Problems with organization chart maintenance processes
Unfortunately, traditional methods of gathering and maintaining OrgChart data are often inadequate for the needs of an identity management system. Traditional methods include:
HR applications:
Human resource applications normally have a place to store OrgChart information, including the identity of each employee’s manager. Unfortunately:
Whole classes of users, such as contractors and vendors, are usually not entered into the HR application.
Data in the HR application may be stale – having been entered at the date an employee was hired and never updated.
Data in the HR application may be incomplete – available for some employees, but not others.
In other words, having a place to house this data is no guarantee of having good quality data, with complete coverage over the user population.
Manual maintenance:
It is certainly possible to hire a team of consultants to work with HR and interview managers, in order to construct OrgChart data centrally. This approach has problems:
It can be costly, requiring a lengthy consulting engagement.
OrgChart data collected at the start of the project may be obsolete by the end of the project.
There is no way to keep the data complete and accurate after the project is over. Instead, the OrgChart data collected represents a “window in time”.
Existing OrgChart software:
Commercial programs are available to construct and maintain OrgChart data, but they are used primarily to construct a graphical chart , with pictures, names, and reporting lines.
Existing programs do not address the need to build data about the primary managers for thousands of users, and to maintain this data over time.