Understanding Guest IDs in Identity Management at UNC-Chapel Hill

As ITS News, in this continuing series, continues to explore the tools, processes, concepts and terms associated with ITS Identity Management, this post examines Guest IDs and the benefits of getting an Onyen early.

Understanding Guest IDs

Identity Management staff outside at a picnic table — ITS Identity Management team

What are Guest IDs?

When Campus Solutions first went live in 2009, and students applying for admission needed a way to access their admissions decision, the University determined that these students would need a different kind of login identifier from the Onyen. Thus, the Guest ID was created.

The Guest ID was initially intended only for pre-students, but it has since expanded to alumni, third-party proxy (parents/guardians) and former employees. Each type of population has its own registration page. Alumni and former employee registration will not create a new PID for users because those users should already be in the UNC-Chapel Hill system. However, applicant registration will create a new identity if a good match on an existing one can’t be found.

This basically means that anyone in the world can get a Guest ID. And Guest IDs can authenticate using Single Sign-on (SSO). In order to protect your application content, you must be performing good authorization checking to ensure you have the correct audience for your content. More on that in an upcoming post on authN vs. authZ.

If you have an app that you want Guest IDs to use, talk to Identity Management so the group can help ensure that the applications are being used securely.

Benefits of getting an Onyen early

How early can someone get an Onyen? What is the benefit of doing so?

Supervisors of new employees may like for a new employee to already be set up to start working as soon as they enter the door on their first day.

Identity Management receives new-employee data up to 90 days in advance of the employee’s start date, depending on when it is entered into the human resources system. Therefore, the users could have already created their Onyen well before they get to campus. This will enable support staff to set up their computers and access to other resources in advance of their first day at work.