This help page explains the overall process for handling external users. While RME is accessible to all users entered into the system, which are often considered "internal", you can also provide access to others outside your institution, such as external researchers, students, supervisors or examiners. Their access can be limited to specific record pages and eForms by the use of default roles and AOUs.
The external user registration process involves the following stages:
1. Registration
2. Email confirmation
3. Review and approval
4. Log in
1. Registration
To enable an external person to request access RME, you can provide a link to an publicly-available Register webpage in your website or portal, or send it via email. This page also displays from the Login page if the user selects the options for external users to register, such as "Click here if you are an external user" and "Register". When publishing or providing the link to the Register page, you may also want to include a contact number or email in case these users encounter any difficulties in registering.
In the Register page, the requestor enters an email address as their username, creates their own password, and provides their personal details.
If CAPTCHA is configured and enabled in External User Preferences, they also need to click the CAPTCHA option, which may be a radio button or a puzzle. CAPTCHA is designed to establish that a computer user is human, not an automated program or robot, in order to prevent spam.
When the requestor has entered their details, they will be able to click the Register button on the page.
The system validates some details. It checks that:
• The email address is in a valid format, for example, it includes @ and a domain name.
• The email address is not already used as a username in the RME system. It only checks the Username field, not any other email address fields. If the email entered is used as a contact email address in an existing record, it will be detected as a potential duplicate later, in the approval process in the External User page.
• The password complies with validation rules defined in External User Preferences in RME, such as a minimum length, and mix of alpha and numeric characters.
• Any ORCID iD entered is in the correct format. It does not validate the iD via the orcid.org website, nor does it check if the iD already exists in the system. If the iD entered is used in an existing record, it will be detected as a potential duplicate later, in the approval process in the External User page.
What happens next?
When the user completes the required fields and clicks the Register button, the system:
• Displays a system message: “We have sent you an email with a link to confirm your email address. If you do not see the email, check your spam/junk folder. You can now close the page.”
• Sends an automated External User Email Confirmation email to verify the entered email address
• Creates a new External User record in RME using the details from the Register page, with the status Pending Email Confirmation
2. Email confirmation
The requestor receives the automated External User Email Confirmation email to confirm their entered email address. They click the link in this email to display a webpage with a Confirm Email button. The token for this button only remains active for a limited time, as defined in External User Preferences.
If they don’t confirm while the token is active, it expires. When they click the link, a message will guide them to resend the email with an active link.
If a requestor loses or accidentally deletes the original email, there is also a button on the External User page to enable administrators to re-send the confirmation email. For this reason, it may be a good idea to consider offering a contact number or email with the Register link.
What happens next?
When the user clicks the Confirm Email button to verify the email address, the system:
• Displays a system message: "Thank you for confirming your email. Your registration request is under review. You will receive an email with the outcome soon."
• Sets the External User record status to Pending Approval
• (optional, if configured) Sends an automated New External User Request email to defined administrators or office staff to alert them of the new external user request
3. Review and approval
The external user request awaits review by defined administrators or office staff. The request status is Pending Approval.
If you want defined administrators or office staff to receive an email for the new request as a prompt to review it, configure the automated email template New External User Requests by marking Current? as Yes and defining the recipients. The email includes a link to open the record. Alternatively, reviewers can go to the External User search page regularly and search for requests pending approval.
When a selected External User record is opened, it displays read-only details entered by the requestor as well as elements to be used in review and approval.
Most importantly, the Not Available for Mapping and Available for Mapping sections in this page identify any potential matches to existing records in order to prevent duplication. Reviewers or administrators can use this information to determine if a) there are no matching duplicates and the request can be approved, b) the requestor already has an existing record in RME which they can use instead, c) the request can be mapped to an existing Personnel record, or d) if the request should be declined for another reason, based on your internal policies or guidelines. Identified records are linked to make it easy to view them.
Depending on if there are any identified duplicates, the mapping possibilities and the information provided in the record, the reviewer decides whether to approve the request or reject it.
What happens next?
For approved requests, an automated External User Request Approved email advises the requestor and they will be able to log in to the system. Either new records are created, or existing ones updated with the new details. The External User record becomes read only.
For supervisors (where Supervisor was selected in the Purpose field in the Register page), an Approved External Supervisor email is sent instead, which contains a link to a Supervisor Registration eForm template. This template is defined in the Default Supervisor Registration eForm dropdown in the External User Preferences page.
For rejected requests, an automated External User Request Rejected email advises the requestor. They will not be able to log in with the user credentials defined in the request. If they have an existing record to use instead, communicate with them about how to access the system with the credentials for that record. The External User record remains editable.
For full details about the review process, see: Review an external user request
Once an automated email is sent to the requestor, advising them that the request has been approved, they can log in to the system using the email address and password they entered in the Register page. They should select the external user option on the Login page, such as "Click here if you are an external user". The fields will then match the credentials they should enter ('Email' instead of 'Username'), as defined in External User Preferences.
For supervisors, the link in the email will prompt them to log in. Once logged in, the defined Supervisor Registration eForm automatically displays. They can complete the details to request registration as a supervisor. To upgrade, renew or deregister as a supervisor in the future, they can access and use a Supervisor Registration eForm from the HDRCM eForm listing page.
Click to show or hide: External user flow diagram - high level
RME administrators enable and configure the functionality and can customise elements as required. See: External User Configuration
To provide access to the publicly-available Register page, you can include the link in a webpage or portal, or send it via email. The URL for this page will be https://[your environment domain]/RME/app/register. Note that for testing, you must be logged out of RME to view this page via the link.
Administrators can also enable approved external users to update their own details by providing access to Personnel Page Views to the roles assigned to external users. See: Update external user details below.
External user details can be maintained by RME administrators in the Personnel module, provided they have an administrator role, such as RME Application Administrator.
You can also configure the system to allow approved external users to update the details in their own Personnel record. You need to:
1. Set up custom Page Views of Personnel pages for external users to control access. For each Personnel Page View you want to provide to external users, use the Access Type field to define the fields you want to display on the page, and the fields that external users can edit or delete values. For details about creating custom Page Views, see: Page View and Page Layout Designer
2. Provide access to custom Page Views you created in step 1 to the default roles assigned to the different types of external users. These roles are defined in System Preferences, under External User Preferences.
3. Provide information to external users so they are aware which menu option to select to update their details. They will need to log in, go to the Personnel option in the RME menu on the left, select their record (which will be the only record displayed based on data security access), update the details, and save.
ID: External_User_overview.htm