The new system, which is expected to be available in summer 2008, will be used by ITCS Accounts Office staff and by staff members throughout the University who need to create online identities (including uniqnames) for sponsored individuals. In the current system, uniqname administrators can create uniqnames for sponsored affiliates. In the future Sponsor System, sponsorship administrators will be able to create complete online identities with uniqnames, sponsorship start dates, and sponsorship end dates.

This document provides a preview of the system.

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What Is MCommunity?

MCommunity will replace the University's current uniqname management system and the U-M Online Directory.

To learn more about MCommunity, see Introduction to MCommunity (R1457).

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What Is the Sponsor System?

U-M staff members who currently use ITCS's uniqname system to create uniqnames via either WebUniq or the uns command-line tool will instead use the MCommunity Sponsor System to create sponsored identities (including uniqnames) via the web or via a command-line tool.

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Who Will Be Able to Use It?

Sponsor. A U-M unit that sponsors creation and/or management of identities in MCommunity.

Sponsoring Authority. A person who authorizes sponsorship administrators for specified University units and/or departments. It is the responsibility of the sponsoring authority to oversee the sponsorship administrators s/he has authorized and ensure that appropriate policies and guidelines are followed. For more about sponsoring authorities, see MCommunity Sponsoring Authority Policies and Agreement (R1460).

Requester. A person in the sponsoring department who initiates a request for creation of a sponsored identity. For example, a conference organizer might request a number of sponsored identities with uniqnames, or an administrative staff member might request a sponsored identity and uniqname for an incoming faculty member who needs early access to online resources.

Sponsorship administrators. The people who enter information into MCommunity using the Sponsor System to create sponsored identities, including uniqnames. For more about sponsorship administrators, see MCommunity Sponsorship Administration Policies and Agreement (R1459).

Departments can have their own sponsorship administrators to manage MCommunity identities for sponsored affiliates for their departments, or they can request that the ITCS Accounts Office manage those MCommunity identities for them.

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What Will the Sponsor System Do?

The Sponsor System basically allows units to sponsor people as members of the U-M community for specified periods of time. A sponsored affiliate may be sponsored by more than one unit.

Sponsorship administrators and ITCS Accounts Office staff members will create and manage entries for sponsored affiliates in MCommunity. The examples in the following sections show the range of things that sponsorship administrators and Accounts Office staff will be able to do. While we know generally how the system will work, the web interface has not yet been completed.

Here is an early draft of what the home page might look like.

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Example: Creating an Online Identity for a Sponsored Person

1. You'll begin by indicating that you want to create an online identity, perhaps by clicking an Add Person or Sponsor Person button.
2. The system will prompt you for information about the nature of the sponsorship, the person in your department who requested the sponsorship, and the person you want to sponsor. The amount of information required will depend on the reason for the sponsorship. If you are sponsoring an incoming faculty member, for example, you will be asked for more information than if you are sponsoring a conference attendee.
3. MCommunity will then search to see if that person already has a U-M online identity. If it finds a match, it will present a list of the matches and allow you to select one of them to sponsor or to create a new entry or identity. This step will help prevent creation of duplicate entries.
4. You'll then finish entering information about the sponsored affiliate and about the nature of the sponsorship, such as when it begins and ends. You'll also be able to select a uniqname.

Later in 2008, uniqname self-registration will be added to the Sponsor System, but this will not be available when the system is launched in June. This feature will let you choose to have the system send an e-mail message to the sponsored affiliate inviting them to visit a web site to select their own uniqname and password. The system will be able to notify you when they have done this.

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Example: Setting up Sponsorships for a Group of Conference Attendees

1. You will likely begin this task by indicating that the reason for the sponsorship is a conference. You'll then be prompted for some general information about the conference, such as start and end dates. You'll be asked to provide a prefix that will be included as part of each uniqname created for the attendees of the conference.
2. Next, you'll click an Add Person button to enter the first person into the system. For conference attendees, the only required information is first and last name. The system therefore will not have enough information to do a search to see if each person is already in the system. The search is not necessary anyway, because these identities will be temporary.
3. For each additional person, click the Add Another Person button and enter the appropriate information. The general information about the conference, such as the conference name and start and end dates, is automatically included for each person added.
4. When all the people have been added, you'll click a Finish Sponsorship button. The sytem will then create uniqnames for the conference attendees and provide you with a list of uniqnames and passwords to distribute to them.

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Example: Setting Up Multiple Sponsorships by Importing Data from a File

1. You'll begin by indicating the reason for your sponsorship. The amount of information required will depend on the reason selected for the sponsorship.
2. Next, you'll click a button labeled something like Add People From File.
3. You'll then click a button that will let you find the file on your computer and choose to upload it to MCommunity.
4. The system will search to see if any of the people you are sponsoring are already in MCommunity. It will show you any matches and let you either sponsor someone already in the system or enter a new identity.
5. You'll then click a Finish Sponsorship button, and you'll be provided with a list of uniqnames and passwords.

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Example: Making a Change to the Online Identity of a Sponsored Person

1. You'll begin by viewing the people in MCommunity that your unit sponsors. You'll be able to view a list if you wish or to do a search for a particular person.
2. Next, you'll select the person for whom you wish to make a change.
3. Then you'll be able to make changes to that sponsored person's identity information. You might, for example, extend the sponsorship time or correct a misspelling.
4. You'll save the information, perhaps by clicking a Save or Finish button of some kind.

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Example: Making a Change for a Group of Sponsored People

1. You will likely begin a task like this by doing a search. You might search by sponsorship start date or the name of the person who requested the sponsorship to help you find the appropriate group of sponsored people.
2. Once you have found a group of people who share a sponsorship, you can edit the sponsorship information for all of them at once.
3. When you save the change, the change will be made to the entries for each of the affected people.

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Additional Resources

Visit ITCS's Information System to obtain ITCS computer documentation and other resources. A list of relevant documents follows:

Introduction to MCommunity (R1457)

MCommunity Sponsorship Administration Policies and Agreement (R1459)

MCommunity Sponsoring Authority Policies and Agreement (R1460)

We welcome your comments; please send e-mail.

ITCS's Online Help Desk provides a variety of computing help resources.

Please direct questions about the MCommunity Project to the MCommunity leads at MCommunity.Leads@umich.edu.

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