SAP is one of the world’s leading producers of software for the management ofbusiness processes, developing solutions that facilitate effective data processing and information flow across organizations.
SAP software provides multiple business functions with a single view to the entire data. This helps companies better manage complex business processes by giving employees of different departments easy access to real-time insights across the enterprise.
SAP solutions are classified into 6 core products as listed below.
SAP ECC is the ERP system that integrates information from one SAP system to another system in real time, this helps companies better manage complex business processes by giving employees of different departments easy access to real-time insights across the enterprise.
As a result, businesses can accelerate workflows, improve operational efficiency and raise productivity.
Separation of Duties: Whenever user request for conflicting access SoD policy violation check will happen and warn the approver that approving access will violate SoD policy.
Leaver Scenario:When user lifecycle state is changed to terminated the end target applications access will be disabled.
Certification campaign:To certify user is having right access certification campaign can be configured and can be certified by user’s manager or source owner or a specific individual.
In the below video, we are going to look at a demo of above specified integrations and use cases.
IdentityNow has many even triggers which capture the events internal to IdentityNow. This can be related to various IdentityNow internal processes like aggregation, provisioning, access request etc.
In response or action to an event, Event triggers have a capability to communicate with external applications. This response can happen via webhooks or AWS event bridge.
This type of trigger is used to give the custom application an ability to answer back to a trigger event sent by the trigger service. This integration is bi-directional. A response from the custom application is required for a trigger invocation to be considered complete and successful.
FIRE_AND_FORGET
This type of trigger is used to notify the custom application of a particular occurrence of an event. This integration is uni-directional. Trigger invocation is successful the moment the trigger service notifies the external application, and it does not require a response from the custom application.
For example, a user from IT department is able to see Jira, Bitbucket, Administrative / Privileged access across applications like Active Directory, ServiceNow and various other applications in the request center. For a user from Marketing department, the above access is not relevant and with segments, we are abstracting those items. The relevant access for marketing users would be Salesforce CRM and the same will be visible for the users.
In the presentation below, we will be discussing about segments feature in detail :
In the below video, we will provide a practical demonstration on how to configure segments, how it affects the end user perspective using a practical use-case :
Advantages
Limit end user visibility for applicable access
Only the access that is applicable for a subset of identities and relevant for them is displayed using segments. This helps in avoiding the confusion in finding the right role/access profile while making an access request.
Reduce incorrect access requests
End users shall not make any incorrect access requests because the only access items that they’ll see in the request center are already fine tuned and configured according to the organizational requirement.
Limit accidental provisioning
If presented with a lot of access items, users might request for something that they don’t need. This can be avoided by creating and assigning users to their respective segments based on certain criteria.
Reduce cost of software licensing
Due to accidental access provisioning, users might be consuming additional licenses for access that they do not need which is a major costing risk. This can be avoided by configuring segments.
Extensibility of services using vast API collections is sign of a true SaaS solution. SailPointIdentityNow has recently released few APIs which allow us to upload our own connector rules required for app integrations.
Based on Execution type rules are divided into two types:
Cloud Execution
Connector Execution
1)The Rules which are executed in the IDN tenant cloud are called Cloud Execution Rules.
1)The Rules which are executed on virtual Appliance (on premise) are called Connector Execution Rules.
2)There will be a review process for cloud rules to ensure any submitted Cloud Rules meet SailPoint requirements and doesn’t contain code that could harm the system and the only way to upload the rule is through SailPoint.
2)Connector Rules are usually extension of the connector itself. These rules are mainly used to implement pre-processing of data and post-processing of data and to manipulate, merge or otherwise transform the incoming data as it’s being read
Rule Deployment Process
As-Is Process
In As-Is Process for deploying Connector Rules on the tenant developer should follow the below steps:
Rule needs to be developed as per the requirements.
Developed rule shall be submitted to SailPoint Expert services for review.
Post review, rule will be uploaded on to the tenant.
In case of any changes required the rule shall be resubmitted to the SailPoint Expert Services.
To-Be Process
In To-Be process the rule can directly be deployed to the IDN tenant using APIs. In case of any changes required/delete the developer can directly use these APIs and make required changes instead of going through tedious process like earlier.
Advantages and Limitations
Advantages
Easy to Deploy – They are Easy to deploy on to the tenant compared to the entire previous process
Faster deployment of rules – Rules will be deployed on the tenant instantly using APIs where old process used to take a minimum of 24hrs
Low Cost from SailPoint Expert Services – Compare to previous methodology, deploying connector rules using APIs has minimal involvement from Expert Services.
Rework is Faster – In case of any changes rather than repeating the entire process, rework is quicker using these APIs.
