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

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

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

Scenario description

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

  • CakeHR supports SP initiated SSO.

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

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with CakeHR 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 CakeHR.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with CakeHR, 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 CakeHR SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
    1. Create CakeHR test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in CakeHR 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 > CakeHR > 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 Sign-on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<CAKE_DOMAIN>.cake.hr/

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<CAKE_DOMAIN>.cake.hr/services/saml/consume

    Note

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

  6. In the SAML Signing Certificate section, click Edit button to open SAML Signing Certificate dialog.

    Edit SAML Signing Certificate

  7. In the SAML Signing Certificate section, copy the THUMBPRINT value and save it on your Notepad.

    Copy Thumbprint value

  8. On the Set up CakeHR 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 CakeHR.

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

  1. In a different web browser window, sign in to your CakeHR company site as an administrator

  2. On the top-right corner of the page, click on Profile and then navigate to Settings.

    Screenshot shows Profile with Settings selected.

  3. From the left side of the menu bar, click on INTEGRATIONS > SAML SSO and perform the following steps:

    Screenshot shows the Setting pane where you perform these steps.

    a. In the Entity ID text box, type cake.hr.

    b. In the Authentication URL text box, paste the value of Login URL.

    c. In the Key fingerprint (SHA1 format) text box, paste the THUMBPRINT value.

    d. Check the Enable Single Sign on box.

    e. Click Save.

Create CakeHR test user

To enable Microsoft Entra users to sign in to CakeHR, they must be provisioned into CakeHR. In CakeHR, provisioning is a manual task.

To provision a user account, perform the following steps:

  1. Sign in to CakeHR as a Security Administrator.

  2. From the left side of the menu bar, click on COMPANY > ADD.

    Screenshot shows CakeHR with COMPANY and ADD selected.

  3. On the Add new employee pop-up, perform the following steps:

    Screenshot shows Add new employee where you perform these steps.

    a. In Full name text box, enter the name of user like B.Simon.

    b. In Work email text box, enter the email of user like B.Simon@contoso.com.

    c. Click CREATE ACCOUNT.

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 CakeHR Sign-on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

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

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

Next steps

Once you configure CakeHR 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.