Working with SSO Providers

Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method that allows people to access multiple applications or systems with a single set of login credentials. Instead of requiring a separate username and password for each application, SSO enables users to log in once and gain access to all the connected applications without needing to log in again. This improves user convenience and reduces the need to remember multiple credentials.

Benefits of SSO include better employee experience, increase security, and simplified administration.

Several companies provide SSO solutions that are widely used in both enterprise and consumer applications. Some examples of those companies include Okta, Jumpcloud, Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), Google Workspace, and OneLogin.

If you are using a SSO provider via Electric or not, you will want to opt out of app requests in the Electric IT Hub for the best experience.

When Are App Requests Created?

App requests are generated in the following situations:

Employee Onboarding or Offboarding: When a new employee joins or an existing employee leaves, app requests are created based on the groups and applications assigned to them.
Group Changes: If an employee's group memberships are updated, the system suggests creating app requests based on the changes.
Access Requests: When a user requests access to an application through the support center.

These requests show up in the form of emails to the necessary employees and tasks in the IT Hub task section from the top menu.

What Happens with SSO Providers?

If your organization uses an SSO provider to manage certain applications, you don’t need to create app requests for adding or removing accounts in Electric.

The SSO provider handles access for these applications directly. Creating such requests in Electric can lead to confusion or errors, as the automation might conflict with the SSO provider's controls and rules set in place upstream.

It's worth noting that some SSO providers only automate account creation or deletion but not both. To ensure consistency, the opt-out option covers both processes in the IT Hub.

Disable Account Requests

There is a feature that allows administrators of the IT Hub account to disable app requests for specific scenarios:

Account Creation Requests: For example, when onboarding a new employee.
Account Deletion Requests: For example, when offboarding an employee.

Note: this opt-out feature will only apply to app requests triggered by employee onboarding/offboarding or group changes. Requests made through the support center are different as they may require approval and often involve manually adding the user to a group to grant access.

Step 1: Navigate to the Applications page from the left hand navigation in your IT Hub account.

Step 2: Click into the application(s) managed by the SSO provider.

Step 3: Disable by checking the boxes

You can opt back in to requests at a future time if that becomes necessary. The disable must be completed on an application by application basis at this time.