Set Up CXone Authentication Using the Built-in Identity Provider

This page guides you, step-by-step, in setting up authentication for your CXone system using the built-in identity provider.

Before You Begin

• Gain a basic understanding of authentication and authorization ideas and terminology if you've never set up a process like this before.
• Review the CXone-specific process if this is the first time you've worked with authentication in CXone.
• Consider your human users and the levels of access they need. Decide whether people with greater access should have greater levels of security.
• Decide whether you will use custom password requirements, multi-factor authentication (MFA), or both to enforce.
• Make a list of the login authenticators you'll need based on your decisions. The list should include the password requirements and MFA status you want to use for each login authenticator.
• Consider whether you need to include authentication and authorization for applications like bots or intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs). If so, you will need to create access keys.

Your NICE CXone team can support and guide you in this planning process. Good planning makes for a smoother implementation. Implementing authentication and authorization as immediate needs come up is more likely to lead to issues.

Set Up a Location

Required permissions: Location Management Create

If you want to require that users log in from a certain IP address, create a location with the IP addresses, IP address ranges, or IP address subnets you want to allow. When you require a configured location for a user, that user must have both the correct credentials and IP address to log in. Otherwise, their login attempt fails and they receive an error. You can have up to 20 locations at a time and up to 10 rules per location.

1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
2. Go to Locations > Location Definitions.
3. Click New Location.
4. Give the location a descriptive Name. If you want to add more details about the location, enter a Description.
5. You can select the Set as Default Location or Remote Location to indicate the type of location. You can only have one default location. These fields don't currently affect any functionality and selecting them is for your own reference.

6. Add any other information you would like using the remaining fields, including the physical address, country, GPS coordinates, time zone, or assigned groups. These fields don't currently affect anything, and the information entered there would be only for your own reference.

   If you add groups to the Assigned Groups field, the users belonging to those groups appear on the Assigned Users tab. However, the location settings won't apply to them. If you assign a location to a login authenticator, the location applies to users who are assigned to that login authenticator and restricts their ability to log in based on their IP address. However, those users will not appear on the Assigned Users tab.

7. Click Save.

8. Back on the Location Definitions page, click the location you just created to open it.

9. Click the Auto-Detection Rules tab.

10. Create a new rule. To do so: 

    1. Click New Rule.

    2. Give the rule a descriptive Name.

    3. Select the Rule Type from the following: 

       • List: A list of specific IP addresses allowed for this location. For example, 100.0.1.100, 100.0.1.101, and 100.0.1.102.

       • Range: An IP address range allowed for this location. For example, 100.0.1.100-100.0.1.125.

       • Subnet: A subnet allowed for this location. For example, 100.0.0.1/32.

    4. Specify the IP Version as one of the following:

       • IPV4: A 32-bit IP address

       • IPV6: A 128-bit hexadecimal address.

    5. Enter the actual IP addresses, range, or subnet in the Rule Definition field, following the formats of the examples in the preceding steps. If you selected List, you can enter up to 100 IP addresses. If you selected Range or Subnet, you can only enter one value.

    6. Click Confirm.

11. Add more rules as needed. You can have up to 10.

12. Click Save.

Create Login Authenticators

Required permissions: Login Authenticator Create

The built-in CXone IdP authenticates users with usernames and passwords. Password criteria are managed using login authenticators. You can create different login authenticators for different employees.

1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
2. Go to Security Settings > Login Authenticator.

3. Click New Login Authenticator.

4. Enter a unique Name for the login authenticator.

5. Enter a Description if you want one.

6. Select System as the Authentication Type.

   Learn more about authentication types

   Field	Details
   System	The login authenticator uses the built-in login process of CXone. It doesn't authenticate using an external single sign-on (SSO) identity provider.
   SAML	SAML 2.0 allows you to set up single sign-on through an external identity provider. CXone supports multiple instances of SAML 2.0. You can assign different instances to different users.

7. If you want to require that users log in from a certain IP address, select the Location you set up in the preceding section.

8. Set up your password complexity.

   Each user's password is checked against a repository of commonly used passwords. If their password matches one of the commonly used passwords, they will be forced to create a new password. Some of the passwords that are rejected include:

   • Any password that includes the word "password." For example, Password@1234.

   • Any password that includes the user's email address, username, first name, last name, or system name.

   Passwords are checked against this repository whenever:

   • A new user is activated.

   • A user's password expires.

   • A user resets their password.

