Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with Benefitsolver

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

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

Scenario description

In this tutorial, you configure and test Microsoft Entra single sign-on in a test environment.

  • Benefitsolver supports SP initiated SSO.

To configure the integration of Benefitsolver into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add Benefitsolver 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 Benefitsolver in the search box.
  4. Select Benefitsolver 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 Benefitsolver

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Benefitsolver 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 Benefitsolver.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Benefitsolver, 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 Benefitsolver SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create Benefitsolver test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Benefitsolver 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 > Benefitsolver > 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, perform the following steps:

    a. In the Identifier box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<companyname>.benefitsolver.com/saml20

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type the URL using the following pattern: https://www.benefitsolver.com/benefits/BenefitSolverView?page_name=single_signon_saml

    c. In the Sign-on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: http://<companyname>.benefitsolver.com

    Note

    These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier, Reply URL and Sign on URL. Contact Benefitsolver Client support team to get these values. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section.

  6. Benefitsolver application expects the SAML assertions in a specific format. Configure the following claims for this application. You can manage the values of these attributes from the User Attributes section on application integration page. On the Set up Single Sign-On with SAML page, click Edit button to open User Attributes dialog.

    Screenshot shows User Attributes with the edit control called out.

  7. In the User Claims section on the User Attributes dialog, edit the claims by using Edit icon or add the claims by using Add new claim to configure SAML token attribute as shown in the image above and perform the following steps:

    Name Source Attribute
    ClientID You need to get this value from your Benefitsolver Client support team.
    ClientKey You need to get this value from your Benefitsolver Client support team.
    LogoutURL You need to get this value from your Benefitsolver Client support team.
    EmployeeID You need to get this value from your Benefitsolver Client support team.

    a. Click Add new claim to open the Manage user claims dialog.

    Screenshot shows User claims with Add new claim and Save called out.

    Screenshot shows Manage user claims where you can enter the values described in this step.

    b. In the Name textbox, type the attribute name shown for that row.

    c. Leave the Namespace blank.

    d. Select Source as Attribute.

    e. From the Source attribute list, type the attribute value shown for that row.

    f. Click Ok

    g. Click Save.

  8. On the Set up Single Sign-On with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, click Download to download the Federation Metadata XML from the given options as per your requirement and save it on your computer.

    The Certificate download link

  9. On the Set up Benefitsolver section, copy the appropriate URL(s) as per your requirement.

    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 Benefitsolver.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
  2. Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > Benefitsolver.
  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 Benefitsolver SSO

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

Note

Your Benefitsolver support team has to do the actual SSO configuration. You will get a notification when SSO has been enabled for your subscription.

Create Benefitsolver test user

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

Test SSO

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

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

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

  • You can use Microsoft My Apps. When you click the Benefitsolver tile in the My Apps, this will redirect to Benefitsolver Sign-on URL. For more information, see Microsoft Entra My Apps.

Next steps

Once you configure Benefitsolver 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.