Page Comparison

• CIAM (Process - IAM)

• Core IAM (Process - IAM)

• Governance (Process - IAM)

• Identity Federation (Process - IAM)

• PAM (Process - IAM)

IAM Program Cost

Direct Cost of the IAM Program

1.2

Organizations typically run IAM programs. Such programs may have widely varying scopes between organizations and across time. Keeping track of the total direct costs of these programs is a critical managerial necessity.

Because IAM is composed of process clusters, it may be interesting to keep track of is interesting to allocate costs at both the global and cluster levels (providing that the organization does manage these clusters). The IAM TCO indicator is composed of the following series:

• IAM TCO Program Cost = The TCO direct cost of the overall IAM Program.

• Core IAM TCO Program Cost = The TCO direct cost of the core IAM Program.

• PAM TCO Program Cost = The TCO direct cost of the PAM Program.

• Federation IAM TCO Program Cost = The TCO direct cost of the Federation IAM Program.

• CIAM TCO Program = The TCO direct cost of the CIAM Program.

Currency This indicator is expressed in the organization’s reference currency.

This indicator is not comparable between organizations because program scopes may differ widely. See Identity Average TCO (Indicator - IAM) for a distinct flavor of this indicator that is adequate for benchmarking purposes.

This indicator may not be comparable over a long period of time, because the organization evolves and the volumes of identities it manages change. See Identity Average TCO (Indicator - IAM) for a distinct flavor of this indicator that is more adequate for historical comparisonstime if the program scope changes.

If the TCO indicator consolidates costs in multiple currencies, the effect of foreign exchange rates may be significant. Depending on the indicator’s usage (e.g. measuring global versus regional performance in large organizations), this effect need to be specifically accounted for (i.e. historical forex rates vs current forex rates).

• CISO (Stakeholder - IAM)

• IAM Management (Stakeholder)

• Top Management (Stakeholder)

In large organizations where IAM is organized in regions or otherwise, the indicator may be measured at both global and regional levels.

• TCO is understood as difficult to implement but outweighing the disadvantages of its barriers to implementation (Ellram, 1993).

• TCO is thought as being directly proportional to service levels, hence organizations should strive to simultaneously reduce their TCO while maintaining or improving their service levels. This indicator may induce a focus on costs to the detriment of service levels. For instance, centralization, standardization and automation strategies are not enough to reduce costs without impacting service levels - careful examination of service levels, careful planning and how well these strategies are implemented are key factors. (David et al., 2002)

• Cost analysis is not a straightforward task, it is complex and there are different ways to do it. Thus, comparing costs may be prone to errors. (KPMG and Everett, 2009, p. 3, Hurkens et al., 2006)

• Even if cost analysis is exempt of mistake, a sound cost analysis may be subject to misinterpretations or misuse to support political agendas. (Foussier, 2006, chapter 2, Cost Measurement)The cost of the IAM Program may be confused with the total cost of IAM for the organization, which may mislead top management. See Measuring the cost of IAM - Methodology for a discussion on this topic.

See Measuring the cost of IAM - Methodology for a discussion on how to measure IAM TCO.

Yearly.

• Identity Average TCO (Indicator - IAM) Derived Indicator

• Measuring the cost of IAM - Methodology

• Measuring the Cost of IAM - Cost Categories

• Total Cost of Ownership (Dictionary Entry)

• David et al., 2002

• Ellram, 1993

• Foussier, 2006

• Hurkens et al., 2006

• KPMG and Everett, 2009