The Connected SSO experience: Enable and configure your authentication option(s)

This article walks district administrators through the authentication settings that remain in Messages XR Enterprise Global Settings once a district is on the connected SSO experience, and points to where the rest of the authentication settings now live.

The Connected SSO experience

This article references the Messages XR Enterprise Connected SSO experience.

Not sure which one you have? See a side-by-side view in "Single sign-on is here!"
Need help understanding the legacy login experience? Check out "The legacy login experience: Enable and configure your authentication option(s)" to learn more.

💡Quick answers

Where are authentication settings configured? Community Messenger and the Login widget remain in Global Settings, along with the informational Single Sign-On (SSO) status indicator. Everything else is configured by Finalsite's Identity team.
Enabling Google authentication for a district? Google, along with other identity providers, is enabled by Finalsite's Identity team. Request this through the district's Client Success Manager or a Support ticket.
Can multiple authentication methods be active at the same time? A district can offer standard login alongside an identity provider, or identity-provider-only. Finalsite's Identity team configures this login mode.
Setting up a custom help message for users who have trouble logging in? Configured by Finalsite's Identity team as part of setup. Request this through the district's Client Success Manager or a Support ticket.
What does the Import Login/Password setting control? This legacy setting does not carry over to the connected SSO experience.

Single sign-on is here!

A Connected SSO experience is rolling out to Messages XR Enterprise districts!

This upgrade includes:

enhanced security with multi-factor authentication
support for popular identity providers (IdPs) like Google or Facebook
a single, modern login experience across Finalsite products

Wondering which login experience you currently have?

If you see this login screen, your district has been upgraded to the Connected SSO experience:

This article covers the Connected SSO experience.

If your district hasn't yet been moved to the Connected SSO experience, you'll still see this legacy login screen:

Learn more in "Authentication in Messages XR Enterprise: The legacy login experience."

Prerequisite

Before enabling and configuring authentication, review all of the options in the article, "Authentication in Messages XR Enterprise: The Connected SSO experience." Then, this article helps you configure your Global Settings.

Navigate to Global settings > Authentication

Navigate to Settings > Global settings.
Scroll down and click the Authentication button.

Configure authentication settings

For the Connected SSO login experience, many of your configurations take place with your Finalsite team, but here are a few settings that can be configured in the Authentication area.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

This area is managed by and enabled by Finalsite Support.

Community Messenger

The Community Messenger feature enables users to subscribe to district and school updates using a special subscription field on the login screen. This is a good fit for extended family members and friends of the district who should be included in message sends. This remains self-service in Global Settings under the connected SSO experience, unchanged from the legacy login experience.

Important Note

Subscribing in this way doesn't mean that community members will receive each and every message that is sent out, but only those where the Community Member group is selected in the List tab of Select recipients.

The user journey

Once Community Messenger is enabled, a user will see the Sign up button on the login page and/or wherever else the sign-up form is embedded.
When clicked, the Community Member role will see a Notification sign up page to enter personal info, contact info, and check boxes next to the type of news they would like to receive.

The setup process

Step 1: Enable. In Global Settings > Authentication settings, locate the Community Messenger section. Check the box next to Enable. A banner with a "Sign up" button then appears at the bottom of the login screen.
Step 2: Allow login. Check the box next to Allow login to permit a person to log in as the Community Member role.
Step 3: Code to embed. Copy this code to embed the Community Messenger sign-up form on the district website.
Step 4: Select Community Member group. When sending a message, be sure to select the Community Member group.
Step 5: Share the sign-up article. Share "Help your community members sign up to receive communications" with the community to help them get signed up.

Login widget

Use the code in this box to embed a login widget onto areas of the district website. Click Preview Widget to see what it will look like once embedded.