RFC Group Management System Requirements

January, 2026

Background

Group management serves to control access authorisations for services in edu-ID in a precise and fine-grained manner. The existing solutions (VHO, shared attributes, GMT) are outdated and not adapted to the new capabilities that edu-ID identities have compared to traditional AAI identities.

Based on extensive feedback from the community, Switch plans to modernise group management in 2026. A number of application scenarios from several universities have already been communicated to the edu-ID team. The document below describes the currently known application scenarios and the resulting requirements for group management. The document is not a specification but a general description of a possible solution. It serves as a basis for a subsequent evaluation of group management solutions.

We hereby call on the edu-ID community to comment on the document, ask questions and make suggestions for adjustments. Comments from all groups of people are welcome, although feedback that is coordinated with university IT services will be given greater weight.

Please provide your feedback until March 6th 2026 at the lastest such that it is considered for further refinements.