Higher Education Authentication Use Cases

  1. Alice Prospect wants to apply to University A. Alice has not been identity proofed, so her CommIT credentials are a lower level of assurance. Instead of signing up for an University A account, Alice uses her CommIT credentials to apply. Once she is accepted, she pays her continuing enrollment fee. Later, she registers. After arriving on campus, she visits the Campus Card Office, presents her driver's license, is identity proofed and get's a University A userid and password along with her Campus Card.
  2. Sam Student wants to apply to University B. University B requires the ACT test for admission and Sam has taken AP History test as well. His credentials are at a higher level of assurance. Sam applies to University B using his commIT credentials. Once he is accepted and pays his continuing enrollment fee, he's asked to create a set of permanent University B credentials. After arriving on campus, he visits the Campus Card Office and shows his picture id to get his University Card and is asked to reset his password of his University B account to satisfy University B assurance requirements. 
  3. Sally Prospect applies to Distance Ed College and users her higher level of assurance CommIT credential to apply. Once she has been accepted and pays her continuing enrollment fee, the College asks her to create a set of permanent College credentials. Since Sally has been identity proofed, the College is  comfortable issuing Sally's credentials without further proofing. 

Carnegie Mellon University use cases (added by gettes)

  1. Bobby Prospect (alice's brother) wants to apply to CMU through CommonApp (all undergrads must apply through CommonApp).  Bobby applies to CMU on CommonApp.  CommonApp notifies CMU and then CMU sends a customized email to Bobby directly.  Bobby accesses the CMU admissions site by the link provided in the email.  When logging into the CMU admissions site, Bobby uses his CommIT identity (CommonApp identity) to login.  When doing so, his CommonApp ID # is transmitted to the CMU admissions site so CMU admissions can exactly match Bobby to the applicant records.  If the CommonApp ID # cannot be supplied, then the CommIT identity needs to be added to the CommonApp/CMU feed so CMU can match up the applicant in the admissions system.  Once logged in, Bobby can obtain his application status and resolve any issues with his application.
  2. Bobby finally gets accepted by CMU and makes his first payment for enrollment.  At this time he is sent an email to go establish his CMU AndrewID and password.  He uses his CommIT identity to login to the "Freshman App" where he can establish his ID and Password.  Once established, the linkage between the AndrewID and the CommIT identity will be "forgotten" as the "Freshman App" is used only once for incoming students.  The mechanisms used today for the "Freshman App" are one-time use only.  CMU currently doesn't see value in maintaining linkage between the CMU AndrewID and the CommIT identity.
  3. Per discussion on Biz call of 8/3/2012.  It should be noted this is not necessarily a state one use case requirement but it was deemed appropriate on the call to document the case.  A CMU student is interested in applying to graduate school at Harvard.  It has been some time since utilizing their CommIT identity so they would like to associate their CMU identity with their CommIT identity.  As CMU will have maintained the CommIT identity information as part of the credentialing process described in use case 2 above, when they return to CommIT CMU will pass the CommIT identifier and provide some process for the applicant to associate their CMU identity with CommIT.  Then the CMU student is free to utilize other CommIT biz partners with the CMU AndrewID or even apply directly to Harvard using the AndrewID passing along the CommIT identifier.  In the end, the CMU Identity Provider transmitting a CommIT identifier is on equal footing with the other Identity Providers playing in the CommIT space.

Penn State  use case (Vince TImbers)

Peter Prospect is beginning his college search in the spring of his junior year.  Like many other juniors he takes the SAT and/or ACT tests which are needed for admission to many universities.  When Peter goes to the College Board web site to register for the SAT he is prompted to create an account.  When doing so, Peter learns that he is creating a CommIT account that he can use for many of his college search and application activities.  Peter makes note of his CommIT ID and password for future use and completes the registration process.

During his college search, Peter identified Penn State as a school that could be a good fit for him and decides to visit.  At the Penn State Admissions web site Peter quickly finds information about visiting and proceeds to register for a visit.  The visitation link directs him to MyPennState where he is prompted to login with his CommIT account or create an account.  Peter recognized the CommIT logo and realized he had created an account a few weeks earlier when registering for the SAT.  Peter proceeds to login with his CommIT account and register for his visit to Penn State.

When Peter’s test scores are received by Penn State they contained the CommIT ID.  Because Peter had used the CommIT ID to register for a visit, Penn State was able to accurately match his test scores to his prospect record.

After a summer full of college visits, Penn State remains a top choice for Peter, so he goes back to the Penn State Admissions web site to apply.  Peter is again prompted to login to MyPennState with his CommIT account.  After his application is submitted it is loaded into the student system.  Because Peter used his CommIT account to authenticate when completing the application it was easily matched to his prospect data and SATscores which were also associated to his CommIT ID.

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