Identity Management Success

Happy Thanksgiving to our stateside listeners, and a hearty “Good Day” to our international friends!

Today we are pleased to announce a new mailing list, and a special incentive to join immediately. Our new mailing list is entitled “Identity Management Success” and simply requires a valid and confirmed email address. In return, we will send you a special link, where you can download our bonus podcast “Five Things the Big Identity Management Vendors Don’t Want You to Know.” This is a special way of saying Thank You for spending your valuable time with us. We hope the podcast will provide some useful information when considering selection of an IDMS (Identity Management System) vendor.

The purpose of the mailing list is to distribute our monthly newsletter, special announcements, and offers available only for list members. Identity Management is first and foremost about relationships and communications, so we feel that dialog and information exchange should be a two-way street. Yes, we do provide consulting, development, implementation, and project management services, but our web site, podcasts, and blogs are intended to be useful sources of information to the Identity Management consumer. It is in this spirit that we continually strive to develop new and useful content. NOTE: The “Identity Management Success” newsletter does not replace our regular RSS web feed content . We encourage all of our clients and visitors to subscribe to both sources.

Intended audience: IT decision makers, C-level executives, project managers, students, and anyone in general interested in real-world identity management. Whenever possible, we avoid technical jargon and acronyms and strive to make Identity Management program issues and solutions accessible to the people that actually have to spend the money to do it, or have direct responsibility for successful implementation. All are welcome, and of course — we love a large audience! — but please just be aware that if you are looking for low-level discussions of acronyms, standards, conceptual theory of things such as “user-centric identity”, infocard, what algorithms, xml templates, etc. then you may be disappointed. These topics will only be covered when they have specific context to real-world Identity Management decision, planning, and implementation issues.

Interested? Please enter your valid email address to in the right column of this blog and click the Subscribe button. As always, we hate spam as much if not more than you do, and will not release your email address to anyone else. For further information, please visit our privacy policy.

Thank you for your continued readership!

Best wishes and regards,

Corbin H. Links, President
Links Business Group LLC

Our updated mailing address is:

Links Business Group, LLC
700 NW Gilman Blvd, STE 103
Issaquah, WA 98027
United States

Thank you!

With any broad enterprise IT program, user perception and acceptance can make all the difference between success and rapid acceptance, or failure. Following these 5 steps will significantly improve your chances of success, and expedite user acceptance and support.

1. Clearly summarize and articulate the reason for the program.

This is not the time for an exhaustive laundry list, or discussion of technical whiz bang features. Most if not all of the end user community will care very little about the underlying technology or what vendor is providing it. Keep your message clear and simple. An example statement: Due to the feedback we have received about too many passwords, long times to sign on in the morning, overly long time to process your requests, etc. we are instituting a program here at XYZ Company, called “Identity and Access Management, or IAM for short. Note that the preceding statement places the emphasis on the end-user pain points. Each audience (end-user, program sponsor, auditors, developers, data security, helpdesk, desktop support, etc.) will require its own custom message.

2. Post the preceding statement on your company intranet and internal newsletters, along with guidebooks, screen shots, and videos.

Think of this as advance marketing. It is critical to advertise well in advance of the launch. At a minimum, most Identity Management Programs include some form of user impact, such as password change frequency and/or complexity. Always remember that there will be some measure of user impact, and plan accordingly.

3. Offer at least one informal “brown bag” session at each company facility.

The fireside chat model works well. Start with a brief presentation of no more than six or seven slides, and then leave the rest open for questions and answers. They key is to provide a forum for users to air their questions, concerns, and grievances. Make impacts clear, and be open and honest about program benefits. Describe what the system can do, and also what it cannot.

4. Clearly summarize the timeline.

When, where, and how the system will be implemented. Who will be affected and when. If pilot or rollout groups are used (very common), then describe how the groups are selected, when they will be included, how much time will elapse between group deployment, etc.

5. Clearly state the “911″ policy: where users can go for help, and what they should expect.

“Support after the sale.” All it takes is one highly placed individual to have a negative experience and inadequate support to derail the deployment. Make it abundantly clear where users should go for help, how they use the help facilities (email, web-based forms, helpdesk issue entry systems, phone numbers, chat tools, etc.) Set up codes just to track Identity-related issues, and ensure that the helpdesk is ramped up, and staffed accordingly. Expect issues and general questions to initially spike way up, then plummet after the first 30 days. Set user expectations for response times.

When executing your five-step plan, ensure that the message goes out at least six weeks prior to the initial end-user event. Timeline will vary by organization, but a six week minimum is strongly recommended.

I hope the preceding list is useful. Links Business Group can help with end-user messaging, and acceptance of Identity Programs within your organization. To schedule a complimentary 1/2 hour consultation, please contact us at +1 877 769 8938, or send email.

Until next time, all the best,of Identity Management Success.

Corbin H. Links, President
Links Business Group LLC

Tracing all dependencies for a deliverable can make the difference between success and failure. In most organizations, perception is 9/10ths of the law.

General rule: Server side integration is relatively easy compared to mixed client and server side integration. For pure web and web service applications, all integration work can be conducted on the server, and you can get up and running quickly with your new IdMS.

However, if you have a client package - say Notes or Outlook - in your environment, ensure that your analysis has factored in all possible software versions and permutations. Each permutation may have its own file and configuration dependencies. While one version may integrate flawlessly with your IdMS system, another may not work at all, or generate unpredictable results. It is not enough to see your application version on the IdMS vendor’s compatibility list. Most vendors only count retail or “vanilla” versions and configurations.

Dependency Solution:

• Standardize clients before you integrate
• Ensure that all files within a given desktop package are organized by department and version.
• Use Group Policies in Active Directory, or Configuration Management tools in UNIX, to standardize group files and password lists
• Update desktop packages to include your latest internally supported versions
• Test updates for remote users and sites *first*

Following these guidelines can significantly reduce your risk of failure due to application incompatibilities and dependency failure.