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UK Access Management Federation for Education and Research
Service Description
1st November 2007 to 31st July 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
F1 Definitions (in alphabetical order)
F2 Preamble
F2.1 Service
F2.2 Scope
F2.3 Relationships between JANET(UK) and Organisations
F2.4 Service Levels
F3 The UK Access Management Federation Service Level Definition
F3.1 WAYF (Where-Are-You-From) Service
F3.2 Metadata Registry Service
F3.3 Federation Support and Promotion
Annex A: JISC Specific Items
F1. Definitions (in alphabetical order)
Becta |
A Non Departmental Public Body, Becta is the Government's key partner in the strategic development and delivery of its information and communications technology (ICT) providing joint funding for the Service. |
Eligible Organisations |
Organisations that are eligible to join the UK Access Management Federation as determined by policy published on the Federation website:
|
IdP |
Identity provider. |
JANET |
The name given to the private electronic communications network and the collection of electronic communications networking services and facilities that support the requirements of the UK education and research communities. |
JANET(UK) |
The trading name of The JNT Association Ltd that provides the Services. |
JISC |
The Joint Information Systems Committee that represents the interests of those providing the funding for the Services. |
Service |
Any service to be provided by JANET(UK) as defined in this Service Description. |
Service Availability |
Service Availability is specified as follows:
|
Scheduled Service Time |
365 (366) days a year and 24 hours a day |
SP |
Service provider |
Support Working Hours |
The period from 09:00 to 17:00 on Working Days. |
Working Day |
Monday to Friday excluding: Christmas Day 27th-31st December Good Friday Easter Monday First Monday in May
|
F2. Preamble
F2.1. Service
The UK Access Management Federation for Education and Research provides UK further and higher education organisations, research sectors and schools with a framework for accessing online services by using access management software, such as Shibboleth. This enables single sign-on to resources through the implementation of federated authentication allowing users to authenticate at their home organisation, using the same username and password for access to both internal and external resources.
Operated by JANET(UK) on behalf of JISC and Becta, the UK federation is made up of 'identity providers' such as universities and colleges, local authorities and regional broadband consortia, and 'service providers' such as publishers of online resources.
Members of the UK federation agree to a set of policies for exchanging information about users and resources. This enables access to, and use of, resources and services while protecting the security of both the individuals and the resources.
F2.2. Scope
The UK Access Management Federation is available to all educational and research organisations. This covers all colleges, universities and research council funded establishments, and includes Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia with responsibility for the schools sector. Other publicly funded bodies are also eligible for membership, subject to support from the relevant authorities.
Any commercial organisation providing services to those sectors is also eligible to join the federation, but may require to be sponsored by a member organisation.
Any organisation wishing to join the UK Access Management Federation must be a legal entity.
F2.3. Relationships between JANET(UK) and Organisations
All organisations which join the UK Access Management Federation will have a formal agreement with JANET(UK) as a condition of service provision. Information regarding joining the Federation and the terms and conditions involved are published on Federation website at:
http://www.ukfederation.org.uk/content/Documents/JoinFederation
JANET(UK) will establish agreements with each organisation individually, making its acceptance of the terms explicit and covering organisation-specific details. JANET(UK) will keep records, available to JISC and Becta, of the organisations using the Services.
If an organisation does not discharge its obligations and provide the necessary information, JANET(UK) may be unable to provide the defined level of Service. In this event (and if appropriate) JANET(UK) will alert JISC to any such failure on the part of an organisation, and agree subsequent actions.
If an organisation fails to abide by the policies and terms and conditions as required, JANET(UK) may suspend part or all of the Service to that organisation.
F2.4. Service Levels
Performance against agreed service levels will be calculated over any 12 consecutive months.
F3.The UK Access Management Federation Service Level Definition
Introduction:
The UK Access Management Federation provides a single solution to access online resources and services for education and research. It builds a trust relationship between identity providers and service providers. The responsibility for authentication is devolved to a user’s home organisation and the federation establishes authorisation between these providers through a secure exchange of information via a Metadata Registry Service and a WAYF (Where Are You From) Service.
