LMU Munich offers its students outstanding services with a high level of security

NetIQ has published a case study on secure provisioning and access control based on NetIQ® Identity Manager at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

We are pleased that NetIQ emphasizes our contribution to this success at LMU Munich, which is why we want to share this success story with you here. This is Novell’s official success story as it can be found on the page linked below.

NetIQ LMU SuccessStory

About LMU Munich

The Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich) is one of the leading universities in Germany. It offers courses for more than 50,000 students. Among the graduates of the college, founded in 1472, are also 13 Nobel Prize winners.

The Challenge

The Faculty of Psychology and Education is one of the largest at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Of the more than 50,000 university students, around 20,000 are accessing the IT services of the faculty as part of their studies.

The NetIQ-Solution

With the growing popularity of online learning resources, students and employees expect to be able to access LMU materials 24/7 through a variety of devices. This not only affects faculty-owned computers, but also private laptops, tablets and smartphones. However, accessing university resources through personal devices poses significant security risks and, last but not least, the risk of data misuse. To prevent this, the faculty wanted to gain more control over the access rights of the users.

While student expectations are rising steadily, IT budgets are not. Therefore, the faculty was looking for a solution that would automate identity management to meet the growing demand for online resources without compromising confidential data or increasing operational costs. This gives users access to the services they need while reducing the burden on IT staff.

Together with the LMU's IT service provider, the Leibniz Computing Center (LRZ) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, and the central administration of LMU, NetIQ's partners Code and Concept and IS4IT GmbH implemented a secure solution for identity provisioning and access control based on NetIQ Identity Manager. Employees use Identity Manager to give students access to learning resources. The NetIQ solution assigns user access rights to user identities. This allows easy monitoring and control of access rights to protect sensitive data.

Code and Concept integrated identity managers into existing IT systems, including LMU's main administration application, to streamline administrative processes.

NetIQ Identity Manager leverages data from the University's HR systems and directory services, providing accounts quickly and easily across all systems, "explains Dr. Werner Degenhardt, Academic Director and Head of Information Technology at the Faculty of Psychology and Education, LMU.

In addition, partners Code and Concept and IS4IT GmbH also integrated NetIQ eDirectory and Identity Manager into the desktop virtualization platform VERDE of NIMBOXX. This provides students and staff with seamless access to their systems regardless of where they log in.

"We could easily connect new systems to NetIQ Identity Manager using standard drivers and customize the configuration to our needs. That's how we derive maximum value from the solution. In addition, we benefit from a high degree of flexibility with regard to the provision and monitoring of access rights," says Dr. Degenhardt.

"We could easily connect new systems to NetIQ Identity Manager using standard drivers and customize the configuration to our needs. That's how we derive maximum value from the solution. In addition, we benefit from a high degree of flexibility with regard to the provision and monitoring of access rights," says Dr. Degenhardt.

 “NetIQ and Partners Code and Concept and IS4IT GmbH have helped us to expand our environment and introduce new features, thanks to their outstanding technical expertise and educational background.”

Dr. Werner Degenhardt

Academic Director and Head of Information Technology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, LMU Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)

Results

Using the NetIQ solution, the faculty enables students to have access to the online learning resources and many other services they need at all times. “Employees and students work at any time of day or night. That’s why it’s so important that the systems are always available, “explains Dr. Degenhardt. “NetIQ Identity Manager maximizes service availability by eliminating the need for maintenance windows. The solution is robust and easy to maintain. We have never had a problem with it and the performance has been excellent so far. “The faculty constantly strives to provide employees and students with the best possible user experience using the latest technology. The NetIQ solution now ensures that the administrative costs remain within limits. “NetIQ Identity Manager provides students and staff with a seamless user experience across faculties, the central university library, and even outside institutions like the Bavarian State Library or the city’s free Wi-Fi spots. In this way, students can quickly access important learning resources for their studies, “Dr. Degenhardt. “With automated user provisioning, students and employees need to log in only once to gain access to relevant systems. This streamlines the registration process and saves the staff a considerable amount of time. By tracking user activity and access rights with Identity Manager, we can efficiently monitor the system for potential security risks. NetIQ and its partners Code and Concept and IS4IT GmbH have helped us to expand our environment and introduce new features, thanks to their outstanding technical expertise and educational background. ” Degenhardt concludes. “Building on our success with NetIQ Identity Manager, we plan to upgrade to the latest version to further optimize our identity management.”

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