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

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

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

Scenario description

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

  • Paylocity supports SP and IDP initiated SSO

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

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Paylocity 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 Paylocity.

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

  1. Configure Microsoft Entra SSO - to enable your users to use this feature.
  2. Configure Paylocity SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    • Create Paylocity test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Paylocity 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 > Paylocity > 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. Click Set additional URLs and 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://access.paylocity.com/

  7. Click Save.

  8. Paylocity application expects the SAML assertions in a specific format, which requires you to add custom attribute mappings to your SAML token attributes configuration. The following screenshot shows the list of default attributes.

    image

  9. In addition to above, Paylocity application expects few more attributes to be passed back in SAML response which are shown below. These attributes are also pre populated, but you have to update these attributes with the real values.

    Name Source Attribute
    PartnerID P8000010
    PaylocityUser user.mail
    PaylocityEntity < PaylocityEntity >

    Note

    The PaylocityEntity is Paylocity Company ID.

  10. 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.

    The Certificate download link

  11. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, click Edit Icon.

    Screenshot that shows the "S A M L Signing Certificate" with the "Download" action for "Federation Metadata X M L" selected.

  12. Select Signing Option as Sign SAML response and assertion and click Save.

    The SAML Signing Certificate Edit

  13. On the Set up Paylocity section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on 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 Paylocity.

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

To configure single sign-on on the Paylocity side,

  1. Download the Federation Metadata XML.
  2. In Paylocity, navigate to HR & Payroll > User Access > SSO Configuration.
  3. Select Add SSO Integration under SSO Integrations. A new drawer opens.
  4. Select Microsoft Azure as the SSO Provider from dropdown.
  5. Select Status from dropdown.
  6. Drag and drop metadata file in the drop area. Paylocity attempts to parse the Issuer, Post Redirect and Binding URLs and Security Certificate(s).
  7. Select Save to confirm the changes. The integration should display under SSO Integrations.

Create Paylocity test user

In this section, you create a user called B.Simon in Paylocity. Work with Paylocity support team to add the users in the Paylocity 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.

SP initiated:

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

  • Go to Paylocity 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 Paylocity 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 Paylocity 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 Paylocity 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 Paylocity 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.