F3.1. WAYF (Where-Are-You-From) Service
Specification:
The Where-Are-You-From (WAYF) Service enables users to associate themselves with their home organisations, redirecting each user to their home organisation for local authentication.
Service Levels:
- Service Availability of 99.9%
F3.2. Metadata Registry Service
Specification:
JANET(UK) provides a Service which processes and publishes metadata describing participating entities as described in the Federation Technical Specifications:
http://www.ukfederation.org.uk/library/uploads/Documents/federation-technical-specifications.pdf
and Federation Operator Procedures:
http://www.ukfederation.org.uk/library/uploads/Documents/federation-operator-procedures.pdf
This metadata provides the information required for entities to know how to communicate with each other, and establishes a trust fabric permitting entities to verify each other’s identities.
Service Levels:
- Service Availability of 99.9%
- JANET(UK) will enter new organisation’s details, or changes to an existing organisations details, to the Metadata Registry Service within 2 Working Days once all appropriate information has been received and verified.
F3.3. Federation Support and Promotion
Specification:
JANET(UK) provides a UK Access Management Federation support helpdesk which is staffed during Support Working Hours. Organisations will be able to lodge calls and email enquiries outside this time.
Additionally, through the UK Access Management Federation website, JANET(UK) provides advice and technical guidance to organisations on joining and participating in the federation. The website also provides a list of federation members and indicates which have IdP entities and which have SP entities.
JANET(UK) promotes the use of the UK Access Management Federation at appropriate events and relevant training courses for current members and those with an interest in joining the federation.
Service Levels:
- A non-automated initial response to any enquiry shall be given within four Support Working Hours
Annex A: JISC Specific Items
F.A1. The Funding of Workshops and Training
Normally, workshops will be organised on a cost-recovery basis. In some cases, where it has been agreed between JISC and JANET(UK), workshops will be subsidised in order to meet community requirements.
Briefing days may be funded by JANET(UK).
JANET(UK) may also undertake other events on the basis of full cost recovery. Normally, training courses will be organised on a cost-recovery basis.
JANET(UK) may undertake training courses for individual Eligible Organisations on a full cost recovery basis.
F.A2. Service Levels
Where a Service has not yet been in operation for twelve months, or where the definition of the service level has been changed within the previous twelve months, the Service cannot be said to have not met the associated service levels. However, analysis of trends may lead to review and negotiation before twelve months have passed in cases where it becomes clear that the Service would not be able to meet the service levels.
All reports will be delivered in machine readable form in a format defined in the Performance Reporting Format (the document that defines the format to be used for performance reports to the JISC Monitoring Unit (MU); held by the JISC Monitoring Unit and as agreed between JANET(UK) and the JISC Monitoring Unit).
F.A3. Reporting Requirements
JANET(UK) will report the items detailed in this section. The Monitoring Unit makes certain data available on its web site at: http://www.mu.jisc.ac.uk
F3.1. WAYF (Where-Are-You-From) Service
Monthly via a report to the MU:
- start and finish, date and time and explanatory note of any event causing the WAYF service to be unavailable
F3.2. Metadata Registry Service
Monthly via a report to the MU:
- start and finish, date and time and explanatory note of any event causing the Metadata Registry Service to be unavailable
- by exception, events not meeting service level (b)
F3.3. Federation Support and Promotion
Quarterly via a report to the MU:
- by exception, events not meeting service level (a)
- total number of requests for support, broken down by type
Reported via the JANET(UK) Operational Plan Updates:
- list of events held over the period;
- list of training events held.
ACCEPTED on behalf of ACCEPTED on behalf of the JISC by:
JANET(UK) by:
________________________________ _______________________________
Position:_________________________ Position:________________________
Date____________________________ Date:___________________________
