ArticlesArticleshttp://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2010-06-15T16:30:42ZSquarespaceEmpowerID 2010 Technical Overview (Slideshare)http://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2010/6/15/empowerid-2010-technical-overview-slideshare.htmlPatrick Parker2010-06-15T16:29:16Z2010-06-15T16:29:16Z 

Testing out slideshare to see if it could be a better way to distribute presentations.
Patrick
EmpowerID Technical Overview
View more presentations from The Dot Net Factory.

 

]]>EmpowerID Selected By Leading Insurance Software Providerhttp://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2010/6/15/empowerid-selected-by-leading-insurance-software-provider.htmlPatrick Parker2010-06-15T13:59:36Z2010-06-15T13:59:36ZWe recently won a large bake off of IDM vendors in which a customer was looking for a platform to use as the basis to build their cloud IDM solution. Some of the key factors for which we were selected included our extensibility due to our Windows Workflow Foundation core and design studio as well as our claims-based federated metadirectory built on the Microsoft Windows Identity Foundation. 

More info in the press release:

http://bit.ly/anFAWX

 

Patrick

]]>Feedback on EmpowerID from Miss MIIS at TEC 2010http://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2010/6/14/feedback-on-empowerid-from-miss-miis-at-tec-2010.htmlPatrick Parker2010-06-15T02:25:17Z2010-06-15T02:25:17ZThe Experts Conference lives up to its name as a great place to meet experts in the field of Identity Management and Active Directory. This year was no different and the crowd just keeps getting better. One of the experts we had the pleasure of showing our latest version of EmpowerID was Carol Wapshere known as Miss MIIS. She is a Microsoft ILM (FIM) MVP and all around knowledgeable expert. I just came across a post on her blog where she gives her opinion on EmpowerID and how she sees it fitting in to the overall Microsoft-focused IDM space.

Thanks for the feedback Carol :-)
Link to the post and more great information from Carol's blog
Patrick
Excerpt:
"It brings in many of the key features of FIM – metadirectory, multiple data sources, password sync and reset, Sharepoint portal, workflow, de/provisioning, group management… It also natively includes features that FIM is sorely lacking – in particular decent reporting and the native ability to manage resources such as home folders, Exchange mailboxes and Sharepoint sites. The product comes with a long list of procedures and workflows already programmed out of the box, but you can also add your own.  I was particularly impressed with the way they’d encorporated Windows Workflow Foundation directly into the product, allowing you to build your workflows right there in the interface, without have to muck around with Visual Studio, compiling and importing dll’s. This is an impressive looking product and I’d be interested to see how it performs in a large-scale environment."

 

]]>See EmpowerID 2010 R1 at TEC 2010http://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2010/4/24/see-empowerid-2010-r1-at-tec-2010.htmlPatrick Parker2010-04-24T23:38:01Z2010-04-24T23:38:01ZIf you're going to be in LA at The Experts Conference (April 25-28), be sure to drop by to see the new EmpowerID 2010 R1. We're a sponsor again this year and will be demonstrating new functionality in the Solution Lab.

More on TEC 2010

Key EmpowerID 2010 R1 Features:

  • Federation Server – built on Windows Identity Foundation with OpenID Support
  • Complete Microsoft ADUC Replacement
  • Drag and Drop Windows Workflow Studio
  • Full Exchange 2010 Support
  • SharePoint Permissions Management
  • Self-Service Workflow Catalog
  • Workflow and RBAC Enabled PowerShell
  • Wizard-Driven Open Connector Model

See you there!

Patrick

]]>Visit us at RSA 2010http://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2010/3/1/visit-us-at-rsa-2010.htmlPatrick Parker2010-03-02T04:17:01Z2010-03-02T04:17:01ZCome see us at the RSA security conference if you're in San Francisco March 1-5 - booth 2643 http://www.rsaconference.com/2010/usa/index.htm

Patrick

]]>The Dot Net Factory Launches Youtube Channelhttp://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2010/3/1/the-dot-net-factory-launches-youtube-channel.htmlPatrick Parker2010-03-02T04:12:08Z2010-03-02T04:12:08ZWe are happy to announce that we have launched a YouTube channel. The YouTube channel will provide a source for instructional videos on EmpowerID features and previews of upcoming product features. Feel free to visit and provide feedback.

http://www.youtube.com/empowerid

Thank you,

Patrick Parker

 

]]>New Workflow and Report Package Releasedhttp://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2009/10/6/new-workflow-and-report-package-released.htmlPatrick Parker2009-10-06T14:36:42Z2009-10-06T14:36:42ZToday we announced the release of a new package of workflows and reports focused primarily on Active Directory user and group management (ADUC-style tasks). There were also many new reports for SharePoint permissions reporting (i.e. who has access to what)  in addition to those for group membership change tracking, expired accounts, audit logging, and others.

