C A S E S T U DY

Building better identity
security across campuses

The George Washington University simplifies and automates critical
identity administration and privileged access management processes
for more than 26,000 students across multiple campuses building astrong foundation for a future larger-scale identity platform.

Key Facts• CompanyThe George
Washington University• Industry
Education• Country
United States• Websitewww.gwu.edu

Challenges• Aging identity management
system leads to failed tasks• Inefficient directory access• Time-sensitive Active Directory
consolidation initiativeResults• Simple, automated accountlifecycle management for
thousands of students, facultyand staff• Password reset time cut from 10
minutes to near-real time
• Solid foundation for future
deployment of larger-scale
identity platformSolutions• Active Roles

The George Washington University (GWU) sought to streamline account lifecycle
management and improve security to support an Active Directory centralization
initiative. Tasks such as managing access for alumni were complex and timeconsuming.
GWU partnered with XMS Solutions to build upon current One Identity Active
Roles, using the Active Roles Sync Service to add orchestration functions toautomate role creation. The university has simplified and automated identity andaccess management for more than 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students
and 6,500 employees (includes faculty and staff). GWU has reduced password
reset times from 10 minutes to near-real time, and now has a strong foundation
for a planned future implementation of a wider identity platform on campus.

Seeking a streamlined accountadministration solution
Founded in 1821, The George Washington University (GWU), in Washington, D.C., is
one of the nation’s leading research universities. More than 26,000 students attend
and nearly 6,500 staff and faculty work in the university’s 10 schools and colleges.
Identity and access management(IAM) had become a major challenge for theGWU IT team, because the university relied on an aging Oracle-based identity
management system that was no longer being supported. “The system was reallyslow, so a lot of identity and access management tasks were failing,” says Becky
Phares, IAM senior business analyst for GWU. As a result, a task like managing
access for alumni, for example, was a complex process. “If an IT director wanted toreset alumni passwords, the only thing we could do was give them the same accesseveryone else at the university had. They could then technically reset anyone’s
passwords, which was a big security concern,” Phares says.

“Active Roles is a powerful tool that reduces
risk by giving us stronger security,
more clarity and visibility, and automaticprovisioning. It gives us a solid identity andaccess management foundation we canreally build on.”Naveed Yousaf, Associate Director, Middleware andIdentity Services, The George Washington Universityw w w. o n e i d e n t i t y. c o m

The lack of system support was especially concerning because
GWU was about to consolidate seven separate directories
into a central Active Directory. “We wanted to offer Active
Directory as a service, but we knew all the school’s IT directors
wouldn’t want to give up control of their own directory
system,” says Naveed Yousaf, associate director of middleware
and identity services at GWU. “Our challenge was how tolet them have that control. We knew it would take too muchdevelopment effort to do it ourselves on the existing system.”

Automating user and groupmanagement tasks with One
Identity Active Roles
Although the IT team had less than one year to move to a
new identity platform, it decided on an interim solution: One
Identity Active Roles, a single, unified tool that automates andstreamlines user and group management tasks in hybrid Active
Directory environments.
Working with technology partner XMS Solutions, GWU
implemented One Identity Active Roles, taking advantageof features such as Active Roles Sync to add orchestration
functions to enable the creation of roles. “One Identity
Active Roles is not just an Active Directory administration
tool. We pushed it far beyond that to include automated roleprovisioning,” Yousaf says. “No other existing solution gave
us that ability.” The GWU IT team used Active Roles to create
specific roles, including IT Support, that are automaticallygranted to specific departments across the university.

Simplifying account lifecycle
management across campus
Using Active Roles, GWU has simplified user accountmanagement and provisions new users with the right accessto learning applications, email and other systems. As a result,GWU has eliminated most of the failed tasks that were common
on the previous identity management platform. “Previously,
we were unable to provide automated role-based access,”
Phares says. “Now, when someone new is onboarded, they
will automatically get the level of access they need within the
Active Roles system. Granting access to a new person used toinvolve mimicking a previous employee’s access, which was not
ideal from a security perspective.”“Previously, we wereunable to provide
automated rolebased access. Now,
when someone new isonboarded, they willautomatically get thelevel of access they needwithin theActiveRoles system.”

Becky Phares,
IAM Senior Business Analyst,
The George Washington University

GWU Identity Services Teamthat made all this possible
Tielor Robinson - Identity Engineer
Becky Phares - Senior Identity Analyst
Dhina Ramaian - Identity Engineer
Sheema Begum - Identity Engineer
Andy Navarrete - Identity Engineer
Chuck Moore - Project Manager
Frank William - Identity Adminw w w. o n e i d e n t i t y. c o m

A better experience forstudents, faculty and IT
With the new solution, GWU will also be able to offer users abetter overall experience. “We expect Active Roles to reduce
operational time and errors, resulting in improved service toall users, from students to faculty to IT,” says Yousaf. As an
example, password resets typically took 10 minutes for eachuser. Using Active Roles, resets can be performed in near-realtime, because resets occur in the cloud on Microsoft Azure andthen propagate down to Active Directory.

“We expect One
Identity ActiveRoles to reduce
operational timeand errors, resulting

improved
service to allinusers, from studentsto faculty to IT.”
Naveed Yousaf,Associate Director,Middleware and Identity
Services, The George
Washington University

Additionally, GWU IT administrators are notified immediately
when a task fails. “We have an employee who spends up totwo hours a day on failed tasks,” says Phares. “Now, insteadof waiting until the next day for a report telling you tasks failed,the administrator will go into Active Roles and see the failedtasks right away, restarting the task before it becomes
an issue.”

A solid foundation for the future
For GWU, the Active Roles solution goes beyond being abridge to a broader identity platform. “This tool is much morethan just a stopgap before we deploy a larger solution,” says
Yousaf. “Active Roles is a powerful tool that reduces risk by
giving us stronger security, more clarity and visibility, andautomatic provisioning. It gives us a solid identity and accessmanagement foundation we can really build on.”

About One Identity
One Identity, a Quest Software business, lets organizations implement anidentity-centric security strategy, whether on-prem, in the cloud or in a hybrid
environment. With our uniquely broad and integrated portfolio of identity
management offerings including account management, identity governanceand administration and privileged access management, organizations are
empowered to reach their full potential where security is achieved by placing
identities at the core of a program, enabling proper access across all usertypes, systems and data. Learn more at OneIdentity.com

The One Identity logo is a trademark of One Identity LLC and/or its affiliates. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Availability andterms of our solutions and services vary by region. This case study is for informational purposes only. One Identity LLC and/or its affiliates make nowarranties—expressed or implied—in this case study. © 2020 Quest Software Inc. All Rights Reserved

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