Resource Management and Information Systems
Authentication Improvements for Major Administrative Systems

The credentials (passwords) used to authenticate customers to the Administrative Portal, the Financial System, and the new Human Resources (HR) System are being changed on March 26th, 2006. This change will strengthen the security of the Unity password and eliminate the need for customers to enter a separate IntraSecure password when accessing the Financial or HR systems. This is the first phase in reducing the number of user ids required for administrative applications.

What is the change? Administrative application customers will be required to change their Unity passwords to strengthened passwords and will be prompted to do so every 90 days. Customers can strengthen their passwords by creating a password with a mixture of upper and lower case characters, numeric digits, and punctuation characters. The use of such characters makes it difficult for others to determine your password. For more information on choosing strong passwords, please visit the ITD Password Change Page at the following URL: http://www.ncsu.edu/password/.

Who is affected? Customers who use the Administrative Portal, Financial System or the new HR System will be impacted.

When is the change happening? This change will take place on March 26th, 2006. On or after March 14th and prior to March 26th, 2006, all customers who use the Administrative Portal, the Financial System or the HR System should change their Unity passwords in preparation for this change.

How does this benefit me? In addition to stronger security and intruder detection controls, this change eliminates the IntraSecure Id and password for the Financial and HR systems. After signing in to the Administrative Portal using your new Unity password, Financial and HR customers can immediately enter either the Financial System or the HR System without having to re-authenticate using a different password. Note that after one hour of non-use or inactivity in the Financial or HR System, you will be required to re-authenticate using the new Unity password.

What do I need to do? Change and test your Unity password any time on or after March 14th and prior to March 26th, 2006 using the following two steps:

• Step 1: On or after March 14th and prior to March 26th, change your Unity password with the Unity Password Change page located at the following URL:http://www.ncsu.edu/password/ Note that every 90 days you will be required to change your Unity password using strengthened password controls. Password requirements are listed directly on the Unity Password Change page. This 90-day change requirement is identical to what was required with your IntraSecure password.
• step 2: On or after March 14th and prior to March 26th, verify that your Unity credentials are ready for the March 26th delivery by going to the following URL: https://www.acs.ncsu.edu/announcement/index.html. This page is a validation application that you can run to validate that you have successfully prepared your Unity credentials for the March 26th delivery.

What happens if I fail to do this? If a customer fails to prepare his/her Unity authentication as instructed above prior to March 26th, on the first visit to the Administrative Portal on or after that date, he/she will be unable to authenticate until he/she successfully changes his/her Unity Password. If this occurs, the Administrative Portal will provide information to the customer on how to perform a password change. We strongly encourage our customers not to wait until March 26th to change their Unity passwords. We anticipate a high volume of activity at the help desks on March 26th and the next few days thereafter. As a result, you may experience a longer than normal wait for assistance if you need to call.

If you have questions, encounter errors, or would like additional information please contact the NC State University Help Desk at 515-HELP (515-4357). For additional information on the new HR System, please see the following URL: http://www7.acs.ncsu.edu/hr/hrsystem/ .