Western Governors University Takes Higher Education Higher

Objective

WGU, a nonprofit online university serving working adults, aimed to modernize its identity infrastructure to better support its flexible, competency-based degree programs. The goal was to replace an existing OpenSSO solution with a high-performance platform that could handle authentication for everyone accessing WGU systems—from students taking classes to employees accessing email.

Challenge

The university faced a major hurdle with its Student Portal, where a very organic page composed of many small components took 20 to 30 seconds to display due to inconsistent legacy performance. Additionally, WGU needed to manage complex integrations with over 100 content providers using various protocols, including the aging LTI standard, while simultaneously moving toward modern standards.

Solution

WGU chose PingFederate and PingAccess following a competitive proof of concept. The kicker for the selection was the ability to implement an Application Gateway Architecture. The solution supports modern protocols including SAML, OAuth, and OpenID Connect. This new stack was selected over competitors because it demonstrated superior performance, ease of administration, and the capability to handle the transition from the legacy environment smoothly.

Results

The transition from OpenSSO was smooth and fast, resulting in a Student Portal that is much more responsive for the university's massive user base. By moving to PingFederate, WGU took a significant step forward in performance, providing the speed in spades required for a modern online learning experience. The ease of administration has made the system more responsive for the IT team, ensuring that WGU can continue to scale its 60+ degree programs efficiently.