Alias ID Information

PSUs can now opt-in to use an Alias ID for their username in the NCEdCloud IAM Service (in addition to their state UID), to log into their accounts. The password will remain unchanged and will work for either username value. Alias ID can be set up for Staff, Students, or Both. LEA Administrators can access the Opt-In request form to the right.

Email Address

PSUs can choose Alias IDs to be their users' email address, as maintained in the IAM Service. If using email address, PSUs don't need to do anything special other than making sure all of their users have an email address listed in the NCEdCloud portal. Users without an email address in the NCEdCloud won't be able to take advantage of Alias ID, however, they can still login with their UID. The email address option for Alias ID is the easiest to implement, taking a week or two to complete.

Local ID File

If you choose to use a Local Account username for your Alias ID, this requires you to upload a nightly file to NCDPI with your users' account names/usernames and the UID to match their accounts in the NCEdCloud. Since local user account names are not inherently unique across the state, like email address, they must include a PSU component to make them unique. For example a username of jsmith could have a PSU abbriviation added to the name - jsmith.psu - or they can be fully "scoped" with the PSU's domain - jsmith@psu.k12.nc, similar to an email.

The use of a Local ID may require a meeting between the PSU, DPI, and the vendor, to discuss file and record requirements and formatting details. It also takes a bit longer to implement as eMFTS folders must be setup and the file must be tested, prior to moving it to production. PSUs selecting this option can expect it to take 2-3 weeks before Alias IDs can be populated in the NCEdCloud.

Local ID User Record Data Elements:

UID
Alias ID value (scoped to be unique across the state)
LEA Code (3-digit)
Population Type ("Staff", "Student", or "Both")
"Date" (of record/file creation)

FAQs

If we choose Email Address, what will happen if a user does not have one in the IAM Service?

Since the Alias ID is an additional way to login to the NCEdCloud, if a user's email address is not present they can still login using their UID.

Please see the following FAQ for further information about getting email addresses into the NCEdCloud IAM Service: https://ncedcloud-dev.mcnc.org/content/why-employees-email-wrong-or-missing-ncedcloud-iam-service

Can an email address be used to login?

The default username for both staff and students is the numeric (up to 10 digits) state UID. However, we have also implemented an enhancement to allow PSUs to opt-in to using an "Alias ID". This can be the user's email address (staff and/or students), or if the PSU provides a nightly file upload, a "local ID", usually the local username used in Active Directory or another directory.

LEA Administrators interested in using an Alias ID to login should check out the Alias ID page under Opt-In Features. (It's also linked above).

Why can't some of our users log in with their email address?

There are a couple of reasons why a user who HAS an email in NCEdCloud, and whose PSU has opted-in to using Alias ID, can't log in with their email.

If the user's email address contains an apostrophe, for example, "John.O'Neil@psu.net", the user will not be able to log in with their email address. For NCEdCloud (and most other directories), an apostrophe is an illegal character for the Username. Therefore, it can't be used as an alternate Username for UID. If the email address has the apostrophe removed in the source data (PowerSchool, LINQ HR or HRMS), it will be added the following day and can then be used in place of the UID for Username.
If the user's email is found in another record in the NCEdCloud (usually an "inactive" record of a former employee or student, or if the user had another UID and that record was disabled), it is considered a "duplicate" Alias ID and won't be added to their record. The email address that's a duplicate will need to be removed from the old/inactive account to fix the problem. This will required a ticket being submitted to NCEdCloud support.

Can users change their email address in their NCEdCloud account?

Users are not able to edit their profiles to add/change their email address in the IAM Service. Email address is populated from the nightly source data. Email address for students always comes from their Student System record. Employee email address is prioritized in the following order: PowerSchool records, LINQ HR, and lastly HRMS. The nightly data feed uses the first email address it finds for an employee in that specific order. If a teacher has an email address in PowerSchool AND in HRMS, only the address in PowerSchool will be captured and sent in the nightly updates to NCEdCloud.

It is recommend that PSUs populate email addresses for all their users, as some target applications require the email address for user accounts. Without having email associated with the provisioned/rostered user account, functionality of those target applications could be significantly impacted.

Unfortunately, we have been having intermittent issues with employee emails not populating NCEdCloud accounts for several years now. While we have been able to repair and improve certain parts of this process, it still is not functioning reliably.

Employee emails entered in the NC SIS (PowerSchool) will populate into NCEdCloud correctly. There are rarely any issues with this process.

Employee emails entered in LINQ or HRMS will not reliably populate NCEdCloud accounts. This data may or may not be populated in its entirety across a PSU, and it may or may not be consistent each day.

Lastly, If the PSU opts in to using Alias ID with email addresses, those users without an email address will only be able to use their UID as their Username when logging into the NCEdCloud IAM Service.

How do I select my preferred email address?

Users who have more than one valid email address (e.g. they have active assignments in two or more PSUs with an email address issued by each PSU), may now see all valid emails in the IAM service. Those users will have the ability to choose a preferred email address from within their Profile settings in my.ncedcloud.org.

The preferred email address will be the one used by the NCEdCloud IAM Service when populating “email address” for integrated Target Applications. To choose a preferred email address, click on your name at the top right of the page (in the red bar), and click on Profile Settings. Then click on the red "edit profile" button at the bottom of your settings block. You will then be able to set your primary email address in the email dropdown.

What is meant by "Scoped to be unique across the state" for the local username option?

Because the NCEdCloud IAM Service is a statewide service for all K-12 public & public charter schools, name collisions are inevitable if only the usernames are supplied. It is therefore necessary for each PSU that elects the 'local username' option to add a qualifier to the uploaded data. One example would be to append '@psuXXX' to the local username, such as "username@psu000".

If we choose local username option, where would we upload our data?

Prior to implementaion you will be invited to a conference call where the details of the upload process will be discussed. Each PSU will have a unique SFTP destination for their data.

If we choose local username option, how often would we upload data?

PSUs should upload their file once each day for processing nightly.

Alias ID Opt-In Form

Any PSU Technology Director or other staff member with the NCEdCloud Privileged Role of LEA Administrator, can opt-in to the use of Alias IDs by submitting the Alias ID Request Form.

Note: Configuration to use Alias IDs for a PSU typically takes 1 to 2 weeks to complete.

Invalid Alias IDs

Since the Alias ID will be used as an alternate username, there are a few validation checks that must take place to prevent an invalid email address or Local ID from being added to NCEdCloud accounts.