IAM Reference Architecture - Human Identities

A reference architecture that captures the actual scope of Identity and Access Management (IAM) is long overdue. Since its inception, IAM has evolved organically as a self-contained, predominantly technical domain, insufficiently grounded in the business and legal reality it is meant to reflect and serve. Industry reference architectures typically provide catalogs of capabilities, with limited attention to their relationships, interplay and business significance. This publication shows IAM for what it is: a multidisciplinary domain in which business, legal and regulatory constraints shape organizational responsibilities, data flows and system integration. It lays the foundation for a technology-independent approach to describing, designing, evaluating and evolving IAM architectures for human identities.