User authentication can be very basic, where users simply enter their credentials on the main Echo360 login screen.
Alternately, you can configure single sign-on through PingOne or have users access Echo360 content through your configured LMS.
PingOne
PingOne is a cloud-based identity management system used by Echo360 for its external authentication solution. There are three aspects to PingOne configuration:
- Setting up a PingOne account
- Configuring the IdP system for use with PingOne
- Enabling PingOne communication in Echo360
These three aspects are addressed in the topic Configuring PingOne Authentication.
Beyond the initial setup, the Admin workflow for establishing SSO (single sign-on) for users through PingOne is as follows:
- Configure PingOne based on the user authentication method you're already using (see link above).
- Add users into Echo360, assigning them to sections as appropriate. BE SURE the email address in Echo360 exactly matches the email address in your system, and is unique to each user.
- If your PingOne configuration does not use email address as the unique identifier for each user, be sure to provide your system's identifier into the Single Sign-on ID field for each User in Echo360.
- Distribute or post the PingOne SSO URL for your Echo360 integration, shown in the below figure.
This is the link users will click to enter Echo360 using their institution credentials. It can be found on the Application Details page of your PingOne account.
TIP: If you post this link in a location where a user has already logged into your network (the institution's student portal, or other secured site) the URL will pass them directly through to Echo360, as your system has already authenticated them
IMPORTANT NOTE: Unless you have disabled email notifications, users will receive email inviting them to register for the Echo360 system, and notifying them of their enrollment in sections/courses. Users can ignore these email. However, if they choose to complete the Echo360 registration process, it does no harm. They must be sure the email they provide matches the institution information. After that, their Echo360 registration simply allows them to access Echo360 directly via the Echo360 website. They can still also authenticate through the institution network by using the SSO URL.
LMS
If you are using a Learning Management System (LMS), Echo360 allows you to configure integration with the LMS for course integration and assessment purposes.
Because the LMS and Echo360 establish authenticated communication between them, students who log into the LMS automatically receive the appropriate Echo360 content through the LMS interface, without having to log in again.
For information on configuring integration between Echo360 and your LMS, see Configuring Echo360 with an LMS.