Description A NetID service account is a CSU NetID that is owned by a department. Most service accounts include a Microsoft 365 account (including Outlook for email, OneDrive for cloud storage, and other Microsoft Office applications), but some do not, including administrative service accounts. Applicable to: Fort Collins and Pueblo staff and faculty CSU Microsoft 365/Exchange Resource Coordinators Prerequisites The service account must have been created using these instructions: How to Request a NetID Service Account Authorization NetID admins and service account requesters can view a list of all service accounts at Admin > Service Accounts. NetID service account requesters can also view their own service account requests, and edit their requests that have not yet been processed (with status "requested"), at the bottom of Admin > Service Account Request. NetID service account administrators can view the individual service accounts they manage at My Account > Service Accounts. Instructions Contents of This Section: View and Manage Your Service Accounts Change a Service Account Password Sharing Service Account Passwords View and Change Administrators Password and Service Account Expiration and Notifications Service Account Deactivation View and Manage Your Service Accounts Click Log In and log in with your primary NetID. To list service accounts you manage, go to My Account > Service Accounts. To manage or view full details of a service account, click the Service Account NetID in the left column of the table. To update details of the service account, change editable fields Account Name and Account Description and click Save. (Other details can only be updated by NetID full admins.) To change the password, click Change Password and see instructions below. To view or change the service account's administrators, click Manage Admins and see instructions below. Change a Service Account Password If you are not the only administrator of the service account, communicate with the other administrators to determine who will create and share the new password. Click Log In and log in with your primary NetID. Go to My Account > Service Accounts. Click the Service Account NetID in the left column of the table. To change the password, click Change Password. You will be prompted for a new password for the service account. Note: Only service account admins can change the password. (You cannot change the password by logging in to the NetID website with your service account NetID and password.) Sharing Service Account Passwords Secure: Share passwords verbally (in person or by phone), through encrypted email, or through a password manager. Generally not secure: Unencrypted email, SMS text messages, plain text files, and instant messengers. View and Change Administrators Consider adding at least one person or group to serve as a secondary or backup administrator, such as your department's IT administrator or group, CSU Microsoft 365/Exchange Resource Coordinator or group, or department head. Click Log In and log in with your primary NetID. Go to My Account > Service Accounts. Click the Service Account NetID in the left column of the table to view the service account details. Click Manage Admins to view the service account admins. To add an admin, type the person's NetID in the NetID of New Admin field and click Add Admin. To add an IT admin group, select the group in the IT Admin Group drop-down list and click Add IT Admin Group. To add a Microsoft 365/Exchange Resource Coordinator group, select the group in the Microsoft 365/Exchange Resource Coordinator drop-down list and click Add MS365 RC Group. To remove admins, check one or more boxes in the Current Admins list and click Remove Selected Admins. You can also edit the service account admins directly in the Grouper group (e.g. to add an unlisted group). Contact the CSU IT Help Desk if you need a new IT Admin group to be used specifically for NetID service accounts in your college or department. Password and Service Account Expiration and Notifications CSU System's IT Security Policy requires annual password changes for all NetID accounts, including non-administrative service accounts. To retain access to your service account and prevent automatic deactivation, you must change the password at least every 12 months. Weekly email notifications from NetID@colostate.edu will be sent to the service account and all admins. The message will include the service account password expiration date. Expired service account passwords will be automatically reset a week after the expiration date (or a week after the first notification is sent, whichever is later). Non-administrative service accounts with expired passwords will be automatically deactivated 30 days after password expiration (or a week after the first expiration notification is sent, whichever is later). The Microsoft 365 account will be deactivated when the service account is deactivated and permanently removed 30 days later. Service Account Deactivation Thank you for considering deactivating your unused accounts to benefit yourself, CSU, and the environment. If the service account has more than one administrator or user, or the associated email address was recently used, communicate the change and make sure that nobody still needs access. Back up and/or transfer any needed information from the Microsoft 365 account. Contact the CSU IT Help Desk to request deactivation of the service account. The Microsoft 365 account will be deactivated when the service account is deactivated and permanently removed 30 days later. Related Articles NetID Service Accounts How to Request a NetID Service Account

