EnBW: group-wide identity management

Situation: identity data across company and system boundaries

EnBW and its affiliated companies needed a central solution for identity and organisational data management. Existing enterprise systems had to be connected with group-wide information-security requirements.

The project sat within information and communications technology security and preparation for ISO/IEC 27001. Its scope therefore combined technical integration with organisational security requirements.

Task: build and introduce a shared platform

The objective was a group-wide identity-management platform connected to SAP and Windows Active Directory. Identities and organisational assignments needed to be brought together across systems and companies.

The challenge was to consider these concerns together: an identity’s place in the organisation had to be understood alongside its representation in existing systems. The platform was to provide a central technical foundation for that work.

Approach: internal development and enterprise integration

• An internal Microsoft .NET platform: The solution was developed in-house. Custom software development and integration into the existing system landscape formed part of the same project.
• Connect SAP and Windows Active Directory: Both existing systems were integrated with the central platform, extending the work beyond the application itself.
• Consider identity and organisation together: The focus was identity data and organisational assignments across EnBW and its affiliated companies.
• Include information security: The central solution was embedded in the group’s security context, as part of preparation for ISO/IEC 27001.

Result: a central platform in operation

The project produced a central identity-management solution on Microsoft .NET with SAP and Windows Active Directory connections. Following its build and introduction, the platform is operational as of 20 September 2026. It provides a technical foundation for managing identity and organisational data across affiliated companies.

The result brought together three layers: the business organisation, an internally developed platform and existing enterprise systems.

Implications for architecture and investment decisions

The case identifies questions that need to be considered together for a group-wide identity platform:

• Organisational boundaries: A shared solution needs to account for identity assignments across several companies.
• Data responsibility: A comparable project needs to establish which system owns each attribute and how conflicting assignments are handled.
• Integration responsibility: The internal application and its connections belong in the same architectural assessment. Changes to enterprise systems also affect the platform.
• Security context: Technical integration and organisational security requirements need to be planned together.

Basis of this account

The implementation details and operational status are based on my account of the EnBW project.