Why are we doing this?


Problem Statement:

User provisioning to systems outside of Banner (and removing users from those systems) is currently driven by a set of home-grown scripts and processes. While user provisioning is generally done in a timely manner for new constituents, provisioning for returning users and deprovisioning remains troublesome. In addition, when user provisioning does fail it is not always obvious why it failed. The current process is also highly dependent on a single individual for modifications and maintenance. This exposes the process to significant risk due to staff turnover.

Impact Statement:

This project will provide a stable, reliable, maintainable platform for provisioning and deprovisioning.

How do we judge success? Success metrics

This project will be considered a success if we can replace the functionality of the current system with a production installation of MidPoint capable of:

  • Interfacing with Banner via Ethos Integration to receive notifications when new users are created and when relevant user attributes are modified
  • Provision users to Active Directory and LDAP based on attributes derived from Banner data
What are possible solutions?

While many Identity Management (IdM) systems exist, few of them are designed for the educational environment. Educational institutions place specific demands on an IdM system which are not necessarily encountered by other types of businesses such as

  • Frequent provisioning/deprovisioning
  • Many user cohorts with varying levels of access to systems and resources
  • The potential for multiple, fluid affiliations for each user
  • Fine-grained access control to resources
  • Robust Self Service features
  • Continuing affiliations for all users forever

Over the past several years the Internet2 community has collaborated to develop open-source software packages supporting identity and access management. The Trust and Identity in Education and Research (TIER) program was a three-year initiative (2016-2018) to provide enhancements and sustainability for community-driven identity and access management software and services. The TIER software is now the InCommon Trusted Access Platform (TAP).

By adopting the TAP suite we will gain support from community of like-minded institutions. This collaboration will provide access to resources unavailable due to lack of staff.

We have decided to implement midPoint as a provisioning engine during this project as it has wide adoption in the Collaboration Success Program (CSP) cohort, and is easily extensible via open source connectors. Support for midPoint is available from CSP SMEs, the vendor, consulting agencies, and peers.

High-level timeline

Roadmap   

  • Develop Architecture for Midpoint Deployment by December 31, 2019
  • Deploy Development Midpoint Instance by January 31, 2020
  • Deploy Production Midpoint environment by February 29, 2020
  • Go Live in Production with Midpoint by March 31, 2020

 Internal Communications Plan

  • Internal team consisting of reps from
    • UCSS Management
    • UCSS Technical Services
    • CISO
    • EAS Integrations
  • Communication to campus community/stakeholders concerning the change in the provisioning process
  • Story concerning overall project/future potential

Minimum Viable Project

  • MidPoint PROD on site, non-redundant
  • Banner Connector
  • WinAD Connector
  • LDAP Connector
Issues trackingTeamwork is the project management product already in use within the OIT team. While not specifically an Issue Tracking system it will allow us to track issues as tasks, assign users and resources to tasks, and track progress and completion.

Stakeholder Impact

Who is the customer and how does this help them?

User Community

  • More robust provisioning

Office of Information Technology

  • Timely deprovisioning provides increased security
  • Robust logging and audit reports will improve security and aid in troubleshooting
  • Commercial-grade product with support will reduce risk associated with staff turnover and increase reliability of the provisioning/deprovisioning process
  • The success of this project will provide a base for future implementation of Grouper and COmanage
Why will the customer want this?

End users will benefit due to the improved efficiency of the provisioning/deprovisioning process. In the future having a modern IdM platform will allow us to offer additional services such as audits and self-service to customers outside of OIT.

OIT will benefit from increased security, increased stability, and reduced risk.

Scale and scope
  • Internal OIT project executed by UCSS
  • 9 month timeline concurrent with CSP
  • UCSS and ITSO departments will be responsible for execution of the project

  • 6-8 staff members will be involved in the implementation

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