By Dan Spruill, Director of Information Technology
Single Sign-On (SSO) is an application which addresses two of our IT goals. The first goal is to maintain a secure network and provide access only to those who are authorized. Our second goal is to try, where we can, to lessen the user inconvenience that comes with having too many passwords to remember. With SSO, we will be able to access all of our software applications using the same username and password, and will not have to maintain a list of usernames/passwords in your day timer to get into the various sites we now use. Your computer (a.k.a. “network”) username and password will be the one used for all applications.
All of our maintenance branches have now been exposed to this process through the Learning Management System (LMS) rollout. You would have clicked a link in the mobile app or entered RuppertLearns.com into your browser to access the LMS. The screen you came to first was the SSO screen where you logged in and then were able to access the application.
This process is essentially the same for each application we have on the system and all new systems will leverage this same username and password. Currently, our LMS, Applicant Tracking System, Ruppert Mobile App, and new Snow Tracking System all use our network information to log on. In January, we will add JDE to the list and at that time all of our core software offerings will be accessible using one username and password. Once we have all of our applications using one username and password, we will then enhance our security strategy by requiring employees to update their password periodically. In the background, the SSO system will automatically update the login information for every application at the same time.
Our department values your help in ensuring our information is kept safe, whether it be through the inconvenience of being forced to change your password or forwarding suspicious emails when you receive them. We sincerely appreciate the work you do that makes us a successful, industry-leading company.