Workflow

Process management optimizes the information flow

 

Time-consuming standard workflows such as creating, changing and deleting accounts and authorizations (e.g. when new employees join or existing employees change department) can be automated with provisioning and workflows. While provisioning can only distribute information, workflow management offers additional user interaction (application procedures) and decision-makers control the process. If a process is not processed as planned at any point, an escalation mechanism takes effect that triggers a delegation, for example. Identity Management workflows also support the revocation of authorizations or roles.

 

Ingeniously, they are capable of docking onto personnel processes, for example. From there they retrieve the information whether an employee is hired, transferred or dismissed and can adjust the authorizations accordingly.

All in all, workflows control a whole range of processes, which is why today we speak less of a “workflow” and more of a “process management of the user lifecycle”.

Benefits of workflows

  • Through user interaction, exceptional cases can also be automated (ordering procedure).
  • Procedures can be extended to external parties, customers and suppliers.
  • Optimal and integrated data flow in IDM reduces throughput times for authorization procedures.
  • The workflow engine integrated into Identity Management avoids changes in medium.
  • User requests are processed faster and more reliably.
  • Improperly executed processes automatically enter an escalation loop for correction.
  • The status of a process can be retrieved at any time and all work steps are documented.
  • Processes are revised, standardized and often optimized on the basis of deron’s experience.
  • The party is responsible for releasing the accounts and authorizations is integrated into the process and can do justice to their task.

Obstacles of workflows

  • Methods for judging which processes are fitting for a workflow are often lacking.
  • A lot of experience is needed to be able to design a request process effectively.
  • Those dealing with workflows for the first time often set unnecessary approvals – these make the processes unnecessarily lengthy, which in turn leads to a lack of acceptance.
  • Often no processes are implemented for external employees, suppliers or technical accounts. This means that security gaps exist from the outset.
  • The expectation of ITIL providing support through templates / good practice is disappointed.
  • Frequently the security management is missing: ‘revocation procedures’ are simply ignored or forgotten.