Staff Portal – Guest Accounts System
This system allows users to add and manage any Guest Portal accounts that have been created, usually for temporary or Agency staff.
DO NOT use the Guest User system as a quick way of getting a new permanent starter a Portal account, due to them then having to be converted to use the correct data and it will also not allow them access to systems that require a Tameside Employee Number, e.g. Payslips.
The system can be accessed using the ‘Manager’ icon on the Staff Portal Home Page, if you have access to that icon, and selecting the ‘Add New Guest Portal User’ entry option.
This will take you to the system’s Menu page, as shown below.
Staff need to have been added as a user before they can access the system and if they have not then when they click on any of the icons or menu options, they will get the screen below displayed. If required, some members of Application Support have been set up as Administration users and can create accounts.
System Menu Page
The system’s Menu page, as shown above, has three options that can be accessed either by clicking on the icon or menu entry (in the top right of the screen). Further details are provided below but these options are:
1. Create Account – This option can also be accessed by clicking on the icon or the ‘Create Account’ Menu entry and allows a user to create a new Guest account.
2. Manage Accounts – This option can also be activated by clicking on either the icon or the ‘Manage Accounts’ Menu entry. It allows a user to edit or delete an account, or convert a temporary account to a permanent one, where the person has now become a permanent Tameside employee.
3. Administration – This option can also be accessed by clicking on the ‘Administration’ Menu entry and allows Administration users to add additional users to the system.
1. Create Account
Before using this option, you will need to ensure that you have the following information:
- The email address for use with the proposed Guest account.
- The Contract End Date of the person who the account is for. If you do not know this then it is best to default it to a date six months away from the creation date.
- The Directorate, Service and Service Unit where the person who the account is for will be working. This may be your own, if they are working within the same area as yourself or the same as the manager who requested the account originally.
If you select this option, clicking on either the icon or the Menu entry, you will be presented with the screen shown below.
Please note that under the ‘Role’ option, if the account is not for a senior manager then it should be set to ‘User’. This can always be amended afterwards if necessary.
Also if the account is for someone who will be at ‘Head of Service’ level then please select ‘Service Unit Manager (Head of Service)’, if unsure please check the Authority’s Constitution (viewed via https://www.tameside.gov.uk/contactus) so managers who may be titled ‘Head of Service’ are seen as SUMs, and above, will have the Manager icon.
Once you have entered all the details and you click on the ‘Create’ button then a new Guest account will be created using the details you have provided and your login will be entered as the ‘Account Creator’. A Welcome email will be sent to the email address you provided at this time and you will see the screen below.
If you click on the ‘Finish’ button then it takes you to the ‘Account Search’ screen.
Also, when you create a new Guest account, to allow Guest Portal users to have Flex access, a record is created in the GuestSCP and GuestStaffDates Tables in the Portal SQL database. These two data tables are appended to the StaffDataSCP and StaffDates tables respectively on a daily basis.
2. Manage Accounts
Search For An Account
When you select this option, you are presented with the screen shown below.
To search for a Guest account’s details, you can put an entry in any of the fields, or in multiple ones to narrow down the search. When you click on the ‘Search’ button then you will presented with a screen showing the results of your search, as shown below.
If no accounts match your search criteria then you will just see a line stating ‘No data available in table’. If you were expecting some results then it is recommended that you check the search criteria that you entered.
Managing an Account
Once you have located the account you wish to process in some way, click on the Blue ‘Action’ button to the right hand side of the relevant Account Details line and you will be presented with three options, as shown below.
Option 1 – Edit
This option allows you to amend the details of a selected account and can be used to extend a Contract End Date for example.
When you select this option, you are presented with a screen showing the details of your selected account (see below) and this allows you to update any of the fields displayed.
Once you have made any required amendments to the account, click on the Green ‘Update’ button and that will amend the account accordingly, taking you back to the ‘Search Results’ screen but with any amended details updated.
Option 2 – Permanent
This option allows you to convert a temporary Guest account to a permanent one, where the person has now become a permanent Tameside employee. Before using this option, you will need to know the Tameside Employee Number (PRN) for the relevant account.
When you select this option, the screen shown below is displayed.
Enter the Tameside PRN in the ‘New PRN’ field and click on the ‘Make Permanent’ button. This will amend the relevant Portal Data Table fields to the new PRN value.
Option 3 – Delete
Note that when you click on this option, no confirmatory messages are displayed, the account is marked as ‘Deleted’, with the ‘Deleted’ field having the date entered and your details entered into the ‘Deleted By’ field.
Also when this option is used, the related records in the GuestSCP and GuestStaffDates Tables in the Portal SQL database are also deleted.
If an account is deleted by mistake then it can be recovered by using the ‘Staff Archive’ system, but you will need to log a Service Desk call requesting the account’s reinstatement.
3. Administration
This option allows you to manage the various system users, when a system user has left for example.
On selecting this option, you will be presented with a screen displaying all the current live system users, see below. From that screen you can display the list in a number of different rows per page, currently defaulted to 10, but that can be changed using the ‘Show nn Entries’ drop down box
( ) and show 25, 50 or 100 per page.
Add A New System User
To add a new system user, click on the Green ‘Add New User’ button at the top left of the screen. This will display the screen shown below.
Enter the name of the person who you wish to add and then click the ‘Search’ button, which will list the Portal users matching the details entered, see the example below.
To confirm the correct person, click on the Blue ‘Add User’ button on the right of the relevant data line and that will add that person as a system user and go back to the System users list.
Remove A System User
To remove someone as a system user, if they have left for example, search for them in the System Users List and then, once found, click on the Red ‘Delete’ button at the right of the relevant data line.
Please note that when you click on this option, no confirmatory messages are displayed, the account is marked as ‘Deleted’, with the ‘Deleted’ field having the date entered and your details entered into the ‘Deleted By’ field.
The screen redisplays the System User List but without the deleted account.
Other System Details
The Guest User system uses an SQL database, GuestAccount, which resides upon the CorpSQL03 server. See the App Support Passwords spreadsheet for database login details.
As part of the Guest Users system, a scheduled job runs daily and checks the active accounts, (identified by the ‘Deleted’ field set to ‘NULL’), for any Contract End Dates that have 31 days or less to go.
The job then emails the account’s Creator and, depending upon the value in the ‘RoleID’ field, may also email either a Service Unit Manager or the Head of the Service.
The email gives details of those accounts that are due to go past the Contract End Date in the next month and provides the recipients with a link so that they can update the Contract End Date if the contract has been extended.
If a Contract End Date is not extended then a separate scheduled job will automatically delete the Guest Portal account, moving the details to the Archive tables in the Portal database.
It is imperative that if you receive one of these emails for a member of your staff that you act upon it as soon as you can otherwise, once the Contract End Date passes, the account will be auto-deleted.
If a Guest Portal account is auto-deleted by mistake then it can be recovered from the ‘Staff Archive’ system. Please log a Fresh Service Call if there is a need to resurrect a deleted account, giving details of the User’s Name and Employee Number (if known).
If the new Portal Guest account being created is for an interim Director, Assistant Director or a PA for either of the former, classed as VIPs, then please email Stacey Barnes, cc’ing in Janet Etchells, with the name and email address of the VIP with the email title being ‘New VIP’.