Identity and Access Control

Service Owner: Andrew Johnson

NIU’s Division of Information Technology (DoIT) manages the university’s electronic identities and the related accounts, passwords, and permissions required to grant access privileges according to published policies and guidelines. DoIT ensures that all individuals and services are properly authenticated, authorized and audited.

Account Creation

  • Student Account IDs (Z-IDs) are created for every student.  Student email accounts are created when a student is admitted. 
  • Employee Account IDs are created when an employee is formally hired. 
  • Sponsored Account IDs are available for NIU affiliates, vendors, and other members of NIU community who are not actively employed or enrolled. These accounts require an NIU employee sponsor and expire if not actively extended. Sponsors may request accounts for their sponsee at it.niu.edu -> Request Services -> Create Sponsored Account

Account Termination

Students

Student Account IDs (Z-IDs) are disabled after a student separates or graduates from NIU.

  • It is recommended that before graduation,  all important emails and documents are saved to non-NIU resources.
  • Alumni who wish to retain a permanent NIU-branded email address may request an @alumni.niu.edu forwarding address by contacting the  NIU Alumni Association at  alums@niu.edu.
Staff who leave without retiring

Staff Employee Account IDs (except Graduate Assistants)  are disabled immediately upon separation from NIU and all permissions and authorizations removed. Only access to MyNIU HR is retained for 60 days from separation for access to Paystubs.

Graduate Assistant Account IDs will follow the following life cycle after employment ends:

  • Continued access to Office 365 applications, including email, for 120 days following separation.
  • Access to MyNIU HR self-service for 60 days following separation.
  • Access to MyNIU Student Admin system for 120 days following separation
  • Removal of access and roles to other MyNIU systems immediately after separation.
  • After a period of 120 days, the account will begin the deletion process from Office 365. Office 365 email and OneDrive data will not be accessible beyond that point. If the graduate assistant returns to active status within 120 days of initial separation, they will retain access to their NIU email and data for as long as they are an active employee. The process above restarts if the employment ends again.  
Faculty who leave without retiring

After a faculty* member leaves NIU, be it temporarily or permanently, the faculty employee’s network account (aka A-ID, accountID, or NovellID) will enter one of two stages. The steps below describe what a separated faculty member can expect:

  1. If the faculty member is ending a temporary appointment, which is the case for approximately 95% of separated faculty, they can expect the following actions on their account:
    1. Continued access to Office 365 applications, including email, for 365 days following separation.
    2. Access to MyNIU HR self-service for 90 days following separation.
    3. Access to MyNIU Student Admin system for 365 days following separation.
    4. Removal of access to MyNIU Financial Management System (FMS) immediately after separation.
    5. After a period of 365 days, the account will begin the deletion process from Office 365. Office 365 email and OneDrive data will not be accessible beyond that point. If the faculty employee returns to active status within 365 days of initial separation they will retain access to their NIU email and data for as long as they are an active employee. The process above restarts if they separate again.
  2. If the faculty member is separating from NIU for a reason detailed in Table 1 they can expect the following:
    1. Immediate disablement of all access associated with their network account, except for MyNIU HR self-service access which will remain for 60 days following separation. Systems that will not be accessible after separation include any university-wide or departmental system that is authenticated using NIU’s Active Directory services such as Office 365 Email and applications, OnBase, NIU Wireless, Anywhere Prints, Blackboard, MyNIU FMS, and the MyNIU student system.
    2. Access to MyNIU HR self-service for 60 days following separation.
    3. Removal of access to MyNIU Student Admin and MyNIU Financial Management System (FMS) immediately after separation.
    4. Immediate removal of Active Directory group memberships that exist.
    5. After a period of 60 days, the account will begin the deletion process from Office 365. Office 365 email and OneDrive data will not be accessible beyond this point. After the deletion process is complete, Office 365 email and OneDrive data will no longer be accessible.

*Faculty classifications impacted by this policy:

  • Tenure-track faculty
  • Tenured faculty
  • Clinical Professors
  • Research Professors
  • Professors of Practice (aka. Clinical or Research Professors)
  • UPI Instructors (50% or more FTE) and non-UPI Instructors (less than 50% FTE)
  • Visiting Professors (any range of FTE)
  • Adjunct professors

Table 1 –Reasons qualifying for immediate Faculty employee account disablement

Action

Reason

Description

TER

TRM

End of Terminal Contract

TER

NRH

Not Eligible for Rehire

TER

IRL

Inability to Return from Leave

TER

RES

Resignation

TER

DEA

Death


Retired Employees

On February 1st, 2024, we will be implementing the updated account lifecycle process for retired employee accounts.  This change will impact future retiree accounts.  However, the changes to MyNIU access will impact any current retirees that retired prior to December 1, 2023 as they will automatically lose access to the MyNIU system when this change is implemented.  Current retirees should access any prior paystubs on the MyNIU system prior to February 1, 2024.  

Retired Non-Faculty staff accounts:
Retired Staff Employee Account IDs are disabled immediately upon retirement from NIU and all permissions and authorizations removed. However, MyNIU HR self-service only access is available for 60 days from retirement for access to Paystubs.

Retired Faculty accounts:
Retired Faculty, Emeritus Faculty, Faculty in Administrative positions will retain account access for 180 days from retirement within which extensions can be requested for 365 days by calling the DoIT Service Desk if continued access is required. MyNIU HR self-service only access is available for 60 days from retirement for access to Paystubs.

Retirees who wish to retain a permanent NIU-branded email address may request a Retiree Account from the  NIU Annuitants Association

  • Sponsored Account IDs, for those who wish to donate their time to NIU, may be created after completing a number of  forms through NIU's Human Resource Services and following instructions above in the Account Creation section.

Authentication

  • MFA is required for authentication to various services.

Directories

The main telephone directory is maintained by DoIT to present information about people and departments at NIU.

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