Set Up CXone Authentication Using Okta

This page guides you, step-by-step, in setting up authentication for your CXone system using Okta as your external identity provider (IdP).

Complete each of these tasks in the order given.

Before You Begin

  • Gain a basic understanding of authentication and authorization concepts and terminology if you've never set up a process like this before.
  • Review the CXone-specific process if this is the first time you've worked with authentication in CXone.
  • Consider your human users and the levels of access they need. Decide whether people with greater access should have greater levels of security.
  • Decide whether you will use custom password requirements, multi-factor authentication (MFA), or both to enforce.
  • Based on your decisions, make a list of login authenticators. The list should include the password requirements and MFA status you want to use for each login authenticator.
  • Consider whether you need to include authentication and authorization for applications like bots or intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs). If so, you will need to create access keys.
  • Gain an understanding of your authentication protocol. CXone supports SAML 2.0 for Okta integration.
  • Evaluate the combination of IdP and protocol to ensure your use cases and user flows are supported, and to identify potential issues. This should include actual testing.

Your NICE CXone team can support and guide you in this planning process. Good planning makes for a smoother implementation. Implementing authentication and authorization as immediate needs come up is more likely to lead to issues.

Complete each of these tasks in the order given.

Manage Federation with Okta with SAML 2.0

Complete each of these tasks in the order given.

Before you begin, make sure you have access to Okta. You will need to create an application.

Create and Configure an Okta Application with SAML 2.0

  1. Log in to your Okta management account.
  2. Click Applications menu > Create App Integration.
  3. Select SAML 2.0 as the method, and click Next.
  4. Enter the name you want to use to identify this integration, and click Next.
  5.  Configure SAML:
    1. Enter a placeholder URL like https://cxone.niceincontact.com/need_to_change in the Single sign-on URL field. You will change this value with the URL you receive later.
    2. Enter a placeholder URL like https://cxone.niceincontact.com/need_to_change in the Audience URI field. You will change this value with the URI you receive later.
    3. Specify the Name ID format and Application username to correspond with how you want to identify your users to CXone.
    4. Click Show Advanced Settings.
    5. Change Assertion Signature to Unsigned. Leave Response as Signed.
    6. Ensure that Assertion Encryption is Unencrypted.
  6. Click Next, complete the feedback, and then click Finish on the Feedback tab.
  7. Click View SAML setup instructions to open a new tab, then:
    1. Click Download certificate to download the signing certificate. Keep this file for your CXone configuration.
    2. Copy the Identity Provider Single Sign-on URL. Keep this URL for your CXone configuration.
    3. Close the SAML Setup Instructions tab. Leave the Configure SAML tab open. You will make changes to your configuration based on CXone settings you will get next.

Set Up a CXone Login Authenticator with SAML 2.0

Required permissions: Login Authenticator Create

  1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
  2. Click Login Authenticator.
  3. Click Create New.
  4. Enter the Name and Description of the login authenticator.
  5. Select SAML2 as the Authentication Type.
  6. Enter the Identity Provider Single Sign-on URL you received from Okta as the Endpoint URL. See the last step of the preceding task for more details.
  7. Click Choose File and select the public signing certificate you downloaded from Okta in the previous task. This certificate must be a PEM file. It will be a text file and the first line will contain BEGIN CERTIFICATE with some additional text.
  8. Click Save and Activate.
  9. Open the login authenticator.
  10. You will notice two additional read-only fields displayed: the Entity ID and the ACS URL. Make a note of these values. You will need them in the Add CXone Values to Okta task.

Assign Users to the Login Authenticator

  1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
  2. Click Users.

  3. Select the user that you want to assign to the login authenticator, or click Create New to create a new user.

  4. On the General tab, click Edit.

  5. In the Security section, select the login authenticator you made previously from the Login Authenticator drop-down.

  6. Click Done.

Add CXone Values to Okta

  1. Return to your Okta application and go to the General tab.
  2. Click Edit on the SAML Settings window, then click Next.
  3. For Single Sign On URL, enter the ACS URL value from your CXone login authenticator.
  4. For Audience URI (SP Entity ID), enter the Entity ID value from your CXone login authenticator.
  5. Click Next, then click Finish to complete the change.

Verify User Access with Okta Single Sign-On

  1. Ensure that the External Identity for each user who uses the login authenticator is set to the correct value. The value must exactly match Federated Identity in CXone. The External Identity field is case sensitive.

  2. Have one or more test users log in using the latest login URL, https://cxone.niceincontact.com. For FedRAMP, use https://cxone-gov.niceincontact.com. After entering their username, they will be directed to Okta if needed.

  3. When you're ready, roll out Okta single sign-on to all users.

Manage Federation with Okta with OpenID Connect

Complete each of these tasks in the order given.

