Overview

EllisDon, a global leader in construction services, manages hundreds of users across multiple StruxHub projects. However, with employees and subcontractors accessing sensitive project data daily, IT administrators struggled with manual user management, security compliance, and access deactivation. Without a centralized authentication system, the risk of unauthorized access and operational inefficiencies grew.

To address these challenges, EllisDon partnered with StruxHub to implement Azure Single Sign-On (AzureSSO), seamlessly integrating their existing Microsoft Azure infrastructure with StruxHub’s platform. This case study explores how the solution improved security, streamlined user access, and enhanced IT control without disrupting workflows.

Challenge

EllisDon’s IT security policies required centralized access control, but the lack of integration between Microsoft Azure and StruxHub made this difficult to enforce. Without AzureSSO, IT administrators had no way to instantly deactivate users across all StruxHub projects when employees changed roles or left the company. This posed a security risk, as outdated accounts could remain active longer than necessary. The company needed a seamless authentication solution to ensure compliance, enhance security, and reduce manual IT overhead.

EllisDon required an enterprise-wide project control solution that would integrate seamlessly with their existing Microsoft Azure infrastructure. Their primary goals were:

1. Ensuring seamless access to StruxHub via Azure Single Sign-On (AzureSSO).
2. Maintaining productivity for existing users without disruptions.
3. Enabling EllisDon’s IT team to disable user access via Azure, ensuring immediate deactivation across all StruxHub projects.

Solution

StruxHub worked closely with EllisDon’s Security and IT teams to design a seamless AzureSSO integration that aligned with their existing Microsoft Azure infrastructure. By conducting in-depth discussions, StruxHub gained a clear understanding of EllisDon’s security policies, authentication workflows, and technical requirements.

To ensure a smooth implementation, StruxHub also gathered insights from other enterprise customers with similar needs, identifying best practices and potential challenges in advance.

With mutual agreement on the approach, StruxHub developed a structured rollout plan, starting with a proof-of-concept to validate AzureSSO within StruxHub’s internal environment. An agile development process was used, allowing for continuous testing and adjustments to optimize security and user experience.

Feedback from EllisDon’s IT team confirmed that the implementation process was smooth and intuitive for users:

“The SSO implementation from our side is straightforward and easy to configure. No user has called in or contacted myself on how to set up SSO, so it appears to be simple enough for users to enroll themselves.”

— Andrew Findlay, IT Ops Systems Analyst, EllisDon

Additionally, their team provided thoughtful suggestions to further enhance security—most notably, the ability to enforce SSO login for all @ellisdon.com users, a common practice in their other enterprise applications. This feedback has been added to StruxHub’s product roadmap.

By prioritizing security and collaboration, StruxHub successfully implemented an enterprise-ready AzureSSO solution that improved both IT efficiency and user experience.

Implementation Process

Phase 1: Testing & Validation

• StruxHub collaborated closely with EllisDon’s IT team over a six-week period, sharing progress updates and test environments.
• Once AzureSSO was successfully integrated into StruxHub’s internal instances, a joint validation session was held via Zoom. This session tested the Azure configuration using sample accounts to ensure compatibility.

Phase 2: Pilot Deployment

• A small-scale rollout was conducted with a sandbox project and three test users.
• During testing, configuration discrepancies were identified between StruxHub’s authentication system and EllisDon’s Azure setup.
• Through rapid troubleshooting, the issue was resolved within a day, followed by a final validation session.

Phase 3: Full-Scale Deployment

• After a successful pilot, the AzureSSO integration was deployed to EllisDon’s production environment.
• The new authentication process allowed EllisDon users to seamlessly log in via AzureSSO while giving IT administrators centralized control over user access.

Results & Impact

• Seamless User Experience: Existing EllisDon users transitioned smoothly to AzureSSO without workflow disruptions. “It appears to be simple enough for users to enroll themselves.” — EllisDon IT
• Enhanced IT Control: EllisDon’s IT team gained the ability to manage user access centrally through Azure, ensuring security and compliance.
• Scalability: With the successful implementation for EllisDon, AzureSSO is now available to other enterprise customers using StruxHub.

Conclusion

The collaboration between StruxHub and EllisDon resulted in a robust AzureSSO integration, aligning with enterprise security requirements while maintaining ease of use. Working closely with customer stakeholders allowed StruxHub to better understand their business requirements, and collaborative QA Testing allowed for a seamless rollout.

The technology developed has been productized to support other enterprise customers on the StruxHub platform. This successful deployment reinforces StruxHub’s commitment to streamlining construction site operations by integrating with the enterprise tools that matter most to our customers. With AzureSSO now available across the platform, StruxHub continues to enhance efficiency, security, and ease of use for construction teams managing complex projects.