Connect Your World

Ensure Interoperability with Tools4ever Connectors

When implementing an automated account management solution, you must ensure interoperability with your organization’s existing systems. This is achieved through connectors, which must support systems both on-premises and in the cloud. Tools4ever has developed dozens of connectors to help with this.

A connector is a link to a system or application that allows information within to be synced with an Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution. When a user makes a change in their existing system, e.g., the HR software they use, the connector ensures that this change is automatically reflected on the IAM side of things. This way, IT departments do not have to manually implement each change into multiple systems.

This has two main benefits:

• One, it increases the organization’s efficiency by freeing up IT resources.
• Two, it helps maximize security by helping avoid potentially costly mistakes. This is particularly crucial during deprovisioning since employees’ access rights can be automatically revoked or updated depending on their status.

Connectors are categorized as source and target.

• A source connector is where the information originates from.
• A target system is where the information or changes are pushed to.

Imagine, for example, an organization using PeopleSoft as the source system. When an employee is promoted, their information is updated on PeopleSoft. Without a connector, the IT department would have to manually update the employee’s data on the IAM solution—the target system used by the organization. Instead, thanks to a connector between PeopleSoft and IAM, the employee’s access and privileges automatically reflect the promotion. This gives them access to all the necessary resources, letting them focus on their tasks on day one.

From a technical point of view, connectors typically use a system’s Application Programmable Interface (API). The most common type of API is web-based and communicates over HTTPS. Thanks to HTTPS’s flexibility, connectors can perform various tasks, including user management tasks such as adding, managing, and disabling users. They can also be set up to perform more specialized tasks, such as provisioning and deprovisioning, tasks related to helpdesk ticketing systems, etc.