Mid-Sussex and Basingstoke and Deane Councils buy Novell identity management system

Mid-Sussex District Council and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council are both to implement open source identity management systems.

The councils are usingNovell software to help manage and simplify the process of password administration.

Former employees are a common security problem for organisations, says Howard Knowelden system support team leader at Mid Sussex District Council.

'Now, the moment an employee’s status is changed to indicate they are no longer working for the company, the workflow process will ensure that the user is automatically rescinded from the system on their final working day,' he said.

Basingstoke and Deane also intend to use the system to remove synchronization problems between name and password directories.

The password system has made a significant difference to the use of IT department resources, freeing up time to focus on more strategic planning and development, says Terry Finch, IT systems and infrastructure manager for Basingstoke and Deane.

'It has also made essential improvements to our user authentication capabilities,' he said.