CIRCLE automatic registration

Source	Paolo G. Meozzi
Release date	27/09/2000
Contributor	bulanmir

Automatic registration

Automated enrolment of new users in public interest groups (IG) is a very welcome feature in CIRCLE/CIRCA 2.2.

There will be two new default user access classes: Anonymous and Registered. These classes replace the current class "Public".

Any user who has not yet logged in is automatically in class "Anonymous". The IG leader decides in the Administration menu whether his group is visible to these users and which access rights they have.

Registered users are those who are in the site directory, but not members of the group (this includes also member of other groups). The IG leader decides in the Administration menu whether his/her group is visible to the users and what access rights they have. The access rights for "Registered" always comprise the access rights of "Public; the access rights for any IG member (independent of its class) always comprise the rights of "Anonymous" and "Public".

When and how to use Self Register

1. An anonymous user, who wants to become registered, has to click on the Self Register" button on the home page of the CIRCA site. He is then presented with a form containing all usual fields for the user registration in the site directory except for the fields user-ID and password. The fields "Name", "First Name", "E-mail", "Telephone", and "Address" are mandatory. To avoid multiple registration of the same user, the system checks the E-mail field against any existing users in the site directory and the Central User Directory (if any).

2. After a user has registered, a unique user name of 8 characters will be generated (based on the 5+3 rule), and also an 8-character initial password will be generated. Username and password are sent to a user by E-mail.

3. A registered user can apply for membership of any IG which is visible to him by clicking on the icon of this group on the CIRCA site home page.

4. He/She will be shown a selection box with the possible user access classes for this group (except "leader"). The IG leader can set the default in the administration area of his group.

5. Every day at a time selected by the IG leader, the IG leader is sent an E-mail stating that there are new users having applied for membership of his group (provided there are any).

6. In the administration section of the IG, there is a menu item: "Applications for membership".

7. The IG leader will be presented with a list of the users who have applied (user-ID, Name, Organisation) and a selection box, where the user access class selected by the new member is displayed as default. The IG leader can with this selection box either accept the proposed user access class or modify the user access class to any other valid user access class (including "leader") or can "refuse" the membership or can "postpone" the decision. With the "send" button the new memberships become valid. The new members are informed automatically by E-mail (except in case of "postpone", because there is no change and the user will appear in the next "Applications for membership" list again.

8. The IG leader, even when having no access to the Site Directory, can add new users to his IG by filling out the same questionnaire as under "1", he/she has to assign the user access class immediately in this case.

The functionality is available only for users who belongs to class 'Leader' in an Interest Group. Proceed as follow:

a) Select Directory

b) Select Add Member

c) Select Add Member using self register

Bulk upload

Upload new users in an Interest Group (will be implemented in version 2.4 in December 2000)

IG-leaders can use the bulk upload functionality in order to upload new members of their IG even if these users do no exist in the Site Directory.

The lines that correspond to these new users should not have the username attribute defined, so that each new person will be created following the Self Registration rules.

Upload members of their IG or bulk modify

IG leaders can upload members of their IG or bulk modify the member status using the Self Registration functionality internally.

Registration rules

· Users are responsible for their personal data and no bulk modification is allowed of that.

· Site directory administrators can manually change the data of a user.

· The only attribute that can be changed with the bulk upload mechanism is the class where a user belongs.

· Both username (unless generated) and e-mail need to be unique.

· IG leaders are not allowed to create the username (ID).

· Information, error message, is provided when a line is rejected.

Preparation of an Excel-file:

· Before initiating user upload to the Site Directory and to the Interest Group you need to prepare the user file in text format that contains all the information associated with the users that you intend to upload. The file format should be compatible with MS Excel text format (tab delimited Excel file).

· Row 1 in the template contains the Header. It must always be present and exactly as shown in the template (same titles, same order of columns).

First Name = the person's first name (*)

Surname = the person's surname (*)

Title = the person's title

Organisation = the person's organisation

E-mail = addresses the person's E-mail address (*)

Phone = the person's phone number

Fax = the person's fax number

URL address = the person's URL address

Please note that this information has expired.