Simplify DLAN Security with Federated Account Management
During normal operations, when a user has to sign in to multiple accounts, it is a minor nuisance; during an activation, it ticks precious seconds off the clock. This problem is worsened by constant staff movement within an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) brought on by shift changes, new staff coming in from external partners, and staff roles changing within the incident. Maintaining current accounts, creating new ones, and de-activating accounts on multiple applications can be a challenging task for any information technology personnel, but during the high-stress, high-stakes situation created by an emergency, it can be particularly daunting. DLAN 10.8 makes it much easier to stay on top of these personnel changes with our new user account Federation Services.
Included by default in all DLAN 10.8 systems, Federated Services allow IT departments to connect their on premises and cloud hosted DLAN systems to internally deployed SAML based account management systems like Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) and Shibboleth. This allows user accounts to be easily managed by IT and makes it easy for users to log into DLAN using the same accounts that they use to log into other agency resources.
DLAN’s Federation Services give administrators the ability to connect to multiple Federation end points, allowing IT departments to easily manage Single Sign-On capabilities for multiple groups of users and permission sets on their DLAN system. Additionally, IT departments can run in a hybrid model with some user accounts managed by their internal account management systems and other accounts managed solely within the DLAN system. This gives IT and emergency management the option of managing their own staff on internal systems and external staff within the DLAN application.
DLAN Single Sign-On
The response to our new Assessments module has been great, with many customers using it for business continuity, risk assessments, and hazard assessments on critical infrastructure. DLAN 10.8 extends this functionality with new Assessment features that support associating forms with DLAN incidents. With these new features, users can stage assessments for use in an exercise, track assessments performed during the course of an incident, and create assessments that are self-contained for internal projects. These are great new ways to extend the use of pre-planned information on critical facilities and organizations.
Federated Account Management in DLAN provides our user base with a great Single Sign-On option and extends our already robust set of account management tools that include direct Active Directory integration, mass account editing tools, account cloning tools, and group based security management. We are excited to offer these new management tools in DLAN and believe they will be a key piece in simplifying account management and data security for all DLAN customers.
