Seamless Identity Transformation: UCL’s Path to Success

14 August 2023

The Client

University College London, commonly known as UCL, is a leading public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1826, UCL is the third oldest university in England. With a diverse and international student body, UCL offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs across various disciplines, including sciences, humanities, law, engineering, and social sciences. UCL is committed to academic excellence, innovation, and social impact, and has produced numerous Nobel Prize winners, leaders in government and industry, and prominent academics and researchers.

Highlights

UCL receive around 140,000 applicants per year and need a solution to modernise their applicant user journey via implementation of Azure B2C tenancy for applicant account management.

In this case study our solutions include:

  • Seamless applicant onboarding and integration with SSO and MFA capabilities as well as introduction of social federation options (Google, Apple ID, Microsoft). Resulting in improved user experience allowing for straightforward registration and self-service password management.
  • Migration of existing applicant accounts from on-premises directory to B2C tenancy.
  • Ensuring consistent UCL experience through branding with the UCL Design system.
  • Enhanced security and compliance with centralised access management and MFA.
  • Operational efficiency with reduced reliance on on-premise services and streamlined management.
  • Scalability and readiness for future customer identity use cases.

The Challenge

UCL, a leading educational institution, faced the challenge of managing applicant accounts efficiently and securely.

Previously, applicant accounts were managed using a variety of legacy on-premises and in-house developed solutions. However, this setup did not allow for integration with UCL’s cloud-based identity platform or allow for a modern authentication experience  for applicant-facing service like the Student Information platform and Accommodation Management application.

The lack of integration hindered the migration of services to the cloud were an obstacle to the adoption of future platforms like Dynamics CRM. UCL needed a solution that would enable seamless applicant onboarding, leverage Microsoft Azure services, and provide a foundation for future customer identity use cases.

The Solution

To address the challenges, Condatis proposed implementing an Azure B2C tenancy to manage applicant accounts. The solution aimed to provide a quality applicant onboarding experience while leveraging the capabilities of the Microsoft Azure platform.

The key objectives included enabling modern authentication including MFA and single sign-on capabilities for student services, introducing social federation options (such as Google, Apple ID, and Microsoft), and establishing a foundation for future use cases in the customer identity space.

The solution Condatis proposed involved creating a registration flow for applicants, verifying applicant-provided data against student records using RESTful APIs, enabling self-service password management, managing account lifecycle, integrating with UCL’s Azure AD for access by the UCL Family (staff, students, and internal visitors), migrating existing applicant accounts from the on-premises directory to a B2C tenancy, and ensuring a consistent UCL experience through branding using the UCL Design system.

The Benefits

The implementation of the proposed solution offered several benefits to UCL:

 

Improved Applicant Experience:

  • Seamless registration process with automated data verification against Student Information System
  • Self-service password management for applicants
  • Enablement of social IDPs (Google, Microsoft, Apple) for convenient authentication

Enhanced Security and Compliance:

  • Integration with UCL’s Azure AD for centralised access management and security controls
  • Ability to enforce MFA for applicant-facing applications
  • Compliance with UCL’s data retention policy for account lifecycle management

Scalability and Future Readiness:

  • Foundation for managing the lifecycle of multiple customer types at UCL
  • Potential for extending the solution to other platforms, such as Dynamics CRM
  • Ability to accommodate increasing numbers of applicants (140K/year)

Operational Efficiency:

  • No longer dependent on on-premises services for applicant facing services
  • Streamlined management of applicant accounts through the Azure B2C tenancy
  • Consistent and intuitive account data management in third-party systems through APIs

Explore our Higher Education Hub> to learn about digital identity solutions for universities.

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Enhancing student experiences with Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Condatis and Microsoft engaged in a Proof of Value project with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. The Proof of Value (PoV) focused on using Azure AD Verifiable Credentials to facilitate smoother student onboarding and use cases to enhance the student experience.

Read Case Study

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