EDIR Help Topics
Revised: 04/28/06
About the Enterprise Directory (EDIR)
An enterprise directory is a single authoritative repository of information
about people and objects associated with the institution. The University of Alaska's
Enterprise Directory includes contact information for departments, current faculty, staff,
students, and a relatively small number of other University affiliates.
The UA Enterprise Directory differs from campus based
directories in that it is designed to encompass everyone at the University of
Alaska, regardless of campus or MAU affiliation.
EDIR, short for "Enterprise Directory", refers to both the LDAP directory
where information is stored and a web interface that accesses that information
(http://edir.alaska.edu). The bulk of
the information stored in the directory comes from Banner and other
authoritative sources (campus, program affiliations, number of credit hours,
etc.). Other directory information originates from the faculty, staff and
students themselves (title, contact information, links to personal web pages,
published email address, mail routing information, etc.). EDIR the interface is
the mechanism by which faculty, staff and students maintain directory information.
The EDIR web interface also provides a convenient means of finding people affiliated with
the University. Like the "white pages" of our printed phone books, EDIR can be used to
lookup the office and phone number of a faculty or staff member. Unlike our printed
phone books, the information in EDIR is being constantly updated.
As of 2005, Statewide and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks both produce their
printed phone books from the information stored in EDIR.
In addition to the role EDIR plays in serving electronic white pages and
producing printed phone books, EDIR is also used to authenticate logins to MyUA,
the new University of Alaska Portal. In the future, EDIR will be used to authenticate
login to the Banner application, UAOnline, radius dialups, and other University of
Alaska electronic resources. Think of EDIR as the first step towards single or simpler
login for the University of Alaska.
A side benefit to maintaining an EDIR account is the ability to configure @alaska.edu
mail routing independent from the campus at which you work (see Vanity E-mail).
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Activating Your Account
EDIR accounts may be activated at the request of the individual (account owner)
or at the direction of campus administration. EDIR account activation
procedures are campus specific. Individuals who would like their EDIR account
activated should contact their local Help Desk.
During March and April of 2005, UAF employee accounts are being activated at the direction of UAF
University Relations so that employees can update phonebook data in
EDIR.
During the same time frame, EDIR accounts are being activated for MyUA Pilot users so that they can
log in to MyUA.
http://www.alaska.edu/myua/portal/index_docs/MyUA_UserID-Password.doc
Account activation is comprised of two parts:
The only thing that a default EDIR password can be used for is to change
your EDIR password. For that reason, you must change your EDIR password at
the time you log in to EDIR the first time (see Logging In The First Time).
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Logging In The First Time
If EDIR knows your email address at the time your EDIR account is activated,
you will be sent an activation message that includes a log in link. Otherwise,
you must search EDIR for your directory record.
To search for your EDIR record, click the [People] link to load the EDIR search page.
Enter your first and last names where indicated and click the Search button. If the resulting
page doesn't include a record that looks like your own, click the Revise Search link and modify
the search criteria. When you see a record that looks like your own, click on the name link. A
more detailed search results will be displayed in which you'll find a THIS IS ME! LOG IN link.
Click that link to load the EDIR Log In page.
If you searched for your EDIR record and clicked the THIS IS ME! LOG IN link or clicked the
log in link in an activation message, then the Identifier and Type fields of the Log In form
should already contain values recognized by EDIR. Otherwise, enter an EDIR identifier and
type. (See Type pick list for supported identifier types.)
Tab to the Password field and enter your default EDIR password in SSSSMMDDYY format:
SSSS: last 4 digits of your SSN (SSN not stored in EDIR) MM: 2 digit number for your month of birth. DD: 2 digit number for your day of birth. YY: last two digits of your year of birth.
Because EDIR default passwords are good only for changing a password
(can't actually log in with a default password), you must change your password
when prompted by EDIR. That occurs any time you attempt to log in with a default
password. If your password is not changed from its assigned default value, you
won't be able to update your own EDIR record or see restricted information.
Click the Log In button. A "Welcome" message is displayed when you have successfully
changed your password and logged in to EDIR.
For more information about EDIR accounts and passwords, see
http://edir.alaska.edu/cgi-bin/ldap_passwd_help.
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Maintaining Personal Information
A "vanity" email address is a unique email address you choose for yourself.
The vanity address also becomes an alternative and easier-to-remember login ID
for the Enterprise Directory.
Vanity email addresses are available to employees on a
first-come-first-serve basis. They are automatically assigned the @alaska.edu
domain (no other domain is relevant). For example:
myname@alaska.edu.
In addition to creating an EDIR vanity address, you also need to update
your EDIR mail routing address. Having the routing address updated will allow
people to address mail to your vanity address and mail will be automatically
delivered to the mailboxes where you read your mail. Please see the section of
"E-mail Routing".
EDIR limits everyone to five (5) vanity email addresses. (For example if you
have a vanity address Test@alaska.edu you could also have a T@alaska.edu
assuming it is available or Test123@alaska.edu, etc.) If your Directory Record
has five vanity email addresses; you will need to delete some before adding
new ones.
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Official email from the University to employees and students will be sent
to permanently assigned email addresses which are routed through the EDIR to
the address in the mail routing field.
Employees and students are expected to maintain a valid email account
specified in "mail routing address" field to which email from the University
is delivered. Failure to do so means that you will not receive official
University communications and other important communications sent by
electronic mail.
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To update information other than your vanity E-mail address, log into EDIR
and access the update form by clicking on the [Personal Update] link.
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Further Assistance
Like any new technology, using EDIR will take some getting used to. Be
patient, ask questions, and make suggestions for improvement. If you any have
questions or concerns, contact your local Help Desk:
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