UM-Dearborn benefits from new account improvements
UM-Dearborn used the new account setup to improve their new student enrollment process. Previously, new UM-Dearborn students did not have the ability to create their own uniqname. Instead, students received their uniqname and password via postal mail. A separate password was also necessary for conducting business with the university.
The outdated process caused many problems for students, including international students often not receiving the mail in time for class registration, interruptions in the in-state tuition appeals process, and assignment of unpreferred uniqnames. Student support staff had to maintain a separate password system to better accommodate students when they arrived on campus without their password.
Now, all students create their own credentials and arrive to orientation with their chosen uniqname and password in hand—and it’s the only password they need for WiFi, email, and class registration.
“In addition to eliminating manual business processes and saving nearly $6000.00 annually on postage, we are better serving our students and improving the security of our systems.” —Carrie Shumaker, chief information officer, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Alumni Association increases engagement with Social Login
Before the EIAM Program, alumni struggled to use Alumni Association online resources, like event registration, member benefits, or update contact information, because it required a uniqname and UMICH password. Alumni who graduated before 1990 never received a uniqname. Alumni with uniqnames often forget their passwords after years of infrequent use.
In most cases, alumni had to stop what they were doing to call the Alumni Association or the ITS Service Center to create a uniqname or reset their password. In other cases, they would use the Alumni Association’s application as a “guest”—a lost opportunity to associate the activity with an individual, which would allow the Alumni Association to personalize their engagement in the future.
In December 2017, the Alumni Association added the option to use a social account to login into some applications. Alumni can also link their social account to their uniqname. Today, alumni use social accounts to access resources more than 600 times per month.
“We are finally able to provide a modern, easy, and self-serviceable method to authenticate to our environment, while at the same time reduce the number of support calls.” —Andre Zoldan, senior director of Technology at the Alumni Association
College of Engineering to increase building security with new role-based access tool
College of Engineering buildings are open 24/7 for faculty, students, and staff to complete work, continue research, meet with fellow students, and use the many resources provided in the buildings. After regular business hours, individuals may swipe their Mcard at the door to enter the buildings.
The amount of effort at the College of Engineering to secure buildings and provide this seemingly simple convenience is significant. Administrative staff must rely on time consuming and manual processes to add and remove individuals when relationships to the college change. Temporary access to buildings must be carefully noted and tracked. Alumni are often not removed, but instead they lose access when their Mcard expires. Computer Aided Engineering Network (CAEN) staff developed and maintain a separate system to help administrative staff manage door access.
Later this year, the College of Engineering will be among the first to start using the new role-based access service to improve building security. By integrating the existing building system with the new service, the college will be able to automate granting and revoking building access when an individual’s relationship to the college changes.
In the near future, the College of Engineering and other units can use this foundation to provide finer grain access to specific rooms and automate temporary access for guests from other parts of the university.
Michigan Medicine streamlines and simplifies orientation process
Cross-team collaboration with campus and interaction with the Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) Service Desk enabled Michigan Medicine to streamline and simplify a number of IAM processes. These improvements were most evident in the orientation process. Teams collaborated to make the steps for onboarding simpler and more efficient in order to get the right access to the right systems for new hires, especially clinicians.
Automated email messages to new hires were revised, shortened, and provided prior to orientation. A new Technology Tips flyer was designed and presentations on computing essentials were revised to assist with new employee orientation with a special focus on the onboarding of nurses. Having the ability to set up passwords and accounts ahead of time resulted in a reduction of calls to the Service Desk for these tasks.