Integration Strategy 2
Integration Strategy 2 allows for the use of local accounts alongside AdmitMe accounts. This may be done as a permanent integration approach, or it may be useful as a transition mechanism towards an end state of Integration Strategy 1, where only AdmitMe accounts are used at a given service.
The following scenarios describe the four processes that can occur at authentication time. Other flows, such as the aggregation of attributes about a principal from all participants in the AdmitMe ecosystem at the end stage of the application process, are out of scope for this document, which addresses only authentication.
Actors Involved in these scenarios
1. Student: S1 - In this case it is the user Annie Applicant
2. Participating Portal: P1 - It could be a Service Organization (Ex. Collegeboard, ACT, FAFSA etc) or an Application Service Organization (Aggregation portal, school system etc). A user may have local account with this organization. P1 also offers an attribute service that can be viewed as a business opportunity for P1 to contract with potential customers who are interested in retrieving valuable information about the user.
3. AdmitMe Identity Provider: IdP - AdmitMe portal that also supports central account creation UI to establish a unique identifier for the user.
1. AdmitMe Login
Annie Applicant wants to use an application service. The application service permits both login with an application service credential, or login with an AdmitMe account. Annie doesn't have a local account yet, and there's an explanation on the page that tells her about all the benefits of using AdmitMe instead of a local account. She chooses to click on the AdmitMe button and she creates a new AdmitMe account. Following account creation, she's directed back to the AdmitMe IdP to authenticate. After successfully authenticating, AdmitMe sends back an assertion describing the authentication, the verification level associated with her account, her AdmitMe identifier, and optionally a set of attributes. The application service optionally creates or loads a local representation of Annie keyed by her AdmitMe identifier which is used to store additional local data about her.
The next time Annie returns to the service, she chooses to login with AdmitMe. Since she already has an account, she clicks the AdmitMe button. After successfully authenticating, AdmitMe sends back an assertion describing the authentication, the verification level associated with her account, her AdmitMe identifier, and optionally a set of attributes. The application service optionally loads the local representation of Annie.
2. AdmitMe Login to Local Account Creation or Association
Arnie Applicant wants to login to a standardized testing service. The testing service offers to let him login with a local account, or to use an AdmitMe account. Arnie doesn't have a local account, but Arnie recognizes that he has an AdmitMe account, and clicks on that button. He's directed back to the AdmitMe IdP to authenticate. After successfully authenticating, AdmitMe sends back an assertion describing the authentication, the verification level associated with his account, his AdmitMe identifier, and optionally a set of attributes.
The testing service checks to see whether it recognizes the AdmitMe identifier. If it recognized the identifier, it would already have an associated local account. However, it doesn't recognize the identifier. The testing service prompts Arnie to either login with his existing testing service account so that it can be associated with his AdmitMe account, or to create a new testing service account. He does so and accesses the service.
Next time Arnie comes back to the testing service, he chooses to authenticate with his local testing service account. He is prompted for authentication by the testing service. His unique AdmitMe identifier is still associated with his local account, and he is granted access to the service.
3. Local Account Login to AdmitMe Account Creation or Association
Annie Applicant wants to login to a standardized testing service. The testing service offers to let her login with a local account, or to use an AdmitMe account. Annie knows that she has a local account with the testing service that she created when she took the standardized test, and clicks on that button. She's directed to the local testing service IdP to authenticate.
After successfully authenticating, the testing service prompts her to create an AdmitMe account, or to link her testing service account to her existing AdmitMe account, explaining to her the benefits of doing so. She might also have the option of proceeding without creating an AdmitMe account.
Annie is convinced, and she clicks to be redirected back to the AdmitMe IdP. AdmitMe asks her to either authenticate if she has an existing account, or to create a new account. She either creates an account or uses an existing account. After successfully authenticating, AdmitMe sends back an assertion describing the authentication, the verification level associated with her account, her AdmitMe identifier, and optionally a set of attributes. The testing service receives the assertion and associates the unique AdmitMe identifier with her local account. It then grants her access to the service.
The next time Annie comes back to the testing service, she chooses to authenticate with her AdmitMe account. She is redirected back to the AdmitMe IdP. After successfully authenticating, AdmitMe sends back an assertion describing the authentication, the verification level associated with her account, her AdmitMe identifier, and optionally a set of attributes. The testing service associates the AdmitMe identifier with the local account keyed by her AdmitMe identifier and grants her access to the application.
4. Local Account Login
Arnie Applicant wants to login to an application service. The testing service offers to let him login with a local account, or to use an AdmitMe account. Arnie just wants access to the application; he is not interested in using or learning more about AdmitMe. He clicks the local login button. After successfully creating a new local account or authenticating with an existing local account, Arnie is granted access to the application.
Outstanding Questions:
1. Can one AdmitMe account be mapped to multiple accounts from a given service organization? Probably the answer is No, however the policy group need to vet this out.
2. Can one account from a service organization be mapped to multiple AdmitMe accounts?
3. Failed login at AdmitMe sends you back to AdmitMe; is that right, or should you go back to the referring service organization? How do we avoid stranding users? Where is the default place to send them for help?
4. Is an active session at AdmitMe necessary for data transmission between organizations? Beyond establishing associations, does AdmitMe have any other key role to play? Is it because organizations will trust an AdmitMe authentication, but not another authentication?
5. If a user creates multiple AdmitMe accounts, are they reconciled? If so, how?
Wireframe UI's for Sequences:
(tbd)