Sponsor a Person to get a Regular Uniqname Plus UMID

This document details the steps for using the Sponsor System to get a UMID, uniqname, and UMICH (Level-1) password for a person who needs access to U-M Computing services. This includes contractors, academic affiliates, or other university affiliates, as well as incoming faculty or staff (including temporary employees) who need computing accounts before their hire date.

Contents

Sponsor a Person Who Already Has a UMID or Alumni ID

  1. Log in to the Sponsor System using your uniqname, UMICH password and two-factor authentication.

Note: You must be on a U-M network to log in. If you need to connect from off-campus or via wireless, you can do so by using the U-M Virtual Private Network (VPN).

  1. Click Create at the top of the page to display the Sponsor People page.
  2. Enter the name of the sponsoring department in the Department field.
  3. Select the applicable business reason to specify the type of person from the Reason drop-down list under the Regular Uniqname Plus UMID subheading.
  4. Enter the uniqname of the U-M employee who requested the sponsorship.
  5. Enter an applicable date, up to a maximum of one year, in the Expiry Date field.

Note: The sponsorship will expire on the expiry date. The sponsored person's uniqname and password will stop working, and he or she will lose all access to U-M computing services.

  • The recommended length for incoming Faculty/Staff is six months.You can extend the sponsorship at any time, up to a maximum of one year, as long as it has not yet expired.
  • Other University Affiliates, Contractors, and Academic Affiliates can have up to a maximum of one year.
  1. Check the box(es) next to the person(s) you want to receive email confirmation and password setup instructions for the sponsorship.

Important! If you do not select an email to be sent to the sponsored person, you need to communicate with the sponsored person and instruct them to set up their password at accounts.it.umich.edu/password/set/.

  1. Check the box(es) next to the person(s) you want to receive email notice before the sponsorship expires at 45 and/or 14 days prior to the expiry date.

Note: The checkboxes for these email notices do not display if the sponsorship time frame is less than 45 or 14 days.

  1. Enter appropriate information as needed in the Notes box.
  2. Click Next.
  3. Enter the uniqname or UMID of the person in the search field, or click Advanced person search and complete the applicable advanced search fields to search for the person using personal information.

Important! If the person was affiliated with U-M for any reason in the past, it is important to carefully search for the person so that you do not create a duplicate record.

  1. Click Search.
  2. If the correct person appears in the search results, click + Sponsor at the end of that person’s row.
  3. If the person does not have a uniqname:
  • Complete the required and applicable fields.
  • Click Next.
  • Click a uniqname suggestion or enter a specific uniqname.
  • If the uniqname is available, click Next.

Important! If a requested uniqname is not available, it is recommended that you review the uniqname options with the sponsored individual before choosing a uniqname. Once a uniqname is generated, it is difficult to change. See Changing Your Uniqname for more information.

  1. Review the person’s information that displays.

Note: When sponsoring a person who previously had an account, review all the information carefully as it is likely that a phone number or email address may need to be updated.

  1. To add or update information, click Edit Pencil icon at the top right of the section you need to edit.
  2. Add or update information in the applicable field(s).
  3. Click Done at the bottom of a section when you have completed editing the section.
  4. Click Create Sponsorship.

Sponsoring a Person Who Does Not Yet Have a UMID or Alumni ID

  1. Log in to the Sponsor System using your uniqname, UMICH password, and two-factor authentication.

Note: You must be on a U-M network to log in. If you need to connect from off-campus or via wireless, you can do so by using the U-M Virtual Private Network (VPN).

  1. Click Create at the top of the page to display the Sponsor People page.
  2. Enter the name of the sponsoring department in the Department field.
  3. Select the applicable business reason to specify the type of person from the Reason drop-down list under the Regular Uniqname Plus UMID subheading.
  4. Enter the uniqname of the U-M employee who requested the sponsorship.
  5. Enter an applicable date in the Expiry Date field.

Note: The sponsorship will expire on the expiry date. The sponsored person's uniqname and password will stop working, and he or she will lose all access to U-M computing services.

  • The recommended length for incoming Faculty/Staff is six months.You can extend the sponsorship at any time, up to a maximum of one year, as long as it has not yet expired.
  • Other University Affiliates, Contractors, and Academic Affiliates can have up to a maximum of one year.
  1. Check the box(es) next to the person(s) you want to receive email confirmation and password setup instructions for the sponsorship.

Important! If you do not select an email to be sent to the sponsored person, you need to communicate with the sponsored person and instruct them to set up their password at accounts.it.umich.edu/password/set/.

  1. Check the box(es) next to the person(s) you want to receive email notice before the sponsorship expires at 45 and/or 14 days prior to the expiry date.

Note: The checkboxes for these email notices do not display if the sponsorship time frame is less than 45 or 14 days.

  1. Enter appropriate information as needed in the Notes box.
  2. Click Next.
  3. Click Advanced person search and complete the applicable advanced search fields to search for the person using personal information.

Important! If the person was affiliated with U-M for any reason in the past, it is important to carefully search for the person so that you do not create a duplicate record.

  1. Click Search and:
  • If the person does not appear in the search results, click + Create a new uniqname.
  • If you find an entry for the person you want to sponsor, click + Sponsor at the end of that person’s row.
  1. Complete the required and applicable fields.
  2. Click Next.
  3. Click a uniqname suggestion or enter a specific uniqname.
  4. If the uniqname is available, click Next.

Important! If a requested uniqname is not available, it is recommended that you review the uniqname options with the sponsored individual before choosing a uniqname. Once a uniqname is generated, it is difficult to change. See Changing Your Uniqname for more information.

