User Name Changes - Across multiple systems....

[pseudo]

Hey,

 

First post here.

 

Just wondering how (policies & procedures) everyone facilitates name change requests if someone gets married, legally changes their name or due to a data entry error etc... This is starting to become a big problem for me as I have 3 databases, 20+ SSO applications (some of which cannot be updated automatically), our phone systems, our financial system and the list goes on. This process spans 4 departments and requires multiple tickets created depending on what systems the user is using.

 

Currently we have users use [email protected] as their username/logins, which requires that we change this when we update their name. Does anyone use a static UPN/Login and assign an email alias instead? Do you even do name changes?

 

Any help or ideas would be MUCH appreciated.

[AM369]

We use initials to form UPNs and then have a first name + surname format added as an alias. Name changes then result in additional aliases. Procedure is typically a change by HR to our MIS after which we're informed to update as needed. Systems that don't auto update often remain unchanged unless we're asked

[p858snake]

Not IT here but end user, Generally username won't get changed (there are circumstances it will), Display name and email address (with the old staying as alias) will be updated and those will sync via various systems.

[jthompson]

Name changes are generally quite important for end users, especially so for students who are transitioning.

 

It's true that it's got more complicated in these days of complex data flows between systems, but arguably that makes it more important to document how it is to be done each time.

 

Once a name change has been confirmed officially and applied to the MIS, we follow a documented set of steps to apply that to Active Directory/Azure, Google, and any other places where it'll be needed. If that's going to involve waiting for an overnight sync or something, then set a task for the following day make sure it gets completed.

[pseudo]

We use initials to form UPNs and then have a first name + surname format added as an alias. Name changes then result in additional aliases. Procedure is typically a change by HR to our MIS after which we're informed to update as needed. Systems that don't auto update often remain unchanged unless we're asked

How do you manage the email alias's?

[AM369]

How do you manage the email alias's?

Our accounts are synced from AD so alias gets added as a proxy address attribute. Although now that I think about it, we did undergo a domain migration a few years back so we got a chance to tidy this and remove unused alias and emails.

[msi_school]

Modern schools and in fact any large organisation have so many linked processes, SSOs and the like that using a users name as their unique identifier is madness in my school of 1500 students we have about 2 name changes a terms due to all sorts of reasons and they are always complex to carry out.

 

If instead of using the users name we used a unique identifier such as a cohort year plus a random string this would be resolved. The users display names, email alias & etc can then be set to the users chosen name without breaking any of these complex interactions.

[psydii]

From the guy who worked on DOS 4 and Lan Manager: https://twitter.com/osterman/status/1435984552518770691

[3s-gtech]

If instead of using the users name we used a unique identifier such as a cohort year plus a random string this would be resolved. The users display names, email alias & etc can then be set to the users chosen name without breaking any of these complex interactions.

This is what we do, for students at least (and their names can be changeable!) For staff that get married, it's a faff but manageable.

[kennysarmy]

Our procedure for email when staff get married.

 

In AD, click view > Advanced features

Find the user manually (Attribute Editor tab won't appear if user located via search)

Right click > Properties > "Attribute Editor" tab

Edit proxyAddresses: SMTP to new email address (entry with uppercase SMTP, click remove and it will go into the "Value To Add" field)

Add new proxy details : smtp old email address (will become an Alias)

 

Connect to Office 365 via Powershell - link

Set-MSOlUserPrincipalName -UserPrincipalName "[email protected]" -NewUserPrincipalName "[email protected]"

[jthompson]

Out of interest, for those using unique ids and then adding names as an email alias, are those unique ids still the primary address that your users' mailboxes will be using? i.e. the address that they sign in with and the address that messages are sent from by default?

[pseudo]

Modern schools and in fact any large organisation have so many linked processes, SSOs and the like that using a users name as their unique identifier is madness in my school of 1500 students we have about 2 name changes a terms due to all sorts of reasons and they are always complex to carry out.

 

If instead of using the users name we used a unique identifier such as a cohort year plus a random string this would be resolved. The users display names, email alias & etc can then be set to the users chosen name without breaking any of these complex interactions.

I've done over 60 name changes this year... Really frustrating as there is so much back and forth with the users and so many places to update.

 

 

Does anyone who uses a Unique ID instead of First.Last have any issues that came about from doing this? I will be putting in a proposal for using UID and email aliases sometime next year as this seems like the best way to go.

[msi_school]

Out of interest, for those using unique ids and then adding names as an email alias, are those unique ids still the primary address that your users' mailboxes will be using? i.e. the address that they sign in with and the address that messages are sent from by default?

 

Unfortunately I don't use this system, when I did suggest it it was decided that it would be too difficult for the students to remember there IDs even if we put them on their ID cards. Which is a potential weakness although I get plenty of students who cant log on to the computer or Office 365 everyday using their cohort+initial+surname.

 

For email the users primary email address can be different from their username in Office 365.

[kennysarmy]

I've done over 60 name changes this year... Really frustrating as there is so much back and forth with the users and so many places to update.

 

 

Does anyone who uses a Unique ID instead of First.Last have any issues that came about from doing this? I will be putting in a proposal for using UID and email aliases sometime next year as this seems like the best way to go.

 

All our students logon / email address prefix is their four-digit admission number!

[StephenPink]

The most annoying one for us is Managed Apple ID's - the name change syncs, but ends up creating a new account (possibly because ours are federated to Azure). This means that the data has to be downloaded and transferred to the new Apple ID. Everything else is pretty much automatic syncing from AD; new name becomes primary, old stays as alias.

[AM369]

Out of interest, for those using unique ids and then adding names as an email alias, are those unique ids still the primary address that your users' mailboxes will be using? i.e. the address that they sign in with and the address that messages are sent from by default?

Yes, our unique IDs are what staff and students use to sign in to emails\computers\printers etc with

Staff get aliases with the firstname + surname format and these are what are often shared with external users or used in any other third party software that needs an email (that isn't SSO).

Students dont get an alias and they remain with their unique ID email format to make it easier.