What Are Patron CatID Accounts?

Patron CatID accounts are created to allow access to specified UNI systems or services by those who are not UNI students, faculty, or staff. Note: Access to UNI's wifi network is available to guests without needing a patron account. For more information, visit the Connecting to UNI Guest WiFi article. These accounts are created outside of normal provisioning rules on a manual basis typically when a University employee or department requests them for a specific purpose.

Some examples might include:

A consultant working with the University who needs access to specific systems as part of the scope of their implementation work.
Community members of a search committee who need access to private materials stored behind CatID authentication.
A freelance employee working on contract who needs access to a specific system to complete the scope of their work.
A visiting scholar or someone else who needs access to a specific system for a short amount of time.

Requesting Patron CatID Accounts

If you are a University employee or department who wants to sponsor the creation of patron accounts to allow access to UNI IT resources to people not already affiliated with UNI, follow these steps to request the accounts.

Step 1- Gather the services and sponsorship required

Who in your department is sponsoring the creation of these patrons? How long will they need access? What systems will they need access to (if you are unsure about this last question, please reach out to your IT support staff for help)?

Step 2- Collect patron information

For each patron, IT will need to know their first and last name, email address, and phone number. Have any of your patrons been affiliated with UNI in anyway in the past? If so, they might already have a CatID account and should use that account instead. Collect the information by downloading and completing the following Excel template:

Step 3- Complete a Service Hub request

Submit this Service Hub form and include the completed Excel sheet to the ticket as an attachment. Once you have submitted the ticket, allow a few business days for IT to process the creation of these accounts. Once a patron has their information, they can follow the instructions in the How to Access My New Patron CatID Account article.

Step 4- Receive the patron information through Filelocker

Once the accounts are created, IT will share the Excel sheet back with the Sponsor via Filelocker (it contains usernames and passwords to UNI CatID accounts at this point and shouldn't be sent via standard email).

If you are the sponsor, these are some things to keep in mind:

The Excel sheet with usernames and passwords should not be shared via standard email. Filelocker can be used to share a file securely with individuals not affiliated with UNI. If you need help with this, please complete a request in Service Hub for assistance.
Each patron will receive a unique username and initial password. The initial password will need to be changed by that patron before their access to the specified systems at UNI actually begins. You can point them to this document for help.
The longest a patron account can be active without review is for one year. If your need will last longer than one year, you'll need to work with IT to have the access extended.
Patrons should retain their PIN as provided to them with their username and password. This will help identify them if they need password assistance in the future.