By combining Ilex International’s IAM platform with the expertise of IDento, Habitat et Humanisme automates identity management and secures employee access to the information system. In addition, it provides them with a modern and ergonomic work environment.
The solutions implemented:
- Meibo People Pack: Ready to use software managing IT users’ lifecycle and their rights within the hospital.
- Sign&go Global SSO: Strong and adaptive authentication, access control, global SSO (Web SSO and eSSO), identity federation and mobile SSO.
The challenges
- Modernise and simplify staff management
- Simplify user password management
- Take into account mobile employees
Habitat et Humanisme, an association acting for housing needs and the integration of people in difficulty
The French federation, Habitat et Humanisme has been working for the past 30 years to help people in need to find housing and to reintegrate into society. Composed of 53 associations in 67 French departments, this organisation helps families and individuals in need access decent and low-cost housing. It also supports their social integration. In order to contribute to social diversity in cities, the organisation chooses housing in culturally diverse neighbourhoods within urban areas. To finance its activities, Habitat et Humanisme has developed a wide range of social savings products allowing everyone to take part in a sharing economy.
Founded in 1985 in the Rhône area, Habitat et Humanisme employs more than 3,000 volunteers and 300 employees, who all use its information system.
Harmonising and streamlining the management of the various actors in the association: a key issue for Habitat et Humanisme
At the end of 2012, the IT Department comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to modernise user management. Up to then, user accounts were managed manually, but the number of volunteers has grown significantly over the past years and their turnover has increased. As a consequence, the daily manual management of user addition, modification and deletion tasks in the information system is no longer suitable. It is a source of error and a waste of time for the IT Department who wishes to refocus on other types of projects.
In this context, Habitat et Humanisme decides to acquire an identity management software solution in order to automate the entire management of user accounts, enhance productivity and provide volunteers and employees with better quality of service.
“We were looking for a solution that could be easily integrated to our existing environment. We have a Web portal that is accessible both to volunteers and employees. It enables them to declare arrivals/departures and to access a dozen Web applications. Many volunteers use Office 365 from this portal, for example. The software solution had to be capable of retrieving the data entered from the portal and use it to create application accounts automatically.”
Habitat et Humanisme then turned to IDento, a consultancy firm specialising in IAM, which recommended Ilex International’s Meibo People Pack packaged software suite designed for the management of the life cycle of users and their access rights on the information system. The solution perfectly meets the needs of Habitat et Humanisme.
It manages employees all along their course in the organisation and helps streamline, administer and audit the identity management business processes. It facilitates the publishing and delegated management of people, structures and IT resources.
IDento is an independent consulting firm specialized in identity and access management. They provide consulting services and project management assistance as well as integration around Ilex International’s IAM solutions.
Securing and simplifying access to applications with Sign&go Global SSO
In January 2014, encouraged by the daily improvements brought by Meibo People Pack, the IT Department decides to go further and optimise application access management.
People working for Habitat et Humanisme have very diverse profiles, different needs and different practices. Indeed, employees and volunteers do not access the information system in the same way (internal access versus external access) and do not have access to the same applications. Besides, the IT Department has no control over the volunteers’ workstations and cannot impose on them a system that is too restrictive.
Therefore, IDento suggested harmonising and simplifying access management with Ilex International’s Sign&go Global SSO solution which combines strong authentication, Web Access Management, identity federation, mobile SSO and eSSO (Enterprise Single Sign-On) functionalities.
Employees have to go through multiple authentication procedures and repetitive password entry steps in order to access, first, the Habitat et Humanisme’s portal and then their applications, from any access point (PC / network of the organisation or personal network, tablet…). The idea is to eliminate these multiple steps.
“With the implementation of Sign&go Global SSO, we have reached a new stage. Now, volunteers and employees can all access their Web applications simply and securely. For instance, thanks to Web SSO and identity federation, a volunteer can now login to the Habitat et Humanisme portal with his mobile tablet at home and then have direct access to Office 365 without having to re-authenticate. We have strengthened security and enhanced users’ daily work with an ergonomic solution.”
Step by step approach for more efficiency
To continue with these successful technological changes, Habitat et Humanisme’s IT Department chooses to replace the open source authentication solution protecting its portal with Sign&go Global SSO. The objective is to capitalise on the existing security tools and benefit from all the functionalities provided by a Single Sign-On global approach.
“Concerning our requirements, our partners, IDento and Ilex International, have always been responsive and supportive. Thanks to the close relationship we have built, our project has significantly grown and today we have a comprehensive IAM system. They respected our pace, our constraints and they understood the specific context of our organisation.”
The benefits
- Simple management of diverse users
- Harmonisation of access management
- Access security and traceability
- User experience enhancement
- Employee mobility support
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