InCommon Operations Notifications

[Thomas Scavo <>]

As of today, InCommon is opening a community review period for the new 
InCommon Steward Program, which provides a way for K-12 school districts and 
community colleges to share the advantages of the identity and access 
management federation. This review period is open through September 29, 2016.

InCommon and MCNC, the regional research and education network serving North 
Carolina, will operate a proof of concept during the 2016--17 academic year. 
As you will see, there is no action needed by you as an InCommon participant. 
However, we want to call your attention to the changes taking place, so you 
can understand any potential impact; in particular that InCommon is 
outsourcing some of its organizational vetting responsibilities to another 
organization.

We have placed a number of documents at www.incommon.org/steward for your 
review and comment, including:

- “Partnering for K-14: The InCommon Steward Program,” which provides the 
rationale for the program and how it is intended to operate
- “Steward Program Summary for InCommon Execs,” a summary for InCommon execs 
and CIOs
- “InCommon Trust Model and the Steward Program,” a summary of the changes in 
the InCommon trust model related to the Steward Program

You will also find an FAQ and summary of the adoption timetable on the 
website.

WHAT IS CHANGING?

1. InCommon is introducing a new type of participant for regional network 
providers called “Support Consortium.” This participant class will be added 
to the InCommon Participation Agreement. This requires no action from current 
InCommon participants.

The InCommon participant classes will now be:
a) Higher Education
b) Research Organization
c) Sponsored Partner
d) Support Consortium

2. A Support Consortium can then become a Steward by signing an addendum to 
the InCommon Participation Agreement. MCNC will become the first Steward.

3. Stewards will manage the technical infrastructure for the K-12 districts 
and community colleges they represent, and act on their behalf in InCommon. 
Stewards will also act under contract to InCommon for the organizational 
vetting and review of trust registry information (“metadata”) for their 
“Represented Constituents” (K-12 schools and community colleges).

NEXT STEPS

We invite you to visit www.incommon.org/steward, review the documents, and 
provide any comments or feedback via a wiki page (you’ll see the link on the 
website). This review period remains open until September 29, 2016. 
InCommon/Internet2 staff will organize the feedback and review the comments 
and suggestions with the InCommon Steering Committee. Steering is expected to 
meet on October 10 or October 17 to formally accept the documents and adopt 
the program. 

Tom Scavo
For the InCommon Team