Introducing Microsoft ILM '2'

Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager '2' is the future release of ILM 2007, slated for the midle of 2008. This new product is designed to be an integrated identity management that will deliver powerful self-service capabilities for the end users and enhanced administrative tools and automation for IT professionals.

You can find plenty of information on ILM 2 on the Microsoft site here. Essentially, ILM '2' automates the identity and access management accross an organization and simplifies considerably the management of people joining or leaving the organization, or changing role within an organization.

ILM '2' New Features

ILM '2' builds on the metadirectory, certificate and smart card management and user provisioning available in ILM 2007, and adds a rich management environment including integrated user management, self-service for comprehensive credential management, group management, policy management, and expanded extensibility and connectivity. ILM “2” feature investments is categorized into four areas:

User Provisioning	One of the most important things Microsoft is delivering from a business standpoint is automated, codeless, user provisioning. ILM '2' delivers tools for integrated user management and self-service across enterprise applications without the costly coding of business rules or recoding of the target systems.
Credential Management	With ILM '2' organizations can manage multiple credentials in an integrated manner, using self-service tools that are available through the Windows logon environment for ease of discoverability and use.
Policy Management	ILM “2” delivers a framework for identity management automation and integration so all enterprise systems run using the same set of enterprise policies
Group Management	ILM ”2” provides powerful capabilities out of the box that help increase the productivity of end users, frees up IT from repetitive tasks and provide better security and compliance outcomes.

Extending ILM '2'

aXelerate is in the process of creating a number of solutions to complement ILM '2' resumed below:

ILM '2' Reporting	This solution extends the reporting capabilities of ILM 2 and allows complex report to be created through a web interface. Management can configure the solution to have reports sent automatically to them to report normal and suspicious activities.
Dashboard Analytics	The Dashboard Analytics extends considerably the standard IT management interface proposed by ILM '2'. Using the Dahboard Analytics solution, any user can create their own dashboard to control and view the activities in ILM '2'. The Dashboard Analytics solution is built using SilverLight and present a very simple drag-and-drop interface which allows a powerful customization of the dashboards.
Interactive Workflow Designer	Workflows are an essential feature of ILM '2', but creating workflows is still a very daunting taks and because worklows expose every single inner working, they are also difficult to understand. The Workflow Designer for ILM '2' is a solution built using SilverLight specifically designed to create complex workflows by non-technical people. Workflow designers can simply use the simple, yet powerful, interface to drag-and-drop business blocks and rules to create workflows which are automatically deployed in ILM '2'.

Introducing Microsoft ILM '2'

ILM '2' New Features

Extending ILM '2'

If you want to learn more about ILM '2' and how to manage your identities, contact us!