This summer, U-M’s Sponsor System will be upgraded to replace its dependency on Cosign authentication with Shibboleth. As part of the upgrade, the user interface will be updated with better accessibility and an improved Search/Match function to enhance the sponsorship process. The business functions and processes in place with the current Sponsor System will largely remain the same.
The Sponsor System is used by departments and units to sponsor people who have a relationship to U-M that requires them to have a uniqname, MCommunity profile, and use of some U-M computing services (and, in some cases, a UMID). People who receive sponsorships include contractors, summer program attendees, new faculty/staff who need computing accounts before their hire date, and more.
- Sponsored people receive a uniqname and UMICH (Level-1) password if they do not already have them.
- If they have an old, inactive uniqname, it is reactivated by the sponsorship process, and a new password is set for them.
Enhancements that will accompany this upgrade are:
- Improved password handling and better generated passwords
- Better management of people with multiple sponsorships
- Improved bulk creation performance
- Streamlined sponsorship reasons, including removing creation of the infrequently-used Type 2 sponsorships from the application
- Simplified minimum data requirements for newly-created uniqnames
- Simplified contact and address fields set for sponsored people
- Clearer notification text
- Improvements to the API
Targeted emails will be sent to the administrative users of the Sponsor System to inform them of the changes and to provide updated documentation in advance of the upgrade.
