Entra: the sign-in time is not when the account was created

The sign-in clock belongs to the sign-in

createdDateTime on a sign-in is when Entra created that sign-in record. It dates this attempt. It does not date the user object, the application registration, or the tenant.

A second sign-in has its own time. Do not average them into an “account created” time.

Account creation is on the user object

The directory user has its own created time, if you open the user and the field is there. That value can be years earlier than the sign-in you are reading. If you did not open the user, write “account created time not opened.” Do not copy the sign-in time into that sentence.

A failed sign-in still has a record time. Failure does not make the clock mean something else.

What to file

File the sign-in id, the sign-in time, and the account name. If you also cite the user object’s created time, label it as the user object and name where you read it. Do not use one unlabeled timestamp for both.

Worked case: 16:40 read as the day the account appeared

A sign-in for sam@hackblue-lab.org has createdDateTime 2026-11-03T16:40:22Z. The user object, opened separately, shows created 2024-02-01. A draft says the account was created at 16:40 because that is the time on the row in front of them.

The note calls 16:40 the sign-in record time and 2024-02-01 the user object’s created time. The account was not created during this sign-in. The draft sentence is replaced.

Snippet

sign-in createdDateTime: 2026-11-03T16:40:22Z
account: sam@hackblue-lab.org
user object created: 2024-02-01
write: two clocks, two objects
not: the account was created at 16:40

Diagram

Keep the sign-in clock on the sign-in

Sign-in time
When this record was created.
Row
```
2026-11-03T16:40:22Z
```
User object
A different page, if you opened it.
Object
```
created 2024-02-01
```
Not opened
Say the account created time was not opened.
Gap
```
do not copy 16:40
```
The note
Label each time with the object it came from.
Note
```
two clocks
```

Check yourself

1. createdDateTime on a sign-in row dates what?

2. You did not open the user object. What can you say about when the account was created?

3. The user object says 2024 and the sign-in says 2026. What do you record?