Configure an Okta Application with OpenID Connect

  1. Log in to your Okta management account.
  2. Click Applications menu > Create App Integration.
  3. Select OIDC - OpenID Connect as the Sign-in method.
  4. Select Web Application as the Application type, and click Next.
  5. In the App integration name field, enter the name you want to use to identify this integration.
  6. You will need to provide a Sign-in Redirect URI which you don't know at this point. Use https://cxone.niceincontact.com/need_to_change as a placeholder. You will change this value with the URI you receive later.
  7. You may need to provide a Sign-out Redirect URI which you don't know at this point. Use https://cxone.niceincontact.com/need_to_change as a placeholder. You will change this value with the URI you receive later.
  8. In the Controlled access drop-down, select Skip group assignment for now.
  9. Click Save.
  10. On the General tab under Client Credentials, select Client authentication.
  11. Select one of the following authentication methods:
    1. client_secret_basic: client credentials are passed in a basic header during authentication. After selecting this method, configure the following:
      1. Select Client authentication as the Client secret.
      2. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret and paste them to a secure place on your device. You will need to use them when you configure a login authenticator in CXone.
    2. client_secret_post: client credentials are passed in a body during authentication. After selecting this method, configure the following:
      1. Select Client authentication as the Client secret.
      2. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret and paste them to a secure place on your device. You will need to use them when you configure a login authenticator in CXone.
    3. client_secret_jwt: JWT bearer tokens are used for client authentication. After selecting this method, configure the following:
      1. Select Client authentication as the Client secret.
      2. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret and paste them to a secure place on your device. You will need to use them when you configure a login authenticator in CXone.
    4. private_key_jwt: JWT bearer tokens are used for client authentication. The JWT is signed by the Client Private Key that you will provide in later steps. After selecting this method, configure the following:
      1. Select Client authentication as the Public key / Private key.
      2. Enter a placeholder public key in the Add public key field. You will need to replace the placeholder with the key provided by CXone when you configure your login authenticator.
  12. On the Assignments tab, click Assign, then click Assign to People.
  13. Assign users to this application.

Set Up a Login Authenticator with OpenID Connect in CXone

  1. Click the app selector and select Admin

  2. Click Login Authenticator.

  3. Click Create New or select the login authenticator you want to edit.
  4. Enter the Name and a Description of the login authenticator.
  5. Select OIDC as the Authentication Type.
  6. If you have a discovery endpoint from Okta, click Discover Settings. Enter your discovery endpoint and click Discover. The remaining fields are populated for you. Discover Settings does not work with Salesforce discovery endpoints.
  7. Enter your Client Identifier and Client Password. Re-type the password in Client Confirm Password. The Client Identifier is the Login ID assigned to your account by Okta.
  8. If you don't have a discovery endpoint from Okta, enter your Okta-provided Issuer, JsonWebKeySet Endpoint, Authorization Endpoint, Token Endpoint, UserInfo Endpoint, and Revocation Endpoint.

  9. Select a Client Authentication Method. The method you select must match what you set up in the previous task. It must be an authentication method that Okta supports. If you select private_key_jwt, you must select Enable Encryption and enter your Client Assertion Verification Key.
  10. You can select Enable FICAM Profile to turn on United States government-specific settings. This step is only for FedRAMP users.
  11. Click Create Login Authenticator to validate the provided information and to link your CXone account to your Okta account.
  12. Open the login authenticator.
  13. Note the Sign-in Redirect URI and Sign-out Redirect URI. You will need them to update your Okta settings.

  14. Update your Okta settings, replacing the placeholders used in the previous task with the values you just noted.

  15. Ensure that the CXone External Identity for each user that uses the login authenticator is set to the correct value.

    Okta determines the value that must be used. It can be found in the user's profile in Okta. The value must match exactly what you put in the External Identity field in CXone. The value for this field must be in this format: claim(email):{email configured by your IdP}. For example, if the user's email in the IdP is nick.carraway@classics.com, you would enter claim(email):nickcarraway@classics.com.

  16. Have the user log in to CXone. They must use the latest login URL. After entering their username, they will be directed to Okta if needed.

  17. When Okta asks you to authenticate your own account, do so as the user you want associated with your currently-logged in CXone account.
  18. If your OpenID Connect settings in CXone don't show as validated, use Okta's logs to diagnose the problem.

Assign Users to the Login Authenticator

  1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
  2. Click Users.

  3. Select the user that you want to assign to the login authenticator, or click Create New to create a new user.

  4. On the General tab, click Edit.

  5. In the Security section, select the login authenticator you made previously from the Login Authenticator drop-down.

  6. Click Done.

Add CXone Values to Okta

  1. Return to your Okta application and go to the General tab.
  2. Click Edit on the SAML Settings window, then click Next.
  3. For Single Sign On URL, enter the ACS URL value from your CXone login authenticator.
  4. For Audience URI (SP Entity ID), enter the Entity ID value from your CXone login authenticator.
  5. Click Next, then click Finish to complete the change.

Verify User Access with Okta Single Sign-On

  1. Ensure that the External Identity for each user who uses the login authenticator is set to the correct value. The value must exactly match Federated Identity in CXone. The External Identity field is case sensitive.

  2. Have one or more test users log in using the latest login URL, https://cxone.niceincontact.com. For FedRAMP, use https://cxone-gov.niceincontact.com. After entering their username, they will be directed to Okta if needed.

