News and information about InCommon Academy offerings

[Dean Woodbeck <>]

The InCommon Steering Committee is pleased to announce that it has approved version 1.1 of the two foundational documents of the InCommon Identity Assurance program: the Identity Assurance Assessment Framework (IAAF) and the Identity Assurance Profiles (IAP), also known as InCommon Bronze and Silver.

The InCommon Identity Assurance program will offer InCommon participants a means to certify their identity management practices as being compliant with the provisions defined in the Assurance Profiles. Some service providers, such as those involved in financial aid and managing federal research grants, are looking to better manage their risk by encouraging compliance with the InCommon program. Some federal government agencies plan to incorporate assurance into their services this fall.

“I applaud the InCommon Technical Advisory Committee, and our early adopter campuses, for developing documents that are easier to understand and will provide a clearer path for compliance,” said Jack Suess, chair of the InCommon Steering Committee. “Thanks to the changes and these refined documents, every institution implementing higher levels of assurance will reap the benefits of greatly reduced time and effort.”

The changes in the documents (from the 1.0 versions) are intended to:

• remove some burdensome outdated requirements and references
• harmonize terminology
• clarify requirements
• separate technical measures from compliance processes

A group of early-adopter campuses from the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) provided significant input for the changes while working through the assessment process with the v. 1.0 documents. The changes also reflect updated requirements published by the U.S. government’s ICAM (Identity, Credential and Access Management) program. As a result, both government requirements and real-world experience from campuses have been incorporated.

The next IAM Online (June 15 at 3 p.m. ET) will feature a discussion of the new assurance documents and next steps toward implementation of the Bronze and Silver Assurance Profiles. (www.incommon.org/iamonline).

InCommon has published the documents and related support material, including an FAQ and a summary of the changes from v1.0 to v1.1, at www.incommon.org/assurance.