Configure Pendo for Single sign-on with Microsoft Entra ID

2025-03-25

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

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

Prerequisites

The scenario outlined in this article assumes that you already have the following prerequisites:

A Microsoft Entra user account with an active subscription. If you don't already have one, you can Create an account for free.
One of the following roles:

Pendo single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Scenario description

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

Pendo supports both SP and IDP initiated SSO.

Add Pendo from the gallery

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

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
Browse to Entra ID > Enterprise apps > New application.
In the Add from the gallery section, type Pendo in the search box.
Select Pendo 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, and walk through the SSO configuration as well. Learn more about Microsoft 365 wizards.

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO for Pendo

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Pendo 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 Pendo.

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

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.
Configure Pendo SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
1. Create Pendo test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in Pendo that's linked to the Microsoft Entra representation of user.
Test SSO - to verify whether the configuration works.

Configure Microsoft Entra SSO

Follow these steps to enable Microsoft Entra SSO.

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
Browse to Entra ID > Enterprise apps > Pendo > Single sign-on.
On the Select a single sign-on method page, select SAML.
On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, select the pencil icon for Basic SAML Configuration to edit the settings.
On the Set-up single sign-on with SAML page, perform the following steps:

a. In the Identifier text box, enter PingConnect. (If this identifier is already used by another application, contact the Pendo support team.)

b. In the Relay State text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://pingone.com/1.0/<CUSTOM_GUID>

Note

These values aren't real. Update these values with the actual Identifier and Relay State. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section.
Pendo 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, whereas name is mapped with user.userprincipalname. Pendo application expects name to be mapped with user.mail, so you need to edit the attribute mapping by selecting Edit icon and change the attribute mapping.
On the Set-up single sign-on with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, find App Federation Metadata Url (preferred) OR plain XML under Federation Metadata XML and select Download to download the metadata and save it on your computer.
On the Set up Pendo section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on your requirement.

Create and assign Microsoft Entra test user

Follow the guidelines in the create and assign a user account quickstart to create a test user account called B.Simon.

Configure Pendo SSO

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

Create Pendo test user

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

Select Test this application, this option redirects to Pendo Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.
Go to Pendo Sign-on URL directly and initiate the login flow from there.

IDP initiated:

Select Test this application, and you should be automatically signed in to the Pendo for which you set up the SSO.

You can also use Microsoft My Apps to test the application in any mode. When you select the Pendo 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 Pendo for which you set up the SSO. For more information about the My Apps, see Introduction to the My Apps.

Once you configure Pendo 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.