"We spoke with end users and managers and we'd hear people ask, 'How much consulting will I need to get it up and running?'" says Ivan Hurtt, product and marketing manager for security and identity products at Novell. "We had a lot of people who liked the product but were afraid to use it. If people don't know how to use the technology, all that power gets wasted."

Novell Identity Manager offers graphically based tools that let users drag and drop and create "what if" scenarios.

"You can test it for a shorter period of time with a higher level of certainty, and then roll it out more aggressively," says Hurtt.

If users come to an Error 404 page, Novell Identity Manager creates a workflow request to the owner of the content rather than posting the usual dead end. On the other side, the owner can see the requester's attributes, decide if he or she deserves access to the content, and then receives a report to show auditors.

Once all connectors, roles and policies are in place, Novell Identity Manager with one click can create a 250-page PDF file for auditors that includes workflows, access rights and style sheets that are innate to the system. Any changes made to the end user's network are instantly recorded in the file.

Continuum Health Partners in New York City installed Novell Identity Manager 13 months ago for messaging and file and print services. It already has added 21,000 identities, and is building drivers to the organization's downstream systems that will allow for provisioning and automatic attribute sharing of information like phone numbers in the GroupWise directory. "It's worked out really well for us and our HR people like it too," says Ken Lobenstein, CTO of Continuum. Organizational buy-in is key because HIPAA requirements make access management a company-wide issue. Lobenstein got Novell Identity Manager running in just six months so other departments could see quick results.