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R E V I E W

RFI: Employee Provisioning Software: eProvision Has All the Right Moves

August 19, 2002
By Lori MacVittie

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Business Layers eProvision Software 3.0

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	In this article
	Introduction
	Self-Service
	Business Layers eProvision Software 3.0
	Other Products Reviewed
	RFI Scenario: Stuff4U
	Full Responses To RFI
	ROI Chart
	Report Card

Business Layers' eProvision offers the easiest integration with both custom and off-the-shelf systems. Out of the box, its integrated workflow feature was one of the most flexible of the lot. EProvision offers password and resource self-service, and tops off its solution with a robust Web-based management system. At $237,000, eProvision's price comes in above Novell's, but it offers a much faster time to deployment and isn't missing any major features. This solution would be the first we would consider when bidding for EUA systems.

EProvision uses any LDAP directory as its local data store and requires a relational database for persistence of audit logs, transactions and workflow data. Its unique view of business and IT profiles as separate entities pushed it ahead of the competition. Rather than implementing a RBAC (role-based access control) solution, such as Access360's enRole does, eProvision defines business profiles and associates them with one or more IT profiles. A business profile comprises attributes such as the business unit, title and projects an employee is assigned to.

Using that information, the system applies the appropriate IT profiles, and correct resources can be provisioned for each employee. An IT profile is an associated set of resources and access rights that is particular to job position. This also lets nontechnical, business-focused employees be intimately involved in the provisioning process rather than relying on IT to manage the entire system.

Business Layers' architecture lets many types of systems be integrated into the provisioning process--far more than the PeopleSoft, Novell 5, Windows NT and Lotus Domino systems Stuff4U targeted. EProvision can be deployed with or without agents, depending on the systems being integrated. For legacy systems that store access rights in a relational database, eProvision can use ODBC and JDBC connectivity to poll the database and reconcile resource information. This is a common management method--all the solutions reviewed provide support for ODBC, JDBC and LDAP-based resource management. EProvision also offers XML and flat-file feeds to ensure easy integration with almost any custom application.

EProvision's self-service features let you request additional resources, and reset and synchronize passwords. The password reset feature includes challenge/response queries, which the administrator can configure. Employees must answer these questions correctly before resetting their passwords.

Unlike the competition, Business Layers' solution supports the concept of projects and teams as part of the business process. You use projects for one-time changes to one or more employees--such as migration from one system to another or a physical move between buildings. Teams are more long-lived and can be configured to provision additional assets and resources while the team is in place. When the team is disbanded, all assets and resources associated with that team are then revoked.

We have only one complaint about Business Layers' outstanding solution: It can be deployed only on a Windows 2000 platform. Waveset and Access360, also Web-based solutions, as well as the Web-based interface to Novell's solution, support more platforms, including Linux and Sun Microsystems Solaris. Business Layers is planning additional platform support for future revisions.

Business Layers priced our scenario based on a server fee and a license fee based on managed accounts. With 5,000 users on each of Stuff4U's four target systems, the company quoted a price of $237,500. Three types of server licenses are available: single site, single server; single site, multiple server; and enterprise site. The vendor also offers two maintenance programs: standard support and expanded 24x7 support.

eProvision Software 3.0, Business Layers, (201) 291-8999, (877) 5-LAYERS (552-9377). www.businesslayers.com