
Understanding SSO authentication
We juggle a multitude of applications and online services: remembering and entering several identifiers and passwords can be a real barrier to productivity. Single Sign-On (SSO) provides a simple answer: a single connection is enough to access all its tools. But how does that work, what are the benefits, and why is it particularly useful in an online training system (LMS)?
What is SSO?
The Single Sign-On (SSO), or “single sign-on,” is a mechanism that allows a user to log in One time only to access several applications or services, without having to re-enter your username and password each time. SSO is a very common practice, widely used often without even realizing it.
Very concretely, when you connect to your account Google or Apple, you can then automatically access Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, or the App Store without having to retype your password for each service. It's SSO.
In a company, it works the same way: a single connection gives access to all the internal tools needed to work.
When is SSO useful?
SSO is particularly relevant when users have to juggle several applications on a daily basis (email, intranet, CRM, management software, etc.), when the organization wants to apply uniform security policies, and when there is a large number of users, which makes manual password management impossible.
SSO thus has several advantages:
- Simplicity and time savings for the user: No need to remember 5 or 10 different passwords and fewer interruptions to reconnect. Example: you no longer have a password for email, another for the HR platform, another for the training platform... a single connection is enough to connect to all your tools.
- Strengthened security and easier administration: the IT department imposes a strong password, and possibly double authentication (SMS, validation application). The IT department can also require a regular password change (every 3 months for example). Since there is only one password left to remember, it is easier for the user to agree to these measures. In addition, when an employee arrives or leaves the company, the IT department does not need to manage access for each tool separately: by creating or deactivating its central account, all access is given or cut off at once.
The technical implications
Setting up an SSO requires a technical integration between the various applications and a central authentication system (for example Microsoft Entra ID (e.g. Azure AD), Okta, Keycloak...). This involves:
- To have a team in charge of user and access management.
- To use a common language between applications (SAML, OAuth2, OpenID Connect).
- To manage accounts and roles from a single database (corporate directory, Active Directory).
- To ensure compatibility between the various services.
In other words, SSO is invisible to the user (who only sees smoother access), but requires technical work behind the scenes.
LMS and SSO
As part of a LMS (Learning Management System), SSO brings real added value.
Beyond the obvious advantages in terms of security, SSO makes it possible to offer a smooth and easy experience to your learners who can automatically connect to the training platform. By reducing possible obstacles, employees will be in a better position to use the training tool to take e-learning modules, consult various resources, do self-training or train thanks to free access quizzes.
On Experquiz, SSO can easily be activated directly in your account settings so that your users can access the platform and their activities (evaluations, elearning module, training, etc.) without having to identify themselves again.
The functionality also allows you not to have to create users within Experquiz, but to transmit the characteristics of each user from your information system, at the time the user logs in.
You can define settings specific to SSO, or use the protocol OpenID Connect (OIDC, based on OAuth2) to enable the feature.
SSO login is available for customers who have subscribed to Gold offer.