Identity Management Working Group Charter

The focus of the Working Group is to facilitate the implementation of Identity Management Systems (IdMs) designed to meet functional standards and guidelines developed by various public- and private-sector projects and organizations, including Internet2, NMI (the National Science Foundation Middleware Initiative), NIST, the federal eAuthentication initiative, the E-Authentication Partnership, and others. Conceptually, Identity Management has evolved to include policies, procedures and the broad spectrum of technologies required to establish institutional IdM systems. Operational areas of interest include identity vetting, credentialing, person registries, directories, public key infrastructure (PKI), authentication services, authorization services, attribute release and acceptance policies, federations and relying user applications. Appropriately designed systems integrated among participating institutions can also be "trusted" to provide services enabling the sharing of restricted resource across institutional boundaries.

Numerous institutions are either in the process of planning or implementing integrated IdMs. Although functional roadmaps, standards, protocols and policies are emerging, there are multiple options relating to goals, policies, procedures, hardware, software, protocols, authentication mechanisms, etc. Appropriate selections are dependent upon multiple factors that vary from institution to institution. However, collective knowledge about how institutions with similar challenges made decisions, what solutions were selected, the architectural designs of IdMs, what and how applications use IdMs, etc will be invaluable to the higher education community.

The Working Group operates an open mailing list (IDM@listserv.educause.edu) for general discussion of IdM topics, and maintains a Web page at http://www.educause.edu/IdentityManagementWorkingGroup/928 including a calendar of events, a list of interesting groups and activities, a list of vendors operating in the IdM space, and other useful links. The WG sponsors presentations and other activities at the annual Net@EDU Member Meeting and at the EDUCAUSE Annual Meeting, and participates in planning for the Fed/Ed PKI Coordination Meetings and for the annual PKI Summits. Other WG meetings and activities may be organized as required.

The Working Group is led by Co-Chairs serving under Net@EDU rules and procedures. The current Co-Chairs are Barry Ribbeck of Rice and Bill Weems of UTHSC-Houston. The Co-Chairs organize a Steering Committee (SC) of approximately 15 individuals drawn from higher education, the private sector, and government agencies. The Steering Committee remains in touch by e-mail and/or conference calls. One of the primary functions of the Steering Committee is to generate and accept proposals for Working Group "spin-off activities" (SOA's). Recognizing that the field of IdM is extremely broad and that there will always be more ideas for projects than resources to carry them out, each IDM WG SOA's must meet have:

One or more "champions", individuals who will organize and take responsibility for the SOA, shepherding it through its duration, reporting back periodically to the SC, and delivering to the SC a final report. Champions need not be drawn from the SC and, in fact, non-SC champions are encouraged in order to avoid the "usual suspects" phenomenon.
A designated completion date. SOA's are not meant to be ongoing, although some activities may evolve into or inspire separate self-sustaining projects. The duration specified for an SOA may be short or long, although one year is generally considered the maximum. The SC, of course, is at liberty to extend an SOA's duration if circumstances warrant.
A specified deliverable, such as a report, a survey, a piece of software, or a conference.
A mechanism for evaluating the success of the SOA.

Identity Management Working Group Calendar Recent Articles Campus Activities Useful Links Vendors Meetings Identity Management Groups and Activities Working Group Charter		Identity Management Working Group Charter The focus of the Working Group is to facilitate the implementation of Identity Management Systems (IdMs) designed to meet functional standards and guidelines developed by various public- and private-sector projects and organizations, including Internet2, NMI (the National Science Foundation Middleware Initiative), NIST, the federal eAuthentication initiative, the E-Authentication Partnership, and others. Conceptually, Identity Management has evolved to include policies, procedures and the broad spectrum of technologies required to establish institutional IdM systems. Operational areas of interest include identity vetting, credentialing, person registries, directories, public key infrastructure (PKI), authentication services, authorization services, attribute release and acceptance policies, federations and relying user applications. Appropriately designed systems integrated among participating institutions can also be "trusted" to provide services enabling the sharing of restricted resource across institutional boundaries. Numerous institutions are either in the process of planning or implementing integrated IdMs. Although functional roadmaps, standards, protocols and policies are emerging, there are multiple options relating to goals, policies, procedures, hardware, software, protocols, authentication mechanisms, etc. Appropriate selections are dependent upon multiple factors that vary from institution to institution. However, collective knowledge about how institutions with similar challenges made decisions, what solutions were selected, the architectural designs of IdMs, what and how applications use IdMs, etc will be invaluable to the higher education community. The Working Group operates an open mailing list (IDM@listserv.educause.edu) for general discussion of IdM topics, and maintains a Web page at http://www.educause.edu/IdentityManagementWorkingGroup/928 including a calendar of events, a list of interesting groups and activities, a list of vendors operating in the IdM space, and other useful links. The WG sponsors presentations and other activities at the annual Net@EDU Member Meeting and at the EDUCAUSE Annual Meeting, and participates in planning for the Fed/Ed PKI Coordination Meetings and for the annual PKI Summits. Other WG meetings and activities may be organized as required. The Working Group is led by Co-Chairs serving under Net@EDU rules and procedures. The current Co-Chairs are Barry Ribbeck of Rice and Bill Weems of UTHSC-Houston. The Co-Chairs organize a Steering Committee (SC) of approximately 15 individuals drawn from higher education, the private sector, and government agencies. The Steering Committee remains in touch by e-mail and/or conference calls. One of the primary functions of the Steering Committee is to generate and accept proposals for Working Group "spin-off activities" (SOA's). Recognizing that the field of IdM is extremely broad and that there will always be more ideas for projects than resources to carry them out, each IDM WG SOA's must meet have: One or more "champions", individuals who will organize and take responsibility for the SOA, shepherding it through its duration, reporting back periodically to the SC, and delivering to the SC a final report. Champions need not be drawn from the SC and, in fact, non-SC champions are encouraged in order to avoid the "usual suspects" phenomenon. A designated completion date. SOA's are not meant to be ongoing, although some activities may evolve into or inspire separate self-sustaining projects. The duration specified for an SOA may be short or long, although one year is generally considered the maximum. The SC, of course, is at liberty to extend an SOA's duration if circumstances warrant. A specified deliverable, such as a report, a survey, a piece of software, or a conference. A mechanism for evaluating the success of the SOA.
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