Why is transition trying to modify Directory Services?

I have had a dialog come up a couple of time on top of the login (pre-login, after reboot) that stated:

"transition is trying to modify the Directory Services configuration. Type your password to allow this."

And of course the "Name:" and "Password:" fields with a button for "Cancel" and a button for "Modify Configuration"

Find it not only odd, but disconcerting that it can come up previous to anyone logging into the system. Anyone know what this is?