Identity and Access Management is, at its heart, a phrase that describes the process by which people access the tools and resources they need. It asks and answers three questions:
At Miami, those questions can be complicated. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, emeriti… There are a lot of different roles—and therefore account types and permissions—to manage.
Once these questions are answered clearly, it provides a picture of what kinds of applications and systems you need in order to be successful. Students need access to Canvas. Some staff members need access to Banner. Faculty may need access to both.
IT Services is working on a project that will make answering these questions—and keeping track of our roles—easier and more user-friendly. The Identity and Access Management Program touches all of the various systems used throughout the university (e.g., Banner, myMiami, Gmail, TeamDynamix, etc.) and will help us determine a better way to manage account types and the appropriate permissions associated with them. With mature IAM practices in place, it's easier to grant access to the resources you need, when you need it.
After all, you can’t spell Miami without IAM!
There are several key benefits of IAM that will be immediately apparent:
IAM also means greater compliance with regulatory standards, reducing demands on IT resources, and faster workflows. Simply put: You get access to what you need, when you need it.
All of these benefits come together to form a more complete picture of who you are, what your role is at Miami, and how you fit into the grand scheme of things from a technology standpoint.
Miami community members may use the MUnet Password Utilities tool to change passwords, manage recovery options, and perform self-service password reset activities.
If you forget your password, you may have to contact IT Help and verify your identity (with copies of your ID cards or driver’s license) before they reset your password. If you have a current recovery (non-Miami) email or phone number set, you can reset your password immediately with no help desk intervention!
Check out our YouTube walkthrough of how to change your password in the MUnet Password Utilities portal!
The implementation of a modern IAM solution takes resources, hard work, and, importantly, time. This list of activities represents our high-level goals for the IAM Program and offers a suggested sequence of events that will make up the rest of our work. As a forecast is a prediction of future work and responsibilities, all of this is subject to change as our IAM practice evolves and improves. Check back periodically for more information and regular updates!
As we continue to mature our IAM environment, we are focusing our efforts on several big-picture objectives. In the forecast that follows, we have divided specific efforts into those larger buckets, defined here:
Improving the provisioning and de-provisioning of accounts in target systems based on specific criteria, including but not limited to affiliation.
Revising, improving, and documenting current processes, procedures, systems, and configurations. Rationale for improvement can include identified problems or enhancements attributed to changing requirements either by Miami business need or industry regulations and security considerations.
Additions and improvements to the ingestion of identity data into RapidIdentity (RI). A "source of authority" is, put simply, a system that feeds identity information to RI—where the identity data comes from. The data pulled from authority sources is only intended for use related to an identity's need for authentication and authorization.
Improvements to the processes or actions of verifying the identity of a user (i.e., the "act of logging in"). This can include improvements to systems like multi-factor authentication (Duo) or the CAS login facility.
Improvement of definitions and security measures to allow, disallow, and manage authorizations (access) to various Miami resources.
For the 2026-27 academic year, we will work on strengthening our connections to Workday (Student) and preparing for the go-live of Slate as a source of authority (the new Advancement customer relationship management (CRM) tool). We are also working on implementing claim codes for all account types, including sponsored and courtesy accounts.
Our IAM partner, , is a respected company with a lot of experience in the IAM arena, and especially the higher education sector. They continue to be an invaluable resource as Miami matures in its IAM deployment.
