University of Nebraska Streamlines PeopleSoft Authentication While Utilizing Multiple Identity Providers

Executive Summary

The University of Nebraska wanted to streamline authentication to the student information system for students, faculty, and staff across eight separate campus locations. So, they turned to a single sign-on integration solution from Appsian that enhanced security practices but was flexible enough to allow the eight campuses to retain the Identity Provider of their choice.

Challenges

The University of Nebraska uses PeopleSoft Campus Solutions for its student information system. The University uses two instances of PeopleSoft – One for the University System (five campuses) and one for the State College System (three campuses). Each campus has its own PeopleSoft Internet Architecture (PIA) within its designated instance of PeopleSoft. Additionally, the University utilizes eight different Identity Providers (IdPs) across all locations.

The University was using a homegrown two-factor authentication (2FA) solution to authenticate users. However, this solution was not scalable in the long term. It lacked a broader contextual scope for authenticating users beyond the student information system.

To achieve its goal of streamlining the authentication process and improving the user experience across multiple applications, the University wanted to reduce the overall number of authentications by centralizing authentication management from a common platform.

Solution

The University turned to Appsian to provide PeopleSoft SAML integration to deliver a single sign-on solution that met their unique configuration requirements. The Appsian solution enabled all eight campuses to retain the IdP of their choice. In addition, they could map to any one of the eight PIA instances. This ensured that all eight campus locations (and PIAs) could keep using their IdPs without sacrificing security or flexibility. Additionally, there was no extra cost of ownership due to additional infrastructure to support the single sign-on solution.

Results

The University was pleased with the solution provided by Appsian. Since it was native to PeopleSoft, their team understood the product and ensured it would fit their requirement. The implementation process took about six months to go live after an intensive set of tests, validation, and deployment into production.

“Appsian has been a true partner for the University of Nebraska. We have a very specific set of requirements, and the product and support team were able to help us throughout the implementation. Their support is superb. Whenever we have a question or an issue due to a tools update or browser change, they provide the best engineers to resolve issues as soon as possible. Instead of viewing our unique configuration as “the client’s problem,” Appsian looks for creative and sustainable alternatives to provide the best solution.”

William Barrera Fuentes,
Director of the Nebraska Student Information Systems,
University of Nebraska