map

Delete Or Disable An Active Directory Account? One Best Practice.

I was recently talking to a customer about the best practice for deprovisioning a terminated employee in Active Directory.  Delete or disable?  Microsoft doesn’t give the clearest direction on this but common sense does. The case for deleting an account is that, BOOM, no more access.  No ifs ands or buts, if there is no…

map

Defining Active Directory Management Tools

I see the term Active Directory management tools used everywhere from provisioning to SSO to reporting to auditing.  I see it used for managing users, groups, GPOs, and everything in between.  It seems to be a broad term meaning software that fills in the holes that Microsoft left in Active Directory. It also seems that “tools”…

automated provisioning and security

Automated User Provisioning & Deprovisioning in Active Directory 

In any organization, there are numerous users’ objects including employees, managers, and clients, in active directory and azure active directory, with certain attributes assigned to them within HR database. All these users need to have appropriate active directory permissions within organization’s identity and access management framework, to allowing employees access resources on the network, so they can do their jobs effectively. They cannot be held back by needing to request access each time…

map

How to Keep SharePoint from Becoming Shelfware

I don’t mean to imply that a lot of SharePoint deployments become shelfware.  Nor do I intend that this post will be an exhaustive list of the reasons SharePoint is or isn’t used. But, based on my experience, I know why a lot of SharePoint deployments go stale.  Groups.  Groups are a good and bad thing. …

map

Accurate Active Directory Groups Keep Kids Out of Jail

I know that the premise that accurate Active Directory groups keep kids out of jail is so obvious that it might not need to be said.  But we wanted to explore the concept of what accurate Active Directory groups do for your organization more fully.  More scientifically. Ruminating in a think-tank fashion, we came up…

map

Hurt feelings & Active Directory history

When we developed our Active Directory history feature for GroupID we had a lot of uses in mind.  The ability for administrators to get an easy view into Active Directory changes, a simple way for end users to see what they had done to their own groups  and attributes, as well as a business friendly tool…

map

Google Apps Active Directory Sync

Most organizations manage their users’ access with Active Directory.  Many organizations are moving business applications to the cloud.  The most cloudy application so far seems to be email, dominated by Google and Microsoft. We have covered BPOS & Microsoft 365 (and Office 365) at length but have only cursorily touched on how Active Directory can…

map

Self-Service Password Reset Saves your Helpdesk

Enterprise software needs to do one of two things: increase productivity or reduce costs.  If it isn’t helping your business make money it is rather pointless.  Even software that helps to comply with regulations is doing this, assuming the software cost is less than the fine for not doing it. I picture IT departments huddling…

map

Windows IT Pro: Best Active Directory Product

We’re looking for some votes.  A few good votes.  We know that GroupID is an incredible product that helps Active Directory live up to its potential, creating productivity and security gains for your company. Windows IT Pro knows it too: they wrote a great review of GroupID, awarded us an Editor’s Choice award, and nominated…

project database

Use an Active Directory Group to Manage VPN access

I am constantly reminded how ubiquitous Active Directory groups are in our everyday corporate lives.  They are seemingly used for everything (they’re not just for email any more). To illustrate, let me tell a quick story.  One of my colleagues wasn’t able to finish a project as he was working from home.  He told me…