accounts, assign groups and roles, fill in attributes, and deactivate or remove accounts when needed. This enables consistent, scalable onboarding and offboarding and keeps user data in sync across systems. While authenticating these API calls might involve tokens, OAuth, or API keys, the defining idea is using APIs to perform the provisioning tasks themselves. The other options describe manual steps, data exports, or a narrower approach that relies only on API keys, missing the automated, cross-application management aspect.