Business Need

Although approximately 80% of CCC students currently have a CCCID, students who enroll outside of the online systemwide application (i.e., CCCApply) are more likely to not have a CCCID in their local college’s Student Information System (SIS). The objective for the new account creation tool is to provide our colleges and institutions with a simple and efficient process that will ensure every student has a lifelong CCC systemwide account and student identifier.

Use Cases

New OpenCCC Account Creation Tool

The new OpenCCC account creation admin tool has been implemented in the CCC Administrator, the same system that houses the CCCApply Administrator. The tool allows authorized staff to manually create student accounts as. needed using the same type of role-based authorized access in place for the CCCApply Administrator.  

Single Account Creation: Available now, this feature allows authorized staff to create a single user OpenCCC account and generate a CCCID on behalf of a student who may be unable to complete the CCCApply application process.

Multi Account Creation: This enhancement will enable colleges to upload a list of students, along with all their required account data information, that will generate a missing CCCID if needed and/or identify if a duplicate account already exists in the system. Staff can then add the missing CCCIDs into their SIS system for MIS and other reporting purposes. This enhancement is expected to be available by the end of January 2024 and will be communicated via the appropriate channels.

How It Works

OpenCCC student accounts are typically created by the student using their unique, personal email address and verified through a two-factor authentication process (2FA) in order to validate and secure their identity information. 

However, in the special cases where the student is unable to perform this process on their own, an authorized college staff member may now create and validate an account on behalf of that student using temporary credentials that can be reclaimed later by the student. 

This process will require the college to gather and enter the student’s personal information and temporary credentials, including a temporary email address that can be associated with the account and then accessed and verified at the time the account is created and at the time the student reclaims ownership of the accountfrom the college that originally created it on their behalf.

This entire process, although seemingly simple, does requires the college to consider new practices and security processes for storing and handling student data.

Reclaiming Ownership of An Account

Once an account is created on behalf of a student, the student will be able to take ownership of that account at any time. Using the temporary credentials used by the Institution to create the account, the student will sign in, update their email address in their OpenCCC Account Profile, and then complete the password reset/verification process again using their now accurate information. For details on reclaiming ownership of their account, see the User Flows section below.

College Preparation & Recommendations

Prerequisites

• A request for access must be submitted by a director-level administrator, supervisor, or Dean at the institution.

• The approved staff admin must have a CCCApply Administrator (CAP) account
  

Requesting Authorized Access

• Authorized access to the OpenCCC Administrator must be requested in writing by a director-level administrator, supervisor, or Dean at the CCC institution.

• Send an email to CCCTC Staff Support (staffsupportccctc@openccc.zendesk.com) that includes a statement from a director-level administrator or supervisor authorizing you [your name, title] access to the new OpenCCC Administrator “for the purposes of creating and maintaining one or more OpenCCC student accounts (CCCIDs) on behalf of students outside the online systemwide application (CCCApply)”.

• Once approved, a support team member will update your CCC Administrator account to include access to the account creation tool.

CCC Administrator Account Required

Approved users for the OpenCCC Administrator tool must have a CCC Administrator (CAP) account established with the CCCTC.

• If you already have a CAP account (same as the CCCApply Administrator), CCCTC Staff Support will configure your account with the OpenCCC Admin role. This is all you need to get started.

• If you do not already have a CAP account, send an email request to CCCTC Staff Support (staffsupportccctc@openccc.zendesk.com) to get that started.

  • Consult your college IT department to obtain your EPPN credentials and provide them to the support engineer during account setup.

• Once your staff account is established, use your college-specific CCCApply Administrator URL to get to the CCC Administrator > OpenCCC Administrator tool via your institution IdP.

Security & Policy Considerations

• Access to the OpenCCC Administrator requires Director-level approval at the college or district.

• Approved administrators must agree to never share their account with other staff.

• Colleges and districts must implement a process, or have one in place, to obtain permission from the student before creating an account and/or submitting an application on their behalf.

• Accounts created by the college on behalf of a student will not be subjected to the new student ID Verification process (ID.me) at the time of account creation. The account database will store a value of “staff_verified” for the <idme_workflow_status> field until the student reclaims ownership of their account and personally completes the ID verification process.

• Standard and Noncredit Applications submitted on behalf of a student will not be processed through the CCCApply Spam Filter; however the database will store a value of “7” for the <fraud_status> field at submission. This is a new value added to the data field for this purpose.

