Ideally, the first resource you use to load accounts into Waveset has the following characteristics:
References a comprehensive set of users. The goal of an initial load is get as many accounts into Waveset as possible. Thus, the following applications might be a good choice:
A Human Resources application, such as PeopleSoft or SAP. (If the application does not contain contractors and other temporary workers, be sure to load those accounts separately.)
A directory-based application, such as LDAP or Active Directory. A majority of users are often defined in a central organization or organization unit.
Contains enough information to construct an Waveset account ID. Each Waveset account ID must be unique. Ideally, your resource will have an attribute that is guaranteed to be unique and can be used as a Waveset account ID. Examples include an employee IDs or Active Directory sAMAccountName attributes. First and last names can also be concatenated to produce an account ID, but this technique might not guarantee a unique Waveset account will be generated.
Stores user attributes that can be used correlation keys. To link resource accounts in Waveset, you must have attributes that have the same values across two or more resources. Ideally, the values on the secondary resources will always perfectly match values on the first resource. In addition, it would be ideal if the values on the secondary resource are unique within that resource. The best attributes include employee ID and full name, but any other attribute that is present and consistent across multiple resources is acceptable.
Contains data that can be considered authoritative. If users can edit their own account data, then the data might not be consistent across systems.
The following diagram illustrates a small scenario in which a company has three types of resources. Most of the company’s workers are defined in a Human Resources application, such as PeopleSoft or SAP. However, the company does not enter contractors in the HR application, so the contractors cannot be loaded into Waveset using this application. The Active Directory also defines most, but not all, users. (These users might be factory workers with no need for computer access.) Thus, the majority of users are defined in both resources, but neither contains all the users. Some workers also have UNIX accounts.
Which resource should be selected as the first resource? The UNIX resource can be safely eliminated, because it does not contain a comprehensive set of users. Active Directory and the HR application contain about the same number of users, so neither has a clear advantage.
Factors that can help determine whether the Active Directory or HR application should be loaded first include the following:
Urgency to manage accounts within Waveset. If the workers not defined in Active Directory (that is, they are defined in the HR application only) do not have any additional resource accounts, such as UNIX or other systems, then the HR application might not be as crucial as the Active Directory resource.
Correlation keys. If one resource has attributes that are also on the UNIX accounts, then that attribute might be a better choice.
Waveset login names. If one resource creates a more desirable login name of Waveset, then this can be a deciding factor.