CASE STUDY

University of Virginia

Faced with an aging, homegrown IAM system and increasing operational, security, and compliance demands, the University of Virginia turned to Fischer Identity for a modern, scalable solution. Fischer’s platform streamlined identity onboarding, automated provisioning and deprovisioning, and unified credentials across systems—enhancing user experience, reducing risk, and eliminating costly inefficiencies. Within a year, UVA securely managed over 180,000 active users and nearly 2 million identities, while seamlessly transitioning to Workday HCM with minimal disruption.
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UVA Achieves Secure, Automated IAM for 180,000 Users in One Year with Fischer Identity

The Challenge

The University of Virginia (UVA), a distinguished R1 research university and major regional medical and trauma center, was operating on a legacy, homegrown Identity and Access Management (IAM) system that could no longer support its evolving needs. The institution faced a number of pressing issues:

  • Knowledge Risk: Critical IAM processes were maintained by just two subject matter experts nearing retirement, with limited documentation to support knowledge transfer.
  • Outdated Architecture: The legacy system lacked support for real-time processing and cloud environments, leading to delays in access provisioning and system incompatibility.
  • Security Gaps: Inconsistent deprovisioning left inactive accounts active longer than necessary, creating significant security vulnerabilities.
  • Source of Authority Confusion: Poorly defined SOA logic resulted in inefficient onboarding processes and unreliable user data.
  • Inefficient Credentialing: Onboarding required in-person credentialing, driving up costs and introducing logistical delays.
  • Fragmented User Experience: Users were burdened with multiple passwords and accounts across various HR systems, complicating access and reducing security posture.

UVA needed a modern, scalable IAM solution that could support automation, strengthen compliance, and provide a seamless experience for users—spanning students, faculty, staff, and healthcare professionals.

“We would not be nearly as far along in our program had we chosen another IAM product”

– IAM Program Director, University of Virginia

How Fischer Helped

To address its critical IAM challenges, UVA partnered with Fischer Identity to implement a modern, scalable solution purpose-built for higher education and healthcare environments. Fischer introduced a streamlined Identity Claim process that significantly accelerated and simplified onboarding—allowing new employees to receive credentials immediately after background checks and students upon admission. This dramatically enhanced both user experience and operational agility. Fischer’s platform synchronized credentials across all core UVA systems, establishing a single, unified password for users and eliminating the complexity of managing multiple accounts. Automated provisioning and deprovisioning were driven by dynamic RBAC, ABAC, and PBAC models, enabling real-time access management aligned with UVA’s security policies.

To improve oversight and compliance, Fischer reconciled and migrated external accounts into a centralized identity system. Advanced matching logic resolved duplicate accounts and ensured accuracy across the user base. Additionally, Fischer delivered a user-friendly self-service portal, empowering users to manage their DUO MFA authentication devices, update preferred names, reset passwords, configure security questions, and maintain recovery contact details—all from a centralized, secure location.

The Outcome

The adoption of Fischer Identity resulted in significant operational improvements for UVA, including:

  • Immediate, automated provisioning and deprovisioning, drastically reducing delays and administrative overhead.
  • Elimination of in-person credentialing processes, significantly cutting logistical costs and enhancing user satisfaction.
  • Streamlined, standardized data processing, reducing data discrepancies and related security risks.
  • Simplified user experience with a single unified password and reduced identity management complexities.
  • Over 180,000 active users are now efficiently managed by Fischer Identity.
  • Almost 2 million identity accounts reside securely within Fischer Identity.

All these achievements were accomplished within one year of signing the implementation contract with Fischer Identity, demonstrating rapid, effective, and transformative IAM improvements at UVA.

Six months after go-live, UVA consolidated three HR systems into Workday HCM—a significant SOA transition that Fischer Identity handled effortlessly. The necessary changes in Fischer Identity required only straightforward configuration updates, including disconnecting the legacy systems, aligning workflows to the new Workday logic, and synchronizing business processes. These adjustments were completed smoothly in just a few weeks, followed by coordinated user acceptance testing with IT and HR teams, ensuring an easy, successful concurrent launch using the new Workday HR source data.

About the University of Virginia

In 1819, Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia and inaugurated a bold experiment—a public university dedicated to advancing human knowledge, educating visionary leaders, and cultivating an informed citizenry. Today, UVA is an iconic institution of higher education featuring nationally acclaimed schools and programs, a distinguished and diverse faculty, and a proud legacy as a premier R1 research university. Anchored by its flagship academic division in Charlottesville, the University includes a world-class academic medical center providing exceptional patient care and groundbreaking medical research, the College at Wise campus expanding educational opportunities in Southwest Virginia, and an extensive network of regional medical clinics serving communities throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. UVA’s vibrant culture is further enriched by a tradition of active student self-governance, a sustained commitment to the arts, and a dynamic NCAA Division I Athletics program.

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