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Uniklinikum Würzburg is a major university hospital in the city of Würzburg, in the German Federal State of Bavaria. The hospital employs a total of more than 7,000 user accounts, including medical students from the University of Würzburg, and offers a comprehensive range of in- and out-patient services.

Challenge

The main challenge was to balance the need for rapid access to patient data with the legal requirements for the confidentiality of that data. Furthermore, the hospital must ensure that former employees can no longer access its data. Put simply, Uniklinikum Würzburg needed a faster, more efficient way to create and remove users without compromising security.

Novell Solution

Uniklinikum Würzburg used Novell Identity Manager to create a metadirectory of users that synchronises with the HR directory through a set of business rules. After a set period of time - designed to give the HR department enough time to complete its processing - the solution checks the HR directory for the expected new entries. If there is no matching entry for a user account, Novell Identity Manager assumes that it has expired and automatically deactivates it.

"Our need for rapid provisioning meant that we needed to take an unconventional approach to our metadirectory solution, and the Novell software was flexible enough to support this," said Volker Weingart, Project Leader at Uniklinikum Würzburg. "Novell Identity Manager gives us a single toolset for rapidly setting up or removing users, eliminating all of the paperwork and delays inherent in our previous solution."

When new employees join the organisation, an administrator can validate their access rights and automatically set up user accounts through Novell Identity Manager, including all the correct permissions for access to administrative systems, data and resources such as printers. This can be set up even before the employee joins the hospital.

Results

With Novell Identity Manager managing the activation and deactivation of user accounts, Uniklinikum Würzburg has a fast, efficient and secure solution to the challenge of managing the rapid turnover in its user base. The hospital spends much less time on routine, paper-based administration, saving cost and effort, and the users themselves gain rapid access to the tools they need.

"The Novell solution has enabled us to solve the challenge of combining rapid provisioning with high levels of security for confidential information," said Weingart. "It also ensures that we quickly remove user accounts that are no longer required, not only increasing security but also cutting our costs by reducing the number of SAP licences that we need to renew."

"Novell Identity Manager has really fired our imaginations, opening up a number of possibilities for further automation and streamlining of internal processes," said Weingart. "We are planning to introduce single sign-on capabilities, PKI for digital signatures, and self-service HR functionality for recording working hours and managing vacation allowances."

For the complete success story, see:
http://www.novell.com/success/wurzburg.html

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It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test, test, test before you do anything drastic with it.