Best Practices & Recommendations

Obtaining Student Permission

To ensure the privacy and security of student data, it is strongly recommended that colleges and districts implement a process, or have one in place, whereby permission is authorized by the student to allows the college, district or other designated person the power to create an OpenCCC student account, and/or submit an application, on their behalf. For example, incarcerated students typically complete a paper application which both provides the student’s personal identity information and gives the college permission to enroll them in classes, including creating a student account and online application.

Option: Using a Generic OpenCCC Account

One of our recommendations for streamlining the overall account creation and submitting an application on behalf of a student process is to create a generic or master OpenCCC account and email address that can be verified once and then used by the college to quickly create single or multiple additional accounts. Below are some tips to get you started.

1. Work with your college or district IT Administrator to set up a master (parent) email account for this purpose.

   1. This will allow multiple accounts to be created from one verified email address using the optional “plus 1” workaround.

   2. The email address must be associated with your institution and not a personal account.

   3. The email format may identify the specific department or project@yourInstitution for this purpose (e.g., restorativejustice@imperial.edu)

2. Create a generic OpenCCC account using the institution email address and complete the verification process.

   1. Go to the OpenCCC Sign In page using your CCCApply application link for your college.

   2. Click on “Create An Account” link and complete all required account fields for master user

   3. Set Email as your Primary Contact Method and then verify the email address using the 2FA verification process

Option: Using the “Plus 1” Email Method

In order for the OpenCCC Account Creation tool to create an account on behalf of a student, the college or institution will use a process where multiple additional user accounts can be generated from one OpenCCC account with a verified (parent) institution email address. The institution or master account is created using the existing OpenCCC account creation and verification processes. With the email address from the master account verified, the staff user can use the tool to create additional (proxy) accounts with email addresses that employ the “plus 1” workaround which will bypass the sign in email verification requirement (2FA) when the staff member creates an application or signs in on behalf of the student. All accounts created using the master or parent email address, including each instance using “plus 1”, will resolve back to the parent email account - which has already be verified.

Benefits of the “plus 1” method:

• Allows authorized staff users to create multiple student accounts under one single parent email account.

• Once the parent, or master, email account is verified through the standard two-factor validation process, all “email +1” addresses will resolve back to the verified account.

• No need to create a unique email account per student.

• No need to verify each account when created.

Best Practice: Use the Email Address for the Username (Temporary Field)

The Username field that appears on the single account creation screen is slated to be deprecated in an upcoming Spring 2024 release. If you encounter the field on the Add an OpenCCC User page, please enter the same valid email address that was used in the Email Address field.

Best Practice: Use a Password Generator Tool for Creating Passwords

It is always important to generate, store, handle, and transmit passwords and other user credentials in a secure manner, especially when creating CCCID accounts and/or applications on behalf of a student. The Password field in the tool requires at least 8 characters, one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, one special character (!, @, #, $, %, ^, & or *), and may not contain your name.

However, for security purposes, the CCCTC recommends implementing a password generating tool such as LastPass Password Generatorto ensure strong, random passwords that meet general information security policies.

Best Practice: Maintain a Secure Tracking Sheet for User Accounts

In order to track and manage the accounts you create on behalf of students, we recommend maintaining a secure, password-protected spreadsheet for capturing the new user account data, including the username and password. This process can help in the following ways:

• Easily sign in as the user to create an application on their behalf.

• Maintains a roster/record of all accounts created for a specific term, institution and/or agency.

• Can be used to provide students their account information when they leave the institution, should they request it.

Below is an example of a simple tracking sheet created in Google Sheets that includes all the data fields required for account creation using the OpenCCC account creation tool.

Best Practice: Providing the Student with their Account Information

Once the student is ready and able to reclaim ownership account is created on behalf of a student, the student will be able to take ownership of that account at any time. Using the temporary credentials used by the Institution to create the account, the student will sign in, update their email address in their OpenCCC Account Profile, and then complete the password reset/verification process again using their now accurate information. For details on reclaiming ownership of their account, see the User Flows section below.

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User Guide

• Adding a New OpenCCC User (Single Account Creation)

• Multi Account Creation Process

Adding A New OpenCCC User

The steps below pertain to the process for creating a single OpenCCC user account (one individual user). Instructions for creating multiple accounts will be provided along with the enhancement release (coming January 2024).

Step 1: Navigate and Sign In to the OpenCCC Administrator

1. Navigate to the CCC Administrator homepage using your college-specific URL configured to your college MIS code.

2. Select OpenCCC Administrator from the Applications drop menu in the header. The Add New User page will appear.

Step 2: Complete the Add OpenCCC User form

The Add OpenCCC User form includes all the same input fields required for the creation of an OpenCCC student account.

