Case Study - Seamless OAuth SSO Integration for CollegeBuys and CDW Portal

Overview

CollegeBuys, the student savings program powered by FoundationCCC, partnered with Web3Box to develop a secure, user-friendly Single Sign-On (SSO) integration with their vendor partner CDW. The objective was clear: enable verified users of the CollegeBuys WordPress-based eStore to directly access CDW’s custom educational portal—without creating new accounts or logging in twice.

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The Challenge

CDW uses Okta-based identity management to support federated access via OIDC (OpenID Connect) or SAML. For CollegeBuys, this meant we needed to:

• Authenticate users already logged into the CollegeBuys eStore
• Send identity data (First Name, Last Name, Email) securely
• Integrate with CDW’s Broker Identity Provider
• Maintain compliance with enterprise-grade authentication protocols
• Avoid relying on expensive licensing (e.g., MiniOrange Premium)

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Our Approach

We implemented a standards-based OIDC authentication flow, following CDW’s integration guidelines for Broker IdPs:

• Deployed a self-hosted OAuth 2.0 server on the WordPress instance using the WP OAuth Server plugin
• Configured Client ID / Secret, JWT token signing, and secure HTTPS endpoints
• Added the required OIDC scopes (email, profile, openid) and enabled JIT provisioning of user profiles
• Created a shortcode to dynamically display the “Sign in to CDWg Store” button for verified users
• Resolved endpoint errors by ensuring the /oauth/me response included given_name, family_name, and email as per CDW’s broker requirements
• Handled WooCommerce plugin conflicts and maintained full compatibility with updates
• Used CDW’s Preview Environment for safe User Acceptance Testing before production launch

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Technology Stack

• WordPress + WooCommerce
• WP OAuth Server Plugin (as IdP)
• OpenID Connect (OIDC) Protocol
• Okta SSO Broker Integration
• JWT (JSON Web Tokens) for secure identity transmission
• Custom Shortcode Development for dynamic UI
• Staging + Production environments for phased testing

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Outcome

CollegeBuys now offers a seamless login experience for its users. Verified students and educators log into CollegeBuys once and can access CDW’s discounted tech catalog instantly via a secure SSO button—improving user satisfaction and strengthening vendor collaboration.

“Web3Box delivered a robust SSO integration without locking us into expensive licensing models. Their technical diligence and adaptability were key to this success.”
— FoundationCCC Project Lead