The Organizations application is your interactive tool to see the diverse participants in the InCommon Federation and community, ranging from major research universities to regional networks and emerging collaborators.
Whether you’re looking to identify potential partners, understand service adoption trends, or dive into technical details, the platform makes discovery simple.
Participating Organizations including higher education, research labs, government agencies, and commercial partners
Global Identity Federations connected through eduGAIN inter-federation system
Service Providers and Resources including library resources, cloud applications, and more
TIER Campus Success Program Case Study:Michigan experiments with Grouper using Institutional data Executive summary The University of Michigan wanted to explore the use of Grouper to possibly replace its manually driven email group management infrastructure with an enterprise-level system designed for access control and for rules-based groups. TIER feature supported Grouper 2.3.0 UI, API Collaborators University of Michigan: Information Technology Services Identity and Access Management team Information Technology Services Containerization Services Department of Business and Finance Subject Matter Experts: Shilen Patel (Duke University) Chris Hyzer (University of Pennsylvania) Bill Thompson (Lafayette College) Erik Coleman (University of Illinois) Internet2: Chris Hubing Community resources TIER CSP Grouper Cohort TIER Grouper Deployment Guide The environment We ambitiously set out the following objectives for our Grouper project: Technical: Install Grouper infrastructure within our development, quality assurance, and production application environments. Containerize the Grouper application. Explore using the Grouper application to provide a real group management system which would be a new service that would eliminate many scripts and manual steps. Optimize the processing of the Grouper product so that it performs as close to real-time as possible, similar to our current identity management system. Conduct a pilot to using Grouper to create and manage groups used for emergency alerts and notifications. Educational: Learn how to best organize groups for an institution the size of the University of Michigan. Investigate data mining and exploration techniques to create Grouper loader configurations. Define general and specific scenarios in which Grouper can complement and supplement a commercial roles and access management s The problem The University of Michigan is a very large institution with 650,000 active accounts including students, employees, alumni, and sponsored affiliates. With a population of this size and diversity, the university requires a way to define and manage meaningful populations based on institutional data, for service provisioning, access management, and group email management. Michigan currently relies on locally and vendor developed enterprise applications to handle provisioning and access management between the campus identity infrastructure and cloud providers (e.g. Google, box.com, Canvas, etc). This includes a custom group management system that departments and individual users rely on for email as well as local and enterprise access control. Ideally, Michigan could replace these homegrown solutions with tools that are in broad use and have peer and/or vendor support. The solution While trying to identify potential use cases, we found that there was considerable interest in using institutional data to define the groups used for access management. Numerous units have created their own solutions and are excited at possibility of using a centrally supported service. Michigan experimented with a variety of technologies and configurations. Some were more successful than others. We attempted to deploy Grouper in containers using both OpenShift and AWS tools. This effort was complicated by a lack of an organization-wide containerization strategy and the need to develop expertise in the specific tools. In addition to experimenting with deployment strategies, we decided to implement Grouper with a group of users that had complex selection logic. This represented a typical use case at Michigan. One of the challenges we faced was how to make the data coming from institutional data source useful for creating groups. The employee and student data comes PeopleSoft relational databases. In order to transform that data into LDAP, an attribute is created that contains multiple parts. For example, an employee can have several distinct appointments and there are data elements that are associated with each of these positions. In order to keep that relationship in the LDAP data, a single HR attribute is created for each job row in the PeopleSoft database. That attribute contains all the data elements associated with that job including things that could be used to create reference groups like department, job code, regular or temporary status etc. The challenge was to build something that could extract individual elements from the packed HR data in a format that Grouper could use. The result Implementing the desired solution required expertise in technologies with which our team has little experience and we lacked the time and resources to familiarize ourselves with the requisite components. Like many institutions in higher education, we are