Note

Note: The Username field temporarily appears on the single account creation page. This field is scheduled to be deprecated in an upcoming Spring 2024 release. Until the field is removed from the single account creation process, please enter the same valid email address used in the Email Address field. If the field is not present, please disregard this instruction; the documentation will be updated shortly.

Add OpenCCC User Fields	Notes / Recommendations
*Required fields are shown in bold.
Username*	Note: This field is scheduled to be deprecated in an upcoming Spring 2024 release. Until this field is removed from the Add New OpenCCC User screen, please use the same valid email address used in this process. Use the email address entered in the email address field.
Email Address* / Confirm Email Address*	Must be a verified email account that can be accessed by the account creator.
Primary Phone Number	Recommend using the main phone number for the college or institution. This field is not required.
Phone Type	Phone type should always be landline if main phone number for college or institution is used. This field is not required.
Address: Homeless	Homeless flag should always be “No”.
Country*	Enter the Country of the new user or the college or institution.
State*	Enter the State of the new user or the college or institution.
Street Address 1*	Enter the Street Address of the new user or the college or institution.
Street Address 2	Enter the Street Address 2 of the new user or the college or institution. This field is not required.
City*	Enter the City of the new user or the college or institution.
Postal Code*	Enter the Postal Code of the new user or the college or institution.
Legal First Name	Enter the new user’s Legal First Name. This field is not required but highly recommended.
Legal Middle Name	Enter the new user’s Legal Middle Name. This field is not required.
Legal Last Name*	Enter the new user’s Legal Last Name.
Preferred Name	Enter the new user’s preferred first name, if applicable. This field is not required.
Suffix	Enter a Suffix for the new user. This field is not required.
Date of Birth*/ Confirm Date of Birth*	Important! Enter the new user’s actual Date of Birth for account recovery purposes. Confirm the user’s actual Date of Birth.
Password* / Confirm Password*	Important! Enter a unique Password that follows the security guidelines described below. Passwords MUST be unique and non-predictable.
Terms of Use Agreement*	Important! The Terms of Use agreement must be accepted to complete the process and save the new account.

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Reminder to Create Secure Passwords It is important to generate, store, handle, and transmit passwords in a secure manner, especially when managing user credentials on behalf of students. CCCTC recommends using a password generating tool such as LastPass Password Generator to ensure strong, random passwords.

Step 3: SaveForm & Capture CCCID

After entering all the required fields in the Add OpenCCC User page, click “Save” to finish creating the new account. A Success notification box will display a confirmation of the new account’s key credential elements: username, email address, and the CCCID.

We recommend capturing this information on your secure tracking sheet. Please ensure that the sheet is password-protected and stored in a secure location.

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Multi Account Creation

The ability to create multiple accounts is also under-development. This process will mostly support colleges that have a number of current or former students who may have enrolled prior to the college implementing the new OpenCCCApply system.

Process

1. Go to the CCC Administrator > OpenCCC Administrator using the unique college-specific URL configured to your college MIS code.

2. Click on the Multi Account Creation link in the header of the Add OpenCCC User page.

3. From the Multi Account Creation screen, download the multi account upload template by clicking the Download Template button at the bottom of the screen.

   1. The template provides the columns and format of the information required.
      

      

   2. If downloaded successfully, a Success message will appear.

4. Open the downloaded file named “bulkAccountCreateTemplate”, typically it can be found in your local downloads folder.

5. Complete the multi account creation file with the required information and save in the CSV format.

   1. Open the downloaded template (CSV file) in your preferred spreadsheet application, such as MicroSoft Excel, and populate each column row with the required data.

   2. IMPORTANT: Column order is important and specified in the header row.

   3. Leave the last three columns blank.

Note
See information for populating the multi account creation file below.

6. Return to the Multi Account Creation screen and prepare to upload your saved CSV file.

   1. First click the Choose File button to relocate your saved file.

   2. Then click Upload File to complete the upload.

7. Following the upload, the file is processed. A Success or Failure message will be displayed indicating the status of the multi account creation process and execution time. If successful, the results can be downloaded. If the process fails, the file should be corrected and re-uploaded.

8. View the results of your upload. Click the Download Results button. Find and open the file in your preferred spreadsheet program.

9. The results will be displayed in the last three columns of the sheet: “status”, “cccid” and “message” columns.

Note
Recommended: Use the same spreadsheet for ongoing uploads. Ensure your file is password protected and stored in a secure location.

