Grouper Evaluation: Automate & Secure Learner Access

Are you struggling with too many manual updates when learners move from one role to another? Are your students and faculty communicating frustration when trying to access resources? How about the challenge to find time for manual configuration when new applications become available for use? Do you often feel the controls of application access are many and time is nowhere to be found?

Administration and students alike want to have an easy, secure, and streamlined way of connecting to the resources and tools students need to further their education. With manual requirements on the backend, the user is hindered and delay is inevitable.

One possible solution is Grouper, one of the applications within the InCommon Trusted Access Network, which is an identity tool specializing in groups management. Grouper simplifies access management by letting you use the same group or role in many places in your organization. The implementation of the Grouper application will result in automation coming from a single point of control. As an example, when the configuration is in place and a change is made, if a user is removed/added from one group, the associated privileges in all of the collaborative applications are updated.

A Grouper Implementation Evaluation can provide an IT organization with an outline of what is already in place, what business rules and processes drive the current status, and what changes are desired. Unicon will document the opportunities that exist to enhance or replace what exists today. The guidance provided in the assessment, along with an implementation plan to meet the recommended opportunities, is all driven from collaborative discussions with and input from the institution.

Suppose that all the students in your institution are getting ready to start school and require specific access to its learning management system. Grouper can be configured to ensure that students have access to the LMS with the proper roles and are included in the proper groups for their coursework and associated resources. The upfront planning and execution of the business rules result in automation that reduces staff time when the need for these new access points occur.

Think about the manual effort it would take to provide users with access to the Office365 toolset. It is a challenge to ensure that the right people have the appropriate access. Using Grouper's sophisticated rule definition to ensure users have access to the right resources makes this task streamlined and provides administrators with confidence that access is set up correctly.

The breadth of opportunity available within the Grouper application is limited only by the business rules and best practices of an institution. The Grouper application is a tool with automation capabilities that takes the workload off of the IT staff.  A Grouper Implementation Evaluation is a great way to prepare for implementing the Grouper application--the result will set up your organization for success!