diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3d8f035..d09c5c8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
 ### [Usage](#usage)
 
 The main interface of the SAML library is `SAMLService`. 
-It provides the following functionality:
+It provides the following functionality for service / identity providers:
+- create an (optionally signed) `org.opensaml.saml.saml2.core.AuthnRequest`
+- construct the SP metadata
 - parsing SAML to an `org.opensaml.saml.saml2.core.AuthnRequest`
 - sending SAML response back to the Service Provider
 - construct the IdP metadata
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 6753f06..4b640fc 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
     <groupId>org.openconext</groupId>
     <artifactId>saml-idp</artifactId>
-    <version>0.0.6-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>0.0.7-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <name>saml-idp</name>
 
     <properties>
diff --git a/src/main/java/saml/DefaultSAMLService.java b/src/main/java/saml/DefaultSAMLService.java
index 752e79a..de51276 100644
--- a/src/main/java/saml/DefaultSAMLService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/saml/DefaultSAMLService.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import org.opensaml.core.xml.util.XMLObjectSupport;
 import org.opensaml.saml.common.SAMLVersion;
 import org.opensaml.saml.common.SignableSAMLObject;
+import org.opensaml.saml.common.xml.SAMLConstants;
 import org.opensaml.saml.ext.saml2mdui.Description;
 import org.opensaml.saml.ext.saml2mdui.DisplayName;
 import org.opensaml.saml.ext.saml2mdui.Logo;
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@
 import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 import static org.opensaml.saml.common.xml.SAMLConstants.SAML20P_NS;
 import static org.opensaml.saml.common.xml.SAMLConstants.SAML2_POST_BINDING_URI;
+import static saml.parser.EncodingUtils.deflatedBase64encoded;
 
 
 public class DefaultSAMLService implements SAMLService {
@@ -206,6 +208,44 @@ public AuthnRequest parseAuthnRequest(String xml, boolean encoded, boolean defla
         return authnRequest;
     }
 
+    @SneakyThrows
+    @Override
+    public String createAuthnRequest(SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider,
+                                     String destination,
+                                     boolean signRequest,
+                                     boolean forceAuthn,
+                                     String authnContextClassRef) {
+        AuthnRequest authnRequest = buildSAMLObject(AuthnRequest.class);
+        authnRequest.setAssertionConsumerServiceURL(serviceProvider.getAcsLocation());
+        authnRequest.setDestination(destination);
+        authnRequest.setForceAuthn(forceAuthn);
+        authnRequest.setID("A" + UUID.randomUUID());
+        authnRequest.setIsPassive(false);
+        authnRequest.setIssueInstant(Instant.now());
+        authnRequest.setProtocolBinding(SAMLConstants.SAML2_POST_BINDING_URI);
+        authnRequest.setVersion(SAMLVersion.VERSION_20);
+
+        Issuer issuer = buildSAMLObject(Issuer.class);
+        issuer.setValue(serviceProvider.getEntityId());
+        authnRequest.setIssuer(issuer);
+
+        if (StringUtils.isNotEmpty(authnContextClassRef)) {
+            RequestedAuthnContext requestedAuthnContext = buildSAMLObject(RequestedAuthnContext.class);
+            AuthnContextClassRef newAuthnContextClassRef = buildSAMLObject(AuthnContextClassRef.class);
+            newAuthnContextClassRef.setURI(authnContextClassRef);
+            requestedAuthnContext.getAuthnContextClassRefs().add(newAuthnContextClassRef);
+            authnRequest.setRequestedAuthnContext(requestedAuthnContext);
+        }
+
+        if (signRequest) {
+            this.signObject(authnRequest, serviceProvider.getCredential());
+        }
+
+        Element element = XMLObjectSupport.marshall(authnRequest);
+        String samlAuthnRequest = SerializeSupport.nodeToString(element);
+        return deflatedBase64encoded(samlAuthnRequest);
+    }
+
     @Override
     @SneakyThrows
     public Response parseResponse(String xml) {
@@ -515,7 +555,8 @@ public SAMLServiceProvider resolveSigningCredential(SAMLServiceProvider serviceP
     }
 
