Systems and methods for operating a system including a plurality of directories. The methods comprises: receiving, by a computing device, a first search request for identity information associated with an individual user of the system that is in a common request format supported by a common Application Programming Interface (“API”); performing first operations by the computing device to generate second search requests by transforming a format of the first search request from the common request format to a plurality of directory search request formats respectively supported by the plurality of directories; and respectively communicating the second search requests to the plurality of directories for retrieving the identity information associated with an individual user of the system.