Pluggin Ecosystem
Developing a centralised onboarding and identity management platform supporting charities, buyers, and businesses, with automated approvals and single sign on. Reduced operational costs and strengthened governance and traceability
Problem
Pluggin Ecosystem is a host and consolidator environment for community provisions across 12 UK regions. It facilitates collaborations between charities, public sector buyers such as the NHS, police and local councils, and businesses that sponsor community initiatives.
As the platform expanded to serve charities, public sector buyers, and sponsoring businesses, user onboarding and identity management became increasingly complex. Processes were manual, fragmented, and difficult to scale. Admin teams handled approvals, credential issuance, and access control with limited automation. This increased workload and risk of error.
At the same time, the organisation relied on third party providers for user management and single sign on. This resulted in significant recurring costs and reduced direct control over identity governance and security policies.
A scalable, secure, and cost effective solution was required to automate onboarding, centralise identity management, enforce governance, and deliver seamless authentication across integrated platforms.
Solution
To address these challenges, a fully integrated multi user onboarding and identity management solution was designed and developed in house. The system was built using modern web technologies and structured around scalability, security, and governance.
A centralised onboarding platform was implemented to support three distinct user groups, charities, public sector buyers, and sponsoring businesses. The solution introduced a structured, admin controlled approval workflow with automated notifications, input validation, secure credential issuance, and mandatory password reset on first login. This significantly reduced manual intervention and improved operational efficiency.
A unique identifier framework was introduced for all approved users to ensure traceability, accountability, and governance compliance.
To eliminate reliance on costly third party providers, a bespoke OpenID Connect Identity Provider was developed, enabling secure single sign on across multiple connected platforms. In addition, a custom integration layer was created to synchronise authentication and user management with the organisation’s community platform, ensuring a seamless user experience.
The overall architecture was designed with long term scalability, maintainability, and security in mind, providing the organisation with full control over its identity infrastructure while reducing recurring costs and improving operational resilience.
Outcomes
So far we have achieved Following
Operational efficiency improved significantly. Automated onboarding and approval workflows reduced manual administrative effort and shortened user activation time. Admin teams focused on governance rather than routine processing.
Costs decreased. The removal of third party identity and single sign on providers eliminated recurring subscription fees. The organisation gained long term financial control over its authentication infrastructure.
Governance and compliance strengthened. Unique user identifiers improved traceability and audit readiness. Centralised identity management ensured consistent enforcement of access policies and credential standards.
User experience improved. Stakeholders accessed multiple platforms through a seamless single sign on process. Account management became consistent across systems.
Scalability increased. The architecture supports growth in user numbers and additional platforms without major structural changes. The organisation now owns a secure, extensible identity foundation that can evolve with future requirements.
Technology Stack
PHP, CodeIgniter 4, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, WordPress, OpenId Connect