The Makings of a Merger: University California, Santa Barbara Brings Two IAM Teams Together during InCommon’s Collaboration Success Program

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CASE STUDY CLOSE UP

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), participated in the 2023 cohort of the InCommon  Collaboration Success Program (CSP) to help bring two identity and access management (IAM) teams together to work towards the same goals. (Read the case study.)

“We are looking at existing redundancies, for example, between what [system] is running in the student affairs’ identity space vs. the campus identity space,” said Jim Woods, UCSB’s director of cloud and identity services. “What kind of technical debt are we facing? Slowly, we are determining which components we really want to keep as we move forward and which ones satisfy business requirements.”

Beginning in 2018 when UCSB formed a cloud and identity team, the university has worked to restructure and replace separate technology teams, all dealing directly or indirectly with cloud identity. UCSB’s goal is to create a broader, modernized, more cohesive framework where the teams all fall under the broader team of Information Technology Services (ITS). More recently in 2021, the Information Technology Services and Student Affairs IT teams began a merger. 

Joining the CSP gave UCSB clarity around how to eliminate existing redundancies and structure the new team. According to Woods, “the CSP was our first, low-risk effort to start thinking as a single team instead of two teams.” To learn more about UCSB’s IAM journey, read the full case study.

About University of California, Santa Barbara

UCSB is an R1 public institution, part of the University of California (UC) system, with enrollment around 24,000 undergraduate students and 3,000 graduate students.

About the CSP

CSP supports institutions’ identity and access management (IAM) goals through a cohort-driven program that promotes collaboration among participants, program alumni, seasoned community implementers, and subject matter experts. CSP welcomes organizations that embrace the IAM community to help flesh out their plans, identify what to tackle first, and get training and tailored support along the way. Interested in joining a future CSP cohort? Complete this form, and a member of our team will be in touch.