Cross-HUIT 'Flash Team' Readies Data for HarvardKey Launch

November 24, 2015
Cross-HUIT 'Flash Team' Readies Data for HarvardKey Launch

While the launch of the new HarvardKey authentication system this fall has meant highly visible front-end improvements for users, a significant portion of go-live efforts for HarvardKey involved extensive work aligning data and behind-the-scenes processes in order to ensure a seamless launch of the new system. To meet these needs before this fall's critical dates for launch — work that often involved detailed, individualized data remediation — HUIT staff from the Identity & Access Management (IAM) program and Unified Communications' Exchange and Google services came together in close collaboration beginning in October 2015 to complete a series of essential activities:

  • The team defined key data attributes for approximately 50,000 users to allow for proper user logins
  • To ensure a consistent mail experience, 3,000 FAS users were identified and prepared for HarvardKey updates
  • To allow for more effective reporting and monitoring over time, the team migrated approximately 1,000 sponsored accounts from legacy systems to the modern processes
  • To ensure proper functionality after HarvardKey go-live, approximately 6,000 orphaned accounts that had been identified in the Google for Harvard @g and @college systems were integrated into standard processes
  • The team also identified and prepared accounts for 500 University SharePoint users that would have otherwise been negatively impacted by go-live activities

And while the flash team's efforts made a significant difference in ensuring a smooth November go-live, the IAM program hasn't lost sight of the ongoing cross-program work needed to make sure remaining HarvardKey rollout waves — and other important identity and access management advances at Harvard — succeed. Notes Tim Vaverchak, director of IAM engineering: "The deployment of HarvardKey is an essential component of unlocking the future of IT at Harvard — and while these efforts significantly support HarvardKey rollout, we continue to partner with internal HUIT teams and customers as we establish our new foundation and, in some instances, rationalize decades of unique identities and disparate systems."

Special thanks goes out from the IAM program to the hard-working team members whose extraordinary efforts ensured that data remediation was completed by deadline: Franklin Brown, Christine Buchanan, Terry Connelly, Tim Gleason, Gretchen Grozier, Jane Hill, Katie Kilroy, Gary Menchen, Jonah Pollard, Mahbub Rahman, Ken Schwartz, Glenn Tremblay, and Sue Walsh.

Want further information about the behind-the-scenes efforts involved in HarvardKey's launch — or more info on HarvardKey in general? Contact Gretchen Grozier, IAM community program manager, to learn more.

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