  1. Review the person’s information that displays.
  2. To add or update information, click Edit pencil icon at the top right of the section you need to edit.
  3. Add or update information in the applicable field(s).
  4. Click Done at the bottom of a section when you have completed editing the section.
  5. Click Create Sponsorship.

Important! Note the UMID and uniqname for your records. You may need them for requesting computing services or filling out employment or other paperwork.

Requesting Additional Services

Sponsored affiliates automatically receive some services, and others can be requested. The services received depend on the Sponsorship Business Reason selected when the sponsorship is set up. See this public ITS Knowledge Base article for details: Services Received for Sponsored Uniqnames.

  • Departments can request access to My LINC. If sponsored people need access to take training courses in My LINC, departments can submit a request to the ITS Service Center.
  • Departments can request printing. If sponsored people need a printing allocation, departments can request this on the Print Account Provisioning page.
  • Sponsored affiliates can request access to Adobe Creative Cloud. Use this online form: University of Michigan Adobe Access Requests.

Extend or Edit a Sponsorship

To extend a sponsorship, change its Expiry date.

  1. Log in to the Sponsor System. You will see a View and Modify Sponsorships screen. From this screen, you can update the expiry date of one or more sponsorships and edit individual sponsorship entries.
  2. To change the sponsorship expiry date, select the checkbox of one or more sponsorships.
  3. Enter the new expiry date In the date field below the list.
  4. Click Update Selected.
  5. To view or change a person’s information, click the uniqname of the sponsored person.
  6. Click Edit pencil icon at the top right of the section you need to edit.
  7. Add or update information in the applicable field(s).
  8. Click Done at the bottom of a section when you have completed editing the section.
  9. To view or change the Expiry Notification settings for a sponsorship, click Edit under the Expiry Notification heading.
  10. Click the checkbox(es) of the notification options you want to change.
  11. Click Save.

Create a Report of Sponsorships

When you log into the Sponsor System, it defaults to show the list of existing sponsorships of the department(s) for which you are a Sponsorship Administrator.

  1. You can sort the information by clicking the arrows next to any of the column headings. This is a convenient way to sort sponsorships by department, for example, if you are an administrator for multiple departments. You can increase the number of rows per page if it makes viewing the information more convenient.
  2. To create a more specific list, click Advanced Search for All Sponsorships above the list.This feature allows you to specify Department Group, Sponsorship Reason, and a range for sponsorship start date and/or end date.
  3. After specifying one or more criteria, click Search.
  4. When the sponsorship information is sorted in a way that fits your purposes, click Export List to export the sponsorship information to an Excel spreadsheet.

Transitioning from Sponsored to Employed

Incoming faculty and staff members will transition from being sponsored to being regular members of the university community when they complete the hiring process and have an entry in Wolverine Access as faculty or staff. After this happens, the person no longer needs a sponsorship. The sponsorship can be allowed to expire with no ill effects. As a faculty or staff member, the formerly sponsored person will continue to receive standard computing services.

If the incoming faculty or staff member does not complete the hiring process within six months, you will need to extend the sponsorship to avoid termination of computing services.

Temporary staff members will retain use of their uniqname and computing services for as long as they remain a university employee (whether they remain temporary or become a regular staff member). The sponsorship can be allowed to expire with no ill effects.

Non-student temporary staff who are hired through eRecruit get a uniqname during the hiring process. If a non-student temporary staff member is hired outside of the eRecruit process, the person can be sponsored to get a uniqname.

Appendix: Tips for Searching the System to Prevent Duplicates

Before you sponsor someone to get a Regular Uniqname and UMID, you are prompted to do a search to see if this individual already has an entry in U-M systems. Your goal is to find any other entry, especially if the person already has a uniqname and/or UMID or Alumni ID. You can then add your sponsorship to this individual's entry.

You do this to prevent the creation of duplicate entries and the creation of multiple uniqnames for one person. Duplicate entries and multiple uniqnames create confusion, interfere with access to computing resources, and take many staff hours to correct. You can prevent these problems by conducting a thorough search to see if the person you want to sponsor is already in the system.

The Sponsor System's search tool searches data in MCommunity that comes from these data sources:

  • Wolverine Access for faculty, staff, retirees, and professors emeritus for all three campuses, as well as for Ann Arbor students.
  • MCommunity, which consolidates identity information from Wolverine Access as well as from:
    • MCommunity Sponsor System for sponsored individuals
    • Dearborn Banner System for Dearborn students
    • Flint Banner System for Flint students
    • Donor Alumni Relationship Tool (DART) for alumni

​​When searching:

  • Find as many potential matches as you can.
  • Examine the potential matches carefully

Tips: Find as Many Potential Matches as You Can

  • Try searching by the first few letters of the person's last name to help you catch possible misspellings of the name. If you get too many results, add more letters to your search.
  • Try searching by likely misspellings of the person's name (for example, Smith and Smyth, Lee and Li, Mitchell and Michell).
  • Try searching on common nicknames or variations of the first name (for example, Jim, James, Jimmy).
  • Ask if the person has a former name, such as a different last name because of marriage or divorce, and search for that former name. The person may already be listed in the system under that name, and you can then update the entry and add your sponsorship.
  • Try switching the first and last name if the person is from a country where family name or surname is traditionally listed first.
  • If you have information such as Social Security Number, birth date, and so on, use it in your search.
Last Updated: 
Saturday, June 24, 2023