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In the IT landscape, especially SaaS, many applications have their own internal and dedicated directory feature for accounts and groups that is not centralized or shared between different applications. Let’s refer to this scenario as the “internal directory” model. n In order to inventory the accounts from these applications, EmpowerID requires an Account store and Resource System connection to define how to connect, what to inventory, and how to manage objects in these external systems. Another security model for applications is to utilize a centralized directory for security and not rely on a local store for accounts and groups. Let’s refer to this as the “external directory” model. Examples of this type of application would be any that relied on a shared LDAP directory that was used by multiple applications. In this case, the applications are delegating the management of these functions to the LDAP Directory or Account Store.
So far, we’ve determined that to manage an application containing its own Accounts and Groups, EmpowerID requires an Account Store and Resource System. What we haven’t defined yet is the purpose of the “Application” object in EmpowerID which would be created in the ProtectedApplicationResources table. Application objects in EmpowerID are the logical definition of what admins and end-users think of as an application. They typically contain the URL of the application, a description, icon and are what users see and request access to in the IT Shop. In our internal directory scenario described above, the admin when onboarding these applications in EmpowerID would select the Account Store that had been defined for the apps internal directory. This lets EmpowerID know in which Account Store are the accounts and groups that can be granted access to the application. However, in our eternal directory scenario, the admin would onboard multiple applications where the Account Store of the external directory they relied on would be selected. In this scenario, where many applications in EmpowerID share the same Account Store for their security, the application owner can select which specific groups in that Account Store should be identified as granting access to that application.
Key Components Related to an EmpowerID Application:
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