Education and research
The defining problem is identity: thousands of people arriving, moving and leaving on an annual cycle, needing federated access to systems the institution does not own. Everything else follows from getting that right.
The typical estate
- 01
Student and course records
The institutional system of record, with everything downstream depending on it.
- 02
Learning platforms
Used at genuine scale, with availability expectations concentrated in term time.
- 03
Identity and federation
Institutional accounts plus federated access to external research and library resources.
- 04
Devolved departmental systems
Faculties and research groups have run their own technology for decades, often well.
- 05
Research data and computing
With retention, funding and publication obligations attached.
Where it strains.
- An annual identity cycle that would count as a major migration in any other sector.
- Federated access to systems outside the institution’s control.
- Devolved departments that cannot simply be centralised, and should not be.
- Funding cycles that determine when work can happen, regardless of when it is needed.
Joiner–mover–leaver, all at once
Most organizations process identity changes continuously. Institutions process most of a year’s worth in a few weeks. Designing for that concentration, rather than treating it as an exception, is the difference between a September that works and one that does not.
What Ferrafox would take on.
- Identity lifecycle and federation at institutional scale
- Integration between student, finance, learning and library systems
- Applicant and student-facing platforms
- Tenancy governance and a workable model for devolved departmental technology
Tell us what your organization runs on.
The first conversation is about the environment as it stands today: what exists, what it costs to keep running, and where responsibility currently sits.