#Will the App Profile Method Meet Your Data Management Requirements?

To back up or manage your Microsoft 365 data in services for Microsoft 365, you must first use AvePoint Online Services Auto discovery to scan or add Microsoft 365 objects. Auto discovery can use the app profile and service account authentication (obsolete) methods to scan objects.

*Note: For organizations that have configured Auto discovery scan profiles with the service account authentication, if these scan profiles are modified after the June 2023 release, the service account authentication methods will be absent from scan profiles. If you want to continue using the service account authentication method for Auto discovery scan jobs, you must not update your Auto discovery scan profiles.

The app profile authentication method is the default option, as the easiest way to work with your environment is by registering an app profile. This ensures that all jobs that run in your environment are tagged as AvePoint activities, and we do not need to store any service accounts or passwords. When you use the app profile authentication method to scan objects, the app token within the app profile will be used to back up or manage data, and the credentials of the Administrator account will not be stored by AvePoint Online Services — only your Administrator’s consent is recorded, and this consent can be monitored in your Microsoft Entra and can be revoked at any time from your environment.

While we do suggest you use the app profile method, there are specific instances when this method is not recommended. Refer to the information in the links below to help you determine if using the app profile method will satisfy your data management requirements.