---
title: Overview of the SSO flow
description: The following figure illustrates an example SSO process flow.
component: atlassian
page_id: atlassian:atlassian_integration_kit:pf_atlassian_ik_overview_of_the_sso_flow
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/integrations/atlassian/atlassian_integration_kit/pf_atlassian_ik_overview_of_the_sso_flow.html
revdate: July 3, 2024
section_ids:
  processing-steps: Processing Steps
---

# Overview of the SSO flow

The following figure illustrates an example SSO process flow.

![mvq1563995133795](_images/mvq1563995133795.jpg)

## Processing Steps

1. The user navigates to an Atlassian application, such as Jira or Confluence.

2. The user is redirected to PingFederate server to perform SSO. After the user logs in PingFederate creates a unique identifier and associates it with the user's attributes.

3. PingFederate redirects the user back to Atlassian. The URL contains a reference ID which is used to request user attributes from PingFederate in the next step.

4. The authenticator issues a request (which contains the identifier obtained from the previous step) to PingFederate's Reference ID adapter. After PingFederate ensures the identifier is valid and hasn't timed out, the user's attributes are returned to the Authenticator and the session is created.