A NetID service account is a CSU NetID that is owned by a department. Most service accounts include a Microsoft 365 account (including Outlook for email, OneDrive for cloud storage, and other Microsoft Office applications), but some do not, including administrative service accounts. Applicable to: Fort Collins and Pueblo staff and faculty CSU Microsoft 365/Exchange Resource Coordinators Prerequisites Service Account Owners and Users Service account users and administrators must be CSU Fort Collins faculty or staff members. CSU Microsoft 365/Exchange Resource Coordinators should submit service account requests on behalf of CSU faculty and staff members. Multiple people can manage a service account. Administrators for each service account are members in a service account Grouper group. Although one or more individual faculty and staff members can use and manage a service account, each service account is associated with and owned by a department. This assures that new administrators can be easily assigned to the service account in Grouper when the previous administrator departs. NetID Service Account Format NetID service accounts are 2-8 lowercase letters (a-z) and digits (0-9), starting with a letter. Not allowed: Uppercase letters, spaces, underscores, hyphens, accents, special characters. If your unit needs an email address with more than 8 characters, contact your CSU Microsoft 365/Exchange Resource Coordinator to request a shared mailbox. Alternatives Review the alternatives in the NetID Service Accounts article before requesting a NetID service account. Instructions Copy the following table and paste into an email message to CSU Microsoft 365/Exchange Resource Coordinator for your department or unit or other Service Account Requester. Account name and description are for internal reference in the NetID system and Grouper and will not be published to Microsoft 365 or the Global Address List. Subject: NetID Service Account Request Question My Answer Does the service account need a Microsoft 365 account? (Yes/No) (Outlook for email, OneDrive for cloud storage, and other Microsoft Office applications) Email domain (colostate.edu for CSU Fort Collins or csupueblo.edu for CSU Pueblo) NetID of service account (2 to 8 lowercase letters and numbers, starting with a letter) NetID of primary administrator (often your NetID) Department number Department name Unit name (may be same as department name) Account name (A friendly name for the service account. May be a program or service name.) Account description (Account purpose, uses, users, etc.) Your CSU Microsoft 365/Exchange Resource Coordinator can review your request, approve it, and submit it as a Service Account Request. Outcome When you receive an automated email message that the service account has been created, you can set the password from the Service Accounts page. When the password is set, you can access the Microsoft 365 account: Go to Microsoft 365. Sign in with your service account NetID and domain (your NetID)@colostate.edu and your service account password. Related Articles NetID Service Accounts How to Administer NetID Service Accounts

Description A NetID service account is a CSU NetID that is owned by a department. Most service accounts include a Microsoft 365 account (including Outlook for email, OneDrive for cloud storage, and other Microsoft Office applications), but some do not, including administrative service accounts. Applicable to: Fort Collins and Pueblo staff and faculty Acceptable Uses of Service Accounts A NetID service account can be used by one CSU faculty and staff member, or multiple faculty and staff by securely sharing the username and password, if necessary. Service accounts are subject to the CSU Information Technology policies, including Acceptable Use for Computing and Networking Resources and Information Technology Security. Common uses include: A central email address for shared contact and support (for a department, unit or website). (Consider a shared mailbox for this purpose if this is the only requirement.) An email account with a short email address (such as depthelp@colostate.edu) that the owner might want to configure to serve as an alias and automatically forward all mail to a shared mailbox with a longer email address (such as dept_helpdesk@colostate.edu) so the service account password does not need to be shared. A secondary inbox for a single person to receive emails for specific purposes, such as a secondary job role or large student documents. Group access to CSU lab or facility resources where authentication from multiple individual CSU user accounts is not feasible or practical. Short-term access for non-CSU partners (e.g. training, conference or workshop attendees who need to be contacted via CSU email, or would be too constrained by the csu-guest Wi-Fi, and guest speakers who need to use computer labs). The password should be updated after each use. A true service account: a non-personal digital identity for machine-to-machine communication, application and data access, and running batch jobs, scripts or automated services. IT, PC, software or web development testing or logging. Alternatives to Service Accounts 1. Shared Mailbox You do not need a service account if you only need a shared mailbox or mailing list for your unit. Review information about CSU Microsoft 365 resource management including: shared mailboxes email aliases mailing lists Look up and contact the CSU Microsoft 365/Exchange Resource Coordinator for your department. 2. Sharing Documents and Files You do not need a service account if you only need to share documents and files within your unit. Some options include: Shared Drives Microsoft 365 at CSU: OneDrive for Business (5 TB, can be extended): Share and Collaborate with OneDrive Google Workspace for Education at CSU: Google Drive (just 25 GB): Share files and other content with a group Collaboration Tools and Websites Microsoft Teams at CSU: File Sharing Microsoft SharePoint sites at CSU Google Sites 3. Vendor Accounts If a NetID account is needed for vendors and others not currently affiliated with CSU, request a guest associate NetID from your departmental Human Resources representative. Additional information about associates from CSU Human Resources: Classification and Compensation: Associates Human Resource Management System User Guide: Unit 12: Associates Related Articles How To Request a NetID Service Account How to Administer NetID Service Accounts