In August 2004, President Bush issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), mandating that every Federal Government agency establish a common identification standard for all Federal employees and contractors. This presidential directive affects the badging process and, more importantly, the identity management of all agencies. The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and NIH adhered to this mandate by developing an NIH system architecture for issuing and managing Personal Identity Verification (PIV) badges.
In order to comply with HSPD-12 and PIV standards, the Office of the Chief IT Architect (OCITA) procured a business process management (BPM) software. The NIH Enterprise Directory (NED) team identified requirements not met by the current NED technical architecture. These requirements were primarily workflow related, and after a careful reexamination of the Workflow/Business Process Management (BPM) Service Pattern and Workflow/BPM Tools Brick, the software was selected and later implemented in September 2007.
The BPM software works in conjunction with NEDWeb, but NIH will eventually transfer all NEDWeb processes to this new model. Some benefits to this procured software are the synchronization of business processes within NIH, the management of all emails and tasks, and aligning the organizational status of NIH practices.
With the addition of the BPM software to the NIH system architecture, the NED team was able to upgrade and enhance the NEDWeb site, which is the primary tool for identity management (enrollment, sponsorship, maintenance, etc.) of Federal employees and contractors at NIH. The BPM software then facilitates the communication between NEDWeb, Background Information Tracking System (BITS) and with the two Physical Access Control systems (PACs) – Continuum and Pegasys. BITS manages the investigation requirements of new applicants and the two PACs generate applicant profiles in the physical access systems and supply the necessary applicant badge information would be granted to those individuals who should have it.
In the coming months, Administrative Officers (AOs) and Administrative Technicians (ATs) will have access to a fully functional “sandbox” version of the NEDWeb site with all the upgrades and enhancements. When the new NEDWeb site goes live, a small-scale roll-out of the new PIV badges will occur.
Ultimately, the NEDWeb Upgrades, with the assistance of the BPM software, will integrate commercial business management technology to streamline the business process, allowing accurate measurements of workflow processes.