   Learn more about fields in this step

   Field	Details
   Require Lower Case (a-z)	Requires users to use at least one lower-case letter in their passwords.
   Require Upper Case (A-Z)	Requires users to use at least one upper-case letter in their passwords.
   Require Numeric (0-9)	Requires users to use at least one number in their passwords.
   Require Non-alphanumeric (!,@,#,etc.)	Requires users to use at least one non-alphanumeric character in their passwords.

9. If you want to enable multi-factor authentication, select Require Multi-Factor Authentication. Set your MFA Type as HOTP (HMAC-Based) and TOTP (Time-Based).

   Learn more about the MFA settings

   Field	Details
   Require Multi-factor Authentication	Requires users to enter a multi-factor authentication (MFA) token in addition to their password to log in to CXone. An MFA token is a one-time password generated by a hardware token or virtual MFA device (for example, an app like Google Authenticator) that you provide. When you enable MFA, users with the affected profile must configure an MFA secret key the next time they log in. You should not enable MFA for the master administrator in your organization. If the device or secret is lost, the only way to reset the MFA secret is to file a ticket with NICE CXone.
   MFA Type	Specifies whether you want to enable TOTP (Time-Based) or HOTP (HMAC-Based) MFA.

10. Set your password policy.

    Learn more about fields in this step

    Field	Details
    Password Length	Enter the minimum number of total characters users must include in their passwords. For example, if you enter12, users must include at least 12 total characters in every password. The characters required in the Password Complexity settings count towards the total character count. You can set the password length to any number between 12 and 24.
    Enable Password Age	Enables a text box where you can enter the maximum number of days a user can keep a password. After the specified number of days, the user must change their password. You can set the password age anywhere from 14 to 365 days.
    Enable Password History	Enter the number of unique passwords a user must set before they can reuse an old one. You can set the password history anywhere from 4 to 50. For example, if you enter 10, users assigned to the login authenticator cannot use any of their last 10 passwords as their new password.

11. Click Save & Activate.

Create Roles

Required permissions: Role Management Create

1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
2. Go to Security Settings > Roles & Permissions.
3. Click New Role.

4. Type a Name and optionally a Description for the role.

   The role's description cannot have more than 200 characters.

5. Click the Permissions tab.

6. Configure the permissions for the role. Permissions are categorized by CXone application, and you can only see applications that are part of your CXone system. Click the role categories on the left to move between them.

7. If the role you're creating (or editing) has permissions similar to one of the CXone's four out-of-the-box (OOTB) roles, click Set To Default, select the relevant OOTB role (Agent, Manager, Administrator, or Evaluator) from the drop-down, and then click Apply. The permissions are set according to the selected out-of-the-box role. Make the changes in the permissions, as required for the role.
8. When you are finished configuring permissions, click Save to save the role in draft status or click Save and Activate to save the role in active status. You cannot assign users to the role until you activate it.

Create Employees

Required permissions: Employees Create

You can add an employee account by using:

• Create Employee—Create an individual account using the Create Employee window.

• Import Employees—Import multiple employee accounts.

The instructions here are for creating a single employee account in the application. If your company is using ACD, you'll also need to configure ACD user settings for this employee.

To add an employee:

1. Click the app selector and select Admin.

2. Click Employees > Create Employee.

3. Enter the employee's First Name and Last Name. The Middle Name is optional.

4. Enter a valid Email Address. CXone sends emails like activation invitations and password verification codes here. You can use the same email address for multiple employees. When you edit an employee's email address, a verification email is sent to the new email address.

5. Enter the Username you want to assign to an employee. The username must be in the form of an email address. The field is auto filled from the Email Address field. You can edit it if you want to.

