Last month, a useful and popular service (it’s the second most-visited page) on the Office of the University Registrar’s site, enrollment verification, got a little easier to use. The UW partners with the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) to allow students to view their enrollment information provided to student loan lenders, auto insurance, and other service providers who provide discounts for enrolled students. Viewing that information now requires only a single log-in.
Until mid-July, students were required to verify themselves to the NSC by entering their full name, date of birth, and social security number. That step seemed redundant because students had to first log in with their UW NetID to even be able to access the NSC log-in page. Thanks to the efforts of the Student Self Service team, the two processes now share authentication information. The time-saving measure is currently being rolled out and should be available for all students by autumn quarter.
On the surface, eliminating one redundant log-in procedure may not seem like a big victory. But in addition to saving a minute or two for each user (which can add up!), this improvement is a sign of bigger things to come. The term “federated identity management” describes the movement to simplify access to online services by sharing identity information. What does all that really mean? Potentially, it could render obsolete many of the accounts you must create on various online services. Instead, a trusted system would verify that you are who you say you are through a log-in process. Then you could access accounts at online services that work with the trusted system—without needing to log in again.
You’ll be hearing more about this topic in the months to come. The UW is one of over a hundred member organizations of the InCommon Federation, a group providing identity-management services.
UPDATE: On May 2, 2010, The Chronicle of Higher Education published an article on the InCommon Federation. It explains some of the challenges an opportunities InCommon offers higher-ed institutions.
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