Chemgineering: Secure Device and Account Management in the Cloud

With state-of-the-art Mobile Device Management using Microsoft Intune and automated employee onboarding based on the Power Platform, Chemgineering benefits not only from more efficient and streamlined processes but also from cost savings and reduced workload for the IT department.

User accounts for new employees were previously created and managed on-premises, requiring a high level of manual effort by the IT department

The requested information fields are not typically available in the Cloud

An efficient and cost-effective alternative for the existing Mobile Device Management solutions was sought, with the migration needing to occur within a short timeframe

Implementation of a Power App-based form for creating new user accounts, including automated workflows with Power Automate

Deployment of Mobile Device Management with Microsoft Intune, including the migration and configuration of approximately 300 iOS devices 

Knowledge acquisition in both Microsoft Intune and Power Platform

Cost savings and relief for the IT department

Quick and simple provisioning of new user accounts, including the automation of individual process steps

Flexibility in both solutions allows for the addition of further processes

Streamlined IT and integration/synergies within M365

New employees require their own user account to start working. At Chemgineering, the creation process for user accounts previously took place manually and on-premises. Employees with admin rights used a form based on a self-developed Visual Basic application to create a new user account, including assignments and access, on-premises. This information was then transferred to the Cloud through Active Directory Sync. However, due to the on-premises focus, home drive shares for storing personal data still existed, and notifications were also handled on-premises.

As Chemgineering switched to Microsoft 365 and Azure as part of its digital transformation, the existing technical onboarding process for new employees no longer aligned with the company‘s strategic direction. For the necessary process optimization, Chemgineering relied on its partner, novaCapta, whom the responsible parties already knew from a successful project in the area of Mobile Device Management.

To optimize the employee onboarding process, novaCapta implemented Power Platform. New user accounts are now created quickly and easily using a Canvas App-based form. Power Apps access the on-premises server via Azure Function and Azure Relay Service, where the corresponding PowerShell scripts are executed. Accounts are then automatically transferred to the Cloud as usual through Azure Active Directory Sync. License and access rights assignments, as well as the setup of Exchange mailboxes, are now automated thanks to Power Automate and Azure Active Directory. Data storage and management are handled through SharePoint. Another workflow ensures that a welcome email is automatically sent to new employees.
 

One of the key challenges was implementing the required attributes, as some of them, such as initials, are not typically available in the Cloud. However, thanks to the cross-functional collaboration at novaCapta, this synchronization was achieved seamlessly.
With the use of the Power Platform, the creation of new user accounts, including provisioning, now takes only a few minutes and can also be handled by employees outside the IT department. This significantly relieves the IT department and streamlines the processes, as explained by Cem Esermann, Head of ICT at Chemgineering: „The automation of the onboarding process makes us much more efficient. In addition to the reduced manual effort due to fewer participants, we benefit from quicker, shorter processes and have been able to significantly reduce the margin for error.“

In a previous project, essentially as a basis for the onboarding automation and other planned projects, novaCapta introduced Microsoft Intune, replacing two existing Mobile Device Management tools (Blackberry and MobileIron) at Chemgineering. „We were simultaneously paying for two inefficient solutions: one turned out to be incompatible, and the other was antiquated and costly. Microsoft Intune, thanks to existing licenses, is not only more cost-effective but also state-of-the-art,“ describes Cem Esermann the situation. Since the necessary license renewal was approaching, novaCapta had to migrate and configure the approximately 300 used iOS devices within a very tight one-month timeframe.

Mobile devices were already fully managed before (new devices came from a single distributor, onboarding was done through the Apple Business Manager, and then policies and applications were distributed), and this remains the case in Intune. In doing so, novaCapta implemented compliance, security, and device policies for both company-owned and BYOD devices.

As an apprentice worked on the transition to Intune as a final project, the entire migration and configuration process was carried out in workshop mode. This trained the internal IT department and allowed the transfer and acquisition of the necessary know-how. This knowledge forms the foundation for potential customizations since Microsoft Intune serves as a baseline and can be easily expanded – in line with Chemgineering‘s future plans, which also include the long-term integration and management of Windows devices in Intune.

Furthermore, Chemgineering is partnering with novaCapta for further projects. In addition to employee offboarding, which complements the already implemented onboarding process, topics such as endpoint security, mail security, and antivirus systems are on the to-do list for 2024.

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