Identity management in retail industry : challenges, benefits and case study

IDENTITY MANAGEMENT in retail industry

Agenda

IDM – An Overview Problems in Retail Solution – IDM Implementation Case Study

Identity Management Overview Central infrastructure to manage user, roles, and access

to resources Identity Management Solution is a tool for:

Defining the identity of an entity Storing relevant information about entities in a secure and flexible

store Making that information accessible through a set of standard

interfaces Providing high performance infrastructure for Identity Management

Identity Management Overview (Contd.)

Identity Management ensures that: Creation of that identity

monitored and audited The identity is secured Allows identity to be shared

effectively

Benefits of Identity Management

Ensuring Security Compliance Enhancing Security Eliminate Duplicate Identity Data Reduce complexity of integrating business applications Manages the flow of users entering, using and leaving

the organisation

Problems In Retail User base Geographically dispersed High staff turnover rate Seasonal and part time members Long technology refresh cycle Diverse array of platform and directories coexist Increase in cost of applications Loss of data integrity Company portals Price lookups, merchandising information,

online training, HR profile updates

Problems In Retail

Corporate compliance - “One user one ID policy” to ensure individual accountability

Role based privileges Identifying employees is critical: Reluctant employees Multiple data

Why implementing IDM is a good idea?

RFID Approach

Oracle identity management for retailers

Case: John Lewis Partnership

One of UK’s largest retailers, owns and operates 39 John Lewis shops

291 Waitrose supermarkets Online and catalog business Production unit and farm John Lewis was awarded “Retailer of the Year” at the Oracle

Retail Week Awards 2011

Customer challenges

Requirement to streamline and simplify authenticated, authorized access to Oracle E-Business Suite applications and the Oracle WebCenter-based Human Resources (HR) portal

80,000 employees at head office, branch offices, 39 John Lewis department stores, and 291 Waitrose supermarkets

Reduce high administrative overhead costs Comply with data governance and security policies Make new self-service HR functionality available to entire user

base simultaneously without users needing additional passwords

Solution & Benefits

Initially rolled out to 15000 line managers HR and finance teams, via a centralized framework

Extended single sign-on to remaining 65,000 staff, most of whom use it to access the HR portal to view pay slips, request vacation, update personal details, sign up for training, apply for vacancies, or view John Lewis Partnership’s employment policies and other corporate information, without needing to contact HR team

Set-up process of providing role-based access Used Oracle Identity Manager to enable employees to reset lost

passwords

Solution & Benefits (Contd.)

Boosted access security by using Oracle Identity Manager to automate prompts to users to change their password every 40 days

Set up access rights for new staff and terminated privileges for departing employees

Re-enacted access rights in seconds for the 7,000 students and part-timers who are re-hired each year

Used session management functionality

Solution & Benefits (Contd.)

Created a database of employee names, titles, and security credentials

Prevented additional overhead on helpdesk considerably by devolving user account management

Leveraged scalability of the Oracle secure access and identity management solution

Conclusion

Implementation of Identity management greatly helped to improve the efficiency of the employees

Helped to reduce cost and saved time of employees Made life easier for both the employees as well as the

administrators Improved Security posture of the company Helped with complying with regulations and policies

References http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479081.aspx http://www.fischerinternational.com/press/case_studies/

retail.asp http://www.omada.net/retail-584.aspx http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?11278 http://www.actcda.com/media/cross-border-identity-

management-background-paper.html http://

www.netganley.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/SB_Oracle_Identity_Retail.pdf

www.ifour-consultancy.com