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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra single sign-on (SSO) integration with Hootsuite

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In this tutorial, you learn how to integrate Hootsuite with Microsoft Entra ID. When you integrate Hootsuite with Microsoft Entra ID, you can:

  • Control in Microsoft Entra ID who has access to Hootsuite.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to Hootsuite with their Microsoft Entra accounts.
  • Manage your accounts in one central location.

Prerequisites

To get started, you need the following items:

  • A Microsoft Entra subscription. If you don't have a subscription, you can get a free account.
  • Hootsuite single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Scenario description

In this tutorial, you configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO in a test environment.

Note

Identifier of this application is a fixed string value so only one instance can be configured in one tenant.

To configure the integration of Hootsuite into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add Hootsuite from the gallery to your list of managed SaaS apps.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
  2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > New application.
  3. In the Add from the gallery section, type Hootsuite in the search box.
  4. Select Hootsuite from results panel and then add the app. Wait a few seconds while the app is added to your tenant.

Alternatively, you can also use the Enterprise App Configuration Wizard. In this wizard, you can add an application to your tenant, add users/groups to the app, assign roles, as well as walk through the SSO configuration as well. Learn more about Microsoft 365 wizards.

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO for Hootsuite

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Hootsuite using a test user called B.Simon. For SSO to work, you need to establish a link relationship between a Microsoft Entra user and the related user in Hootsuite.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Hootsuite, perform the following steps:

  1. Configure Microsoft Entra SSO - to enable your users to use this feature.
    1. Create a Microsoft Entra test user - to test Microsoft Entra single sign-on with B.Simon.
    2. Assign the Microsoft Entra test user - to enable B.Simon to use Microsoft Entra single sign-on.
  2. Configure Hootsuite SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Hootsuite test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Hootsuite that is linked to the Microsoft Entra representation of user.
  3. Test SSO - to verify whether the configuration works.

Configure Microsoft Entra SSO

Follow these steps to enable Microsoft Entra SSO.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.

  2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > Hootsuite > Single sign-on.

  3. On the Select a single sign-on method page, select SAML.

  4. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, click the pencil icon for Basic SAML Configuration to edit the settings.

    Edit Basic SAML Configuration

  5. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, the user does not have to perform any step as the app is already pre-integrated with Azure.

  6. Perform the following step, if you wish to configure the application in SP initiated mode:

    In the Sign-on URL text box, type the URL: https://hootsuite.com/login

  7. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, find Certificate (Base64) and select Download to download the certificate and save it on your computer.

    The Certificate download link

  8. On the Set up Hootsuite section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on your requirement.

    Copy configuration URLs

Create a Microsoft Entra test user

In this section, you create a test user called B.Simon.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a User Administrator.
  2. Browse to Identity > Users > All users.
  3. Select New user > Create new user, at the top of the screen.
  4. In the User properties, follow these steps:
    1. In the Display name field, enter B.Simon.
    2. In the User principal name field, enter the username@companydomain.extension. For example, B.Simon@contoso.com.
    3. Select the Show password check box, and then write down the value that's displayed in the Password box.
    4. Select Review + create.
  5. Select Create.

Assign the Microsoft Entra test user

In this section, you enable B.Simon to use Azure single sign-on by granting access to Hootsuite.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
  2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > Hootsuite.
  3. In the app's overview page, select Users and groups.
  4. Select Add user/group, then select Users and groups in the Add Assignment dialog.
    1. In the Users and groups dialog, select B.Simon from the Users list, then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.
    2. If you are expecting a role to be assigned to the users, you can select it from the Select a role dropdown. If no role has been set up for this app, you see "Default Access" role selected.
    3. In the Add Assignment dialog, click the Assign button.

Configure Hootsuite SSO

To configure single sign-on on Hootsuite side, you need to send the downloaded Certificate (Base64) and appropriate copied URLs from the application configuration to Hootsuite support team. They set this setting to have the SAML SSO connection set properly on both sides.

Create Hootsuite test user

In this section, you create a user called Britta Simon in Hootsuite. Work with Hootsuite support team to add the users in the Hootsuite platform. Users must be created and activated before you use single sign-on.

Hootsuite also supports automatic user provisioning, you can find more details here on how to configure automatic user provisioning.

Test SSO

In this section, you test your Microsoft Entra single sign-on configuration with following options.

SP initiated:

  • Click on Test this application, this will redirect to Hootsuite Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to Hootsuite Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.

IDP initiated:

  • Click on Test this application, and you should be automatically signed in to the Hootsuite for which you set up the SSO.

You can also use Microsoft My Apps to test the application in any mode. When you click the Hootsuite tile in the My Apps, if configured in SP mode you would be redirected to the application sign on page for initiating the login flow and if configured in IDP mode, you should be automatically signed in to the Hootsuite for which you set up the SSO. For more information about the My Apps, see Introduction to the My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure Hootsuite you can enforce session control, which protects exfiltration and infiltration of your organization’s sensitive data in real time. Session control extends from Conditional Access. Learn how to enforce session control with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps.