Higher Education establishments have a large number of complex, disparate and heterogeneous systems storing student and staff details. These store data either as an end in itself (Student Administration, Network Logon Account or an HR system, for example) or as a facet of their operation (such as Email, Learning Tools, Portals, Procurement and Telephone Systems, Library systems and e-Journals). It is common for students and staff to have a number of different passwords to remember and sometimes a number of different user names.

How does one handle the efficient assignment, management and auditing of identity data and access permissions across such systems? Furthermore, how does one manage the high volume of staff and different student communities? The administration and support of providing such access, especially for short durations, can be costly and difficult.

These challenges can be addressed through an effective identity and access management (IAM) strategy. The primary objectives of an IAM strategy for Higher Education are to:

• Minimise the administration and support effort, particularly at times of peak demand. These tend to be during times of change in student numbers, such as the start and end of courses and terms.
• Address the issue of security through effective password management and;
• Automate the addition and removal of users through provisioning and de-provisioning.
• Improve efficiency in managing user data.
• Improve the experience, for staff and students, of using the organization’s systems.

Outlook Live

The Outlook Live program provides free email, instant and mobile messaging, and collaborative services to students and alumni of accredited colleges and universities, featuring a custom domain selected by your institution. The Outlook Live program uses Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager (ILM) to provide the connection between your authoritative student and alumni information and its MSN-based messaging platform. More Information

Kings College London
Dramatically improves staff and student identity administration with ILM 2007 and Omada Identity Manager.
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University of Aberdeen
Saves £60,000 by implementing Microsoft Live@edu for email and collaboration.
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Indiana University
Read how OCG helped Indiana University achieve significant cost savings and improve user experience.
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