Overview

ASTRA (Access to Systems, Tools, Resources and Applications) is an authorization system that stores information about who can use a wide variety of administrative applications and tools across the UW campus. Authorization, using ASTRA, sets limits on:

Access to applications (such as SAGE, Financial Desktop, OWLS, eProcurement, FS-WORKS, etc.)
Actions (update, inquiry, etc.)
Access restrictions (budgets, organization codes, dollar limits, PUC's, FacNum's, etc.)

Through ASTRA's Web interface, users:

Manage authorizations online
See who has authority to use a system
Administrative applications interact with the ASTRA database to find out if a person is authorized to use that particular system.

Current ASTRA Information:

Browse to the ASTRA Web Application URL:

http://ucs.admin.washington.edu/astra/

Legacy ASTRA documentation:

http://www.washington.edu/computing/astra/

New & Improved ASTRA documentation:

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General Information about ASTRA

• ASTRA Authorizers and Delegators

• Consuming Application Users Authorized Through ASTRA

• Developer Information

• Data Custodians

• Business Application Owners

• Contact the ASTRA Team

ASTRA General Information

This section contains documents and information for a wide audience.

• What is ASTRA?
• ASTRA Service Agreement
• ASTRA Usage Statistics
• Contact the ASTRA Team

ASTRA Authorizer and Delegator Information

This section contains documents of interest for ASTRA authorizers and delegators: people who use ASTRA to grant authorizations to others.

• ASTRA Authorizing Agents
• Definition of Roles for any given Consuming Application
• How to Manage Authorizations in ASTRA
• Responsibilities and Best Practices For Authorizers and Delegators
• How to Find Authorizations for "My People" based on Home Department, Appointment or Current Payroll Distribution

End User Information

This section contains documents of interest for people who don't actually use ASTRA themselves, but rather have been authorized in ASTRA to have access to a variety of administrative applications here at the UW.

• What Consuming Applications Am I authorized For? Search ASTRA To Find Out.
• Who Can Authorize Me?
• Who Do I Contact For Help Using a Consuming Application?

Developer Information

This section contains documents of general interest for consuming application developers using ASTRA for their authorization management requirements.

• ASTRA Overview
• The Bigger Picture: What Other Tools Are Available For Use?
• Implementing ASTRA As Your Application's Authorization Management Tool
• ASTRA Best Practices (Guidelines for Consuming App Developers current doc)
• Authorization Schema Design Best Practices
• Production Checklist
• Populating Groups With ASTRA Authorizations
• Managing Web Service Authorization with ASTRA
• ASTRA Security Features
• ASTRA Release Notifications
• Consuming Authorizations From ASTRA
  • How Can My Application Consume ASTRA Authorizations?
  • AstraWS Web Service Overview and Security Requirements
  • UWCA X.509 Certficates
    • Acquire a Certificate from the UW Certficate Authority (UWCA)
    •  Configure a ASP.NET Web Application to use X.509 Certifcates
  • AstraWS Web Service v.2 API How-To Documents:
    • How-to: Consume AstraWS Web Service v.2 using Microsoft .Net2.0/WSE 3.0
    • How-to: Consume AstraWS Web Service v.2 using PHP
  • LEGACY:  AstraWS Web Service v.1 API How-To Documents:
    • How-to: Consume ASTRA Web Service v.1 using Microsoft.NET 1.1/WSE 2.0 SP1
    • How-to: Consume ASTRA Web Service v.1 using Microsoft.NET 2.0/WSE 3.0
    • How-to: Consume ASTRA Web Service v.1 from Java J2EE
    • How-to: Consume ASTRA Web Service v.1 from Coldfusion MX
    • How-to: Consume ASTRA Web Service v.1 from Classic ASP
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ASTRA Data Custodian Information

This section contains documents of interest for data custodians who have a stake in how their data is being used by consuming appplications that use ASTRA.

• Who are the current data custodians?
• Who can use and see my data?
• Which apps use my data?
• Authorization management: Auto-deprovisioning
• Enterprise Data Warehouse use of Groups Provisioned from Authorizations In ASTRA

ASTRA Business Owner/Service Operator/Service Owner Information

This section contains documents of interest to the business owners of consuming applications that are using ASTRA to control access management to their application.

• Responsibilities of a Business Owner Include the following:
  • • Documentation of Roles
    • Client Support
    • Central vs. Distributed Authorization Management
• Best Practices for Schema Design, Keeping Universal Roles in Mind?
• Implementation and Rollout Plan
• Use of ASTRA to build Mailman Groups
• How to get Reports and Statistics

Your Question Isn't Answered Here?

Contact the ASTRA team at astra@uw.edu