Entitlement Request and Approval Process
The target is to provide users with the entitlements they need in their work as quickly, efficiently and reliably as possible. To achieve this, the processes and tools for entitlement request and approval have to be unified across organizational units and business boundaries.
The request and approval process consists of two parts: the entitlements to be requested and the process definition.
Entitlements to be Requested
Suitable collections of entitlements for a business role or role group can be predefined as packages that include entitlements for services and systems needed in specific work environments. With these packages it is possible to instantly request all the needed entitlements for a new user. Packages normally contain entitlements granted for all users or entitlements related to certain business roles. These can be used to build more detailed collections, for example, according to the geographical location of the user.
Entitlement Packages Improve the Process
Correspondingly, entitlement packages can be defined for external users so that the entitlements to be requested are based on the business relationship with the external party and the needs users have within that context.
In addition to the default entitlements of the user’s business role, further personal entitlements can be requested and approved as needed. The predefined entitlement packages make the entitlement change process easier and quicker. The process also prevents erroneous entitlements for a user from being requested accidentally.
Definiing the Entitlement Request and Approval Process
The entitlement request and approval process is defined in advance. Definitions are needed for workflow, participants and rules to be applied. An organization can define several different request and approval flows that flexibly adjust to the needs of different organization units and services.
The RM5 IdM entitlement manegement solution offers a possibility to attach other tasks related to the arrival of a new user to the entitlement management process. Examples of such tasks include an order of a new computer or telephone connection. These tasks can be compulsory or optional. This improves user lifecycle management as the whole process is managed with one solution.
With the entitlement management solution it is possible to follow up the request and approval process, and the information related to the requests and approvals can be included in reports and audits.
The target of an entitlement can also be an object that is not related to an information system, such as a key, credit card or computer. This offers the option to extend the entitlement management to the management of fixed assets in case the organization does not have a separate tool for this already.
For many organizations the entitlement request and approval process combined with comprehensive entitlement reporting and auditing functionality is a suitable range for the first phase of an entitlement management development project.
