Real-world examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) that actually work

Modern, real examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO)

Let’s start with concrete stories. These are real-world style scenarios you’ll recognize if you’ve ever tried to ship auth to production.

Example of SSO for a SaaS product using Google Workspace (OIDC)

A mid-sized B2B SaaS company wants customers to log in with their corporate Google accounts instead of yet another password. They decide to support OpenID Connect (OIDC) with Google as the identity provider (IdP).

How they wired it up in 2024:

They register their app in the Google Cloud Console, set redirect URIs, and request standard scopes like openid, email, and profile. On the backend, they use a maintained OIDC library (for example, the official Google Identity libraries) instead of rolling their own token validation. The login flow is simple:

• The app redirects users to Google’s authorization endpoint.
• Google authenticates the user and returns an authorization code.
• The backend exchanges the code for ID and access tokens.
• The app verifies the ID token’s signature and claims, then creates or maps a local user.

This is one of the best examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) when you want fast integration, minimal friction for end users, and a standardized protocol that plays nicely with other IdPs later.

Example of SSO to integrate Okta with internal and external apps

A growing company adopts Okta as its central IdP. They need SSO into:

• Their own customer-facing SaaS app
• Internal tools like Jira, Slack, and GitHub
• A legacy on-prem app that only speaks SAML

Their SSO architecture ends up being a hub-and-spoke model. Okta is the hub, and each app is a spoke using either SAML or OIDC.

Implementation decisions that matter:

• For newer apps, they prefer OIDC because libraries are mature and easier to debug.
• For older enterprise tools, they stick with SAML because that’s what those apps support.
• They configure Just-In-Time (JIT) provisioning for some apps and SCIM-based automated provisioning for others.

This gives you real examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) where a single IdP mediates multiple protocols and app types, while HR remains the source of truth for identities.

Example of SAML SSO for a legacy HR portal

A large organization has a ten-year-old HR portal that employees hate, but can’t retire yet. It stores passwords locally, has no MFA, and IT is tired of password reset tickets.

They decide to bolt on SAML-based SSO using Azure AD as the IdP and the HR portal as a SAML service provider (SP).

What they actually changed:

• They added a SAML SP library to the HR portal.
• They configured Azure AD with the HR app’s ACS (Assertion Consumer Service) URL and metadata.
• They set up SAML attributes for email, givenName, surname, and employee ID.
• They disabled local login for all users except a break-glass admin account.

From a user’s point of view, they now click an HR tile in the Azure AD portal and land in the HR app already signed in. This is a textbook example of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) to modernize a legacy system without rewriting it.

Example of SSO in a multi-tenant SaaS platform

Consider a multi-tenant SaaS platform that sells to dozens of enterprises. Each customer wants SSO, but they all bring different IdPs: Okta, Azure AD, Ping, and sometimes custom SAML servers.

The vendor implements a per-tenant SSO configuration model:

• Each tenant has its own SAML or OIDC settings stored in a configuration table.
• The login page asks for a tenant slug (or uses email domain discovery), then redirects to the tenant’s IdP.
• The backend normalizes identity data into a standard internal user model regardless of the external IdP.

Here, the best examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) revolve around configuration, not code. The code path for SSO is shared, but each tenant’s IdP metadata and claim mappings are dynamic.

Example of SSO for mobile apps using OIDC and PKCE

A mobile banking app wants users to authenticate with the same corporate IdP used on the web, but the security model is different on iOS and Android.

They choose OIDC with PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange):

• The mobile app launches the system browser to the IdP’s authorization endpoint.
• It uses PKCE to avoid exposing a client secret inside the app.
• Once the user signs in, the IdP redirects back to a custom URI scheme handled by the app.
• The app exchanges the code for tokens and stores them securely (Keychain on iOS, Keystore on Android).

This is one of the more modern examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) that respects mobile platform security guidance while keeping the same IdP and policies across web and mobile.

Example of SSO in higher education with Shibboleth and InCommon

Universities often participate in identity federations like InCommon in the United States. A university wants students to log into external research tools and library resources using their campus credentials.

They deploy Shibboleth as their SAML IdP and register with the InCommon federation. External service providers trust the InCommon metadata, which includes the university’s IdP.

When a student clicks a link to a journal database:

• The service provider redirects to the federation discovery service.
• The student picks their institution.
• The browser is redirected to the university’s IdP.
• After sign-in, a SAML assertion is sent back to the service provider.

This is a widely used example of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) in education, where many independent organizations agree on shared metadata and attribute standards. For background on identity federation concepts, the NIST Digital Identity Guidelines are a good reference: https://pages.nist.gov/800-63-3/.

