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	Issue TOC Print full article Print this page Download as PDF E-Mail this URL Flame the author     In this article Introduction Wrong Side of the Law? A Bite Out of Password Costs Executive Summary Online Only: Does HIPAA Affect Me?

Every new hire comes with logistical complications for the human resources, IT and facilities departments. Roles must be defined, passwords assigned, equipment delivered; it's enough to cut productivity for days. Employee provisioning, or EUA (enterprise-user administration), software can give some of that lost time back.

EUA solutions centrally manage workers' access to resources, control passwords and make sure the employees' data is entered in all the right systems, from HR to accounting. Furthermore, when employees leave, this software makes it just as simple to remove their access rights from all systems, to prevent their unauthorized access.

We sent a Request for Information to Access360, Business Layers, Novell and Waveset Technologies, asking them to propose EUA solutions for a fictional retailer, Stuff4U. The vendors sent us their proposals, and then brought the software to our Green Bay, Wis., Real-World Labs® and implemented two or more pieces of our scenario. We were impressed most by Business Layers' eProvision Software 3.0, which combined great flexibility with top-notch password self-service, a critical feature.

Although EUA systems are expensive, the best ones are likely to pay for themselves over a period of one to two years, once you factor in the time and labor saved by automating the process: far fewer calls to the helpdesk for password changes, and fewer wages lost to the process of provisioning employees.