under pressure to deploy campus services using cloud-based providers. In this case, we set the bar too high and found it impossible to deploy a new piece of infrastructure using unfamiliar methodologies (all while under-resourced). Organizations as large and complex as Michigan require comprehensive strategies. Although we learned some valuable lessons, we are still developing our organization and team container strategy. Large institutions collect significant amounts of data about their constituent populations, and it can be difficult to focus what is most relevant while faced with all of the possibilities. There is no “perfect” folder structure for an institution of our size. We went through several trial structures before deciding to focus on a typical use case Lessons learned Executive sponsorship and endorsement are essential in obtaining the appropriate resources to see a project to completion. Executive investment increases the likelihood that a project will be resourced appropriately and that the work will be prioritized. Projects like this are too big to complete on the margin. Focusing on a specific use case really helps when dealing with new technology, a complex problem, and a tight timeline. Executive and customer interest in desirable use cases can provide momentum and motivation to the project team. Grouper is a commonly used solution in higher education, but the differences in our chosen toolset hindered collaboration with the CSP cohort. The technologies we chose to employ were mainly based on organizational preference (Oracle databases, and OpenShift / Kubernetes based containerization). It would have been easier to implement containerized Grouper with a cogent organizational container strategy in place. Our organization didn’t have sufficient resources to assist us, and our choice of containerization technology made us outliers in the CSP cohort. Our peers were willing to help, but it would have been easier had we used common tools. Conclusions We were not able to do a production-scale implementation of Grouper with the program timeline. What we learned is that Grouper is an application that we would like to add to the IAM portfolio at Michigan. A full-scale production implementation will require a committed project team and executive support to complete. About The University of Michigan The birthplace of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and the OpenLDAP server software, “the University of Michigan is a public research university with a primary campus and academic medical center (Michigan Medicine) located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and two satellite campuses in Flint and Dearborn. The 19 schools and colleges on the Ann Arbor campus offer 250 degree programs and comprise 44,000 students; 7,000 faculty members; and 14,000 staff. According to the latest national data, the U-M spends more on research–$1.39 billion in FY2016–than any other U.S. public university. U-M’s graduate programs include 99 appearing on the top ten list of the U.S. News & World Report (4th nationally).”
Six New Jersey higher education institutions are taking important steps to enhance their identity and access management (IAM) readiness with a focus on enabling effective collaboration and resource sharing through Internet2’s InCommon Federation. Last month InCommon and NJEdge.Net, Inc. (Edge) officially kicked off their work with Brookdale Community College, Montclair State University, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Rider University, Rowan University, and Saint Peter’s University. Participating Institutions Brookdale Community College Montclair State University Ramapo College Rider University Rowan University Saint Peter’s University “We’re pleased to collaborate with NJ Edge on this initiative. We’re helping to educate these six institutions about operating in the InCommon Federation, which will enhance their ability to collaborate and share/access services.” – Jean Chorazyczewski, director of InCommon Academy and project lead NJEdge.Net, Inc. (Edge), a regional research and education network, is leading the Connectivity Through Regional Infrastructure for Scientific Partnerships, Innovation, and Education (CRISPIE) project in New Jersey. Funded by the NSF CC* grant, CRISPIE brings together seven diverse higher education institutions to enhance connectivity, strengthen collaborations, and promote data-driven research and education. The InCommon | NJEdge CRISPIE project seeks to enhance collaboration and improve IAM readiness for these higher education institutions, enabling them to actively participate in the InCommon Federation.The project includes workshops, self-paced learning, and collaborative activities to ensure institutions can efficiently share cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources and data through InCommon’s federated environment. Supporting Small Institutions Higher education institutions increasingly rely on advanced networks and cyberinfrastructure for teaching, learning, and research. Smaller institutions, however, do not always have the resources or expertise to develop advanced cyberinfrastructure and connectivity, even though access to these resources can be particularly beneficial to them. The CRISPIE project aims to make it easier for them to develop those capabilities. “Our project will help CRISPIE