1. Are You Eligible?

Participation in InCommon is open to:

  1. Higher Education
    Two- and four-year, degree-granting academic institutions that are accredited by a U.S. Department of Education Regional Institutional Accrediting Agency
  2. Sponsored Partners
    Business, education, and research organizations who partner with higher education may join the Federation as Sponsored Partners. Sponsored Partners must be sponsored by the designated Executive of a current InCommon Higher Education Institution. Find out more about being sponsored and how to sponsor here.

Do you meet the eligibility criteria above? Our detailed eligibility criteria are found in Section 4 of the Federation Operational Policies and Practices. We'd be happy to determine your eligibility status with you. If you're not sure, fill out the Web Application Form (This is optional).

2. Send Us the Agreement (and Sponsor Letter)

  1. If you are eligible, send us a signed copy of the InCommon Participation Agreement (pdf) by postal mail or email:
    • Delegating your trusted Executive (We will identity-proof this person for security),
    • Signed by an authorized representative of your organization.
  2. If you are applying as a Sponsored Participant, InCommon must receive a sponsorship letter from a current InCommon higher education institution. Find out more about being sponsored and how to sponsor here.

3. Register for Your Executive and Administrator for Identity Verification

After your Agreement has been executed and you are in our system:

  1. Designate individuals to fill InCommon-related roles and submit their names during Registration.
    • Administrator (We will identity-proof this person for security)
    • Billing Contact (Recorded but not identity-proofed)
    • Executive: You will have already appointed your Executive in the Agreement.
  2. Register: InCommon will send you a secure Registration URL in email after we receive your signed agreement. (A Fee paid by credit card is required.)
  3. Post your Participant Operational Practices (POP) [WORD] on your organization's website.
    (After the registration process is complete, your Administrator will submit your POP URL to InCommon.)
  4. Review InCommon policies and practices.

4. Confirmation via Telephone

Our Registration Authority will identity-proof your Executive and Administrator via telephone appointment. After this step, your Administrator will be given access the site administration interface for registering and managing your systems for interoperability within the federation.

5. Planning and Implementing Identity and Access Management

The NMI-EDIT Consortium provides excellent resources available on planning, which among other resources includes two detailed roadmaps: The Enterprise Directory Implementation Roadmap and The Enterprise Authentication Implementation Roadmap. The Shibboleth system is addressed on the Shibboleth website and detailed on their documentation wiki.