     @SneakyThrows
-    protected String serviceProviderMetaData(SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider) {
+    @Override
+    public String serviceProviderMetaData(SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider) {
         EntityDescriptor entityDescriptor = buildSAMLObject(EntityDescriptor.class);
         entityDescriptor.setEntityID(serviceProvider.getEntityId());
         entityDescriptor.setID("M" + UUID.randomUUID());
diff --git a/src/main/java/saml/SAMLService.java b/src/main/java/saml/SAMLService.java
index e5c34fd..1d60abf 100644
--- a/src/main/java/saml/SAMLService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/saml/SAMLService.java
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 package saml;
 
+import lombok.SneakyThrows;
 import org.opensaml.saml.saml2.core.*;
 import org.opensaml.saml.saml2.metadata.EntityDescriptor;
+import org.opensaml.security.credential.Credential;
 import saml.model.SAMLAttribute;
 import saml.model.SAMLServiceProvider;
 import saml.model.SAMLStatus;
@@ -11,8 +13,17 @@
 
 public interface SAMLService {
 
-
-    AuthnRequest createAuthnRequest(String authnContextClassRef);
+    /**
+     * Create an {@link AuthnRequest} and return the XML representation
+     *
+     * @param serviceProvider      the (e.g. {@link SAMLServiceProvider}) containing the entityID
+     * @param destination          the destination (e.g. singleSignService URL of the IdP)
+     * @param signRequest          will the request be signed. If so, then the {@link Credential} must be present in the SP
+     * @param forceAuthn           do we force a new authentication
+     * @param authnContextClassRef an optional value for the authnContextClassRef element
+     * @return deflated and Base64 encoded SAML AuthnRequest
+     */
+    String createAuthnRequest(SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider, String destination, boolean signRequest, boolean forceAuthn, String authnContextClassRef);
 
     /**
      * Parse XML String to {@link Response}
@@ -73,4 +84,13 @@ void sendResponse(String spEntityID,
      * @return the SAMLServiceProvider that may be null
      */
     SAMLServiceProvider resolveSigningCredential(SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider);
+
+    /**
+     * Create SP metaData
+     *
+     * @param serviceProvider the (e.g. {@link SAMLServiceProvider}) containing the entityID and certificate
+     * @return SAML metadata
+     */
+    @SneakyThrows
+    String serviceProviderMetaData(SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider);
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/saml/parser/EncodingUtils.java b/src/main/java/saml/parser/EncodingUtils.java
index fa6e6fb..2ecce77 100644
--- a/src/main/java/saml/parser/EncodingUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/saml/parser/EncodingUtils.java
@@ -5,8 +5,10 @@
 import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.nio.CharBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.util.zip.Deflater;
 import java.util.zip.DeflaterOutputStream;
 import java.util.zip.Inflater;
@@ -14,7 +16,6 @@
 
 import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1;
 import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
-import static java.util.zip.Deflater.DEFLATED;
 
 public class EncodingUtils {
 
@@ -32,6 +33,15 @@ private static String inflate(byte[] b) {
         return out.toString(UTF_8);
     }
 
+    public static String deflatedBase64encoded(String input) throws IOException {
+        ByteArrayOutputStream bytesOut = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        Deflater deflater = new Deflater(Deflater.DEFLATED, true);
+        DeflaterOutputStream deflaterStream = new DeflaterOutputStream(bytesOut, deflater);
+        deflaterStream.write(input.getBytes(Charset.defaultCharset()));
+        deflaterStream.finish();
+        return new String(Base64.encodeBase64(bytesOut.toByteArray()));
+    }
+
     public static String samlEncode(String s) {
         return UN_CHUNKED_ENCODER.encodeToString(s.getBytes(UTF_8));
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/saml/DefaultSAMLServiceTest.java b/src/test/java/saml/DefaultSAMLServiceTest.java
index 28e1335..d611dc4 100644
--- a/src/test/java/saml/DefaultSAMLServiceTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/saml/DefaultSAMLServiceTest.java
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 import net.shibboleth.utilities.java.support.resolver.CriteriaSet;
 import net.shibboleth.utilities.java.support.resolver.ResolverException;
 import net.shibboleth.utilities.java.support.xml.SerializeSupport;
-import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.jsoup.Jsoup;
 import org.jsoup.nodes.Document;
@@ -28,8 +27,6 @@
 import saml.crypto.KeyStoreLocator;
 import saml.model.*;
 
