What are Subsidiary Accounts?

Subsidiary accounts are additional accounts, associated with a primary NetID, that can be requested by faculty and staff and are used for various purposes including departmental or academic projects, cross-group collaborations, student employees, and service/application accounts for servers. When the subsidiary accounts are created they are classified into a subsidiary account category (Course Account, System Account, Department Account, etc.).

Each Subsidiary Account comes with a separate email account, blog, and Web site space. Subsidiary Accounts cannot be used to access the campus network via wired Ethernet or wireless.

Types of Subsidiary Accounts

There are several types of IT Subsidiary Accounts. Ensure that the account you are requesting falls under one of the following categories. 

Administrator Accounts

Accounts associated with high level access to manage services and systems.

Course Accounts

Used for course-related work and materials. For each course they teach, instructors can request an IT Course Account in SPIRE. Course accounts provide a separate Blog, online storage (Box and Google Apps), email, and more. See Create & Manage Course IT Accounts.

Department Accounts

Used by departments for access to IT services.

Individual (Self) Accounts

An additional account for use by Faculty and Staff to access IT services.

Resource Accounts

Account placeholder for resources such as Exchange calendars for classrooms and conference rooms.

RSO Accounts

Used by registered student organizations for maintaining websites, etc.

Student Employee Accounts

Used to allow student employees access to work related email, file storage, and other IT services.

System Accounts

Used for automated IT system processes.

Vendor Accounts

Assigned to authorized vendors for business related access to IT resources.

Request a Subsidiary Account

To request a Subsidiary IT Account, fill out the Subsidiary Account Request form in ServiceNow. 

Once your Subsidiary Account is activated, you will be assigned a new NetID. You will need to login to SPIRE with your personal IT Account NetID and password to assign your Subsidiary Account a new password. See the Manage a Subsidiary Account section below for instructions on how to access your IT Accounts page, which lists your current accounts.

Note: Subsidiary Account usernames and passwords are different than your IT Account NetID and password.

Manage a Subsidiary Account

Use SPIRE to view a Subsidiary Account, change its password, or schedule a date to delete it.
Note: Changing your password for your Subsidiary Account does not change your main IT Account password.

1. Log in to SPIRE with your IT Account NetID and password.
2. In the top navigation menu in SPIRE, go to Main Menu > IT Accounts > My IT Accounts. The My IT Accounts - Account List page will open.
3. On the My IT Accounts - Account List page, click the Account Name to view an account's details. The My IT Accounts - Account Detail page will open.
4. On the My IT Accounts - Account Detail page, you can reset your password, add an alternate name, or schedule a date to delete your account.

Assign an Official User to Subsidiary IT Account

If another UMass Amherst colleague or student is using a subsidiary IT account that you own, you can designate this individual as an official account user. Official users have the ability to change subsidiary account passwords. 

1. Log in to SPIRE with your IT Account NetID and password.
2. In the top navigation menu in SPIRE, go to Main Menu > IT Accounts > My IT Accounts. The My IT Accounts - Account List page will open.
3. On My IT Accounts - Account List page, click the account name. The Account Detail page will open. 
4. On the Account Detail page, under Account Assignment (mid-page), next to the Assign Official User field, click the magnifying glass. A lookup window will open, allowing you to locate the individual user by last name or NetID. 
5. In the search results, click the name of your official user. You will return to the Account Detail page where the Assign Official User field will have the individual's 8-digit SPIRE ID already filled in. 
6. Click Save Assignment. A confirmation message will appear in the top right corner of the page. Your subsidiary account now has an official user who can change the account password on your behalf if needed. 

Note: Subsidiary IT Accounts require an annual password change in order to remain active. See more details here.