---
title: How IDM assesses synchronization situations
description: IDM performs reconciliation in two phases:
component: pingidm
version: 8.1
page_id: pingidm:synchronization-guide:sync-situations
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingidm/8.1/synchronization-guide/sync-situations.html
keywords: ["Synchronization"]
---

# How IDM assesses synchronization situations

IDM performs reconciliation in two phases:

1. *Source reconciliation* accounts for source objects and associated links based on the configured mapping.

2. *Target reconciliation* iterates over the target objects that were not processed in the first phase.

   For example, if a source object was deleted, the *source reconciliation* phase will not identify the target object that was previously linked to that source object. Instead, this *orphaned* target object is detected during the second phase.