-import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.security.KeyStore;
@@ -40,11 +37,10 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.UUID;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
-import java.util.zip.Deflater;
-import java.util.zip.DeflaterOutputStream;
 
 import static com.github.tomakehurst.wiremock.client.WireMock.*;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
+import static saml.parser.EncodingUtils.deflatedBase64encoded;
 
 class DefaultSAMLServiceTest {
 
@@ -54,7 +50,7 @@ class DefaultSAMLServiceTest {
 
     @RegisterExtension
     WireMockExtension mockServer = new WireMockExtension(8999);
-    private DefaultSAMLService samlIdPService;
+    private DefaultSAMLService defaultSAMLService;
 
     static {
         java.security.Security.addProvider(
@@ -77,7 +73,7 @@ class DefaultSAMLServiceTest {
     @BeforeEach
     void beforeEach() {
         SAMLConfiguration samlConfiguration = getSamlConfiguration(false);
-        samlIdPService = new DefaultSAMLService(samlConfiguration);
+        defaultSAMLService = new DefaultSAMLService(samlConfiguration);
     }
 
     private String getSPMetaData() {
@@ -127,8 +123,8 @@ private String samlAuthnRequest() {
     private String signedSamlAuthnRequest() {
         String samlRequest = samlAuthnRequest();
 
-        AuthnRequest authnRequest = samlIdPService.parseAuthnRequest(samlRequest, true, true);
-        samlIdPService.signObject(authnRequest, signingCredential);
+        AuthnRequest authnRequest = defaultSAMLService.parseAuthnRequest(samlRequest, true, true);
+        defaultSAMLService.signObject(authnRequest, signingCredential);
 
         Element element = XMLObjectSupport.marshall(authnRequest);
         String xml = SerializeSupport.nodeToString(element);
@@ -143,20 +139,11 @@ private static String readFile(String path) {
         return IOUtils.toString(inputStream, Charset.defaultCharset());
     }
 
-    private String deflatedBase64encoded(String input) throws IOException {
-        ByteArrayOutputStream bytesOut = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
-        Deflater deflater = new Deflater(Deflater.DEFLATED, true);
-        DeflaterOutputStream deflaterStream = new DeflaterOutputStream(bytesOut, deflater);
-        deflaterStream.write(input.getBytes(Charset.defaultCharset()));
-        deflaterStream.finish();
-        return new String(Base64.encodeBase64(bytesOut.toByteArray()));
-    }
-
     @SneakyThrows
     @Test
     void parseAuthnRequest() {
         String samlRequest = this.samlAuthnRequest();
-        AuthnRequest authnRequest = samlIdPService.parseAuthnRequest(samlRequest, true, true);
+        AuthnRequest authnRequest = defaultSAMLService.parseAuthnRequest(samlRequest, true, true);
         String uri = authnRequest.getScoping().getRequesterIDs().get(0).getURI();
         assertEquals("https://test.surfconext.nl", uri);
     }
@@ -177,7 +164,7 @@ void unknownServiceProvider() {
         String samlRequestTemplate = readFile("authn_request.xml");
         String samlRequest = String.format(samlRequestTemplate, UUID.randomUUID(), issueFormat.format(new Date()), "https://nope.nl");
         String encodedSamlRequest = deflatedBase64encoded(samlRequest);
-        assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> samlIdPService.parseAuthnRequest(encodedSamlRequest, true, true));
+        assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> defaultSAMLService.parseAuthnRequest(encodedSamlRequest, true, true));
     }
 
     @SneakyThrows
@@ -187,14 +174,14 @@ void acsLocationInvalid() {
         String samlRequest = String.format(samlRequestTemplate, UUID.randomUUID(), issueFormat.format(new Date()), spEntityId);
         samlRequest = samlRequest.replace("https://engine.test.surfconext.nl/authentication/sp/consume-assertion", "https://nope");
         String encodedSamlRequest = deflatedBase64encoded(samlRequest);
-        assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> samlIdPService.parseAuthnRequest(encodedSamlRequest, true, true));
+        assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> defaultSAMLService.parseAuthnRequest(encodedSamlRequest, true, true));
     }
 
