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Opti ID and the Optimizely One Ecosystem

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📜FoundationOpti IDOpalcms

Why unified identity matters

Section titled “Why unified identity matters”

Organizations using multiple Optimizely products historically managed separate accounts for each one — different logins for CMS, Experimentation, and ODP. This created friction for users, security gaps for administrators, and data silos between products.

Opti ID solves this by providing a single identity layer across all Optimizely products. One login grants access to every product in your organization’s Optimizely One subscription. Beyond convenience, this enables cross-product features that depend on knowing who you are — Opal’s AI context, shared analytics, and unified administration.

What Opti ID does

Section titled “What Opti ID does”

Single sign-on (SSO)

Section titled “Single sign-on (SSO)”

Opti ID provides federated authentication. Users sign in once and access all Optimizely products without re-authenticating. It supports:

  • Optimizely-managed accounts — Email and password managed by Optimizely
  • Enterprise SSO — SAML 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC) integration with your identity provider (Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace, etc.)
  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA) — Additional security layer for all accounts

Organization management

Section titled “Organization management”

Opti ID introduces the concept of an organization — a container that groups users, products, and permissions. Administrators manage access at the organization level rather than per-product.

CapabilityWhat it does
User provisioningAdd and remove users across all products from one place
Role assignmentAssign roles that span products (e.g., “CMS Editor + Experimentation Viewer”)
SCIM provisioningAutomate user lifecycle management from your identity provider
Audit loggingTrack who did what across all products in a single log

Cross-product data flow

Section titled “Cross-product data flow”

Opti ID is not just authentication — it is the identity backbone that enables data to flow between products:

  • Opal requires Opti ID for every feature. Your Opti ID determines what products Opal can access and what tools it can use.
  • Analytics correlates user activity across products through Opti ID sessions.
  • CMS + Experimentation share visitor context when both are accessed under the same Opti ID organization.

How Opti ID connects Optimizely One

Section titled “How Opti ID connects Optimizely One”

Optimizely One is a platform, not a bundle. The difference is integration — products share data and context rather than operating in isolation. Opti ID is the connective tissue that makes this possible.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Opti ID                          │
│          (Identity + Organization + SSO)            │
├─────────┬──────────┬───────────┬───────────┬────────┤
│   CMS   │   CMP    │  Exp.     │   ODP     │  Opal  │
│         │          │  (FX/Web) │           │  (AI)  │
│         │          │  + Perso  │           │        │
├─────────┤          ├───────────┤           │        │
│  Graph  │          │ Analytics │           │        │
├─────────┤          ├───────────┤           │        │
│Commerce │          │           │           │        │
└─────────┴──────────┴───────────┴───────────┴────────┘

Each product authenticates through Opti ID. When Opal generates content for CMS, it authenticates as the user via Opti ID and operates with that user’s permissions. When Analytics displays experiment results, it knows which experiments to show based on the user’s Opti ID organization.

Setting up Opti ID

Section titled “Setting up Opti ID”

For new organizations

Section titled “For new organizations”

New Optimizely customers receive an Opti ID organization as part of onboarding. The organization owner:

  1. Configures SSO (if using enterprise identity provider)
  2. Invites users and assigns product roles
  3. Enables MFA policies
  4. Connects products to the organization

For existing customers

Section titled “For existing customers”

Organizations already using individual Optimizely products can migrate to Opti ID. The migration links existing product accounts to a unified Opti ID identity. Users keep their product-specific roles and permissions while gaining single sign-on.

Key decisions for administrators

Section titled “Key decisions for administrators”

Identity provider integration

Section titled “Identity provider integration”

If your organization uses an enterprise identity provider, integrating it with Opti ID is strongly recommended. This provides:

  • Automatic user provisioning and deprovisioning (SCIM)
  • Consistent password policies and MFA requirements
  • Centralized audit trail
  • Reduced onboarding time for new team members

Role strategy

Section titled “Role strategy”

Opti ID roles can be broad (organization-level) or narrow (product-specific). Plan your role strategy based on your team structure:

Team structureRecommended approach
Small team, everyone uses everythingBroad roles at organization level
Specialized teams (dev, content, marketing)Product-specific roles per team
Agency or partner with multiple clientsSeparate organizations per client

Security policies

Section titled “Security policies”

Opti ID supports organization-wide security policies including:

  • Required MFA for all users
  • Session timeout configuration
  • IP allowlisting
  • Password complexity requirements (for non-SSO accounts)