Use federated authentication with MS Azure AD in Apple Business Essentials
After you’ve completed a successful administrator account sign-in and checked for user name conflicts, you must turn on and test federated authentication.
There is a three-step process to link Apple Business Essentials to Azure AD and use federated authentication:
1. Add and verify a domain. See Link to new domains.
2. Configure the federated authentication process.
3. Test authentication with a single Azure AD domain account.
Configure the federated authentication process
This task allows Azure AD to trust Apple Business Essentials.
In Apple Business Essentials, sign in with a user that has the role of Administrator or People Manager.
Select your name at the bottom of the sidebar, select Preferences
, then select Accounts 
.Next to Federated Authentication, select Edit, then select Connect.
Select “Sign in with Microsoft,” enter a Microsoft Azure AD Global Administrator, Application Administrator, or Cloud Application Administrator account, then select Next.
Enter the password for the account, then select Sign In.
Carefully read the application agreement, then select Accept.
You are consenting to Microsoft giving Apple access to information found in Azure AD.
Select Done.
Note: After you complete this step, users can’t create new personal Apple IDs on the domain you configure. This could affect other Apple services you use. See Transfer Apple services when federating.
In some cases you may not be able to add your domain. Common reasons are:
The Microsoft Azure AD Global Administrator, Application Administrator, or Cloud Application Administrator account used doesn’t have permission to add domains in Azure AD.
The user name or password from the account in step 4 is incorrect.
Test authentication with a single Azure AD account
This task allows Apple Business Essentials to trust Azure AD. After you’ve verified ownership of your domain and successfully tested authentication with a single Azure AD account, you then now create additional accounts and continue federating your domain.
Select Federate next to the domain you want to federate.
Select “Sign in to Microsoft Azure Portal,” then enter your user name and password.
Enter a Microsoft Azure AD Global Administrator, Application Administrator, or Cloud Application Administrator account that exists in the domain, then select Next.
Enter the password for the account, select Sign In, select Done, then select Done.
In some cases you may not be able to sign in to your domain. Here are some common reasons:
The user name or password from the domain that you chose to federate is incorrect.
The account isn’t in the domain that you chose to federate.
After sign-in is successful, Apple Business Essentials checks for user name conflicts with this domain. The check for user name conflicts must be complete before you can use federated authentication with this domain.
Note: After you successfully link Apple Business Essentials to Azure AD, you can change the role of an account to another role. For example, you may want to change the role of an account to a Staff role.
Turn on federated authentication
Before you turn on federated authentication, make sure you’ve linked to a new domain and verified it and turned on and tested federated authentication.
Note: If you’re planning on connecting to Azure AD using SCIM, you should wait to turn on federated authentication until after the SCIM connection is successful.
In Apple Business Essentials, sign in with a user that has the role of Administrator or People Manager.
Select your name at the bottom of the sidebar, select Preferences
, then select Accounts .Select Edit in the Domains section, then turn on federated authentication for the domains that have been successfully added to Apple Business Essentials.
It may take a while to update all accounts.
Test federated authentication
You can test the federated authentication connection after you’ve performed the following tasks:
You’ve completed a successful connection and verification to your domain.
The check for user name conflicts is complete.
The Managed Apple ID default format is updated.
Note: Users with the role of Administrator or People Manager can’t sign in using federated authentication; they can only manage the federation process.
In Apple Business Essentials, sign in with a user that doesn’t have an Administrator role.
If the user name you signed in with is found, a new screen indicates that you’re signing in with a user in your domain.
Select Continue, enter the password for the user, then select Sign In.
Sign out of Apple Business Essentials.
Note: Users can’t sign in to iCloud.com unless they first sign in with their Managed Apple ID on another Apple device.