Enterprise Authentication Is Coming to NIH Early Next Year

How many NIH-wide applications do you use daily for your work, each with a separate user name and password? Ever mix up names and passwords, or forget one? This is about to change. Early next year, you will be able to safely and securely log in just once and then access other NIH-wide applications without logging in again. The default, and easiest way, is to log in to the NIH Portal. Once you log on and your identity is authenticated, the software (Netegrity SiteMinder®) passes your authentication on when you link to other applications connected to the system.

Known as enterprise authentication, this new capability signals a step toward integrating and simplifying the way we access applications (e.g., ITAS, travel). The goal is to integrate the many enterprise systems, networks and data that we regularly depend on to conduct the business of NIH.

The NIH Portal will be the first system protected under enterprise authentication, to be followed by ITAS, and NBS modules for Travel, General Ledger and Budget. Plans are in the works for the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED), nVision (the updated Data Warehouse), and future NBS applications. This capability will be available for use by ICs, as well as for their applications. (See other articles on NBRSS, nVision, and EHRP in this issue.)

All employees can assist us by checking that their information in NED is accurate—especially the email address. Log on to NED and follow the prompts. The NBS Travel module will draw on data in NED, so inaccurate information will mean you won’t get the benefit of the new system.

NIH Portal—The Gateway

Watch for enterprise authentication on the NIH Portal in January and on ITAS and NBS Travel in the early spring of 2003. When enterprise authentication is in place, applications that are connected to the system will be listed in the upper-left-hand corner of the Portal, as shown in the example below. (See an article on the NIH Portal in this issue.)

Once you log in to the NIH Portal, you will not need to log in again. For example, you would just click on the "NIH Data Warehouse: nVision" link and be in—automatically. When ITAS participates, you will not need to remember that you use your social security number and the password associated with it. Just click on the ITAS link, and you’ll be in.

To log on to the NIH Portal, open the Portal Web page. If you are a new user—or are entering an application not protected by enterprise authentication—you will be required to provide your user name, password, and "authentication domain" (the ones you use to log on to your desktop computer). If you need help, call the TASC help desk at (301) 594-6248. See the article on the Portal for information on how create your own individualized "My Pages."

An NIH-Wide Enterprise

The enterprise authentication project has been an NIH-wide effort. Administrators and technical staff from every IC have worked very hard on this project, and their support and collaboration have been essential to its success. Coordination and technical expertise was provided by CIT, which also provided the supporting infrastructure—comprised of the NED, Active Directory for password verification, the NIH Portal, and Netegrity software. (See an article on the Active Directory in Interface issue 221, December 2001.)

For further information, contact Helen Schmitz at schmitzh@mail.nih.gov.