Affiliate Collaboration Transformation Program

Our Vision

Colleagues from Stanford University, Stanford Health Care, and Stanford Children’s Health are working together on initiatives to improve collaboration, communication, and security solutions. This unified effort will enable individuals across Stanford Medicine to share information more easily and securely.

The Affiliate Collaboration Transformation program (ACT) is a multi-year initiative divided into three phases:

Phase 1

Microsoft Office 365 environments
PhAse 2

Google Workspace
Phase 3

Single Home Identity

“The final goal of the program is to provide a single account to each person within Stanford Medicine, issued by their primary employer, which can be used to access resources across Stanford Medicine.”
- Joshua Barnett, IT Director and Enterprise Infrastructure Architect, UIT

Goals and benefits

Cost benefits

Reduced need for double licensing
Eliminate duplicative storage within personal accounts
Improved efficiency with streamlined applications and sharing policies

Enhanced efficiency

Seamless and secure file sharing between licensed Stanford affiliate users
Reduced need to maintain multiple Stanford identities to access applications at the university and hospitals
Individuals can log in to applications with their home affiliate ID
Unified directory simplifies communication and collaboration

Security gains

Sharing controls put in place for affiliate systems
Adherence to Stanford Medicine's compliance policies and standards
Facilitated monitoring of high-risk data, including PHI and PII, on university collaboration systems

Guiding principals of the ACT program

Secure file storage and sharing

In the university, Microsoft Office 365 (O365) and Google tenants enable secure file sharing:

with authorized SHC and SCH users using their respective home IDs
meeting the compliance requirements of affiliate entities using controls equal to or better than what exists in Medicine Box today
with the ability to edit, download, and upload High Risk data, including PHI, using compliant devices across any network

Teamwork and collaboration

Enable cross-affiliate collaboration through:

a toolbox of shared O365 and Google Workspace applications
real-time sharing and editing in personal and group-based storage locations
the ability to look up active individuals across affiliates and view their availability
online meetings, shared team sites, and access to meeting recordings
shared reports and capacity planning tools native to the platform
a unified affiliate governance structure to keep changes and updates in sync

Projects and initiatives

Microsoft Office 365 Partnership

Transforming collaboration and communication capabilities across Stanford Medicine with new tools and features within the university and hospital Microsoft 365 environments.

Learn more »

Affiliate Directory Enhancements

Updating the existing directories at Stanford University and the Stanford hospitals to enhance cross-affiliate collaboration and enable additional flexibility.

Learn more »

Google Workspace Collaboration

Empowering the sharing of documents and folders in Google My Drive and shared drives with people across Stanford Medicine.

Learn more »

Data Security Improvements

Enhancing the security and privacy capabilities of email, file sharing, and other collaboration tools used at Stanford University and the Stanford hospitals.

Learn more »

Affiliate Application Access

Enabling hundreds of applications to leverage the enhanced shared directory information of Stanford University and the Stanford hospitals.

Learn more »

Single Home Identity

Providing access for individuals at Stanford University and the Stanford hospitals to log into applications across Stanford Medicine with just a single account.

Learn more »

More information

Communications

Articles

A Smoother Way to Connect with SHC ServiceNow (published June 2024)
M365 Teams Rolls Out to Support Collaboration With the Stanford Hospitals (published Jan. 2023)
SHC Colleagues Now Searchable in Office 365 Email and Calendar (published Mar. 2022)
University and Health Care Organizations Sync Up Directories (published Dec. 2021)
Two-Step Protection for Email Coming Soon (published Feb. 2020)

Resources and training

Presentations

ACT Program Overview (03-21-2024)
ACT Program Overview (10/17/2023)
ACT Program Overview (10/26/2022)
ACT Program Overview (01/27/2022)

Roles

Stanford Healthcare Executive Sponsors

Mike Pfeffer - Chief Information Officer, Stanford Health Care and School of Medicine
Christian Lindmark - Chief Technology Officer and Vice President
Mike Mucha - Chief Information Security Officer

Stanford Medicine Children's Health Executive Sponsors

Tanya Townsend - Chief Information and Digital Officer
Bill Wilson - Chief Technology Officer and Vice President
Robert Maclay - Chief Information Security Officer

Stanford University Executive Sponsors

Steve Gallagher - Chief Information Officer
Brad Immanuel - Executive Director, Client Experience and Solutions
Ganesh Karkala - Chief Technology Officer and Associate Vice President, Enterprise Technology
Amy Steagall - Chief Information Security Officer

Stanford University IT Core Team

Joshua Barnett - IT Director, Enterprise Infrastructure Architect, and ACT Program Manager
Armand Capote - Senior Director, Enterprise Technology and Infrastructure
Kashif Khan - Senior Director, Project Management Office
Shawn Kim - Director of Cybersecurity, Governance, Risk, and Compliance
Sriram Krovvidi - Associate Director, Authentication and Collaboration Systems
Jan Morrill - UIT Communications Program Manager

FAQs

Why are we taking on this multi-year project?

The goal of the project is to make recommendations to solve for the collaboration challenges that exist today, including:

Siloed environments which require users to maintain multiple identities.
Confusion about which accounts to use with what systems.
Affiliates purchasing the same licenses for the same users multiple times.
Collaboration tools and patient systems fail across organizations. Different security standards make it difficult to work with PHI data.
Affiliates spend time maintaining multiple tenants of the same platforms. Complex configurations and maintenance creates different experiences.

What solutions for communication and collaboration will be explored?

Phase 1 of the program is focused on M365 and Azure, defining a core set of collaboration tools across Stanford University and the Stanford hospitals, and improving the security of those environments. Phase 2 focuses on the affiliate Google Workspace and GCP environments to enable deeper collaboration and integration across Stanford Medicine. Phase 3 is about creating a Single Home Identity for all Stanford users, to remove the need for multiple accounts, badges, licenses, etc. for people who work across the organizations that make up Stanford Medicine.

How long is the program and what has it accomplished so far?

The Affiliate Collaboration Transformation (ACT) program started in 2020, and will run beyond the year 2027. To date, the program has accomplished multiple goals and completed dozens of projects to improve collaboration, strength security, and reduce costs across Stanford Medicine. The below timeline is from October 2024. Items in green are completed projects. Blue items are in-flight projects and red items are planned future projects.