Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)

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Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) provides single-sign-on (SSO) technologies to authenticate a user to multiple Web applications (either on or off premises) over the life of a single online session. ADFS accomplishes this by securely sharing digital identity and “claims” across security and enterprise boundaries.

A claim is a statement about a user that is used for authorization purposes in an application. ADFS brokers trust between different entities by allowing the trusted exchange of arbitrary claims that contain arbitrary values. The receiving party uses these claims to make authorization decisions.

What does this mean? It means a user only signs on (authenticates) once and then that sign-on is shared securely with other applications, as opposed to signing on to each application every time the user wishes to use them. This concept is called single sign-on and ADFS makes this possible.

Examples of where WaTech has used ADFS to establish single-sign-on capabilities include HRMS (an on-premises application), Apptio, EasyVista, and SalesForce (cloud-based solutions.)

The WaTech ADFS service is available to members of the Enterprise Active Directory (EAD). This includes all members of Shared Services Email.

Features/Benefits: 

  • SSO gives the user the ability to access multiple applications by signing on once.

  • SSO improves efficiency while maintaining security.

  • This service comes bundled with membership in the EAD.

Pricing: 

Pre-service requirements: 

Your organization must be a member of the Enterprise Active Directory (EAD) to use this service.

How to Order: 

Required forms

ADFS application onboarding form.  

Please submit a request to the WaTech Support Center (see the Contact us section below).

Reference Materials: 

  • Tech specs

    • WaTech is using ADFS 4.0 for this service. See Microsoft’s site (link is external) for additional information about ADFS 4.0.

Contact us: 

WaTech Support Center
support@watech.wa.gov
855-928-3241
360-586-1000