Active Use Requirements for Sponsored Guest Accounts

The Sponsored Accounts application is used to request exceptional NetID and/or DukeCard access for individuals who are not Duke employees or students.  

Starting 12/15/2021, Sponsored Accounts will begin enforcing new security requirements, including:

• Collection of additional information about applicability of export controls, on-site presence, and any compensation of sponsored guest(s).
   
• Batch account renewal not available for accounts without recent use - if an account that was not renewed as a part of a batch renewal action is still needed, it can still be renewed as an individual account action.  You will be asked to provide a business reason for renewing an account without recent activity; this information will be reviewed by the IT Security Office, but will not delay renewal of the account.
   

Defining "active use"

Guest accounts with NetID activity across Duke Health or Duke University over the past 30 days will not require a business justification to renew.  Additionally, any University DukeCard use over the past 30 days will also satisfy this requirement.
 

Exemptions and deferrals for active use requirement

The following use cases will not be affected by the in use requirement for guest account renewals:

• System-based sponsorships like pre-hire affiliates are not affected by this change.
   
• Clinical sponsorships with special workflows (Community Connect, MedLink, Community Physician) are not in scope for restrictions on renewal.  
   
• Sponsors who have been identified as managing 20 or more accounts that do not appear to be in use will be contacted about a deferred enforcement of this requirement to allow time for discussions about any business needs.
   

Preventing business impact

The new use requirement does not affect your guest accounts until it is time for renewal, but you don't have to wait until your accounts are nearing expiration to take action:
 

• Check your guest activity: if you are a current guest account sponsor, you can review the Manage Guest Accounts page to review which of your accounts are currently in use.  The "Recently Used" column title can be clicked to sort your accounts into used and unused.
   
• Clean up unused accounts: as a guest account sponsor, it is your responsibility to terminate accounts that are no longer needed.  
   
• Help us expand the definition of "active use": the business reason collected at the time of renewing an account marked as unused will inform efforts to improve this process.  Please consider sharing details about atypical ways in which the account is being used, and/or patterns of use that are not captured by the current process.
   
• Consider system-based sponsorship or sponsorship by group: if you have many guest accounts supporting an official Duke business process, you can now jointly sponsor guest accounts among a Group Manager Support Group or even automate sponsorship based on a system of record.  For more on these options, please contact sponsored-accounts@duke.edu.