Username for the Alias ID
A user can use an Alias ID to login using an email address, a local account name, or a 10-digit UID within NCEdCloud portal.
To log into their account, PSUs can now choose to use an Alias ID instead of their state UID (in addition to their Alias ID). It is possible to set up Alias IDs for Staff, Students, or Both. LEA Administrators can do this by accessing the Opt-In request form on the right. Passwords will remain unchanged.
Email Address
As maintained in the IAM Service, PSUs can choose Alias IDs to be the users’ e-mail addresses. If using email addresses, PSUs need to make sure all of their users have e-mail addresses listed in the portal. It takes only a week or two to implement Alias ID for users without an email address in NCEdCloud, but they can still login with their UID. Users will not be able to take advantage of Alias ID if they do not have an email address in the NCEdCloud.
Local ID File
In order to use your Alias ID with a Local Account username, you will need to upload a nightly file to NCDPI with the user’s NCEdCloud UID and account name. To make local user account names unique across the state, they must contain a PSU component since they aren’t inherently unique like email addresses. Like an email address, a username of jsmith might be “scoped” with the PSU’s domain – jsmith.psu – or it might be [email protected].
Using a Local ID may require a meeting between the PSU, the DPI, and the vendor to discuss the format and requirements for files and records. Additionally, eMFTS folders need to be set up and the file tested before it can be moved into production. PSUs selecting this option should expect Alias IDs to be populated into NCEdCloud in 2-3 weeks.
Local ID User Record Data Elements:
- Identification number (UID)
- The alias ID value (scoped to be unique across the state)
- LEA Code (3-digit)
- Type of Population (Staff, Student, or Both)
- “Date” (of creation of record/file)
Frequently Asked Questions
What will happen if a user doesn’t have an email address in the IAM Service?
The Alias ID serves as an additional method of logging into the NCEdCloud if a user’s email address is not present.
Is it possible to log in using an email address?
Staff and students are defaulted to using the numeric state UID (up to 10 digits). We have also made it possible for PSUs to opt in to using an “Alias ID”. If a PSU provides a nightly file upload, the “local ID” is usually the user’s local username in Active Directory or another directory. It can be the user’s email address (staff and/or students).
Check out the Alias ID page under Opt-In Features for LEA Administrators interested in using an Alias ID. (It is also linked above).
Some of our users cannot log in using their email addresses. Why is that?
If your PSU has opted-in to use Alias ID, but you DO NOT have an email in NCEdCloud, you cannot log in with it.
- The user will not be able to log in with their email address if it contains an apostrophe, such as “John.O’[email protected]”. In NCEdCloud (as well as most other directories), an apostrophe is an illegal character for Usernames, so it cannot be used as an alternative Username for UIDs. The email address will be added the following day, and can then be used instead of UID for Username if the apostrophe has been removed in the source data (PowerSchool, LINQ HR or HRMS).
- A user’s email address will not be added to their record if it is found in another record in NCEdCloud (usually an inactive record of a former employee or student, or another UID that has been disabled). It will be considered a duplicate Alias ID and will not be added. A ticket will need to be submitted to NCEdCloud support for the email address to be removed from the old/inactive account.
Is it possible to change the email address in an NCEdCloud account?
IAM Service users cannot edit their profiles to add/change their email addresses. Email addresses are sourced from the nightly source data. The email addresses for students are always retrieved from the Student System. In the nightly data feed, the first email address found for an employee in that order is used: PowerSchool records, LINQ HR, and lastly HRMS. Only the email address in PowerSchool will be captured and sent to NCEdCloud in nightly updates if a teacher has an email address in both PowerSchool and HRMS.
Several target applications require email addresses for user accounts, so PSUs should populate them for all their users. Those target applications could be significantly impacted by the lack of email associated with the provisioned/rostered user account.
Despite our best efforts to repair and improve certain parts of this process, we have been encountering intermittent problems with employee emails not populating NCEdCloud accounts for several years now.
Email addresses entered in NC SIS (PowerSchool) will populate into NCEdCloud correctly. This rarely presents a problem.
Data from LINQ and HRMS is not reliably populated into NCEdCloud accounts. It may be inconsistent within a PSU and may not even be populated on a daily basis.
Additionally, those users without an email address will only be able to log into NCEdCloud IAM Service by using their UID as their username if the PSU uses Alias ID with email addresses.
Which email address should I use?
If a user has more than one valid email address (for example, they have active assignments in more than one PSU with email addresses issued by each PSU), the IAM service will now show all valid email addresses. Within my.ncedcloud.org’s Profile settings, users can choose a preferred email address.
In the NCEdCloud IAM Service, the preferred email address will be used when populating the “email address” field for integrated Target Applications. You can choose a preferred email address by clicking on your name at the top right of this page (in the red bar) and clicking on Profile Settings. At the bottom of the settings block, click on the red “edit profile” button. In the email dropdown box, you can select your primary email address.
In the local username option, what does “Scoped to be unique across the state” mean?
When only usernames are supplied to the NCEdCloud IAM Service, name collisions are inevitable as it is a statewide service. In order to upload data with the ‘local username’ option, it is necessary to add a qualifier to it. For example, ‘@psuXXX’ can be appended to a local username, such as “username@psu000.”
What is the location of the data upload if we choose the local username option?
Each PSU will have a unique SFTP destination. Before implementation, you will be invited to a conference call to discuss the upload process.
How often will data be uploaded if we choose the local username option?
Submitted files should be uploaded once each day for nightly processing by PSUs.
Alias ID Opt-In Form
PSU Technology Directors and other staff members with the NCEdCloud Privileged Role of LEA Administrator may request Alias IDs by submitting the Alias ID Request Form.
Typically, it takes 1 to 2 weeks to configure a PSU for Alias IDs.
Invalid Alias IDs
Due to the Alias ID’s use as an alternative username, there are a few validation checks that need to be performed to prevent the addition of an invalid email address or Local ID.
- Email addresses and Local IDs cannot contain apostrophes
- We won’t add duplicate Alias IDs (either matching an existing email address or Alias ID).
- An Alias ID can only be used with an email address that already exists in NCEdCloud