Duquesne University Case Study | Identity Automation

Industry: Higher Education

Solution: RapidIdentity

"RapidIdentity is an extension of what we already have in place. It complements the main focuses in our technology stack." —Tom Dugas, Assistant VP and CISO, Duquesne University

Duquesne University is one of the top private Catholic universities in the country. Located in Pittsburgh, PA, Duquesne supports over 2,630 employees and 9,260 students, as well as external users, who need access to a wealth of applications and tools.

CHALLENGE

Like countless other universities, Duquesne has a diverse student and employee population that makes identity and access management (IAM) challenging. In addition to having many different user groups on campus, from part-time students to alumni to contractors, Duquesne also has overlaps between groups, which created identity and access challenges and extra work for the IT department. 

For instance, students who held on-campus jobs may require special system permissions, resulting in time-intensive communication between HR, department heads, and IT. Additionally, external users, like contractors and visiting professors, needed temporary accounts or third-party sponsorship, which Duquesne’s existing system didn’t easily provide.

Further complicating matters were the custom scripts that Duquesne developed to link its ERP software with Oracle Directory Server Enterprise Edition (LDAP) and Microsoft Active Directory (AD). The scripts had to be updated manually, but only one person knew how to manage them, creating a costly and unsustainable workflow for IT.

Tom Dugas, Assistant Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Duquesne, knew it was time for a change. When another system they used reached the end of its life, Dugas and his team decided to find a new solution that could better evolve over time—without locking them into a rigid and costly proprietary platform. 

SOLUTION

Dugas and his team worked alongside Moran Technology Consulting to select and implement a flexible solution that met their needs. After extensive evaluation, the Duquesne team chose RapidIdentity for their new IAM solution.

RapidIdentity, the digital identity platform for education, stood out as a solution that could do it all: integrate into their existing framework while providing self-service capabilities, group management, and secure, sponsored access for third-parties.

After selecting the platform, Duquesne worked with the RapidIdentity team and Moran Technology Consulting to implement the back-end. Moran also assisted in creating action sets and workflows to support the identity lifecycle.

Now, Duquesne uses RapidIdentity for Identity Lifecycle Management, Identity Governance, Authentication, and Password Management. 

RESULT

From the start, RapidIdentity proved a fruitful investment. It enabled Duquesne University to roll out advanced capabilities within the existing infrastructure and align its tech strategy with student outcomes.

Here’s how RapidIdentity transformed Duquesne University’s technology ecosystem with enhanced security and simplified workflows:

• Saving Time with Automation.
  Within the RapidIdentity solution, the university has roles set up that allow for the provisioning and deprovisioning of users based on their attributes within the system, like graduation year or department. Duquesne also simplified the user experience for individuals with multiple affiliations, such as faculty members who are also alumni, by merging multiple identities into a single digital identity, so there is no need to juggle separate logins for each affiliation. What was once a cumbersome manual process is now a streamlined, automated workflow based on how information flows out of the system of record.
• Removing IT as a Barrier.
  With hundreds of students coming to campus for work-study positions, there was an urgent need to enable secure access and special permissions to resources. Previously, the department had to first wait for HR approval, then put in a request with IT and submit the students’ names. Next, IT would run a script to put those users in the appropriate security groups. With RapidIdentity, the process is now streamlined so that the ability to grant work-study access is now delegated to the departmental level. There’s no need for administrative help from IT, saving time for everyone.
• Sharing Knowledge.
  Because the new identity platform is thoroughly documented, multiple teams can now manage it and share administrative duties. “Through our relationship with RapidIdentity, we now have more than one individual who’s capable and able to support and service our identity management solution,” Dugas explained. Not only does this make managing the platform relatively hands-off, it also enables scalability, resulting in an even higher ROI. 
• Tailoring a Solution to Their Needs.
  With the ability to add new features as needed, Duquesne has the flexibility to make RapidIdentity its own. Whether it’s working with the RapidIdentity team or Duquesne’s internal and external consulting teams, Dugas can easily configure the solution. With its flexibility, RapidIdentity checks all the boxes Dugas and his IAM committee set out to fill—without the need for an extensive overhaul.

“One of my favorite parts about RapidIdentity is that it leverages infrastructure that already exists in 99% of organizations today,” said Dugas. “What it does is layer in the governance functionality that you need to manage identity and access across your organization, without having to go out and build a gigantic governance platform and solution under some other organization.”

Ultimately, the Duquesne team values having a modern solution that exceeds their expectations and makes identity management easier and more secure. 

“We choose to be partners with RapidIdentity because it’s the best solution to meet our needs,” Dugas said.

"We get the opportunity to be directly involved in evolving RapidIdentity. It has truly empowered us to be part of that solution." —Tom Dugas, Assistant VP and CISO, Duquesne University