Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
By Jody Tracy, Program Manager, InCommon Academy
InCommon Hosts Important Community Conversation
In response to community requests, InCommon recently brought together 100+ identity and access management (IAM) practitioners and community members in research & education to discuss the challenges and best practices of managing identities and accounts at their institutions. The March 13, 2025 virtual roundtable focused specifically on Identity Lifecycle Management (ILM)—the process of managing digital identities through various roles, such as student, staff, faculty, and alumni, each with distinct lifecycle stages.
The roundtable discussion began with context setting, which included a presentation by Grady Bailey, senior IAM architect at Internet2. His presentation suggested a three-phase approach to Identity Lifecycle Management – Define, Design, and Discuss. Building on this approach, three guest institution presentations and breakout discussions generated several actionable strategies that can help organizations succeed in their ILM journeys.
Based on presentations and breakout discussions, the following are seven strategies institutions should consider implementing for successful identity lifecycle management:
1. Define your institution’s unique ILM needs.
Begin by asking fundamental questions:
- What does ILM specifically mean for your institution?
- What is your Join, Move, Leave process?
- Do you have a single lifecycle or multiple life cycles to manage?
2. Create visual representations of your identity lifecycles.
Developing clear visual models of your identity lifecycles helps:
- Communicate complex processes to non-technical stakeholders
- Identify gaps and redundancies in your current system
- Align technical implementations with institutional policies
3. Establish clear governance structures.
From the breakout discussions, many institutions emphasized that governance gaps are a significant challenge:
- Define who governs identity lifecycle policies
- Create cross-departmental steering committees
- Document decision-making authority for lifecycle events
4. Prioritize data quality at source systems.
Participants highlighted data ownership issues as a major challenge. Successful ILM depends on:
- Establishing authoritative data sources for identity attributes
- Implementing validation processes before data enters the identity system
- Creating feedback mechanisms to correct inaccuracies
5. Plan for edge cases and exceptions.
A key insight from the institution presentations was the need to:
- Document common exceptions (e.g., faculty with multiple appointments)
- Create standardized processes for handling non-standard cases
- Balance automation with necessary human intervention
6. Implement appropriate automation.
Breakout discussions revealed automation strategies for offboarding and role changes including:
- Identifying high-volume, low-risk processes suitable for full automation
- Creating approval workflows for sensitive lifecycle transitions
- Establishing monitoring and audit capabilities to comply with standards
7. Document and share knowledge.
The roundtable showed that a lack of institutional knowledge is a significant challenge, and to be successful, institutions are addressing this by:
- Creating comprehensive documentation
- Establishing communities of practice for cross-institutional knowledge sharing
- Building consensus before implementing changes
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this important conversation about identity lifecycle management. Conversations like this one reaffirm InCommon’s ongoing commitment to community-driven everything.
Top Challenges Facing IAM Practitioners
A poll taken during the roundtable indicated the top challenges facing IAM practitioners:
- 27% struggle with developing policies and standards
- 23% with handling role-based access control
- 14% with understanding different lifecycles at their institutions
- 10% with managing user provisioning and deprovisioning
Additional challenges included complex processes, tool limitations, leadership alignment, and multiple role management.
Access Roundtable Resources
If you are interested in learning more about the ILM Roundtable, fill out this form to receive:
- The full meeting report
- Session recording
- Presentation slides
- Templates and examples shared by participants
On the Horizon – Join us at BaseCAMP
Elevate your IAM knowledge at BaseCAMP, a five-day virtual event from June 2-6, 2025, designed for those new to IAM, new to InCommon, or looking to expand their knowledge and connect with peers.