Partner with a SailPoint Expert
SailPoint Best Practices for Client Success
At GCA, our entire business is focused on identity. The strategies detailed below come from principles the GCA team and our clients have developed for more than 15 years. These strategies serve as our guiding principles to ensure client success at every step of the road.
Effective Communication
We develop effective communication pieces relevant to each project stakeholder
When it comes to SailPoint, discussions can get technical quickly. However, you can’t make progress in obtaining a new budget or developing new functionality if all parties involved are not on the same page.
Whether we are speaking to the project team, stakeholders or end-users, we prioritize clear communication and make a concerted effort to tailor our communications to the right audience. In practice, this takes the form of a crisp and concise presentation adjusted for each person involved in the project.
Expert Requirements Gathering
Our extensive discovery phase helps mitigate costly changes after project launch.
At GCA, we pride ourselves in the thoroughness of requirements-gathering. It is a simple fact that asking questions is cheap and making changes down the road is expensive. Depending on the functionality, we have hundreds of use cases and requirements-gathering questions that we will pull from when preparing for an initial meeting. Oftentimes, it takes a bit of detective work to get all of the answers, so being over-prepared is our key to success.
Business Friendly & Functional Documentation
Our consistent documentation keeps you informed on how your systems work.
With SailPoint, functionality is often distributed over many parts. For example, a workflow could break if it implements a direct database call after changes are made to that database; functionality often doesn’t live in one spot. This reality requires effective documentation that is easily consumed to assist in environment support and enhancements.
At GCA, we take our documentation so seriously that we’ve even begun moving away from using Microsoft Word. Instead, we host documentation (with proper access control) so that both the business and development team can learn how something works in SailPoint in just a few clicks.
Testing Processes
Our extensive tests ensure systems work before the official launch.
Following the design and development of any SailPoint project comes the all-important testing process. We take a minimum of a three-pronged approach to testing. First, the developer tests the use cases that were documented along with the design. Once everything checks out, the developer delivers the review to a peer who then runs through each test. After the first two rounds of testing have passed, a “Functional Test” happens. Each use case is demonstrated in front of the appropriate client stakeholders.
SailPoint Tools – Deployment Accelerator
We provide training for all critical tools, like Deployment Accelerator.
All GCA, SailPoint implementations leverage the Deployment Accelerator for code development and deployment. This tool is essential in managing SailPoint projects through the development lifecycle. We consider this a critical success factor to any project. We include training and process documentation to teach clients how to use the tool during and after engagements.
SailPoint Tools – SSB
SSB helps us prioritize a standard process.
At GCA, we prioritize standardization and process. The SailPoint SSB (Standard Services Build) tool helps greatly on this front. With a proper Deployment Accelerator and SSB setup, it becomes easy to build and manage environments.
SailPoint Tools – Git & Code Reviews
Our standardized code management keeps projects running smoothly.
GCA has developed a standardized procedure for managing code in an environment. All code is managed in a code repository called Git. This tool comes with features that allow us to easily peer review code to ensure it meets our defined and documented quality standards.
With Git, we use advanced branching to help us delineate exactly what code is in production and what code is in development.
SailPoint Admiral Partner & Team of SailPoint Expert Resources
At GCA, we pride ourselves on the quality of our work. Our team consists of certified SailPoint architects who have a deep understanding of not only the SailPoint products but also the underlying security principles that businesses typically address with the implementation of an IGA solution. Our team has Certified Information System Security Professionals (CISSP) and our code review process ensures that all authored code is reviewed against our internal standards developed by our SailPoint Practice Manager and Oracle Certified Professional.