Populating the Multi Account Creation File

While the single user account creation process mimics the primary account creation process that students use to create their OpenCCC account, the multi account creation process is requires slightly different input requirements. These differences are described below.

Account Fields	Column Header	Notes & Recommendations
Email Address*	email	Must be a verified email account that can be accessed by the account creator. Unlike the single account creation process, the multi account creation sheet does not require the email address to be confirmed and entered twice.
Legal First Name	first	Enter the user’s Legal First Name in the first field.. This field is not required but highly recommended.
Legal Last Name	last	Enter the new user’s Legal Last Name. Required field.
Legal Middle Name	middle	Enter the new user’s Legal Middle Name. This field is not required.
Suffix	suffix	Enter a Suffix for the new user. This field is not required.
Preferred Name	preferred	Enter the new user’s preferred first name, if applicable. This field is not required.
Date of Birth	dob YYYY-MM-DD	Important: Enter the new user’s actual Date of Birth for account recovery purposes. The DOB is entered once only. Unlike the single account creation process. Important: The DOB entered must comply with the YYYY-MM-DD format. This may require some manipulation of the cell format if you are using a MS Excel file.
Accepted Terms of Use	accepted-terms	The Terms of Use agreement must be accepted to complete the process and save the new account. You must enter “TRUE” in the accepted-terms field to avoid an error.
Address: Homeless	homeless	You must enter “FALSE” in the homeless field to avoid an error.
Street Address 1	street1	You must enter a valid street address in the street1 field to avoid an error.
Street Address 2	street2	The street2 field is optional and can be left blank. However, if you do enter a value for street2, you must enter a valid street address.
City	city	Enter the City of the new user or the college or institution.
State	state	Enter the State of the new user or the college or institution.
Postal Code	postal	Enter the Postal Code of the new user or the college or institution.
Country	country	Enter “US” for United States citizens.
Primary Phone Number	phone-number	You must enter a valid phone number in the phone-number field. See the proper format in the example above. Recommend using the main phone number for the college or institution. This field is not required.
Phone Type	phone-type	Phone type should always be landline if using the main phone number for the college or institution is used. This field is not required.
Password	password	Important: Enter a unique Password that follows the security guidelines described below. Passwords MUST be unique and non-predictable.
Temporary Password	use_temp_password	Important: Change the default value from False to TRUE to avoid a password reset change immediately following sign-in.
Status	status	LEAVE THIS FIELD BLANK
CCCID	cccid	LEAVE THIS FIELD BLANK
Message	message	LEAVE THIS FIELD BLANK

What happens during the upload process?

Each row in the CSV file should represent a single, unique student user. The personal information provided must be as true and accurate as possible, and all OpenCCC account requirements must be included. The data column order is important and noted in the header row.

• All columns must be populated except the columns named ‘status’, ‘message’, and ‘cccid’; those columns should be empty upon upload.

• As each row of user data input is processed, the ‘status’, ‘message’, and ‘cccid’ columns will be set.

• If there is an error, then the ‘status’ column will display ‘Failure’; otherwise the ‘status’ column will display ‘Success’.

For the purposes of processing the multi account creation file multiple times, the following rules and procedures may apply:

• The “use temporary password” will default to False. To avoid an immediate password reset during sign-in, make sure this field = TRUE.

• Skip input row if cccid has a value, which indicates an account has already been created for the user. Note: This allows the administrator to “fix” a CSV file for failed rows and then re-submit the same document.

• If a CCCID is present for a row, then new account creation is bypassed. This allows the administrator to edit the results file and re-submit (upload) again.

Note
IMPORTANT: To avoid an immediate password reset during the first login after account creation, ensure the “use_temp_password” field value is changed from False to TRUE.

Error Messages

The column named ‘message’ will contain an error message if the user creation failed. One message will be returned per user row, for example:

Status	Example “Message” (one per row)	Message Notes
Success	Successfully added user	User created
Failure	A user already exists with email (example): winnie@test.com	Change the email or ask the student to recover their account based on that email.
Failure	Multiple users match on (firstname, lastname, date-of-birth), please contact support.	Contact support
Failure	A user already exists for the given firstname, lastname, date-of-birth, please contact support.	Contact support
Failure	errorCode:missing.value,field:address.postal_code	Fill in the postal code field
Failure	Invalid number of columns found!	The number of columns of filled out data is incorrect. Usually this the result of having a blank row at the end of the file. Or it could be due to using an out-of-date template.
Failure	A user already exists with username: hpotter12345	Change the email since the email is used as the username. If not, probably best to contact support. Note: Username field is scheduled to be deprecated from account creation tool process in upcoming Spring 2024 release.