6. Assign a Primary Role to an employee from the drop-down.

7. Complete the fields on the General tab.

   Learn more about fields on the General tab

   Field	Details
   Display Name	Enter a Display Name you want to assign to an employee. Users from other teams can view the display name. They cannot view other information about the employee unless they have the View Employee permission enabled.
   Type	Use Type to organize an employee outside of their assigned Role and Team. The type is not tied to permissions or unavailable codes. This makes reporting easier. You can select previously created types from the drop-down. You can also create new types by entering text in the search bar, and clicking Create.
   Hire Date	The date you hired an employee. This field is for your records only. CXone doesn't use this information.
   Time Zone	The employee is automatically assigned to the tenant High-level organizational grouping used to manage technical support, billing, and global settings for your CXone environment time zone unless you change it.
   OS Login	The operating system the employee uses. The CXone Recording application requires this information for screen recording. The field accepts free text and may contain a text string related to an operating system such as Windows 10.
   Rank	This field is visible only if you have CXone WFM in your environment. It determines priority when creating a schedule.
   Assigned to Team	Assign the employee to a team by selecting a team from the drop-down menu. If you haven't created teams yet, or if the employee will belong to a new team, you can just accept the Default Team setting and then change it later.
   Assigned To Groups	Assign the employee to one or more groups by selecting groups from the drop-down menu.
   Assigned To Scheduling Unit	This field is visible only if your system includes CXone WFM. It specifies the scheduling unit for the employee.
   Mobile Number	The employee's mobile or cell phone number. This field is for your records only. CXone doesn't use this information.
   Attributes	Under this drop-down select attributes related to the employee: Can be Evaluated/Coached—This attribute appears only if your system includes CXone QM. It enables the employee to be evaluated, and you will be billed for CXone QM for this employee. The default value is selected for new employees. If you add CXone QM to a system that has existing users, you must manually enable this setting for those users. Can Be Recorded (Screen)—This attribute appears only if your system includes CXone Recording Advanced. It enables the employee's screen to be recorded, and you will be billed for screen recording for this employee. The default value is selected for new employees. If you add CXone Recording Advanced to a system that has existing users, you must manually enable this setting for those users. Can be Recorded (Voice)—This attribute is visible only if your system includes CXone Recording/CXone Recording Advanced. It enables the employee's voice to be recorded. You will be billed for voice recording for this employee. The default value is selected for a new employees. If you add CXone Recording/CXone Recording Advanced to a system that has existing users, you must manually enable this setting for those users. Can be Scheduled—This attribute is visible only if your system includes CXone WFM. It enables the employee to be scheduled. You will be billed for CXone WFM for this employee. The default value is selected for new employees. If you add CXone WFM to a system that has existing users, you must manually enable this setting for those users. Users who don't have this attribute selected won't appear in employee lists when creating weekly rules or shift templates. Removing this attribute from a user deletes that user from any weekly rules or shift templates to which the user is assigned. Can be Analyzed—This attribute appears only if your system includes Interaction Analytics. When this attribute is selected, the employee's recorded interactions are analyzed by Interaction Analytics. You will be billed for Interaction Analytics for this employee. The default value is cleared for new employees. Can Edit BI Reports—Employees with this attribute selected can edit any of the BI reports in the Reporting application as long as they also have the correct permissions. The default value is cleared for all employees, both existing and new. Can View BI Reports—Employees will be able to open any BI reports with this attribute. Reports are in the Reporting application, but employees should have permissions to view the reports there. BI reports have no usage fee for up to 10% of either your concurrent or configured users, depending on your pricing model. Once the 10% threshold is passed, you will be billed for each additional employee with this checkbox selected. The default value is cleared for all employees, both for existing and new. Customer Card—This attribute allows employees who don't work with digital contacts to access available customer cards for omnichannel-routed voice, chat, email, and CXone SMS Messaging contacts. The default value is cleared for new employees. Digital Engagement—This attribute appears only if your system includes Digital Experience. When this attribute is selected, the employee's record is synced to Digital Experience, and they can work on digital contacts. You will be billed for Digital Experience for this employee. The default value is cleared for new employees.

8. Click Create to create the employee profile and continue setting it up. Click Create & Invite if you're ready for the user to activate their account and set up their password.

Authenticate Applications

Users and applications are authenticated in very similar ways. The main difference is that applications are authenticated with an access key while users are authenticated with a username and password. Unlike users, applications are not required to interact through a browser. Applications typically are either back-office functionality or intelligent virtual agents Chatbot or similar application that interacts with a user based on artificial intelligence (IVAs).

To set up an application to interact with CXone, create an employee profile and name the profile after the application. Then create an access key for the application employee as follows:

Required permissions: Employees Edit

1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
2. Click Employees and then click the employee profile you're editing to open it.

3. Click the Security tab.

4. Click Add access key.
5. Copy the Access Key ID to a secure location.
6. Click Show Secret Key and copy the secret key to a secure location.
7. Click Save.

Authorization in CXone

Authorization is the process of verifying what resources a user is allowed to access. Resources can include applications, files, and data. You can define users' access to resources with role-based access control. CXone manages authorization automatically during authentication. When a user is authenticated they are given access only to the resources they're authorized for.

A user's authentication method doesn't impact authorization. CXone uses the same authorization process for all users. It doesn't matter whether they are authenticated with access keys or passwords.