How sponsorship administrators can use the MCommunity Sponsor System to reset UMICH (Level-1) passwords passwords for sponsored people with temporary uniqnames and some others. The ITS Service Center must reset passwords for most sponsored people with regular uniqnames.
Table of Contents
- Sponsored Individuals Can Change Their Own Passwords
- Who Resets Which Passwords
- Resetting UMICH Passwords Using the Sponsor System
- Communicating Passwords Securely
Sponsored Individuals Can Change Their Own Passwords
Sponsored people can change their own UMICH (Level-1) password at UMICH Account Management.
If, however, the sponsored person has forgotten his or her password, the password will need to be reset by either the ITS Service Center or a sponsorship administrator.
Who Resets Which Passwords
To reset someone's UMICH password when he/she has forgotten it, you must be certain the person's identity is verified. This way, you prevent unauthorized access to U-M computing resources; you protect other users of computing resources, the resources themselves, and the university's reputation. You must be able to verify the person's identity to make sure the uniqname associated with the reset password really is theirs. That's the key idea behind who is allowed to reset passwords for which sponsored people.
Self-Service Password Resets
Sponsored individuals who have set up a non-UMICH address email address for account recovery in UMICH Account Management can reset a forgotten password for themselves as long as they either have a UMID number or a date of birth on record. You can help sponsored individuals get set up to reset a forgotten UMICH password themselves by:
- Entering a date of birth when you set up a sponsorship
- Encouraging sponsored individuals to set an account recovery address in UMICH Account Management when they change their initial password to something only they know.
The ITS Service Center Resets Passwords for People with Wolverine Access Entries
The ITS Service Center resets forgotten UMICH passwords for faculty, staff (regular and temporary), students and alumni who have not yet set up an account recovery address. Service Center staff members have access to Wolverine Access and MCommunity, so they have access to enough identity information about these people to verify their identity over the phone or in person.
Most longer-term sponsored individuals are required to provide enough identity information (birthdate, address and so on) for an entry in Wolverine Access. Therefore, the ITS Service Center can verify their identity before resetting their password. This includes contractors, academic affiliates, temporary staff members, and incoming faculty and staff.
The Service Center can reset passwords for sponsored people who do not have Wolverine Access entries only in response to a request from the sponsoring unit when that unit has verified the person's identity.
Sponsorship Administrators Reset Passwords for Others
Shorter-term sponsored people, such as conference participants, as well as long-term guests, are required to provide only minimal identity information in order to be sponsored by a department or unit. They do not get an entry in Wolverine Access. The ITS Service Center does not have enough information to verify the identity of these people and must rely on the sponsoring unit to do so.
Sponsorship administrators for the sponsoring unit can reset passwords for long-term guests and for people with temporary uniqnames using the MCommunity Sponsor System—that is, for people who do not have Wolverine Access entries.
Why can't departments reset UMICH passwords for sponsored people who have Wolverine Access entries? It's a security issue. A sponsorship administrator can add a sponsorship to any member of the university community. For example, a sponsorship administrator could add a sponsorship to a faculty member in another department. Then, if departments were able to reset passwords for anyone they sponsor, the administrator could reset that individual's password. While most university employees are honest and would never do such a thing, allowing it would create a security risk.
Resetting UMICH Passwords Using the Sponsor System
Important! You must be a sponsorship administrator for the department or unit that sponsored the person who needs a password reset. Ideally, you will be resetting a password for someone whose sponsorship you set up.
Follow these steps to change the password for an existing sponsorship:
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Log in to the Sponsor System. You will see the View and Modify Sponsorships page. From this page, you can edit individual sponsorships and reset the password.
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Click a uniqname to see that person's sponsorship details.
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Click Reset password, and the password will be reset. The only change you will see is that the Reset password button has changed to View password.
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Click View password to view the new password.
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Click Hide password after you have saved the password or provided it to the sponsored person. Please communicate the password securely.
Tip: Troubleshooting: A grayed-out Reset Password button indicates that you cannot reset the person's password (most likely because there is not enough identity information on record for the ITS Service Center to verify identity). Direct the person to the ITS Service Center to have his/her password reset.
Communicating Passwords Securely
It is your responsibility to follow best practices for securely communicating passwords to sponsored individuals or requesters. You need to be sure that only the intended recipient has access to the password. If possible, help the person enroll in Duo. See Communicating Passwords Securely to Sponsored People for directions.