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Temporary Account Policy

Temporary Account Policy

Policy Title Temporary Account Policy
Type or category of Policy: COLLEGE Policy
Approval Authority: Chief Information Officer
Responsible Executive: Chief Information Officer
Responsible Office: Information Technology Services
Owner Contact: Information Security Administrator informationsecurity@siena.edu
Reviewed By: Cabinet
Reviewed Date: 12/17/2012
Last Revised and Effective Date of Revision: 12/17/2012
Brief Overview of the Policy

This document defines policy and standard procedures for establishing short term, limited use temporary accounts for use by sponsoring departments when such accounts are needed.

Reason for Policy

The purpose of this policy is to establish a standard for the creation of temporary user accounts to allow for authorized system access at Siena College.

Scope of the Policy:

Entities or Individuals affected by this policy The scope of this policy applies to all departments that require temporary, short term system access (user accounts) at the College.

The Official Policy

This document defines policy and standard procedures for establishing short term, limited use temporary accounts for use by sponsoring departments when such accounts are needed to facilitate student workers, conferences, visitors, workshops and other special events where the anticipated users do not otherwise have access to the College’s network or authorized access to administrative systems.

Accounts with Multiple Users are not allowed by College policy, i.e. more than one person sharing an account.

It is recognized, however, that temporary accounts are required from time to time under special circumstances to accommodate various IT needs on campus. For example, student workers in the library, business office or institutional advancement may need short term accounts to access Banner, the Library’s catalog system, or Illiad (the ILL management software) in order to accomplish their assigned job responsibilities. Allowing another person to use another employee’s network account in order to have the required authorized access and related functionality is not allowed and should never take place. It is also a violation of College policy.

In order to accommodate this special access, Information Technology Services (ITS) will provide the following service:

  • A pool of Temporary Accounts will be provided to each office that requests such special IT accommodations.
  • Temporary Accounts are available for non-recurring needs.
  • The initial request must be made at least two weeks in advance of need by the department’s supervisor/director and requires the approval of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). ITS will not guarantee account creation with less than two calendar weeks lead time.
  • The requesting supervisor will need to appoint an “account custodian” who in turn will be responsible for the departmental administration of the Temporary Accounts.
  • The supervisor must submit the following information to ITS with each request:
    • Name of primary account custodian o Name of backup account custodian o Department/Office making the request
    • Account custodian’s phone number
    • Number of Temporary Accounts required o Purpose of the Temporary Accounts
    • Functionality/Access required o Activation date of the pool of accounts o Expiration date of the pool of accounts if less than one year
    • Is this a first time request or annual renewal?
    • Supervisor/Director approval within requesting department
  • Temporary Accounts must be associated with a named account custodian who holds a faculty, staff or administrative position with the College and who already has a network domain account. The account custodian must agree and accept responsibility for the temporary users’ network use for which he or she is an account custodian.
  • Once the Temporary Accounts have been approved and processed, the account custodian will receive the pool of accounts requested. Each account will have an assigned user name and default password. Prior to issuing the account to a student or temporary worker, the default password must be changed by the account custodian. It is the account custodian’s responsibility to maintain proper record keeping so that they know who has been assigned what account for tracking purposes. This is very important. This information must be maintained for one year from account activation.
  • Temporary Accounts are available only for programs and temporary users officially recognized by the College.
  • It is the responsibility of the account custodian to insure that Temporary Accounts and their passwords are not shared or transferred or assigned to any other person than named in the account.
  • Temporary Accounts, by default, will only be active for one year. On an annual basis, a department’s pool of Temporary Accounts will need to be reapproved and reactivated using the format stated above.

Individuals holding a Temporary Account are subject to the same terms and conditions, Policies and Regulations as any other computer user at the College. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the account custodian review the College’s Computing Use Policy with the user at the time the Temporary Account is provided to them and that their understanding of the policy is clear.

Temporary Accounts are granted at the discretion of the CIO and may be discontinued at any time, for any reason and without prior notice.

Exceptions

Exceptions can be granted in limited circumstances by the CIO based upon the needs of the College and upon the requestor’s written justification, which has been reviewed and approved by the College’s Risk Officer.

Adopted: 6/27/2012