  3. When you're ready, roll out Okta single sign-on to all users.

Create Security Profiles

Required permissions: Security Profile Create

  1. Use one of the following methods to create the security profile and give it a name: 

    • To create a new blank security profile:

      1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
      2. Go to Security Profiles.
      3. Click Create New.

      4. Enter a unique Name for the security profile.

      5. Enter a Description if you want one.

      6. For Create, select a blank Security Profile.

    • To quickly create a new security profile that copies an existing one:

      1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
      2. Go to Security Profiles.
      3. Open the security profile you want to copy.

      4. Click Copy.

      5. Enter a unique Name for the security profile.

      6. Enter a Description if you want one.

  2. Click Next.

  3. Enable permissions for each product and feature you want users to have. Some permissions, like User Settings and Security, are grouped. To see the permissions inside the groups, click Individual next to the group name.

  4. Click Next.

  5. Enable permissions for each report you want users to have.

  6. Click Next.

  7. Restrict data access by CampaignsClosed A grouping of skills used to run reports., Teams, Assignable Profiles, Groups, and Business UnitsClosed High-level organizational grouping used to manage technical support, billing, and global settings for your CXone environment. For each data type, select whether you want users to access All & Future data of that type, None, or Custom.

  8. If you chose Custom for a data type, use the pop-up window to specify which entities of that data type the users can access. Click Done.

    New campaigns, teams, security profiles, groups, and business units aren't automatically added to custom lists when they're created. You must update the custom list if you want users to access the new data.

  9. Click Next.
  10. Click Create Security Profile.

Create or Edit Users

Required permissions: Users Create

If you are setting up authentication with an external IdP for an existing CXone business unit, you do not have to create new user accounts. You will need to edit user accounts and configure the External Identity Type and Federated Identity fields. This must be done for each user who will authenticate via the external IdP. The fields are explained in step 4 of this task.

When you create new users, you have the option to create new individual users or to upload multiple new user accounts at the same time. These instructions are for creating single users in the Admin application. See Manage Multiple Users at Once for instructions on creating or editing multiple users at the same time.

CXone offers many options and settings so you can customize your users. It's a good idea to read through this entire task and make sure you know which settings you need to configure before you begin.

  1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
  2. Click Users.

  3. Open the new user creation form in one of the following ways: 

    • If you want to create a new user with a blank form, click Create New and select Single User.
    • If you want to create a new user based on an existing user's profile, open that user's profile and click Copy.
  4. Enter the user's First Name, Last Name, Email, Username (in the form of an email address), Security Profile, Team, User will use (timezone), City, and Country. If the fields are available, set the password using the Password and Confirm Password fields. Enter any other information you want to add to the user profile.

  5. Select a login authenticator (LA).

    All users must be assigned to a login authenticator, or they won't be able to log in to CXone.

    The type of LA will determine how the user will log in to CXone. You can set up two types of login authenticators.

    System LAs: Users assigned to a system LA will log in using credentials managed by CXone.

    External LAs: Users assigned to an external LA will complete their log in through an external identity provider (IdP). External LAs are configured with either SAML 2.0 or OpenID Connect.

  6. If you have Integrated Softphone (WebRTC) custom URLs enabled, configure the Integrated Softphone URLs and URL Weights as needed.

  7. Click Save and Continue.
  8. Set the user's Refusal Timeouts for each channel, default Dialing Pattern, and Agent Voice Threshold. If you want to, select Suppress Ringing - Personal Connection.

  9. If your environment enabled for static delivery, set the default number of Concurrent Chats and Auto-Parked Emails. Specify whether the user can Request Contact.

  10. If your environment is enabled for dynamic delivery, set the maximum number of simultaneous contacts the user can handle per channel. If you have granular dynamic delivery settings enabled, set the Delivery Mode and Total Contact Count for the user.

  11. If you have a WFO integration enabled other than CXone WFO (such as Uptivity WFO) and want to set up recording, enter the System Domain, System Username, and Phones.

  12. In the MAX Version section, you can determine which version of MAX you want this user to use.
  13. If you have CXone WFM enabled, configure the agent's notification settings.

  14. If you have NICE CXone WFO and you want to integrate with a CRM, enter the agent's CRM Username to associate it with the user.

  15. Click Save.

Authenticate Applications

Users and applications are authenticated in very similar ways. The main difference is that applications are authenticated with an access key while users are authenticated with a username and password. Unlike users, applications are not required to interact through a browser. Applications typically are either back-office functionality or intelligent virtual agentsClosed Chatbot or similar application that interacts with a user based on artificial intelligence (IVAs).

To set up an application to interact with CXone, create a user profile and name the profile after the application. Then create an access key for the application user as follows:

Authorization in CXone

Authorization is the process of verifying what resources a user is allowed to access. Resources can include applications, files, and data. You can define users' access to resources with role-based access control. CXone manages authorization automatically during authentication. When a user is authenticated they are given access only to the resources they're authorized for.

A user's authentication method doesn't impact authorization. CXone uses the same authorization process for all users. It doesn't matter whether they are authenticated with access keys or passwords.