Dive Brief:

• Jefferson College in Missouri is using a new identity management system — Fischer Identity — for students and staff to access its learning programs and computer networks.
• The system provides access through a single Web portal, with one sign-on.
• Users are also able to reset their own passwords, which significantly reduces requests to the help desk, and the system was implemented in five weeks, compared to the typical six- to 12-month period, Campus Technology reported.

Dive Insight:

Before adoption of the new ID management system, Jefferson College used a proprietary Web portal for authenticating users wishing to access campus finance, human resources, payroll, and student information systems. One problem with the old system was that it created a single point of potential failure. Fischer Identity was chosen in part because it could be installed in a virtual environment, and it could be run in a mode with redundancy and high availability. Another attraction was that Fischer trained Jefferson’s IT staff so they could completely manage and control the system.