Faster Integrations – Using APIs, the overall application integrations are faster.
GET, LIST, CREATE, UPDATE, DELETE, VALIDATE are the APIs that are currently used for connector rule operations. A token with ORG_ADMIN authority is required to perform any operation.
SailPoint IdentityIQ supports partitioning of various jobs so that data processing can not only be split across multiple hosts but also across multiple threads per host. The overall goal with partitioning is to increase processing throughput and speed. Specifically, partitioning is supported for account aggregation tasks, for identity refresh tasks, for generation of manager certifications, and for role propagation. This blog describes the steps required to configure partitioning for account aggregation tasks and Target resource mapping.
In the following presentation, I will be providing a brief introduction of IdentityIQ Aggregation Using Multi Threading and target resource mapping
Partitioning Settings:
The Server, ServiceDefinition, and RequestDefinition objects defined for the installation specify important parameters that affect partitioning.
Server Object:
SailPoint IdentityIQ automatically creates a Server object for each host which connects to an IdentityIQ database. A maxRequestThreads value can be specified in the Server object’s attributes map to designate the maximum number of threads which can be used for request processing on this host at one time.
If your installation uses maxRequestThreads settings per Server object, the recommendation is to set the maxRequestThreads value equal to two times the number of CPUs on the server (e.g. 4 CPU means value of 8).
Service Definition Object:
By default, each IdentityIQ host as part of an installation serves in UI, task, and request roles simultaneously. By default, the hosts attribute is set to global for Task and Request ServiceDefinition objects, meaning all connected IdentityIQ hosts function as Request and Task hosts. The CSV delimited list of host names in the hosts attribute must be set to the same value returned by the hostname command when it is run on the application server hosts.
RequestDefinition Object:
RequestDefinition objects govern how IdentityIQ handles items added to the Request queue for processing. Each RequestDefinition object specifies the maximum number of threads per server to use for each request type through its maxThreads attribute. The maxThreads values on each of these mentioned RequestDefinition objects govern the number of threads that IdentityIQ will attempt to use on each request server to run each task of the specified type.
The recommended best practice is to specify a value for maxThreads in the range of 1-2 times the number of CPUs for all RequestDefinition objects mentioned here. It is strongly recommended that all request/task servers in an IdentityIQ installation have the same number of CPUs, available memory, and allocated disk space.
Aggregation Task Configuration:
Activating partitioning on an aggregation task is simple once other partitioning settings are configured. It only requires selecting the Enable Partitioning option in the task definition user interface page. This must be enabled for each aggregation task which will use partitioning, as this setting is disabled by default. There is a second configuration option for TaskDefinitions that is applicable in some situations: objects per partition. This option sets the maximum number of records to include in each partition. IdentityIQ will then divide the accounts from the data source into as many partitions as required.
Target Resource Mapping:
In sailpoint identityiq Target Resource mapping is used to reflect the changes in target application based on the source application.
Source and Target Mapping Configuration:
The source mappings is used for the attributes coming in from target to IIQ. For ex., you may define a source mapping for status attribute as “employeeStatus”. This attribute can then be used by SailPoint for all internal processing.
The target mappings is used for provisioning the updated values of attributes to target from IIQ. Assume, you have defined source mapping “employeeStatus” coming from HR application and if you wish to populate this value to AD, the target mappings can be utilized.
Refresh Identity Cube Task Configuration:
In Refresh Identity Cube task we have an field which is Synchronize attribute.
After checking that field the identity mappings target will be provisioned if there are any changes in source application
In the following video, I will be providing a detailed demo on IdentityIQ Aggregation Using Multi Threading
Each progressing year, IT is getting more and more complex. Organizations keep growing and subsequently more and more people come into the organization each with their own needs. These users are then provided with their own levels of access to resources. The problem that arises here is that the growing mess of systems and user access management.
IdentityNow is an IDaaS (Identity as a Service) based IAM solution, unlike IdentityIQ which is on-premise. IdentityNow also helps people get the access that they need and manage the lifecycle around it. The current blog discusses the extensibility features announced by SailPoint. These features will help make security decisions on the go very effectively.
In the following presentation, I will be providing a detailed overview of Extensibility Feature Integration with IdentityNow for Access Requests.
Overview of Extensibility Features:
Users at an enterprise level are distributed among different geographies of the world. SailPoint’s access request integration with applications such as Microsoft Teams and Slack enable the users to get the access that they need right from the tool that they use the most. SailPoint also ensures that the appropriate governance and compliance controls are enforced while providing ease of access to the users while making access requests.
