Summer Recap 2019: “IN” & “OUT”

Derek Nichols
Derek Nichols Blackbaud Employee
Ninth Anniversary Kudos 5 Name Dropper Participant
in Blackbaud K-12 Education Solutions™ Blog

My hometown doesn’t include an In-N-Out Burger restaurant. We do, however, have a “In-N-Out" chicken wing restaurant, car wash, and garage for car customizations. With such a popular business name for businesses of all types, it’s clear that people are enticed by being able to quickly get inside, have their needs fulfilled, and get back out with minimal hassle.  


This summer, we focused many of our Core efforts on make it easier for your school community to handle the “IN”s and “OUT”s of the Education Management solutions.  

Manage Authentication for Blackbaud ID “IN” Bulk

We introduced and then improved critical processes for platform managers to:  

  • invite users who are Unregistered to connect with Blackbaud ID. Users are considered Unregistered if they currently sign in with a legacy username and password or don’t log in at all.   
  • to reinvite users who’ve been invited but who haven’t yet connected their email address to Blackbaud ID. If a user is Awaiting response the user will be required to sign in with Blackbaud ID the next time they log in.  
  • and to review which users have Registered and signed in at least one time with Blackbaud ID.  

From Core, select Security and then Blackbaud ID authentication. Users appear in the list that corresponds to their authentication status for Blackbaud ID. You'll use the filterable lists to select a subset of users to manage in bulk.


We’ve updated the online documentation to also explain how to:

  • connect users who are in your single sign on (SSO) domain,  
  • connect users who aren’t in your single sign on (SSO) domain,
  • connect users who aren’t in your single sign on (SSO) domain,
  • Simply managing passwords
  • and more in bulk.

For details and instructions, see the online help.

Manage Authentication for Blackbaud ID an “IN”dividual User

Likewise, we introduced and then improved critical processes for platform managers to handle Access for individual users with Blackbaud ID.  


From Core, use the People finder to go to a user's profile and view the Access tab. Alternatively, select a single user's name from a list and go to the Access tab of the user's profile to manage the individual's authentication settings.


We’ve also updated the online documentation regarding:

  • how to enter an email address to use as the individual’s Blackbaud ID and invite the user to connect,
  • how to reinvite a user to connect to Blackbaud ID,
  • handle users whose email address or username changed (such as after marriage),
  • and more.  

For details and instructions, see the online help.

Sign “IN” Graduates Who Previously Used SSO

We introduced and improved a critical workflow for platform managers who’ve implemented Blackbaud ID with SSO at their school.  


For instructions about how to update authentication with Blackbaud ID for graduates who previously used your school’s Single Sign On (SSO) and who now need to use a non-school email address to log in as alums, see the online help. You can handle graduates in bulk and/or individually.

Adm“IN” Console

When platform managers are also site administrators for your organization and they use Blackbaud ID to log in, the home dashboard for Core will show a new tile called Admin Console.


Use the tile to quickly access Authentication settings so you can enable a single sign on experience for your school’s users.


You’ll also use it to view Connected Apps. In the future, you’ll use this to use to manage integrations from third party partners via SKY API. To get started with the (School) SKY API, check out the online documentation.   


For more information about our vision of “One Blackbaud” see SKY UX.

Sign “IN” Screen

When users access the login screen for your school, text now prompts them to enter a username or email address. Previously, it only mentioned usernames. When users login with Blackbaud ID their username is their email address.


Also, remember that as soon as users have a Blackbaud ID username, their login experience is updated. If you run a User Management type of Data Import job to assign Blackbaud ID Usernames, the next login experience for those users will be affected.

Legacy Log“IN”

When you add a new user in Core, the option to indicate that the user logs in with a Podium username and password was renamed to Legacy login.   

Doesn’t Log“IN”

When you add a new user in Core, the option to indicate that the user Does not log in was renamed. Now you’ll now indicate that you prefer to Set up later if the user doesn’t currently need to log in.

“IN”box

As of September 18, 2019, platform managers for schools using Blackbaud ID with SSO can use Domain settings for your school’s email domains to create and maintain an email Inbox URL and menu label.

  • The inbox label appears in the top navigation bar for users who authenticate with Blackbaud ID (such as a quick link to Gmail).
  • You'll also use it to replace the configuration of the customizable inbox URL for Google Apps SSO (previously managed under Core, Settings, Inbox settings).
  • For users who don't authenticate with Blackbaud ID or don't have an email configured in Domain settings, the inbox label and URL remain as they were previously configured through Google Apps SSO integration and Inbox settings.

See the online help for instructions.

Single Sign “OUT” URL

As of September 18, 2019, platform managers can use Domain settings for your school’s email domains to create and maintain Sign out URLs, which improve the sign out process for users who authenticate with Blackbaud ID and single sign on (SSO).

  • Use the Sign out URL to create a single sign out that signs users out of their active Blackbaud ID session and then sends them to the specified URL, where they can choose whether to also sign out of your Active Directory. For users who share electronic devices with other users, this improves security.
  • Sign out appears in the 'account profile' dropdown menu (top right corner) for users.
  1. When users who authenticate with Blackbaud ID and single sign on (SSO) whose email domains are configured in Domain settings select to Sign out, they're logged out of their Blackbaud ID session. Then users are sent to the Sign out URL you configured in Domain settings. We recommend you use this URL to create a single sign out with your Identity Provider.
  2. Users who authenticate with Blackbaud ID and single sign on (SSO) whose email domains aren't configured in Domain settings won't be able to use the Sign out URL. Instead, when they Sign out, they're logged out of their Blackbaud ID session but aren't directed to sign out of your school's Active Directory.

See the online help for instructions.

Keep “IN” Mind

Remember,  

  • No users are required to authenticate via Blackbaud ID at this time. Schools are not required connect parents, alums, recent grads, candidates, or other users to Blackbaud ID.  You can now invite any user to authenticate via Blackbaud ID, if you want to do so.  
  • However, users who previously depended on a single sign on (SSO) to your identity provider (e.g. Active Directory) via LDAP Integration or Google Apps SSO, do need to authenticate via Blackbaud ID to continue the SSO experience. At the end of August, LDAP Integration and Google Apps SSO were sunset. Schools who used those SSOs were required to switch to Blackbaud ID SSO to continue the SSO experience.  
  • All Blackbaud ID usernames must be email addresses.   
  • Each user’s email address used for Blackbaud ID must be unique. It can’t be used by other users or as the username for your legacy (non-Blackbaud ID) school username. Typically, the primary email address from a user's contact card will become the user's Blackbaud ID username. However, you can use a different email address for authentication when desired.
  • Check your users’ contact email addresses, since these will become the Blackbaud ID username for login when set in bulk.   

 

  1. For users with school emails that should SSO, this should be their school email address.  
  2. If you choose to connect a parent, alum, recent grad, candidate, or other user to authenticate using Blackbaud ID, use the primary contact email address as the Blackbaud ID username.

 

  • List managers can view login information related to Blackbaud ID in User lists and can filter the lists based on authentication status.
  • Some authentication settings (such as the Admin console) are not accessible while impersonating. To set up authentication for your school, log in as the platform manager who has organization admin rights instead of impersonating one.

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This is our final Summer Recap Blog for 2019. I hope you've all enjoyed the ride as much as I have putting them together for you. I do hope you've found some interesting and useful information from them!


Even though the recaps are done, I still have plenty of content coming your way starting next week. We're targeting PushPage and offering all of you a few tips on how to get the most out of it. Join me, won't you?


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