FAQs for Create Mode
What username formats are available for students and staff?
Student usernames can include the following elements, optionally separated by '.' or '-':
- First initial
- First name
- Last name
- Year of Entry - all four digits
- Year of Entry - last two digits
Staff usernames can include the following elements, optionally separated by '.' or '-':
- First initial
- First name
- Last name
Additionally, options exist to set a prefix (up to a maximum of five characters) and/or a suffix (up to a maximum of ten characters) for usernames, which is particularly useful in multi-school domain scenarios where you want to distinguish between school users.
When a username is generated, how is it guaranteed to be unique?
RM Unify appends a sequence number.
For example, if Harry Potter and Hermione Potter are both teachers at Milton Park School and the username format for teachers is <initial>.<surname>, then:
- The username for first user: h.potter
- The username for second user: h.potter1
When a username is generated, will it include special characters such as apostrophes?
The username generated in RM Unify is stripped of non-alphabet characters and truncated at 20 characters to ensure maximum compatibility with connected services: AD, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, etc. This means that hyphens, apostrophes, underscores and ampersands are all removed. Where the username is cut off depends on the username format picked, but it always has a maximum length of 20. In the case where a sequence number is added to the username, taking it over 20 characters, the username is trimmed to 19 characters before adding the sequence number.
The email address is built from the username (with a domain name appended), so the name portion (prior to the '@') will also be a maximum of 20 characters.
For example, if Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Cholmondeley-Warner becomes a teacher at Milton Park School and the username format for teachers is <initial>.<surname>, then:
- Display name: Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Cholmondeley-Warner
- Username: l.llewelynbowencholm@miltonpark
- Email address: l.llewelynbowencholm@miltonparkschool.co.uk
and, if Laurence's brother Lionel joins as well, they will get a sequence number appended to ensure username uniqueness:
Can I change the username format at a later date if I change my mind?
Yes, you can change the username format for new users and rename existing users in bulk if you want the new username format to apply to new and existing users. See TEC6902586 RM Unify MIS User Rename in Other Useful Articles below.
How do I know when new users have been created from the MIS?
Once Create Mode is enabled, a new page will be accessible in the Management Console, Download Passwords. From this page, you will be able to see the new users that have been created and can download these into a CSV so you can distribute the logon details. We recommend that you check this page periodically.
The action of downloading the CSV sets an initial password for each account, which will be pushed down to your AD if you have Network Provisioning enabled. Prior to downloading the CSV, you can change any of the usernames on the Users page via the Change Username action.
When will accounts for new students and staff appear in RM Unify?
The MIS Sync data transfer will include the students that are registered as Accepted or Admitted. Staff that have an employment start date in the future and no end date in the past are also extracted and sent to RM Unify. As this process runs in the evening, any new accounts will appear on the Download Passwords page ready for the start of the next school day.
If Network Provisioning is enabled, the accounts are synced to the network with a temporary password immediately after they appear in RM Unify. This means the process of downloading the new user credentials will sync the new initial password down to the network.
What happens if a staff member changes their surname and the MIS is updated with this?
If a teacher's surname is modified in the MIS, RM Unify will receive the surname change and update the display name. However, it will not update their username nor email address automatically. If it is desirable for the new surname to be reflected in the username, the RM Unify Administrator can at any time (before or after the MIS change) update that person's username in the RM Unify Management Console. Changing the username in RM Unify also updates their email address so that the two stay consistent. The user will also keep their old email address as an alias in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, so that any correspondence directed to their old address still finds its way into their inbox.
If this is a change in legal surname but the teacher wants to continue using their previous name, the preferred name field in the MIS can be used so that RM Unify continues to use this instead of the legal surname. This will ensure that their display name stays the same in all cloud services.
We do not update the username/email address automatically because we understand that this needs to be a managed process as it affects their login and email experience.
How can I tell if the sync is working?
In the RM Unify Management Console, there is a 'Last sync from MIS' field. This indicates the last time any data was synchronised from the MIS. If the date is a day, or two days, or a week or more in the past, it does not indicate that MIS Sync has stopped working. It simply means that no data has been synchronised since that date.
How can I switch from AD driven user management to MIS driven user management
Moving to MIS Sync in Create Mode is easy. For more information, refer to TEC5427652 in the Other Useful Articles section below. | 
Symptoms
