3 Introduction to Identity & Access Management

Basics

Identity and access management (IAM) is a framework of business processes, policies and technologies that facilitates the management of electronic or digital identities. With an IAM framework in place, information technology (IT) managers can control user access to critical information within their organizations and ensure only the right people can access your organization’s data and resources. Systems used for IAM include single sign-on systems, two-factor authentication, multifactor authentication and privileged access management. These technologies also provide the ability to securely store identity and profile data as well as data governance functions to ensure that only data that is necessary and relevant is shared. (TechTarget)

The following sub-pages are specific to the Google Admin Panel to manage users in your organization unit:

You should know the following terms:

  • Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Three identity and access management platforms are most common in education environments. They include the Google Workspace Admin Console (cloud based), Active Directory for Windows servers (on-site server based), and Azure Active Directory (cloud based). Functionality across these platforms are slightly different, but there are some common uses for each. Identity and access management may require administrator access for security reasons.

Because school districts employ the Google Workspace Admin Console and its documentation is publicly available, it will be used to explore functionality in this module. Districts that use other platforms should check with their providers for similar documentation that may be limited to customers.