Review: Quest One Identity Manager with ActiveRoles Server

This solution allows administrators and managers to easily monitor and manage user accounts across the enterprise. It focuses on four areas of identity management: managing access, keeping control of privileged accounts, keeping track of the identities of users, and monitoring user activity.

We found the installation of this product to be quite easy, though we had to set up a few prerequisites and configure the database server before the actual installation could begin. After everything was prepared, the rest of the setup went smoothly. Installation of both the ActiveRoles server and Identity Manager was guided by an easy-to-follow setup wizard and we were up and running in no time at all. After the installation was complete, we noticed that this solution comes loaded with management tools and administrative functionality. One of these is a web-based management portal, which includes many offerings for both users and administrators.

A major strength is the self-service-based design for full user and identity management. Rather than having most of the burden fall to IT administrators, this product puts account and privilege provisioning in the hands of managers and other administrators. This is made easy for non-IT managers by using a shopping cart-based approach. Users can request to be provisioned by simply going to the web-based portal and requesting access to resources by adding them to their cart. Once the request is submitted, all the appropriate managers are notified, and they can easily grant or deny the request using the same portal.

Documentation included several PDF manuals. These included various installation, configuration, quick start, reference and administrator guides. We found documentation to be fairly well-organized, but we would have liked to see it more streamlined into fewer guides and manuals. We became overwhelmed with the large number of manuals or, if we were looking something up in one guide, it would refer us to another for more information. The guides contain a good amount of detail and easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions, but there was a lack of screen shots and configuration examples. We always like to see visuals to aid in configuration and setup of products.

Quest offers customers the first year of basic support as part of the purchase price. After the first year, customers can purchase support as part of an annual program. Customers also can choose from a number of program options from basic business-hour support up to premier with 24/7 technical support and named support account managers. All assistance options includes phone- and email-based technical aid, as well as access to an online area with many resources, including a full knowledge base and user forum.

Pricing starts at $20 per enabled user and varies depending on the required solution components. We find this solution to be a good value for the money. Quest One Identity Manager with ActiveRoles Server offers many excellent features for managing users and providing the right access to resources ensuring security and compliance throughout the enterprise.

Solid product and good value, though needs improvement in the documentation. Still, well worth your attention.