What will MCommunity services mean for members of the University of Michigan community? Here are some scenarios that begin to answer that question. As implementation proceeds and details are finalized, these scenarios will be fine-tuned, and more scenarios and examples will be added.
It means a more streamlined process for creating one's uniqname and resetting one's password. It will also mean real-time access to course-related materials when a student registers for a class.
It means quick access to the services they need. For example:
A new faculty member arrives and needs immediate access to materials in the U-M Library, e-mail, class lists for the classes she is teaching, file space, web sites for her classes, and card-key access to the building where her office is located.
Today, many people must follow manual procedures behind the scenes to make this happen. With an enterprise directory, the varied technical resources that are essential to the faculty member's productivity could be provided based on real-time administrative data collected as part of the hiring and course-scheduling processes.
A professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department wishes to allow students in his course to collaborate on group projects using shared file space. His class has one section, divided into four teams. Each term, he must view the class roster in Wolverine Access and copy and paste the list of uniqnames into a file. He must sort the students into groups and send the lists to CAEN. CAEN puts the list in the appropriate format, creates the files space, and sets permissions. The professor must monitor Wolverine Access and report any drops and adds to CAEN. The enterprise directory will store that information, keep it updated, and make it available to CAEN. CAEN staff can write programs to maintain groups for the professor that can be automatically updated each new term, significantly reducing the effort required by the professor—and by CAEN staff.
It means access to authoritative, up-to-date data so they can better do their jobs. It also means quick access to needed resources. For example:
Alumni who do not have uniqnames will benefit from a more streamlined process for creating uniqnames. The process for resetting forgotten passwords will also be streamlined.
Sponsored individuals include research collaborators, contractors, vendors, those who participate in summer camps and special programs, and so on. These people need to establish an identity with the University so they can have access to certain resources and services.
The Sponsor System will allow a department to sponsor and manage an identity for such individuals to enable those individuals to get the appropriate access to U-M systems and resources for the period of time that that individual needs them, and have that access removed when the individual no longer needs it.
ITCS will be able to provide an infrastructure that can be used across the University to provide access to unit-based resources and services without having to individually purchase or develop redundant systems. ITCS will also be able to provide standard computing services far more efficiently and quickly, thus better meeting the needs of University schools, colleges, departments, and units.
For units that provide their own specialized information technology services, it probably means access to up-to-date, accurate data about their faculty, staff, and students. Greater flexibility in sponsoring people and providing services to them. Better ability to provision and de-provision their IT services based on roles—and they can create and use their own roles. The ability to quickly remove access from systems when a person leaves the University is often more critical than granting the access—especially where regulatory requirements come into play.