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Account Creation Workflows

The following workflow checklists can be used by authorized staff when using the account creation process for various use cases.

General Workflow Best Practices

• Add new credentials to tracking sheet (including CCCID)

• Safeguard (email, username [< use email address] & password) if submitting an application on behalf of the new user

User Flow: College creates a new account and submits an application on behalf of a student.

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This flow supports the use case where the college needs to support a student who is does not have access to technology and/or the internet, or may have already enrolled outside the systemwide online application process.

1. Navigate to the OpenCCC Administrator and sign in with your staff admin account.

2. Enter all student-provided information into the Add OpenCCC User form to create the student account.

3. Capture and add the new account credentials onto your secure tracking sheet (email address, password, etc.).

4. Continue to your college’s CCCApply Application and click on “Sign In”.

5. On the OpenCCC Sign In page, enter the email addressyou justcreated for the new student.

6. On the Password page, enter the passwordyou created for the student.

7. For security purposes, the system will prompt the Password Reset process here and you must reset the password you used in the account creation.

8. Following password reset, sign in with the email address and new password.

9. On the My Applications page, click “Start A New Application” to submit a CCCApply application on behalf of the student.

10. On the Confirmation page, capture the submitted applications confirmation number.

11. Suggestion: Return to your secure tracking sheet and add the application Confirmation number to the sheet.

12. Repeat process with next new account, as necessary.

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Note: The workflow above is intended for creating a single user account.

Note
Edge case: If prompted to provide a Username, enter the email address entered in the account creation process.

User Flow: College creates multiple accounts (CCCIDs) on behalf of current or former students.

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This flow supports the use case/need for generating a CCCID for an existing student or inactive/legacy records that have applied through systemwide online application process prior to implementation of OpenCCC.

1. Navigate to the OpenCCC Administrator and sign in with your staff admin account.

2. Enter all student-provided information into the Add OpenCCC User form to create the student account.

3. Capture and add the new account credentials on your secure tracking sheet.

4. Test the newly created credentials to confirm successful OpenCCC account Sign In.

5. Using a secure process determined and approved by your college, provide the account credentials to the new student:

   1. Email Address

   2. Password

   3. CCCID

   4. Username (if used, should be the email address)

6. Ensure the student is provided the steps needed to reclaim their account in the future.

7. Suggestion: Return to your secure tracking sheet and document the date/time that the credentials were provided to the student in the Notes column.

8. Repeat process with next new account.

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Note: The workflow above is intended for creating a single missing CCCID account on behalf of an existing/legacy student account.

Info
Coming January 2024: Multi account creation workflows using the OpenCCC Administrator.

User Flow: Student reclaims ownership of the account created on their behalf.

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This process details the steps necessary for a student to reclaim ownership of an account that was created on their behalf by the college.

1. College confirms the identity of the student attempting to claim their account and reset their personal credentials.

2. Once confirmed, the college provides the account credentials to the student in a secure manner (determined by the college):

   1. Email Address

   2. Password

   3. CCCID

   4. Username (if used, should be the email address)

   5. Link to OpenCCC.net

3. Student navigates directly to the OpenCCC Sign In page in order to update their Profile information.

4. On the OpenCCC Sign Inpage, enter the email address created for you by the college.

5. On the Password page, enter the password created for you by the college.

6. NOTE: If the Change Password page appears immediately following entering your temporary password, please update your password again. Save and continue.

7. On the OpenCCC Edit Account page, update the following fields:

   1. Change the email address created by the college with your true and actual email address. Confirm the new email address.

   2. Ensure the Preferred Method of Contact field is set to Email.

   3. Update your name, address, phone number, and birthdate to be true, current, and accurate. Click Save Changes to exit.

8. Return to the OpenCCC Sign In page to test your updated credentials:

   1. Enter your updated email address on the Sign In page.

   2. On the Password page, click on “Forgot your password?” to reset your new password.

   3. On the Forgot Your Password? page, select the option to receive your security code by Email, then click Next.

9. Navigate to your personal email account and retrieve the six-digit security code in the email message sent from the California Community Colleges.

10. Return to the OpenCCC Validation Code page and enter the six-digit code in the Validation Code input field. Click Next to continue.

11. With the verification process complete, go to the Change Passwordsection and enter a strong, new password. Confirm the new password. Save, then Sign Out.

Note
On the Username page, enter the username created for you by the college. Land on the Edit Account page.