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Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with Navan

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

  • Control in Microsoft Entra ID who has access to Navan.
  • Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to Navan 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.
  • Navan single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Scenario description

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

  • Navan supports both SP and IDP initiated SSO.
  • Navan supports Just In Time user provisioning.

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 Navan into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add Navan 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 Navan in the search box.
  4. Select Navan 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 Navan

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Navan 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 Navan.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Navan, 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 Navan SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Navan test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Navan 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 > Navan > 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 application is preconfigured and the necessary URLs are already prepopulated with Microsoft Entra. The user needs to save the configuration by clicking the Save button.

  6. If you wish to configure the application in SP initiated mode, then perform the following step:

    In the Sign-on URL text box, type the URL: https://app.tripactions.com

  7. Click Save.

  8. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, find Federation Metadata XML and select Download to download the certificate and save it on your computer.

    Screenshot shows the Certificate download link.

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

    Screenshot shows to copy configuration URLs.

Create a Microsoft Entra test user

In this section, you'll 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'll enable B.Simon to use single sign-on by granting access to Navan.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
  2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > Navan.
  3. In the app's overview page, find the Manage section and select Users and groups.
  4. Select Add user, then select Users and groups in the Add Assignment dialog.
  5. In the Users and groups dialog, select B.Simon from the Users list, then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.
  6. If you're expecting any role value in the SAML assertion, in the Select Role dialog, select the appropriate role for the user from the list and then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.
  7. In the Add Assignment dialog, click the Assign button.

Configure Navan SSO

To configure single sign-on on Navan side, you need to send the downloaded Federation Metadata XML and appropriate copied URLs from the application configuration to Navan support team. They set this setting to have the SAML SSO connection set properly on both sides.

Create Navan test user

In this section, a user called B.Simon is created in Navan. Navan supports just-in-time user provisioning, which is enabled by default. There is no action item for you in this section. If a user doesn't already exist in Navan, a new one is created after authentication.

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 Navan Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to Navan 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 Navan 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 Navan 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 Navan for which you set up the SSO. For more information, see Microsoft Entra My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure Navan 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.