User activity
User activity in SaaS connects a user to an application and is a prerequisite for calculation of usage metrics.
Definition of activity
User activity connects a user to an application. It is a prerequisite for calculation of usage metrics and subscription optimization. It is also key to discovery of unknown SaaS and to application management.
User activity refers to when the user last had any activity in the application. The time for the latest activity, regardless of source, is presented in the Last active and Status columns in the SaaS tables. For some applications, activity cannot be monitored. If that is the case, this is also shown.
By default, SaaS marks active users as inactive if there has been no detected activity within the last 30 days. This measurement can be customized by setting an Activity threshold for your entire SaaS system in SaaS settings, or by setting an Activity threshold for individual subscriptions that you edit or manually add. If an Activity threshold is set for an individual subscription, it will override the Activity threshold set for your SaaS system. For information on setting an Activity threshold for your SaaS system, see General SaaS settings. For information on setting an Activity threshold for individual subscriptions, see Manage SaaS subscriptions.
Usage and cost metrics for applications, subscriptions, and users are based on the user activity in respective applications. The table shows the definitions of user activity.
| Activity status | Definition |
|---|---|
| Active | User activity within the last 30 days, or within the number of days set as the Activity threshold. |
| Inactive | User activity more than 30 days ago, or beyond the number of days set as the Activity threshold. |
| No activity | No recorded user activity. |
| Not monitored | User activity cannot be measured for the application. |
Activity sources
Activity data can come from multiple sources. User activity in SaaS applications is collected by SaaS connectors and the Browser extension for SaaS or Agent-based browser extensions.
Some enterprise subscriptions, such as those for Microsoft 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud, include applications installed on devices. For more information, see Activity for Microsoft applications on devices and Activity for Adobe Creative Cloud.
To optimize subscriptions that include hybrid applications, user activity in applications installed on devices must be collected to get accurate usage metrics. For more information on this source, see Device application usage.
Total days used
Agent-based browser extensions collect the number of days a user has accessed a SaaS application in their browser, as well as a time stamp. This is shown in the Total days used column in user tables as the total number of days the user has accessed the application.