Current Access Request Process :
To briefly understand the current access request process in IdentityNow below is an illustrative diagram:
Roles in IdentityNow combine provisioning to multiple sources by combining different access profiles. However, for access requests, roles can be marked as “requestable”. By doing this, the roles are then visible in the Request Center tab in IdentityNow. We can have approvals in place for this role such that any user who requests for this role, will by routed through an approval process.
Applications in IdentityNow have their own XML structure with their own password policies and account creation restrictions. For the approvals, we can define the approval hierarchy in Access Profiles itself. Once the application has been created, it should be marked as ‘visible in request center’ and ‘allow access requests’.
Users have to login to their IdentityNow tenant with their credentials. They navigate to Request Center tab to see “Applications” and “Roles” where they can make an access request from either of these. Both Roles and Applications facilitate provisioning to the target source using Access Profiles.
Applications and Integration Overview:
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft teams is a chat-based collaboration platform from Microsoft. With capabilities such as documents sharing, online meetings, teams and channels, online video calling and screen sharing, messaging and many more extensible features for business communication. It is extremely user friendly and can facilitate a work environment between remote users and large businesses. Below are the benefits from this integration:
Ease of making access requests from within the Teams Application.
Users can request either for a Role or Application depending on the business needs.
This integration ensures seamless user experience for making access requests.
Below is the process followed post the integration with MS Teams:
Users will login to their Teams application using their Office365 account.
A SailPointchatbot is configured which appears in the Applications tab.
Connect to your IdentityNow tenant and click on “Create Access Request”.
Find and select the Application/Role to request.
Select the role for himself or for others.
Submit the request.
2. Slack
Slack is workspace alternative communication tool just like teams which combines the functionalities for messaging, tools and files. Users can communicate over channels or Direct Messages based on their requirement and it has support for third-party application integrations and add-ins. Although the application is free to use with certain limitations, there is an enterprise level application as well. Below are the benefits from this integration:
Please note that the {api-url} below is the org name of your IdentityNow tenant.
The primary APIs that are used behind this integration are:
List of access request objects: Returns a list of requestable items for an access request.
GET – https://{api-url}.api.identitynow.com/v3/requestable-objects
Create an access request: Submits an access request to IdentityNow. This will not return any result because the request has been submitted by the system. If there are more than one identity for the access request, the JSON payload will contain a list of id’s for each identity.
POST – https://{api-url}.api.sailpoint.com/v3/access-requests
Get the access-request status: Returns a list of access request statuses based on the specified query parameters.
GET – https://{api-url}.api.identitynow.com/beta/access-request-status
In the following video, I will be providing a detailed demo of the access request integration with Teams and Slack.
SailPoint IdentityIQ is a J2EE Application that is built on top of Hibernate object-relational model. All the Dev Artifacts are Java Objects represented in XML. The current blog discusses the script which helps in
Migrating Artifacts to higher environments
Migrating standard libraries
Working:
Below are the steps describing working of the script:
The script will export objects from one IdentityIQ Environment through console attached to the instance (Console is a command line utility to each identityIQ instance provided).
Script will perform necessary processing on the exported objects and prepares to be imported to the Target Environment.
The Objects will be imported into the Target Environment through console attached to the instance.
Usage:
Configure the Config.xml file provided with the following parameters
In this blog we are discussing about the benefit of implementing ERP by comparing it with the traditional method and also about securing it with the help of IAM modules. The blog also mentioned about the SAP (System applications and Product) which is a top ERP solution, it has positioned as a leader in Gartner’s Magic quadrant for single instance ERP, for multiple consecutive areas as per different evaluation criteria.
While an organization is dealing with important projects like Identity and Access Management, COBIT implementation ensures that we are aligning with the business & IT objectives for IAM.
In this blog we are going to put some light on the COBIT framework and its implementation within the business processes of an organization.
Okta is the leading solution for user authentication and single sign-on (SSO) for workforce as well as customer identities. Okta is capable of managing SSO to wide range of applications along with multi-factor authentication, directory integrations and lifecycle management from the cloud.
SailPoint IdentityNow is a cloud based identity and access management solution which aims to provide identity-as-a-service. IdentityNow enables a complete set of IAM capabilities delivered from the cloud to manage hybrid IT environments that include on-premises and cloud resources. IdentityNow supports SAML based Single Sign On. SAML is an open standard which allows an identity provider (like Okta) to pass on authentication information to a service provider (like IdentityNow).
In the following demonstration, we take a look at the SAML integration of IdentityNow with Okta for Single Sign-on. We will also go over the Active Directory integration in Okta and how this can be backed by IdentityNow’s lifecycle management.
