Introduction:
Enterprise devices need health checks all the time, and Intune performs this without any manual trigger at all. Its internal compliance system works with the help of continuous monitoring, local evaluation, and silent reporting. This runs on every device that is enrolled and keeps the compliance state updated at all times. In the case of learners preparing for Microsoft Intune Certification, understanding how these checks run automatically forms a critical part of understanding the technical structure of Intune.
How Intune Collects Compliance State from Inside the Device?
When a device enrolls in Intune, it gets a small compliance agent. This agent is very different in its function compared to the old monitoring agents. It does not wait for a schedule to kick in, and it is not going to recheck everything over and over. It simply watches these areas of the system that impact compliance.
Major Functions Inside the Device Include:
Local Evaluation Engine:
It reads system settings, security rules, OS features, encryption values, password rules, and threat signals. It stores these states in a small internal database.
Policy Hash Storage:
It doesn't store full policies on the device; it stores policy hashes instead. Policy hashes are lightweight fingerprints of compliance rules.
Event-Based Checks:
The engine instantly assesses the OS-initiated change that can impact compliance, and such initiations include changes in security settings, encryption state, password settings, or OS health. The assessment is performed instantaneously so that it updates the value of compliance.
This flow eliminates manual checks because the device makes a decision right at the moment something changes.
How does Intune get the Compliance Data without Manual Sync?
Then, it prepares a small compliance update after an internal evaluation. This includes only those items that are necessary and does not involve full system data. It is called a “compliance delta.”
A compliance delta contains:
Enterprise devices need health checks all the time, and Intune performs this without any manual trigger at all. Its internal compliance system works with the help of continuous monitoring, local evaluation, and silent reporting. This runs on every device that is enrolled and keeps the compliance state updated at all times. In the case of learners preparing for Microsoft Intune Certification, understanding how these checks run automatically forms a critical part of understanding the technical structure of Intune.
How Intune Collects Compliance State from Inside the Device?
When a device enrolls in Intune, it gets a small compliance agent. This agent is very different in its function compared to the old monitoring agents. It does not wait for a schedule to kick in, and it is not going to recheck everything over and over. It simply watches these areas of the system that impact compliance.
Major Functions Inside the Device Include:
Local Evaluation Engine:
It reads system settings, security rules, OS features, encryption values, password rules, and threat signals. It stores these states in a small internal database.
Policy Hash Storage:
It doesn't store full policies on the device; it stores policy hashes instead. Policy hashes are lightweight fingerprints of compliance rules.
Event-Based Checks:
The engine instantly assesses the OS-initiated change that can impact compliance, and such initiations include changes in security settings, encryption state, password settings, or OS health. The assessment is performed instantaneously so that it updates the value of compliance.
This flow eliminates manual checks because the device makes a decision right at the moment something changes.
How does Intune get the Compliance Data without Manual Sync?
Then, it prepares a small compliance update after an internal evaluation. This includes only those items that are necessary and does not involve full system data. It is called a “compliance delta.”
A compliance delta contains:
- The policy hash.
- the resulting compliance.
- The time of consideration.
- The reason code.
- System trust signals.
These updates are then encrypted and sent to Intune. If the device is offline, the deltas are cached and delivered later. This means the compliance decision is always ready on the device, and Intune updates its records whenever connectivity returns. If you have enrolled in a Microsoft Intune Course you will get to know about this in detail.
How Intune Validates and Interprets Compliance Data?
Once Intune receives the compliance update, it begins a strict validation process. Here, it verifies the correctness of the outcome and the hash of the policy against the latest version in the tenant.
If the hash doesn't match, Intune will prompt the device to rerun the assessment. It will be automatically done, and IT does not need to request any retriggering for this.
Intune then checks the following:
Security Baselines:
Whether device conditions meet baseline rules.
Custom Compliance Policies:
Any custom rules created by the organization.
System Trust Points:
Boot integrity, device identity, encryption status, and OS state.
App and Threat Reports:
App risk score, malware signals, and protection status.
If any drift is detected, Intune marks the device as non-compliant until the device sends a corrected state. Drift detection is one of the main reasons Intune doesn't require any manual confirmation. It continuously watches timestamps, sync behaviour and mismatched results.
How Intune Keeps Long-Term Compliance without Manual Intervention?
