Converting to a shared account

All group accounts are in the process of being converted to a shared account. This is to make the account more secure and easier to use.

A shared account is similar to a group account - any member of the group can send and receive email and create calendar appointments. Some advantages of a shared account include:

• No password to remember, change, and distribute to every group member.
• Only those who have been designated by the account owner can access the account. With your current group account, anyone who knows the password has access.
• The shared account's email inbox and calendar is added to each member's K-State Zimbra account. No need to toggle between your personal and group email. Think of it as an account within an account.

Note: Shared accounts will not be able to access other K-State resources such as K-State Online or Axio Survey. However, you will not lose your surveys that were previously created using the group account.

Step 1: Group eID owner is notified

The owner of the group eID is emailed that their group eID will be converted to a shared account. If you are not the owner of the group eID or have any questions, please contact the IT Help Desk.

Step 2: Group eID is converted

Your group eID will be converted to a shared account on the date and time given in the notification email. Only the owner will have access to manage the shared account. The owner will be emailed that their account has been successfully converted.

Step 3: Adding members and changing the owner

The owner must now add members to the shared account. If they should not be the owner, they will need to give the ownership to someone else. See Manage a Shared Account for steps on adding members and changing owners.

Step 4: Converting Surveys

Group/shared accounts will lose access to the survey system. However, none of the existing surveys will be lost. What will change is how you access existing surveys and create new ones.

Accessing Existing Surveys

Before your group account is converted to a shared account, you will need to open the survey system with the group account and share its surveys with another user (i.e. yourself). If the group account has already been converted to a shared account before you can do this, you will need to have the primary owner of the shared account contact the IT HelpDesk by phone (785-532-7722), and they will share the surveys the primary owner requests to his/her personal account. Then the primary owner of the surveys will need to share them with others.

Creating Surveys

Each faculty or staff member will login to Axio Survey using their own eID and password. Then they can create a survey. Once the survey is created, he/she can share it with whoever needs access to it. The survey can be sent out from the shared account.