For the MSP that has just switched to the ConnectWise family of products, or those that are beginning to use additional ConnectWise products, managing the logins that you have to use for each tool in the CW suite can become an annoyance. To solve this problem, ConnectWise Single Sign-On(SSO) was added, and when configured correctly, it allows all your users to use one login across many applications. Today, we will discuss how to set up SSO for users signing into Automate.
The first requirement for using SSO to log into Automate is a ConnectWise Home account that matches the email of the Automate user. This can only be created by a Home admin. Once it is made, the application access of the user needs to be updated to include your Automate instance. This CW Home user will be the central account for SSO, so as you and your users grow, access to additional products can be added here to link together.
The second half of SSO setup is configuring Automate to link users to their respective Home accounts. To do this, navigate to Config > Authentication in the system dashboard.
Here you can turn on SSO and select the user folders that you want to link. Should you want to limit SSO to a specific set of users, you can create a new group folder by going to System > Users and Contacts > Users, right-clicking on Users and selecting Create New.
Also, note the checkbox for “allow local logins…”. Enabling this will allow users the option to use their local Automate account credentials after SSO is set up for their account. In the rare occurrences that CW SSO goes down, having this enabled means SSO users will still have a way to log in.
Next, you need to generate a setup token from the ConnectWise portal to connect your Automate instance to your Home account. You must use the same ConnectWise Home account when linking all your applications to ensure that SSO works properly. There is a link that will take you to where you can generate the code located below the local login checkbox. Once you enter the token and click save, you will be prompted to invite users.
The Invite User window will have you confirm which user folders to send invites to, and once you click submit invitations, you will be forwarded to your ConnectWise Home account where you can manage those invitations.
After a user accepts their invite, the next time they log in to ConnectWise Automate, a prompt to link their account to SSO will appear. From there they can sign into their CW Home account and SSO will be successfully set up.
