Last updated: April 29, 2026
A Gurugram BPO had 187 SaaS applications, each with its own login. Helpdesk got 280 password-reset tickets a month. Worse, when an employee left, the offboarding checklist had 187 boxes — most of them ticked without verification. The CIO mandated SSO via Okta. Twelve months later: 1 set of credentials, 12 password-reset tickets a month, deprovisioning automated for 142 of the 187 apps. Federation is the keystone of modern IAM. This module covers SAML, OIDC, and the practical operational realities.
What federation actually does
Federation lets one identity provider (IdP) authenticate users to many service providers (SPs). The user signs in once at the IdP; the IdP issues a signed assertion that the SP trusts; the SP grants access. Two main protocols:
- SAML 2.0 — XML-based, browser POST/Redirect bindings, dominant in enterprise SaaS
- OIDC (OpenID Connect) — JSON / JWT on top of OAuth 2.0, dominant in modern web/mobile apps
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