drivers for generic processes

Our move towards a more standardized approach of developing organizational processes fits nicely into two major trends to be observed in the general management context:

• business driven identity management
• industrialization of services

Although the necessity for some kind of identity and access management reaches far back, it is regarded as a coherent and consistent discipline only recently [Windley, 2005]. As computers were used in the past by specialists only, IAM tasks were delegated to technical administrators. Since computer usage has become the mainstream toolset for any business, identity management tasks received acceptance as genuine management responsibility [Stuart, 1999] − yet with a strong technical component.

The second trend has two major drivers: at first, enterprises need to prove compliance with some regulatory requirements (e.g. Sarbanes Oxley Act[3]and the upcoming " EuroSOX" [4]), at second, the necessity to meet the challenges of global competition. Both drivers result in a more industrial perception of the enterprises as formal systems. By applying standard governance models (e.g. CobiT[5]), best practice models (e.g. ITIL [6]), or generic process models (e.g. GenericIAM), it is expected to reduce costs through standardization and simultaneously ease the job of proving compliance while focusing on the core competencies of the business.

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[3] The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002is a United States federal law passed to enhance corporate transparency and responsibility [USA SOX, 2002].

[4] Directive 2006/43/EC of the European parliament and of the council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts, amending Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC and repealing Council Directive 84/253/EEC[EU DIR 2006/43/EC, 2006].

[5] The Control Objectives for Information and related Technology(CObIT) is a set of best practices for information technology management created by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), and the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) in 1992 [ITGI COBIT 4.1, 2007].

[6] The Information Technology Infrastructure Library(ITIL©) is a framework of best practice approaches intended to facilitate the delivery of high quality information technology (IT) services [OGC ITIL 2, 2005; OGC ITIL 3, 2007].

References

• [Stuart, 1999]
  Helen Stuart, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Page: 200 - 207 DOI: 10.1108/13563289910299328, MCB UP Ltd., 1999
• [Windley, 2005]
  Phillip Windley, Digital Identity, O'Reilly Media, Inc., 1st ed., 2005