A Powerful New Directory Solution - How eProvisionware Delivers New Services, Saves Money
by Dave Kearns, Columnist Network World magazine

Computer industry pundits frequently talk about "killer apps" -- applications that are so compelling you wonder how you ever got by without them. These programs fill such a fundamental need that the platforms and services necessary to implement them are adopted solely to provide the necessary infrastructure for the application.

The quintessential "killer app" is generally conceded to be the electronic spreadsheet. VisiCalc -- and, later, Lotus 1-2-3 -- drove the adoption of the personal computer onto the business desktop.

Microsoft Windows was little more than a curiosity -- used to play Reversi and Solitaire -- until the introduction of Word for Windows 1.0, soon followed by Microsoft Office and WordPerfect Office for Windows. The obvious advantages of seamless integration of word processor, spreadsheet, database and presentation software required us to move to faster, RAM-filled computers with a Graphical User Interface.

Today we need a killer app to explain the value of directory services to non-technical enterprise managers. We need an application that will make it easy for everyone to recognize the inherent value of installing and building an enterprise directory infrastructure.

And that killer app might just be what many are calling eProvisionware.

ABOUT EPROVISIONWARE
To understand eProvisionware, it's necessary to know what "provisioning" implies. The dictionary defines it as the act of providing "necessary food or equipment". Explorers setting out to seek fame and glory in the new world required provisioning. They needed to take everything they would possibly need as they couldn't count on anything being available once they had left port. Everything had to be ready on the day they sailed.

The telecommunications industry adopted the term "provisioning" to describe the actions necessary to deliver service. This involves coordinating customer service with central office modification, installation, and billing as well as the timely sequence of running wire and connecting it at numerous points.

EXAMPLE OF PROVISIONING
Now think of the activities your enterprise engages in between the time a new employee is hired and the employee's first day on the job. Many of the following will need to be ordered, received, installed, set up or configured:

Office or cubicle
Desk and chair
Telephone, extension number, voice mail
Desktop computer, operating system, networking connection, applications
VPN or remote access to network
Notebook PC, palm device
Access to building, computer, network, applications
Entry into various databases and directories for Human Resources, Finance, Payroll, IT, Building Services and e-mail as well as departmental and workgroup entries

And in many enterprise, that's not all. You probably do it all today with a combination of automated tools and a large dose of manual entry and manual follow-up -- phone calls and e-mails flying hither and yon. More often than not, though, there's always something still left undone when the new employee walks in the door that first day.

Here comes eProvisionware to the rescue.

TO THE RESCUE
With eProvisionware, when HR hires the employee an entry is made in the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) database. This synchronizes with the Enterprise Directory Service where templates are used to create user entries. The user entry is pushed out to every other directory and database in the enterprise along with notification that the new object is available.

Administrators and managers then complete the user setup. A physical inventory database can even decide if new office furniture and PC hardware needs to be ordered or is available in inventory. Work orders are automatically cut and sent to the departments who need them to insure timely installation of needed facilities.

Periodic reports are automatically generated on milestone dates so that everyone involved knows the current status of the project. Any delays are flagged to the appropriate managers for remedial action.

THE DIRECTORY AT THE CORE
This automation is only possible where a scalable, extensible, robust directory service resides at the core of the enterprise, one capable of being synchronized with other directories and databases within the enterprise.

Directory Services such as Novell's NDS eDirectory, when used with Novell's NDS Corporate Edition and other synchronization agents, provides the core service which enables eProvisionware applications to automate large amounts of provisioning activity.

One company, Business Layers of Upper Saddle Ridge, NJ, is delivering fully automated eProvisioning with its eProvision:Employee software, which is currently in beta test. While eProvision:Employee can use most LDAP-compliant directories as its primary repository, it ships with Novell's eDirectory.

ABOUT THE BUSINESS LAYERS SOLUTION
In its first release eProvision:Employee will do many of the activities outlined above. It also adds two important functions: de-provisioning and re-provisioning.

De-provisioning is the process of removing an employee from the system -- closing accounts, blocking access, summarizing assets for final inventory, even cutting the last paycheck. From a security standpoint, this process may be even more important than the original provisioning.

Re-provisioning is the act of moving an employee or a group of employees to a new location, to a new position within the company, to a subsidiary or simply to a new level of access.

FUTURE EPROVISIONWARE
eProvisionware doesn't have to stop with employees. Provisioning access for vendors and clients -- for all of your business partners -- is the next step. Eventually, your entire supply chain can be part of the eProvisioning system, allowing secure access where needed, providing resources as needed and maintaining preferences and identities for everyone involved.

The AberdeenGroup, in a September 1999 Technology Viewpoint letter, outlines a scenario of a company faced with a major lawsuit using eProvisioning to pull together a virtual "situation room" with assets and resources from the company, its law firms, business partners and suppliers as well as any outside experts needed. Without an eProvisionware solution, this could take weeks, but with the directory guided solution, it could be done -- at lower cost -- in a matter of hours. The full report is available from either the AberdeenGroup or from Business Layers.

A TIME- AND MONEY-SAVER
Provisioning new employees is a time- and money-consuming operation. By using enterprise-class directory services and eProvisionware applications, you can reduce the time needed, drastically cut the money expended and extend the provisioning service to not only new employees, but also business partners and customers. The time and money saved make eProvisionware compelling which in turn lead to its possible use as the "killer app" for Directory Services.

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