Looking Ahead

Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services > 25. Case Study: A Large Multinational Enterprise > Leveraging the Directory Service

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Leveraging the Directory Service

Now that the LDAP directory service has been successfully deployed worldwide, HugeCo is finding a number of new and interesting ways to leverage the directory. In this section we describe applications that are in the process of being developed and integrated with HugeCo's directory, and we take a look at how things have changed at HugeCo since the directory was deployed.

Applications

The central IS organization, the regional IS departments, and several independent departments within HugeCo are all leveraging the directory service to enhance existing applications and develop new ones. Efforts underway include the following:

  • Savvy end users quickly discovered that many of their favorite email clients have LDAP search features built in. The IS departments picked up on the movement, and a series of articles was published in the employee newsletter that explained how to configure the Eudora, Outlook Express, and Netscape Messenger email clients to access the corporate LDAP directory service. Before the introduction of LDAP, it was impossible for clients from different vendors to share one directory.

  • Pleased with the success of the employee time off request application, the HR department is working with IS programmers to create a variety of Web-based, directory-enabled workflow applications to automate common employee processes required when an employee joins or leaves the company, enrolls in employee health benefit plans, and more. These applications are being developed using HTML, JavaScript, and Java.

  • The North American product engineering group has embarked on an ambitious project to tie its existing database of engineering drawings into the directory. The integrated system will make it easier to locate the persons responsible for an existing design and will eventually be used to build a workflow system to automate the design approval process.

  • The central IS department is developing an enhanced employee phonebook application that will provide access to information about people, conference rooms, office equipment (such as computers and fax machines), and building locations. The new phonebook is an extension of an existing one based on Netscape's HTML- and JavaScript-based Directory Server Gateway. Custom CGIs are being written in Perl to integrate location information with building maps and create organizational charts from the employee data. A variant of the same application will be used by IS, HR, and departmental administrators to manage directory information.

  • A pilot project underway within the IS and HR departments will require public key certificates for authentication to email servers and the time off request workflow application. The directory service is being used to manage personal certificates, perform revocation checking, and streamline the process of issuing and renewing certificates.

Without exception, it is now easier and much more practical to create these applications than it was before the HugeCo directory service existed.

Directory Deployment Impact

Afte the directory was deployed and people started to use it, the HugeCo directory team observed that the service rapidly became indispensable to people. Some of their observations are captured in this section.

Richer services are now available to end users. It is much easier to find timely information about other employees, which has increased communication among employees . Paper lists of phone numbers are a thing of the past for the many employees who have come to rely on the directory-enabled phone book application. Employees can more easily update information about themselves , and new automated services such as time off and benefit request systems are coming online.

A richer set of functionality is available to application developers. Application writers can easily access and update information about a variety of important HugeCo resources without incurring the burden of managing their own directory or database. Simple authentication and attribute-based role information can be used to make applications more secure.

The HR and IS organizations have used the directory service to get closer to their customers and place more control (and more of the work) in employees' hands. Timeliness and manageability of important information has improved dramatically.

Finally, the HugeCo directory design and deployment team has greatly increased its knowledge of directory service design and is now well-positioned to tackle additional directory projects. First up: design and deployment of an extranet directory that will store information about HugeCo's dealer network. This new directory service will allow the deployment of a new class of secure, Web-based information delivery applications. The extranet directory design team will draw on lessons learned during the internal HugeCo directory deployment.



Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services,  2002 New Riders Publishing
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Index terms contained in this section

applications
         leveraging
                    HugeCo case study 2nd 3rd
case studies
         HugeCo
                    leveraging 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th
deployment
         impact
                    HugeCo case study 2nd 3rd
directories
         case studies
                    HugeCo 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th
HugeCo case study
          leveraging
                    applications 2nd 3rd
                    deployment impact 2nd 3rd
leveraging
          HugeCo case study
                    applications 2nd 3rd
                    deployment impact 2nd 3rd

2002, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.



Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services
Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0672323168
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 1997
Pages: 245

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