     @SneakyThrows
     @Test
     void parseSignedAuthnRequest() {
         String authnRequestXML = this.signedSamlAuthnRequest();
-        AuthnRequest authnRequest = samlIdPService.parseAuthnRequest(authnRequestXML, true, true);
+        AuthnRequest authnRequest = defaultSAMLService.parseAuthnRequest(authnRequestXML, true, true);
 
         String uri = authnRequest.getScoping().getRequesterIDs().get(0).getURI();
         assertEquals("https://test.surfconext.nl", uri);
@@ -205,7 +192,7 @@ void parseSignedAuthnRequest() {
     void sendResponse() {
         String inResponseTo = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
         MockHttpServletResponse httpServletResponse = new MockHttpServletResponse();
-        samlIdPService.sendResponse(
+        defaultSAMLService.sendResponse(
                 spEntityId,
                 inResponseTo,
                 "urn:specified",
@@ -227,7 +214,7 @@ void sendResponse() {
 
         String samlResponse = document.select("input[name=\"SAMLResponse\"]").first().attr("value");
         //Convenient way to make simple assertions
-        Response response = samlIdPService.parseResponse(samlResponse);
+        Response response = defaultSAMLService.parseResponse(samlResponse);
 
         String statusCode = response.getStatus().getStatusCode().getValue();
         assertEquals(statusCode, "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success");
@@ -258,7 +245,7 @@ void sendResponse() {
     void sendResponseNoAuthnContext() {
         String inResponseTo = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
         MockHttpServletResponse httpServletResponse = new MockHttpServletResponse();
-        samlIdPService.sendResponse(
+        defaultSAMLService.sendResponse(
                 spEntityId,
                 inResponseTo,
                 "urn:specified",
@@ -273,7 +260,7 @@ void sendResponseNoAuthnContext() {
         Document document = Jsoup.parse(html);
         String samlResponse = document.select("input[name=\"SAMLResponse\"]").first().attr("value");
         //Convenient way to make simple assertions
-        Response response = samlIdPService.parseResponse(samlResponse);
+        Response response = defaultSAMLService.parseResponse(samlResponse);
 
         StatusCode statusCode = response.getStatus().getStatusCode();
         StatusCode innerStatusCode = statusCode.getStatusCode();
@@ -290,7 +277,7 @@ void sendResponseNoAuthnContext() {
     @Test
     void metadata() {
         String singleSignOnServiceURI = "https://single.sign.on";
-        String metaData = samlIdPService.metaData(
+        String metaData = defaultSAMLService.metaData(
                 singleSignOnServiceURI,
                 "Test",
                 "Test description",
@@ -300,7 +287,7 @@ void metadata() {
 
     @Test
     void resolveSigningCredential() {
-        SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider = samlIdPService.resolveSigningCredential(
+        SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider = defaultSAMLService.resolveSigningCredential(
                 new SAMLServiceProvider(spEntityId, "https://metadata.test.surfconext.nl/sp-metadata.xml")
         );
         assertEquals("https://engine.test.surfconext.nl/authentication/sp/metadata", serviceProvider.getEntityId());
@@ -309,9 +296,24 @@ void resolveSigningCredential() {
 
     @Test
     void resolveSigningCredentialResilience() {
-        SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider = samlIdPService.resolveSigningCredential(
+        SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider = defaultSAMLService.resolveSigningCredential(
                 new SAMLServiceProvider(spEntityId, "https://nope")
         );
         assertNull(serviceProvider);
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void createAuthnRequest() {
+        SAMLServiceProvider serviceProvider = new SAMLServiceProvider(spEntityId, spEntityId);
+        serviceProvider.setCredential(signingCredential);
+        serviceProvider.setAcsLocation("https://engine.test.surfconext.nl/authentication/sp/consume-assertion");
+
+        String authnRequestXML = this.defaultSAMLService.createAuthnRequest(serviceProvider,
+                "https://mujina-idp.test.surfconext.nl/SingleSignOnService",
+                true, true, "https://refeds.org/profile/mfa");
+
+        AuthnRequest authnRequest = this.defaultSAMLService.parseAuthnRequest(authnRequestXML, true, true);
+        assertEquals(serviceProvider.getEntityId(), authnRequest.getIssuer().getValue());
+        assertEquals(serviceProvider.getAcsLocation(), authnRequest.getAssertionConsumerServiceURL());
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file