Apogee Communications Technologies - Database Consolidation

Apogee Communications Technologies, Inc.
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Incorporated in 1994, providing consulting services in the New York Metro area in communications technologies - security, networking, systems architecture, design, implementation, certification and deployment.
User Database Consolidation - Issues and solutions

What is a user database?

A list of users, their passwords, rank (trooper, manager, etc.) and perhaps some kind of permissioning information, such as read only vs. update. This may be called the AAA data (Authentication, Authorization and Audit). Most corporations have many such databases, for example:

E-mail	Document Management
Unix	Windows domain
Time Management	Personnel database
Source Control Management	Project Management
Firewall access	Extranet
Routers, Switches, other password protected Intranet facilities	Web servers

Some systems, such as those used for time tracking, actually contain two databases - the AAA database, and the historical set of records about users. These databases are disjoint and access controls may be different. Adding and deleting AAA users is usually done by different adminstrators than those who set salary information. Ideally these should be split into two physical databases.

Why consolidate?

People migration - updating their AAA profiles when they move from department to department or get promoted
People leaving - a major security issue when many databases are involved
People being hired - this can be a major headache especially if there are 20 or more different databases each with a different adminstrative interface.
Password management - people simply can't remember dozens of passwords and this is another major security issue
Enabling Single Signon On (SSO) - if every individual in a 300 person company wastes 10 minutes remembering and entering passwords each day the corporation loses 50 person-hours a day or about 11,000 hours per year, which adds up to $1.1MM a year at $100/hour.
Different access paths may require different security methods - uid/password my be OK for Intranet access, but SecureId^tm may be required for Extranet access and implementing this for multiple applications may be impossible
Facilitate deployment of a corporate Portal (this may be part of the solution as well as a benefit)
Permit auditing of application access. You may be able to reduce the number of licenses or even eliminate specific applications if they are never accessed.

Conclusion

For security and cost savings, database consolidation has an obvious and quick ROI. Needless to say, ApogeeCT would be only to happy to assist your organization in implementing a solution and helping you reduce bottom line impact by millions of dollars even in a relatively small company..