Identity Management

Purpose and Objectives

The Identity Management (IdM) project has been established to review the identity and access management processes across UWS and provide unified, consistent and standard business processes and technology to support an individual's relationship with UWS.

Information technology is embedded in almost every aspect of the activities undertaken to achieve the University's mission. Effective use of IT is dependent, among other factors, on the provision of 'the right access for the right people at the right time'. The 'right access' refers to authorised, streamlined access to IT services. The 'right people' refers to members of the UWS community (ie staff and students of all types), visitors and others (eg contractors, vendors, agents or individuals in the wider community) who have an authorised relationship with UWS. The 'right time' refers to timely provision of access from the start of a person's relationship with UWS until termination at the appropriate time.

Coupled with the effective use of IT by authorised entities is the consideration of appropriate security of the University's IT services and data to prevent unauthorised access and this needs to be balanced against individual privacy considerations. Key to a successful IdM scenario is appropriate identity and access policy, management and administration.

The mechanisms that serve identity and access management of IT services can also be leveraged to more effectively manage access to other university services and facilities, eg library services, buildings.

With IT infrastructure and business changes around the unified UWS now complete, the foundation is in place for the next step in identity management at UWS. The need for more streamlined processes and the support of strategic objectives form the main drive for taking this next step, aided by recent technological advances in the identity management space.

As regards the University's strategic objectives, IT is a key enabler. The IdM project will enable many of the strategic imperatives:

• Engaging in world-class research and securing future research funding will be strongly linked to our ability to participate in a federated model for collaborative research;
• Improved accessibility to resources will improve the students' learning experience at UWS;
• Streamlined access to services not only within but also from outside UWS will enhance the sense of community, benefit community relations and contribute to making UWS an institution of choice for students and staff in an increasingly competitive higher education landscape;
• Reducing costs of licensing and administration will contribute to the financial and sustainability agenda.

In support of the objectives, the IdM Project will focus on the following areas:

• User/account provisioning and de-provisioning
• Access control/management
• Password/authentication management
• Wider application of Single Sign-On
• Alignment with federated model as enabler for research collaboration

Project Governance

The IdM Project embraces the business processes and technology involved in managing identities and access at UWS. These processes are far-reaching across the university and, as such, the project governance reflects the whole-of-UWS approach required for this project.

Project Steering Committee
The project steering committee comprises the Sponsor, stakeholders from across UWS and Project Management resources.

Membership of the Steering Committee for Phase 2 is currently being formed.

 Sponsor:

• • Mr Michael Houlahan, Director, Information Technology 

 Project Manager:

• • Mrs Jane Florey, Project Manager, Information Technology

^ Back to top

Process and Milestones

The Business Case for this project was originally presented in a UWS Systems Budget proposal for 2007 dated 31 May 2006. Following the establishment of the project and appointment of a project manager in May 2007, a revised Business Case was presented in a 2008 UWS Systems Budget proposal dated 12 June 2007.

A project Scope was developed in consultation with stakeholders and approved by the Steering Committee in July 2007. This can be accessed via the link below.

The approach outlined in the Scope is for an initial roadmap phase to set clear direction and priorities for a subsequent implementation phase comprising business process and technological change. External experience in the IdM space is to be leveraged for the roadmap by the engagement of professional services. This process proceeded with an open Expression of Interest (EOI) in August followed by a Request for Proposal (RFP) to interested parties in September. As a result of the selection process, Internet Commerce Australia was approved as the successful service provider by the Purchase and Tender Board at the end of November 2007.

The roadmap development commenced with preliminary sessions in mid December 2007 and resumed in late January 2008 with a series of stakeholder interviews and workshops. The Identity Management Roadmap and Environmental Scan were delivered in May 2008. This concluded the Roadmap development phase of the project and signalled progression to a transitional phase to prepare for the activities detailed within the Roadmap document.

Activities for Phase 2 commenced mid 2008, with a view to stage business process changes and technology implementation thereafter in 2008 and into 2009.

• Identity Management Project Scope [Acrobat Document: 110Kb]
• Identity Management Roadmap (requires staff log in)

More Information

^ Back to top