National Geographic Signs with Tools4ever to Optimize Its User Provisioning and Password Management to Reduce Helpdesk Calls while Easing the Administration of Employees’
Lynbrook, NY (PRWEB) September 03, 2013 -- Tools4ever, a worldwide market leading provider of identity and access management (IdM/IAM) solutions, announced today that National Geographic, one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions in the world with interests in geography, archaeology and natural science, and the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, has implemented its User Management Resource Administrator (UMRA), Self Service Reset Password Management (SSRPM) and Password Synchronization Manager (PSM).
National Geographic chose to implement SSRPM to allow employees in different time zones around the world to reset their own passwords without having to contact the helpdesk, and PSM for employees to synchronize their passwords so they have a single set of credentials. In addition, UMRA was selected to increase the efficiency of account management to deal with the organizations’ high turnover rate of contractor employees.
“I don’t feel that we purchased a product as much as a process with Tools4ever,” said Dan Backer, director of campus technology at National Geographic. “Our partners at Tools4ever have been open to suggestions and have never pushed a specific methodology on us. With Tools4ever’s solutions in place, calls to the helpdesk for password issues have drastically decreased, as well as time spent on user account management.”
Previous to the solutions being implemented, National Geographic manually processed the provisioning and de-provisioning of accounts, which was inherently inefficient. The process could take up to a day to complete and needed to be handled by numerous employees along the way. In addition, employees at locations around the world were not able to reset their passwords if they were in a time zone outside of the standard business hours of the help desk.
Tools4ever’s UMRA now synchronizes the company’s PeopleSoft HR system to Active Directory so a hiring manager can simply enter a new personnel request and accounts are automatically provisioned for them.
To handle the password issues, Tools4ever’s SSRPM and PSM allow employees to have a single set of credentials and, if needed, they can reset their own passwords by simply answering a few security questions without having to contact the helpdesk.
“By automating the process, organizations such as National Geographic are able to create a great deal more efficiency in their internal processes, and can move some of the account management processes to employees and focus on more pressing, important IT issues,” said Dean Wiech. “As with all of our clients, we strive to create partnerships and lasting relationships to ensure improved processes and streamlined operations within each organization through our identity and access management solutions.”
UMRA simplifies Active Directory management across all systems while managing user account and authorization processes. UMRA also offers delegation of user account management and compliance with user monitoring and reporting. For more information about UMRA, visit: http://www.tools4ever.com/software/user-management-resource-administrator/
Tools4ever's SSRPM is a password management solution that allows end-users to reset their active directory password based on simple, predefined questions. The "Forgot My Password" button is integrated into the logon screen and supports many platforms. For more information about SSRPM, visit: http://www.tools4ever.com/software/self-service-reset-password-management/
PSM is password software that allows end-users to have the same password for any system or application. When an end-user resets a password, PSM ensures that all the connected systems and applications receive the new password and apply it. End-users only need to remember the single password to gain access to the various systems and applications. This provides improved end-user productivity and minimizes the number of password-related helpdesk calls. For more information about PSM please visit: http://www.tools4ever.com/software/password-synchronization-manager/
To learn more about Tools4ever, visit: http://www.tools4ever.com.
To learn more about National Geographic, visit: http://www.nationalgeographic.com.
To read the full case study visit: http://www.tools4ever.com/industries/business/references/Nat-Geo/
About National Geographic
The National Geographic Society has been inspiring people to care about the planet since 1888. It is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, and the promotion of environmental and historical conservation. http://www.nationalgeographic.com.
About Tools4ever
Tools4ever distinguishes itself with a no-nonsense approach and a low total cost of ownership. In contrast to comparable identity and access management solutions, Tools4ever implements a complete solution in several days rather than weeks or months. Thanks to this approach, Tools4ever is the undisputed market leader with more than five million user accounts managed on a daily basis. Tools4ever supplies a variety of software products and integrated consultancy services involving Identity Management, such as user provisioning, role-based access control (RBAC), password management, single sign-on (SSO) and access management. For more information, please visit http://www.tools4ever.com.
Purdey Horbach, Tools4ever, http://Tools4ever.com, +31 (0) 35 54 83 255, [email protected]
Share this article