The university is in the first phase of reviewing how it manages electronic identity and roles, secures data, and ensures compliance in the effort to provide access to needed resources, which is key to the collaboration of faculty, clinicians, staff and students.

The commitment to protect institutional data and personal privacy is bringing representatives from across U-M together to assess how the university accesses and uses electronic services and data. The group’s goal is to better coordinate identity and access management (IAM) systems across the university.

IAM is a framework for facilitating electronic identity management to ensure access privileges are properly authenticated, authorized, and audited. It ensures the right people and devices get access to the right resources at the right times for the right reasons.

“In this increasingly dynamic environment, we must remove barriers to successful collaborations with peers across the university and at other institutions,” said Ted Hanss, Medical School chief information officer.

“IAM is core to many of our processes, leading us to align our efforts within the institution and with higher education best practices. We must also remain flexible to accommodate the advances in information technology, scholarly practices, and clinical delivery that occur over time.”

Faculty and staff stakeholders from the U-M Health System, Ann Arbor, Flint, and Dearborn campuses met in March and April to begin a comprehensive review of current IAM processes and systems. Their input helped to identify opportunities and set the foundation for a long-term, universitywide strategy that will be incorporated into a strategic multiyear IAM plan.

Numerous processes are influenced by IAM decisions, including the on-boarding and off-boarding of employees, contractors, volunteers and students; managing access to university resources; protecting research, health, and academic information; and much more.

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• Information and Technology Services