Courtesy Account System

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What is the Courtesy Account System?

The Courtesy Account System is designed to allow Faculty, Staff, and authorized students to manage and maintain official Cedarville University accounts that belong to people who are not current students, alumni, or regular (W-2) employees.

Account Types

Accounts managed by this system include those used for the following people/purposes: 

• Spouses of current Faculty/Staff
• Department/Office accounts (e.g.: admissions@cedarville.edu)
• Student Organizations
• Contractors/Consultants
• Preceptors
• Temporary Faculty
• Guests

Access to more account types, or the creation of new account types can be requested by submitting a ticket to Information Technology.

Account Maintenance

Accounts created using this system must be renewed a minimum of once per year, depending on the type of the account. The creator of an account automatically becomes a sponsor of the account, responsible for renewing the account, communicating login details to the person who will be using the account, or resetting the password to the account if necessary.

If an account is not renewed by its expiration date, it will be automatically  disabled, and after a 2-week grace period, it will be removed. 

Terms of Use

Guest users of the Cedarville University network are expected to honor Federal and State laws regarding network and computer usage. In addition, guests should respect Cedarville's Christian worldview by not accessing inappropriate materials.

As the creator of a Courtesy Account, the sponsor is responsible for assuring any accounts you create will be used in a manner that complies with Cedarville University's Acceptable Use Policy. Courtesy accounts may be suspended or removed at any time if the users of them are found to be violating this policy.

Account Permissions

Depending on the account type, the following permissions and features may be added/included

• Access to on-campus Wi-Fi
• Access to sign into University-provided computers
• Access to a unique Google Mail Inbox
• Access to sign into Cedarville University's GlobalProtect VPN, with varying levels of access to our internal networks.
• Access to some common Faculty/Staff resources

Other more bespoke permissions can be requested by submitting a ticket to Information Technology after the Courtesy Account has been created.

Using the Courtesy Account System

Creating an Account

To create a courtesy account, navigate to the Courtesy Accounts homepage, and click Create A Courtesy Account.

Select an appropriate account type for the usage you need. For most use cases Temporary Account is sufficient. 

Enter the following details to set up the account

• Username -- What you enter in this field will be validated when you click or tab out of the field. An error will appear if you have entered and invalid or unavailable username.
  Note: Some account types generate user names for courtesy accounts automatically, and do not require input here. Others enforce certain prefixes/suffixes that will be added to whatever you put in this field. 
• Create A Gmail Account -- This checkbox allows you to select whether or not to create a GMail inbox for this new user. You can change your mind about this later
  Note: Some account types are not eligible for Gmail Accounts.
• Password -- Create the password you'd like to set for this account at the prompt. Use strong password creation techniques to make sure that this password is not easily guessable. Passwords must be 12 characters long, and may not contain some common words, like "cedarville" or the username you entered. Enter the same password in both fields. 
• Renewal Period -- Select the number of months that you'd like this account to be active for. This sets the expiration date of the account.
  Note: Some account types are restricted to a maximum active period of only 3 or 6 months before a renewal. 
• VPN Access Level -- Select the level of VPN access that this new account should be given.
  Note: Most account types will not be eligible for VPN access, and most users will not have more than 1 option available to them if it is. 
• Email Address -- Enter a working email address for the person who will be using this account. If this is you, enter your email address. 
• First/Last Name -- Enter the first & last name of the person using this account. If this is an Office or Department account, enter the name of the office/department. These fields affect how this user will appear in the directories of applications like Microsoft Office & Teams, and Google Mail. 
• Additional Information -- Use this field for additional notes regarding this account. Values in this field will not affect the operation of the account, and request made in this field will not be communicated to IT staff.

Changing an Account Password

To change the password to an account, navigate to the Courtesy Accounts homepage, find the account you'd like to change the password for (use the filter box to search), and click the Edit button on the right side of the screen.

Then, click Change Courtesy Account Password. 

Create the password you'd like to set for this account on the next page. Use strong password creation techniques to make sure that this password is not easily guessable. Passwords must be 12 characters long, and may not contain some common words, like "cedarville" or the username of the account. Enter the same password in both fields. 

click Change Password.

Renewing an Account

When an account crosses the threshhold of being 60, 30, 14, or 7 days away from expiration, the account sponsors will receive an email indicating that the account will be expiring soon. Anytime within 60 days of the account expiring, you can renew the account, which extends the expiration date.

To renew a Courtesy Account, navigate to the Courtesy Accounts homepage, find the account you'd like to change the password for (use the filter box to search), and click the Edit button on the right side of the screen.

Near the top of the screen, select the number of months you'd like to renew the account for, and click Renew.

If the account has already expired, you will need to click Re-Enable Account. The account will automatically be renewed and re-enabled for the selected period of months. 

If an account has been expired for 2 weeks, it will be automatically be removed. To re-activate an account that has been removed, please submit a ticket to Information Technology ​​​​to request  that it be re-activated.

Enabling/Disabling Gmail Access for an Account

Some accounts are permitted to have a Gmail Inbox associated with them. The buttons described below will not be available on accounts that are not eligible for Gmail inboxes. 

To enable or disable the Gmail inbox for an account, navigate to the Courtesy Accounts homepage, find the account you'd like to change the password for (use the filter box to search), and click the Edit button on the right side of the screen.

Then, click Enable Gmail Account. If the account already has a gmail account, and you'd like to disable it, click Disable Gmail Account.

Adding/Removing Account Sponsors/Email Delegates

You can add any Cedarville University student, faculty, or staff member as a sponsor of the account. This will allow them rights to edit the account, change the password of the account, and perform all the functions available on the Edit screen, including adding sponsors themselves. 

To add a sponsor for an account:

1. Navigate to the Courtesy Accounts homepage, find the account you'd like to change the password for (use the filter box to search), and click the Edit button on the right side of the screen.
2. Enter a valid CU email address in the box under the list of sponsors.
3. If the account has a Gmail Inbox, and you'd like to add the new sponsor to the list of Email Delegates, check the box below the New Sponsor field. 
4. Click Add Sponsor.

If the email address is a valid choice for a sponsor of this account, it will be added. 

If the account has a Gmail inbox, you may add inbox delegates (without granting them access to the account as sponsors) in a similar fashion, using the Email Delegate List. 

Email Inbox Delegates have permissions to see and use the Gmail inbox of the Courtesy Account as if it were their own, including sending, receiving and managing emails on behalf of that account. For more information, please see Access and Manage a Delegated Email Account

To remove a Sponsor or Email Delegate, click remove next to their name & email address. You may not remove yourself as a Sponsor. If you no longer need access to an account, pass it off to a new sponsor, and ask them to remove you, or submit a ticket to Information Technology.

Disabling a Courtesy Account

If a Courtesy Account hasn't expired, but you're done using it, you can disable it immediately. 

To add a sponsor for an account, navigate to the Courtesy Accounts homepage, find the account you'd like to change the password for (use the filter box to search), and click the Disable button on the right side of the screen.

If you need the account re-enabled after that moment, please submit a ticket to Information Technology.