Centralized identity management system and method for delegating resource management in a technology outsourcing environment

• US 20060130065A1
• Filed: 12/09/2004
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corio, Inc (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Corio, Inc (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Chin, Arthur, Chaddha, Parmeet, Parikh, Milind
• Granted Patent: US 7,996,883 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication

Abstract

Delegating resource management to customers in a technology outsourcing environment includes providing the customer with a secured user interface (e.g., HTML pages) for selecting one or more parameters (e.g., User Ids, application name and version, etc.) associated with a resource management task (e.g., password management). The parameters are used to automatically perform the task using a centralized identity management system and repository for storing and updating data, such as data associated with customers, User Ids, environments, applications and application versions. Such a system and method enables the delegation of resource management tasks across multiple environments hosting disparate hardware and software platforms, including multiple versions of applications.

Claims

1. A method of delegating resource management tasks in a technology outsourcing environment, comprising:

receiving a request to perform a resource management task;

selecting at least two environments to be securely managed from a plurality of environments in the technology outsourcing environment, wherein the at least two environments include different configurations and are associated with different customers; and

automatically performing the requested task in the two environments.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the task is password management.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the password management task includes password resetting.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

selecting one or more user identifiers associated with the selected environments; and

performing password management using the one or more user identifiers.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the user identifiers are stored in a central repository which is configured to store information for users of the plurality of environments.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the central repository is updated on a periodic basis.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting an application version from a plurality of application versions associated with the selected environments; and

performing the management task on the selected application version.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving and selecting steps are implemented using Web pages.

9. A method of delegating resource management tasks in a technology outsourcing environment, comprising:

fetching and presenting a list of customers;

receiving a selection of one or more customers;

fetching and presenting a list of environments associated with the selected customers, wherein at least two of the environments have different configurations;

receiving a selection of one or more environments;

fetching and presenting a list of user identifiers associated with users having access to the selected one or more environments; and

for each selected user identifier,

automatically performing a management task for an application configured for operating in the selected environments.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the task is password management.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the user identifiers are stored in a central repository which is configured to store information for users of the plurality of environments.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the central repository is updated on a periodic basis.

13. A system for delegating resource management tasks in a technology outsourcing environment, comprising:

a central repository configured to store information for users of at least two environments of a plurality of environments in the technology outsourcing environment, wherein the at least two environments include different configurations and are associated with different customers; and

a centralized identity management system coupled to the central repository and configured to automatically perform a resource management task using the user information stored in the central repository.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the task is password management.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the password management task includes password resetting.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the centralized identity management system is configured to receive one or more user identifiers associated with the selected environments, and to perform password management using the one or more user identifiers.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the central repository is updated on a periodic basis.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the centralized identity management system is configured to receive a selection of an application version from a plurality of application versions associated with the selected environments, and perform the management task on the selected application version.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the centralized identity management system receives selections using Web pages.

20. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by a processor in a technology outsourcing environment, causes the processor to perform the operations of:

receiving a request to perform a resource management task;

selecting at least two environments to be managed from a plurality of environments in the technology outsourcing environment, wherein the at least two environments include different configurations and are associated with different customers; and

automatically performing the requested task in the two environments.

21. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by a processor in a technology outsourcing environment, causes the processor to perform the operations of:

fetching and presenting a list of customers;

receiving a selection of one or more customers;

fetching and presenting a list of environments associated with the selected customers, wherein at least two of the environments have different configurations;

receiving a selection of one or more environments;

fetching and presenting a list of user identifiers associated with users having access to the selected one or more environments; and

for each selected user identifier,

automatically performing a management task for an application configured for operating in the selected environments.