LinkedIn Learning and Cornerstone OnDemand Deep Integration Guide

What this Document Tells You

The following steps outline the Cornerstone and LinkedIn Learning integration process:

Cornerstone Deep Integration Functionality

Authentication: SAML SSO Identity Provider

Reporting: xAPI

Content Discovery: Automated Catalog Sync (All languages)

Requirements:

The LinkedIn Learning and Cornerstone deep integration configuration involves the following requirements:

• An active Cornerstone LMS instance

• An active LinkedIn Learning account

• Admin access to LinkedIn Learning

• Admin privileges to your Cornerstone LMS instance

Integration Overview

Check out our overview of Cornerstone’s integration benefits and capabilities.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

During the initial configuration, you can configure LinkedIn Learning and Cornerstone to establish a secure SAML single sign-on (SSO) connection that ensures seamless and secure access to content. SSO authentication reduces friction for users and administrators by eliminating the need for manual user registration. SSO ensures that learners spend more of their time watching content and less of their time trying to remember usernames and passwords. You have two configuration options:

• Connect to your organization’s identity management solution (Recommended) – If your organization has a centrally managed identity management solution like Azure AD, you can configure your identity provider to authenticate users into Cornerstone and LinkedIn Learning.

• Connect directly to Cornerstone IdP – You can configure LinkedIn Learning and Cornerstone to establish a direct SAML single sign-on (SSO) connection.

Automated Content Catalog Sync

The LinkedIn Learning library contains thousands of courses. Courses are added at a rate of 25-30 courses per week at no extra cost. Traditionally, the administrator of a content discovery platform manually uploads new content on a regular interval. However, the Cornerstone deep integration uses LinkedIn Learning APIs to dynamically refresh the content library daily. This process ensures new LinkedIn Learning content is available within 24 hours of its release.

All content titles, subjects and descriptions are aggregated and indexed to accommodate keyword searches and support efficient discoverability. Cornerstone supports automatic syncing of All languages content libraries.

Configuration

Enabling SAML SSO (Authentication Steps)

You can configure SSO authentication in your LinkedIn Learning Admin settings. Most organizations have a centrally -managed identity management solution like Azure AD, Okta, or ADFS which can be configured to authenticate users into enterprise applications like LinkedIn Learning.

To configure SAML SSO with your identity management solution, share the LinkedIn Learning SSO Implementation Guide with your organization’s IT team.

1. In the Cornerstone navigation menu, go to Admin > Tools > Edge > Marketplace.

2. In the Edge Marketplace, search for LinkedIn and click the LinkedIn Learning tile.

   

3. Click Try it Free. This button now appears as Install.

   

4. Click Install. Then, when prompted, click Configure Now.

   

5. In a new window or tab, login to your LinkedIn Learning account and, if you are not already in the Admin screen, select Go to Admin > Me > Authenticate.

   

6. Select Configure single sign-on and click Add new SSO.

   

7. There is one SSO connection by default, but you can add more than one connection. Expand the default SSO connection or click Add a new SSO.

8. Select an SSO method (in this case, "SAML").

   

Enabling SAML SSO (IdP Settings)

To complete the SAML SSO enablement process, take the following steps:

1. From the Identity provider settings tab, click Load and copy information from fields.

   

2. Copy the values of the LinkedIn Learning fields noted in the table below. Switch back to the Cornerstone portal window/tab. Paste the LinkedIn Learning values in their corresponding Cornerstone fields under the Service Provider section based on the mapping below.

3. On the Cornerstone Settings page, copy the values of the fields under the Identity Provider section as outlined in the below table.

4. Paste the values in the corresponding fields of the Identity Provider page.

   

5. Switch back to the LinkedIn Learning tab.

6. On the Authenticate users with SAML SSO screen, select the SSO settings tab.

7. Paste the Cornerstone identity provider values (from Step 2 of this section) to their corresponding LinkedIn Learning fields based on the mapping below.

8. Leave the Sign AuthnRequest option as "No" (default) in LinkedIn Learning.

9. Click Save to save the SSO configuration.

   

10. Set the connection status to "Active".

    

Connect to your IdP (Recommended)

To authenticate learners into Cornerstone and LinkedIn Learning through your identity provider (IdP), follow the LinkedIn Learning SSO Integration Partners Overview guide.

When you connect with your identify provider, the unique user identifier you pass to LinkedIn Learning must match the user’s ‘User ID’ value in Cornerstone or reporting will fail.