A few of my favorite new features were the support for forced registration for password self-service reset, a password expiration notification workflow that allows nagging or even account inactivation, and enhancements to the deleted user and mailbox restore workflows.

Most of the workflows were based on specific customer requests and they were all created using BPM Studio which is our workflow design tool. This tool is a rapid Windows Workflow Foundation design environment that can be used by customers or anyone to create workflows just like those in the packages we announced today. We actually set a record internally where one workflow developer created 25 substantial new workflows in under two weeks.

The best part is that customers will receive the workflows and reports for the EmpowerID modules they own free of charge.

You can read the full press release here

]]>Upcoming Book On Windows Workflow Foundation Development Using EmpowerIDhttp://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2009/10/5/upcoming-book-on-windows-workflow-foundation-development-usi.htmlPatrick Parker2009-10-06T02:35:54Z2009-10-06T02:35:54ZOur resident lead guru on Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation development is writing a book using EmpowerID as his example development environment. We will have pre-release chapters available for attendees of the Microsoft SharePoint Conference this month in Las Vegas. If you are attending, please drop by our booth to pick up your sample chapters and to see some of the innovative new functionality we have around SharePoint workflow development, using the Business Datalog Catalog as a universal data connector, and also centralized workflow-based permissions management for SharePoint.

SharePoint Conference Web Site

]]>Microsoft Exchange 2010 Drops ACLs for RBAChttp://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2009/10/2/microsoft-exchange-2010-drops-acls-for-rbac.htmlPatrick Parker2009-10-02T16:08:14Z2009-10-02T16:08:14ZMicrosoft recently announced that the soon to be released Exchange 2010 was moving to an entirely Role-Based Access Control model. This represents a major change from the split permissions ACL model used in previous versions and one that is sure to be welcomed by security professionals everywhere. From what I've read so far, it looks like a complete swap out of the administrative delegation model from granting ACLs for attributes on objects moving instead to controlling "Operations" which represent PowerShell commandlets that perform specific human identifiable tasks. The ACLs model was cited by the Exchange team as a leading source of support calls and a major area of frustration for administrators.

Interestingly enough, the Exchange 2010 RBAC model maps on an almost one-to-one level with EmpowerID's implementation of RBAC at the technical role or "Management Role" level. These are the roles defined per type of Resource (mailbox, user, group, web page, etc...) to provide consistency for delegation of management tasks and also for reporting who has access to what. In EmpowerID, our "Operations" are workflow shapes that can, like Exchange, be PowerShell commandlets or almost anything else: custom code, web service calls, SSH calls, etc...

We are in complete agreement with the Exchange teams assesment of the lack of viability of ACL-based permissions management and are looking forward to seeing how AD moves down this path in future releases of the Windows Server platform. Given that Windows Server 2008 R2 includes a large number of PowerShell commandlets for AD administration, using these as the basis for AD management "Operations" an RBAC management model seems like a natural next step.

 Read more about our take on Exchange's move to RBAC

]]>Welcome to the Identity Management Blog!http://blog.identitymanagement.com/journal/2008/11/15/welcome-to-the-identity-management-blog.htmlPatrick Parker2008-11-16T04:10:41Z2008-11-16T04:10:41ZThe Dot Net Factory is a Microsoft-based software vendor founded in 2005 and based in Dublin, Ohio. We focus on providing Active Directory and multi-platform identity management solutions designed to improve security, reduce operational costs and help achieve regulatory compliance in mixed network environments.

EmpowerID is the first and only enterprise-class identity management solution built on a Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Business Process Management (BPM) platform to address the identity automation and regulatory compliance needs of more complex organizations with multiple user account directories. EmpowerID's RBAC and BPM platform easily and securely automates even the most complex identity management business process with visually designed workflow processes with inherent rights-based routing and workflow security.

The AD Self-Service Suite offers the industry's most flexible and cost effective self-service password reset, user profile self-service and white pages functionality for Microsoft Active Directory and AD LDS (ADAM) environments with multiple SharePoint web parts. The AD Self-Service Suite is a great starting point for organizations seeking a quick return on investment for their Active Directory needs. For more information, please visit www.adselfservicesuite.com.

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