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

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

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

Note

This integration is also available to use from Microsoft Entra US Government Cloud environment. You can find this application in the Microsoft Entra US Government Cloud Application Gallery and configure it in the same way as you do from public cloud.

Scenario description

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

  • Appian supports SP and IDP initiated SSO.
  • Appian supports Just In Time user provisioning.

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

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with Appian 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 Appian.

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

    a. In the Identifier text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<SUBDOMAIN>.appiancloud.com

    b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://<SUBDOMAIN>.appiancloud.com/suite/saml/AssertionConsumer

  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 a URL using the following pattern: https://<SUBDOMAIN>.appiancloud.com/suite

    Note

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

  7. 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

  8. On the Set up Appian section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on your requirement.

    Copy configuration URLs

  9. Appian application expects to enable token encryption in order to make SSO work. To activate token encryption, Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > select your application > Token encryption. For more information see the article Configure Microsoft Entra SAML token encryption.

    Screenshot shows the activation of Token Encryption.

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 Appian.

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

  1. In a different web browser window, sign into Appian website as an administrator.

  2. Go to the Admin Console and select Enable SAML.

  3. Click Add SAML Identity Provider.

  4. Enter a Description for the IdP.

  5. Enter a Service Provider Name, this should be a unique name for both the service and identity providers.

  6. Upload the IdP metadata into Identity Provider Metadata.

  7. Choose the appropriate Signature Hashing Algorithm that matches the IdP.

  8. Click Test This Configuration in the top-right side of the dialog to verify that the configuration is valid or not.

  9. Click Done after successfully signing in to close the configuration dialog.

  10. If you want the new IdP's sign-in page to be the default, set the Default Sign-In Page accordingly.

  11. Click Verify My Access once the dialog is closed to ensure that you can still sign in to Appian. This time, you have to sign in with the current user.

  12. Once you have successfully verified that you can still sign in, click Save Changes.

Create Appian test user

In this section, a user called Britta Simon is created in Appian. Appian supports just-in-time user provisioning, which is enabled by default. There is no action item for you in this section. If a user doesn't already exist in Appian, a new one is created after authentication.

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 Appian Sign on URL where you can initiate the login flow.

  • Go to Appian 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 Appian 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 Appian 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 Appian 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 Appian 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.