participating institutions understand and leverage the InCommon Federation. They will learn how the federation works, its role in higher education and research, and its benefits within the consortium and for cross-institutional collaboration.” – Albert Wu, InCommon Federation manager These institutions will also have the benefit of learning about technical resources and community-supported tools available to help them adopt federated access and identity. By leveraging the InCommon Federation and providing tailored support, this initiative empowers higher ed institutions to unlock new opportunities for research, collaboration, and innovation. Next year the six institutions will participate in a solutions salon where InCommon Catalysts and other community members will offer their insights on implementing federated access. Further, the institutions will get exposure to real-life implementations and experiences from other institutions already participating in the federation. Increasing IAM Readiness As a key component of this broader initiative, Edge is working with InCommon Federation to address critical IAM needs. IAM readiness is a critical aspect of federation participation. As such, one of the project’s goals is to ensure that CRISPIE participating institutions gain a foundational understanding of IAM concepts. “They will get insights into optimizing IAM infrastructures to ensure technical readiness,” Chorazyczewski explained. “Doing so helps facilitate their access to services and shared tools. IAM is essential for enabling secure access, collaboration, and resource sharing across institutions, especially for smaller colleges and universities.” Forough Ghahramani, vice president for research, innovation, and sponsored programs at Edge, echoed these sentiments.“As the principal investigator for the NSF-funded CRISPIE project, I am proud of the collaborative spirit shown by our partner institutions as they enhance their identity, authorization, and access management (IAM) readiness and connectivity,” Ghahramani said. “This initiative provides participants with access to a resource-sharing environment, a regional data transfer node, and advanced network technologies with performance monitoring tools.” “A key focus on workforce development ensures institutions are equipped to drive innovation and support the research community effectively. These efforts strengthen collaborations and facilitate seamless access to critical resources at regional and national levels. Through Edge’s commitment and the expertise of project partners like InCommon in delivering training, education, and strategic guidance, we advance our mission to democratize access to resources and foster research, education, and innovation across New Jersey’s higher education ecosystem.” – Forough Ghahramani, vice president for research, innovation, and sponsored programs at Edge To this end, during their participation in the project, institutions will have access to InCommon Trusted Access Platform software training for COmanage, Grouper, midPoint, and Shibboleth as well as to InCommon BaseCAMP 2025, a unique, five-day, virtual event designed for those new to IAM and/or InCommon. InCommon is thrilled to collaborate with NJ Edge on this initiative. Supporting smaller institutions and their ability to leverage technology, high-speed networks, and advanced CI to strengthen collaborations for data-driven research and education is a common goal we share. About InCommon InCommon empowers inter-organizational collaboration in research and higher education by providing tailored IAM solutions, specialized tools, and strategic guidance for the privacy, trust, and security needs of R&E. Our community driven approach ensures our offerings address real-world challenges, whether it’s sharing courses between universities, accessing collaborative research platforms, or streamlining authentication for multi-institutional projects. Join us in creating secure, connected spaces where innovation thrives beyond borders. Together, we’ll unlock the full potential of cross-institutional collaboration and drive progress that shapes our collective future. About NJ Edge Edge serves as a member-owned, nonprofit provider of high performance optical fiber networking and internetworking, Internet2, and a vast array of best-in-class technology solutions for cybersecurity, educational technologies, cloud computing, and professional managed services. Edge provides these solutions to colleges and universities, K-12 school districts, government entities, hospital networks and nonprofit business entities as part of a membership-based consortium. Edge’s membership spans across the nation. Edge’s common good mission ensures success by empowering members for digital transformation with affordable, reliable and thought-leading purpose-built, advanced connectivity, technologies and services.
There are many ways to be part of the InCommon ecosystem from adopting services like identity federation and eduroam to forming strategic research collaborations. Explore how your organization can join and start benefiting from trusted infrastructure, streamlined access, and a thriving community.
Whether you’re exploring participation, looking to integrate services, or have questions about federation best practices, our experts are here to help. Reach out for personalized support and guidance.