A SiteMinder user directory is a conceptual view of a single organizational unit (such as Engineering or Human Resources) within a larger entity (such as a corporation). SiteMinder user directories make managing an entire directory structure easier by breaking up the directory into smaller, more manageable, and logically related segments.
The methods in your custom DMS application reference a particular SiteMinder user directory by specifying its unique organization DN. The organization DN points to the root, or top level, of the SiteMinder user directory's inverted tree structure or to one of its sub-levels.
Every DMS request references an organization DN. In the following illustration, two SiteMinder user directories are enclosed in broken-line boxes. The directories are identified by the organization DNs ou=eng, o=swdev.com (representing the Engineering organizational unit) and ou=hr, o=swdev.com (representing the Human Resources organizational unit):
SiteMinder user directories can exist within other SiteMinder user directories. In the preceding illustration, the Engineering organizational unit has three SiteMinder user directories within it. These have the attribute and organization names ou=dev, ou=qa, and ou=doc. The Human Resources organizational unit has two SiteMinder user directories within it—ou=benefits and ou=recruit.