Example of SSO for healthcare portals using standards and policy

Healthcare systems are under heavy regulatory pressure, so they tend to lean on published guidance for authentication and SSO. A hospital network wants clinicians to use one identity to access:

• The electronic health record (EHR)
• Imaging systems
• E-prescribing portals
• Secure messaging

They implement SSO with an enterprise IdP and enforce MFA, session timeouts, and context-aware access. Their SSO implementation is aligned with security guidance from organizations like the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and NIST. While not SSO tutorials, resources like the HHS HIPAA Security Series (https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/security/index.html) help teams reason about risk when designing SSO flows for protected health information.

This gives you real examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) where policy, logging, and auditability matter just as much as the protocol.

Comparing different examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO)

Looking across these scenarios, a few patterns show up repeatedly.

Protocol choices in real examples

When you look at real examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) in 2024–2025, you almost always see the same protocols:

• OpenID Connect (OIDC) for new web and mobile apps
• SAML 2.0 for older enterprise tools and many B2B integrations
• OAuth 2.0 for delegated API access (not strictly SSO, but often paired with it)

Most integration teams don’t choose these out of ideology; they pick whatever the IdP and the app both support and then standardize internally. That’s why a multi-app environment often runs a mix of SAML and OIDC behind a single IdP.

Where SSO projects usually go wrong

If you’re looking for examples of failures, the same mistakes pop up repeatedly:

• Inconsistent user identifiers: Email vs. employee ID vs. username. If your IdP and app don’t agree on a stable identifier, you’ll see duplicate accounts and access issues.
• No plan for deprovisioning: Users leave the company but keep access because the app isn’t wired into HR or the IdP’s lifecycle events.
• Token validation shortcuts: Skipping signature checks or audience validation because “it works in dev.” This is how security incidents happen.
• Overcomplicated user journeys: Forcing users through multiple redirects or separate login pages for each app, which defeats the point of SSO.

When you study examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) that age well, they all treat identity data modeling, lifecycle, and security checks as first-class design problems, not afterthoughts.

Implementation tips inspired by the best examples

You’re probably reading these examples because you have to ship something, not just admire other teams’ architectures. Here are practical patterns that show up in the best examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO):

Start with one IdP and one app

Pick the most important app and wire it into your chosen IdP first. This gives you:

• A real login flow to test
• A template configuration to reuse
• Early feedback from users before you scale SSO everywhere

Trying to light up ten apps and three IdPs on day one is a good way to get stuck in endless configuration churn.

Standardize your internal user model

Regardless of whether the external IdP is Okta, Azure AD, Google, or Shibboleth, normalize incoming claims into a stable internal schema. Decide on:

• Primary user identifier (often a non-changing UUID)
• Required attributes (email, display name, roles, department)
• Optional attributes and custom claims

This is how multi-tenant SaaS platforms and universities can support many IdPs without rewriting their apps for every new customer or partner.

Align SSO with your security policies

SSO is not just a UX improvement; it’s part of your security posture. For current thinking on authentication strength and identity assurance, the NIST SP 800-63 series is worth reading: https://pages.nist.gov/800-63-3/.

Use that kind of guidance to decide:

• Where to enforce MFA
• How long sessions should last
• When to re-prompt for credentials for high-risk actions

The healthcare and higher-ed examples show how SSO fits inside a broader risk and compliance framework.

Test real-world failure paths

In production, things break: IdPs go down, certificates expire, users change departments. When you study real examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO), the stable ones all have:

• Clear error messages when SSO fails
• Fallback or break-glass accounts for admins
• Monitoring on SSO endpoints and certificate expiration

Don’t just test the happy path. Simulate expired certificates, invalid signatures, and deleted users before you go live.

FAQ: common questions about SSO examples

What are some simple examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) for a small team?

A straightforward example of SSO for a small company is connecting your internal tools (like Slack and GitHub) to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. You configure each app to trust your IdP, then let employees log in with their existing corporate accounts instead of separate passwords.

Which protocols show up most often in real examples of SSO?

In real examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO), OIDC and SAML dominate. OIDC is common for new web and mobile apps, while SAML is still widely used for enterprise SaaS and older integrations. Many organizations run both behind a single IdP.

Can you give an example of SSO that supports multiple customers with different IdPs?

Yes. A multi-tenant SaaS app can store SAML or OIDC configuration per tenant, discover the tenant from the user’s email domain or URL, then redirect to the correct IdP. After login, it maps external claims into a unified internal user record so the app logic doesn’t care which IdP was used.

Are there public references or standards that can guide SSO design?

For security and identity assurance, many teams read the NIST Digital Identity Guidelines (SP 800-63). Higher education institutions often rely on InCommon documentation and Shibboleth community resources. Healthcare organizations look at guidance from HHS and NIST when designing authentication and SSO for clinical systems.

What are examples of mistakes to avoid when implementing SSO?

Common mistakes include choosing inconsistent user identifiers across systems, skipping token validation checks, ignoring user deprovisioning, and designing confusing login flows that require users to pick between multiple SSO options every time. Studying real examples of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) from similar organizations can help you avoid these pitfalls.