A Cornerstone admin can find this value by taking the following actions:

1. In CSOD, go to Admin > Users.

2. Search any user/s, and identify the "User ID" field.

3. Note this value must be passed in the SAML response, preferably as the "NameID" value.

Connect to Cornerstone IdP

1. From the Identity provider settings tab, click Load and copy information from fields.

   

2. Copy and paste the fields from LinkedIn Learning into the Edge Marketplace Service Provider settings. Following the mapping below:

   LINKEDIN LEARNING TEXT (COPY)	CORNERSTONE INPUTS (PASTE)
   Entity ID	SP Entity ID
   Assertion Consumer Service (ACS) URL	SP ACS URL
   SP X.509 Certificate (warning below)	SP Certificate

   Note

   Before copying and pasting the SP X.509 Certificate into Cornerstone, you must remove line breaks to avoid authentication errors.

3. Click Save to save the SAML SSO configuration.

SSO Validation

To validate your SSO settings, take the following steps:

1. After you log in, if you are not already in the Admin screen, select Go to Admin, then click Me > Authenticate.

   

2. In the browser address bar, copy the account ID value. In the example below the account ID is "123456".

   https://www.linkedin.com/enterprise/accountcenter/settings?account=123456

3. Construct an SSO URL for testing by pasting the account ID value from the last step into the URL below.

   SSO URL Format:

   https://www.linkedin.com/checkpoint/enterprise/login/[account-ID]?application=learning

   SSO URL Example:

   https://www.linkedin.com/checkpoint/enterprise/login/2141641?application=learning

4. Copy and paste the SSO URL into a private browsing window. Provide your Cornerstone credentials when prompted. If SSO authentication is working as expected, you are redirected to LinkedIn Learning.

Provision API Keys for Content Catalog Sync

For Cornerstone to sync LinkedIn Learning catalog metadata, you must provision API keys in LinkedIn Learning admin settings. To enable content catalog sync, take the following steps:

1. Login to LinkedIn Learning. If you are not already in the Admin screen, select Go to Admin, then click Me > Integrate.

   

2. From the side navigation menu, click Access content and reports via API, then expand the Generate LinkedIn Learning REST API panel.

   

3. Click Add Application.

4. Provide the name of your learning platform (e.g., "Cornerstone"), as the application name.

5. Provide a short description of the integration use case in the application description field. For example, "Cornerstone content catalog sync".

6. There are two checkboxes – Content and Report. Select Content.  

7. Click Generate application.

   

8. Save the Client ID and Client Secret values.

9. Log in to Cornerstone as an administrator, and open the LinkedIn Learning Edge Connector configuration.

10. Paste the Client ID and Client Secret into the appropriate first two fields of the Edge configuration page.

    

11. Keep the Cornerstone Edge Connector configuration and the LinkedIn Learning windows open for the next section.

Enable xAPI Learner Activity Tracking

1. Login to LinkedIn Learning, if you are not already in the Admin screen, select Go to Admin, then click Me > Integrate.

   

2. From the side navigation menu, select Configure reporting integrations.

3. Expand the Configure xAPI section.

4. Click Add Integration.

   

5. In the Integration Name field, type "Cornerstone reporting".

6. In the User Type field, select "ID" (default value).

7. Go to Cornerstone, copy and paste the Client Secret, Client ID, Tenant Server URL and OAuth Server URL in the Cornerstone Edge settings under the "xAPI" header into the LinkedIn Learning xAPI configuration.

   LINKEDIN LEARNING TEXT (COPY)	CORNERSTONE INPUTS (PASTE)
   OAuth Server URL	OAuth Server URL
   xAPI URL	Tenant Server URL
   Client ID	Client ID
   Client Secret	Client Secret

8. Click Enable.

   

   You have enabled the Cornerstone xAPI keys in LinkedIn Learning.

   

9. In Cornerstone’s Edge Marketplace, under Identity Provider, toggle Bypass AuthNRequest validation to "On".

   Caution

   You must enable this setting if the Sign AuthNRequest validation is set to "No (Default)" in LinkedIn Learning, or CSOD learner SSOs will fail.

10. Enable Bypass Registration to allow all LinkedIn course completions to appear on a learner’s CSOD transcript.

11. Enable Subjects Synchronization to import course subjects.

12. Click Save Settings.

    

In Cornerstone, the enabled xAPI settings allow you to search and review learner data:

xAPI (Learner Activity Tracking) Validation

To confirm that the success of your xAPI configuration, take the following steps:

1. Copy and paste the SSO URL (from the previous section) into an incognito or private browsing window. Provide your Cornerstone credentials when prompted.

2. Complete a course LinkedIn Learning course in full. Below you will find a list of short courses you may want to use to test completions.

   • Outlook: Email Signatures for Beginners (19m)

   • Word: Mail Merge for Beginners (24m)

   • Managing your Time (11m)

   • LinkedIn Quick Tips (18m)

   • How to Tell Stories That Win Market Share (24m)

3. After completing a course, visit your learner transcript in Cornerstone to ensure the completion appears.

Congratulations! Your learners now can access LinkedIn Learning content and reporting via their Cornerstone OnDemand instance.

Questions

For LinkedIn Learning configuration questions, reach out to your dedicated Customer Success Manager.

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