Intune has a long-term method of keeping compliance up-to-date, which involves regular monitoring from the device and automated fixes.
Cross-Platform Compliance Model:
How Intune Validates and Interprets Compliance Data?
Once Intune receives the compliance update, it begins a strict validation process. Here, it verifies the correctness of the outcome and the hash of the policy against the latest version in the tenant.
If the hash doesn't match, Intune will prompt the device to rerun the assessment. It will be automatically done, and IT does not need to request any retriggering for this.
Intune then checks the following:
Security Baselines:
Whether device conditions meet baseline rules.
Custom Compliance Policies:
Any custom rules created by the organization.
System Trust Points:
Boot integrity, device identity, encryption status, and OS state.
App and Threat Reports:
App risk score, malware signals, and protection status.
If any drift is detected, Intune marks the device as non-compliant until the device sends a corrected state. Drift detection is one of the main reasons Intune doesn't require any manual confirmation. It continuously watches timestamps, sync behaviour and mismatched results.
How Intune Keeps Long-Term Compliance without Manual Intervention?
Intune has a long-term method of keeping compliance up-to-date, which involves regular monitoring from the device and automated fixes.
Cross-Platform Compliance Model:
- Each OS reports results through the use of its own native APIs.
- It uses bridging providers and health attestation.
- iOS and macOS use MDM command channels.
- Android uses enterprise security interfaces.
Each of those platforms provides structured signals by which Intune could read compliance without further checks.
Proactive Remediation:
Intune can run small scripts that detect wrong settings and fix them. Once the fix is applied, the compliance engine runs again to avoid manual repair work.
Offline logic:
Compliance decisions may also be made while offline. Intune gets updated only once connectivity is restored. This prevents compliance delays.
Verdict Separation:
Compliance results are kept small and separate from the full device reports, so Conditional Access only needs to check the result, not full device data, which keeps the process light and automates it.
All these layers combined provide an environment where the administrator does not need to run any sort of manual check.
Technical Flow of Intune Compliance Tracking:
The entire process of compliance can be understood in the table below.
Proactive Remediation:
Intune can run small scripts that detect wrong settings and fix them. Once the fix is applied, the compliance engine runs again to avoid manual repair work.
Offline logic:
Compliance decisions may also be made while offline. Intune gets updated only once connectivity is restored. This prevents compliance delays.
Verdict Separation:
Compliance results are kept small and separate from the full device reports, so Conditional Access only needs to check the result, not full device data, which keeps the process light and automates it.
All these layers combined provide an environment where the administrator does not need to run any sort of manual check.
Technical Flow of Intune Compliance Tracking:
The entire process of compliance can be understood in the table below.
Stage | Device Operation | Intune Operation |
Policy received | Store's policy hash | Stores tenant hash |
Change detected | Local engine rechecks settings | Waits for update |
Compliance result created | Prepares compliance delta | Validates hash and timestamp |
Sync happens | Sends encrypted delta | Updates compliance record |
Access check | Local result applied | Conditional Access evaluates compliance |
This flow shows the entire path, from a local change to reporting in the cloud, with no user involvement.
Key Takeaways:
- MS Intune monitors compliance based upon an internal engine inside each device.
- Compliance determination by the device is local based on event-based checks.
- Policy hashes enable lightweight and accurate evaluation.
- Compliance deltas carry only the data that changed and auto-sync.
- Intune enforces compliance using Security baselines and Custom rules.
- Drift detection makes it accurate even without a manual review.
- Proactive remediation fixes configuration problems automatically.
- Conditional Access uses only the final compliance result for access.
Sum Up:
Intune ensures compliance as now onwards the device itself keeps monitoring all key settings. Any change triggers an evaluation internally, and instantly, the device generates the outcome of compliance, which gets sent to Intune in the form of small encrypted updates. The outcomes are further verified by Intune through policy hashes, trust signals, and drift analysis. In case of any mismatch, it initiates a requirement for reevaluation with no need for human intervention.
Intune ensures compliance as now onwards the device itself keeps monitoring all key settings. Any change triggers an evaluation internally, and instantly, the device generates the outcome of compliance, which gets sent to Intune in the form of small encrypted updates. The outcomes are further verified by Intune through policy hashes, trust signals, and drift analysis. In case of any mismatch, it initiates a requirement for reevaluation with no need for human intervention.
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