09 February 2009, 0:32

Our installation was setup with what appears to be a user called admin with an email address of a specific person.  I have been given the installation but not a lot of documentation.

This person has since left the organiation.  Questions:

1  Can the user "admin" be deleted without causing harm?  if so how do I do this?  There seems to be no buttons as appear for other users if logged on as site administrator.

2  Where do I change the email address for a  user  who has changed their email address?

10 February 2009, 15:46

Hi,

1. The user 'admin' can be deleted without harm, although I'm not sure if the code checks that you're deleting the last admin or not. So make sure you have assigned a second admin at least (and maybe use that second admin to delete the 'admin' account).
   
   In 1.0, deleting users is done by first suspending them, then going to the suspended users page to finish the job. From 1.1 onwards, there will be a delete button on the user admin page.
2. I'm not sure about this question - if you want to change someone's e-mail address, I guess the best way is to log in as them and change it in their profile.
   

10 February 2009, 22:24

Thankyou for your post.

I understand about the process to remove users from instutitions (optional), suspend them and then delete them.  I also "see" they are still in the database.  However, in version 1.0.4, I don't see where I can re-activate within the administration GUI. 

I also believe that the concept of "archiving" users so as to reduce infra-structure needs should not be delayed unnecessarily.  Time seems to fly past at teaching instutitions and where large numbers of student passing thru and never returning it may be the issues are closer than expected. I note some threads are starting to discuss this issue.

The second question was about changing an email address.  I understand about adding a "new/additional" email address for myself.  However, how do I remove the old one please?

10 February 2009, 23:10

Hi,

The idea behind suspending/deleting is that users can be un-suspended again, but deletion is a permanent act - their data will disappear, and only a skeleton record is left in the usr table (which is used by some things like forums who can't disassociate users from posts easily).

The idea is that once we merge in our work on import/export that we're doing as part of the JISC CETIS project for portfolio interoperability, people will be able to export their portfolios and take them with them. Then the institution will be able to delete the user's account. Thus, the data won't hang around for ever in the institution's system, but the student still has access to it (and can import it into a new system later if they so choose).

Regarding e-mail address - you can only remove an address if it's not your "primary" email address. The profile screen allows you to choose which e-mail is your primary one (which is where all mail from the system is sent to). Once you have chosen your new e-mail address to be the primary one with the radio button, you should be able to remove the old address.