User Management

Every user who is a member of a site has a specific site role. The functions that users can perform are dependent on the role assigned to them. One of the following three roles can be assigned to a user:

  1. Administrator  (Performs all the administrative functions and is considered as a superuser)
  2. Instructor (Content authoring and acts as an instructor)
  3. Learner

Self Signup

The site can be configured to allow self signup by the users. Self signup feature can be enabled by the admin from the Site Admin->Site Details->Security tab. Refer to the Security Category section in Controlling the Behavior through Options for more detail. If self signup is enabled, users can click on the Signup link on the login page or from the site header. All accounts created through the self signup process start with the role set to Learner. Site administrators can change the user's role to either of the other two roles later on.

 

Bulk User Creation

Administrators can also create new user accounts by using the bulk user creation option by clicking Users->Upload Users.

User data can be uploaded using a CSV file (Download Sample CSV) or by entering the data directly in the edit area.

Specify comma-separated values for username, firstname, lastname, email, role, password, group, status. Each row represents a new user.

Group 

For group data, semicolon-separated group names or group codes can be entered in the CSV file. To handle hierarchical groups, enter the path of the group using forward slash as the level separator. For example, 

The same input can be specified by using group codes (without requiring hierarchical representation in the CSV, even if groups are hierarchical) when unique group codes are set up in the site. 

 

Password options

Initial passwords for the users would be "Password". Alternatively, you can select other options to either generate or specify the initial passwords:

(a) If the random password radio button is selected then the system generates a different random password for every user.

(b) If 6th token button is selected then, specify the password in the comma-separated values after the role for each individual users e.g. if the password is welcome123

jsmith, John, Smith, jsmith@acme.org, student, welcome123

(c) If the common password button is selected then each user will get the same password as defined by the administrator.

This information can then be accessed by the site administrator from the User List page (Users menu).

Welcome email

You can also select the option to send a welcome email to the newly created user accounts.

Request Password Reset

You can also enable the request password reset option. If enabled, a message will be displayed to the user instructing him/her to change the password until the user changes the account password. 

Group Enrollment

An option is also available to subscribe the newly created users to one or more site groups during the user creation process itself. Select the option "Show Groups to Subscribe" and select the group(s) to subscribe the user to.

Uploading Custom User Fields

If you have created additional user fields in the microsite, such as SSN, Department, Supervisor... etc., then by adding a field specifier row as the first row, you can use the bulk upload method to create multiple users with all their custom field values specified in the input.

To specify custom fields in bulk upload -

a. CSV file format - In the header row, add custom field names and specify values for that field in the users' record.

b. If entering data in edit box -

  • Create the first row in the input as a header row by putting # (hash) character at the beginning of the row
  • Specify the column names using comma-separated values. E.g. #userName,firstName,lastName,email,SSN,dept
  • Make sure the following rows contain all the field values (or blank and comma) in the specified sequence. 
  • You can also use this method to specify the field order in the input if your input has these fields in a different order.

User data update using bulk upload

An existing user's profile data can be updated using the bulk upload option. For that, create a CSV file having header as username and comma-separated other fields those you want to update. Users' status can be updated using column name status. For the timezone use 'tz' as the column heading. 

Update users password using bulk upload

A CSV file can be created using two columns - userName and password. Using the upload users option, the CSV file can be uploaded. Be certain to select the option for  'Update existing user' for updating users' data or it will presume you are adding new users.  

 

Single User Creation

To create a single user account, a site admin can go to Users->Create User page and then click on the Create User button. Specify the username, email, password, FirstName, LastName, and any other mandatory custom properties. 

A welcome email can be sent at user creation time if the 'Send welcome email' setting is enabled.

The 'Request password reset' setting can be enabled and, if checked, the user(s) will see a message instructing them to change the password upon each login until the user changes the password. 

User's view with password reset request message.

 

Edit Existing User

User account details can be edited by site administrators (or the user him/her self). This can be done by searching the necessary user(s) from the Users-> View Users page. Use the search panel to search for users.

Once the list of users is displayed, some things can be mass updated by selecting the checkboxes for each user and using the appropriate option present in 'Choose an action menu'. These are -

  • Set the end date for the user
    • This is the date beyond which the user would not be able to login to the site.
  • Forcibly activate/deactivate user(s) 
    • This allows/prevents the user(s) from logging in.
  • Reset Password (using a system-generated password)
  • Send Welcome/password Reset Email
  • Enroll Members to Course sessions
  • Enroll Members to Program sessions
  • Add users to Groups

Certain parameters can, however, be edited only one user at a time. For that click the 'edit' link for each user row.

  • First Name and Last Name
  • Email
  • Site Role
  • Request password reset on next login
  • Reset Password

User List - Search/View Existing Users

Only site administrators are allowed to access the user list page. Any site administrator can use the menu item Users -> View Users to view the User list page.

A search can be performed by entering the user's first name, last name, or email address in the User field. For an exact user name search (searching a user having exact match first name and last name) enter the full name in double quotes.

Search Filters - There are various filters available to filter user lists such as using the creation date range, a user's role, the user's group and using custom properties. Searches based on different filter values can be saved for future use, and, when needed, the pre-saved search criteria can be selected from the 'Saved Searches' dropdown. 

The following actions can be performed in bulk on selected users.

Reset Password

From the user list, you can select multiple users and reset their password with randomly generated ones. Users can use the 'forgot password' link to reset their password and gain access to the system.

Bulk Update Password

This option appears only if the site custom property (BULK_UPDATE_PASSWORD=true) is enabled. From the user list, an admin can update all site users' passwords (excluding site admin/instructor) by providing a new password (same for all users).

Sending Password Reset Link

To send the password link (via email) to a user, search for active users and select the particular user(s) and click on the Send Password Reset Email option present in the 'Choose an action' menu.

(Re)Sending Welcome Email

To (re)send the welcome email, select the users from the list and click on Send Welcome Email option present in 'Choose an action' menu.

Enroll Members in Course Sessions

Multiple selected users can be enrolled in multiple course sessions (Please note when enrolling user from user list page - no validation about user's group membership is performed on enrolling a user in a course session)

Enroll Members in Program Sessions

Multiple selected users can be enrolled in multiple program sessions. (Please note when enrolling user from user list page - no validation about user's group membership is performed on enrolling a user in a program session)

Add To Groups

Multiple selected users can be added to multiple groups.

Activating inactive users

Only site administrators can activate inactive users. Select the Inactive user checkbox on the user list page to filter to inactive users (you can also do username search just like you do for active users). After the inactive user list is displayed, you can select user(s) from the list and click the Activate button to make them active again.

 

Deactivating Users

Users can be deactivated in more than one way. The process is discussed in detail in the User Deactivation article.

 

 


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