diff --git a/utils/azure_users.py b/utils/azure_users.py
index 9b26bd26..2ab70bd3 100644
--- a/utils/azure_users.py
+++ b/utils/azure_users.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class MSConfig:
     SECRET = os.environ.get('MS_SECRET')
     SCOPE = os.environ.get('MS_SCOPE')
     ENDPOINT = os.environ.get('MS_ENDPOINT')
-    USERID = json.loads(os.environ.get('USERID'))
+    USERID = os.environ.get('USERID')
 
 
 class BearerAuth(requests.auth.AuthBase):
@@ -263,7 +263,8 @@ def get_groups_and_users(self):
             [member['objectId'] for member in item['members']],
         )
         result = list(map(parse_item, response.json()['value']))
-        result[0][1].extend(self.config.USERID)
+        list_of_userid = self.config.USERID.split(" ")
+        result[0][1].extend(list_of_userid)
         
         return result