With Monday's launch of Employee Provisioning, Novell pulls together its directory and consulting services with the consulting expertise it gained by buying Cambridge Technology Partners earlier this year. Employee Provisioning is the first service in Novell's "Jump Start" program, which combines Novell software and services with Cambridge consulting to give users consolidated access to a plethora of applications through a single, Web-based interface.

The pre-packaged combination of software and services automates the process of creating, modifying, and maintaining user-identity profiles and access privileges to a company's applications. The version of Employee Provisioning launched Monday works specifically with PeopleSoft Inc. applications. Novell says it plans to offer similar Employee Provisioning packages for PeopleSoft competitors such as SAP and Siebel Systems Inc., but the company hasn't established a timetable for those products.

Employee Provisioning uses Novell DirXML directory-management software to maintain a central repository for user-identification and password information. From this repository, applications such as PeopleSoft Human Resources Management can draw the information necessary to accept or deny access to certain applications. Novell's approach in the past has been to provide customized software and services for customers looking to automate the process of setting up and deleting, for example, user identity and E-mail privileges.

Novell plans to launch three more Jump Start packages this year, including one that focuses on access and security for corporate networks and applications, another for the creation of corporate information portals, and a fourth for providing return-on-investment assessment for digital technologies. Novell says the cost to implement Employee Provisioning, which includes Novell software, support, and installation, varies depending on the number of PeopleSoft users and the version of PeopleSoft being used.

Employee Provisioning is a step in the right direction for Novell, which hasn't always been able to clearly articulate its focus as a company, says Michael Neuenschwander, an analyst for the Burton Group, a network infrastructure research and consulting firm. Says Neuenschwander, "You get the feeling now that they've rallied around the directory solutions area."