Identity Governance and administration
I designed an Identity Governance and Administration platform to manage and secure identities within an organization. This was a 0-to-1 platform; we formed a new pillar, acquired a company, and had a very successful launch.
Problem
Users
Manual process that takes multiple weeks
IGA tools are expensive and hard to implement
Business
Customer churn to other IAM + IGA tools
6.45B TAM
Team
No team
Okta’s monolith constraints
No ITSM
Solution
Unified platform that integrates identity and access management with governance capabilities. Enhancing the overall security posture of our customers.
20%
Days to 10 minutes
New platform and pillar
Initial POC
For Self-serve access requests, we recognized a substantial gap in achieving end-to-end functionality due to the absence of an IT Service Management layer necessary for tracking multi-level approvals. Based on the timeline and constraints, We identified access certification as an area with significant potential and it was feasible, which led us to focus our initial efforts there.
What's Access Certification
When an employee joins a company, the employee gets applications assigned or the employee can request access to applications. Some applications require a regular review validating the right employees have access to right applications. Enhancing the security and compliance of the company. The review for Figma might be different from the review for JIRA and they both might have different app owners who need to review the access. Access Certification helps organizations reduce risks, meet regulatory requirements, and maintain operational efficiency by adhering to principles like least privilege.
Personas and JTBD
Using all the research, we developed personas and identified the jobs to be done.
IT Admins:
need to create and launch access certification campaigns
Manage campaigns
Review and update access rights
Review remediation was done correctly
Close campaigns
Reviewer:
Get notified when they need to review a new campaign
Review the access for each user
Reassign review item to other reviewer
End user:
Indirectly affected by this entire process. They either retain or lose access to the resource.
Information architecture
We worked on two models for the information architecture:
Model A: Access certification policy resides under the resource.
Model B: Access certification is part of a new Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) platform.
After presenting to the executive team, we decided that the platform model would be more scalable. This approach supports multiple IGA products, enhances scalability for other Okta products, and could potentially be sold as a standalone product.
Product concept test
With Product Marketing and Research, we established a design partner program to test early concepts and usability. During the pandemic, I collaborated remotely with my PM and Engineering architect using Miro for low-fidelity wireframes, which we presented to beta partners for quick feedback.
Initial designs
For the initial designs, we follow all the existing patterns and Design system. Tables, modals.
As an admin, I want to create an Access Certification campaign for Figma so that we can remove all the non-designers and save money on all the extra seats we are paying.
As a reviewer, I want to review an Access Certification campaign for Figma to ensure that the appropriate individuals have the correct access, thereby enhancing the company's security and optimizing costs by reducing unnecessary seat allocations.
Usability testing
Users appreciated the integration and ease of use within Okta, finding the experience straightforward and efficient, with an average campaign creation time of 10 minutes. However, the policy creation process was cumbersome, requiring frequent scrolling to review inputs, which indicated potential user frustration despite it not being explicitly mentioned.
Redesigning the policy creation pattern
The problem is that our current design system and pattern library only give us two options:
A modal or a really complicated workflow builder.
I decided to propose a new paradigm for policy creation.
Acquiring a company
In addition to all the design work being done for Access Certification, I was assisting the executive team with the acquisition of a new company, AtSpoke. This acquisition helped us bring advanced lifecycle management and self-serve access requests to market.
Results
Users
All-in one Identity Governance platform
Creating and access certification campaign went from weeks to 10 min to create
Delightful experience
Business
BETA in Q1 with 50 customers - 20% conversion rate
LEA IN Q2 — 50 Paying customers, 16% New business, 84% Upsell
Team
New EPD pillar
First micro-service
First platform using Odyssey (New design system)
AtSpoke acquisition
Other projects
Universal Directory
Designed a scalable navigation system for the Apollo platform. Launched in two months, increasing satisfaction by 10% and retention.
Platform Experience
The Apollo platform experience re-architecture was a design-driven initiative that began during my first week at Apollo. I noticed several issues with the navigation and overall user experience. Within two months, I designed and helped launch a new navigation system and architecture that scales with Apollo's ever-growing product offerings. This resulted in a 10% increase in customer satisfaction and improved retention.