What You Need to Know About Security Enhancements Coming in June
Emergency Reporting (ER) is growing, and as a software company, we always strive to adhere to the most up-to-date, advanced technologies for security. With this in mind, ER will soon be launching a more secure way to sign in to your account. While we realize this change will have an impact on the way you sign in, we have determined it to be a necessary step toward ensuring your data is secure. This change is scheduled for June 2020.
This blog will guide you through the changes that you will experience with the new sign in. We’ll cover:
- Migration: What to expect
- Access invitations
- Verification codes
- Username/password requirements
- How to change your password
- How to change your email for password recovery
- Linking multiple agencies to one identity
- What to do if you are locked out of your account
Migration: What to Expect
When ER launches the new authentication experience, proceed to the usual Sign In page and sign in using the same credentials you use today. If your username meets our new criteria (we’ll go over this) you will be automatically migrated to our new Sign In page. At the new Sign In page, you will be prompted to change your password. Once you’ve changed your password, all you need to do is bookmark the new Sign In page (https://secure.emergencyreporting.ca).
If your username does not meet the new requirements, you will be prompted to create a new username and password. These will be your new sign-in credentials and your ER User Identity.
Access Invitations
With the new authentication experience, to add personnel to your agency, department administrators send Access Invitations to allow others to join their ER department account.
Follow the steps below to send an Access Invitation.
- Navigate to the Personnel section within Administration.
- Click Personnel List.
- Locate the Personnel Record you would like to send an Access Invitation to. (NOTE: If the Personnel does not already exist, a new Person must be added to the Personnel grid prior to this step.)
- Click the Edit icon.
- Navigate to the Security tab for that person.
- Under “System Access”, select Has access.
- Verify the user has the correct Role/Permission configured and click the Save icon.
- Click Send Access Invitation.
- If the email address is already in the Email Address dropdown, move to the last step. (This dropdown is populated from the Contact Info tab under “Personal Contact Information”).
- If the Email Address is empty, click New Email Address and enter the new email address.
- Click Send Invitation.
NOTE: If you select New Email Address on the screen above, check the box below to add this email to the person’s contact information.
The invitation email will look like this:
Verification Codes
When you create a new ER User Identity; you will be prompted to verify your email. The first step on the Create User Identity page requires your email address. Enter your email address, access your email account and look for an email from “Microsoft on behalf of Emergency Reporting Canada.”
Copy the 6-digit code and paste it into the “Verification Code” box on the Create User Identity page.
Username/Password Requirements
In this section you will find the Username and Password Requirements for the new authentication model. (These requirements will be displayed when you first attempt to sign in.)
Username Requirements
- Cannot contain these characters: @: ; \ < > . , ( ) [ ] { }
Password Requirements
- At least one Upper Case
- At least one Lower Case
- At least one Number
- At least one Special Character
- At least 8 characters
- No more than 64 characters
- Password you haven’t already used
How to Change your Password
- Go to the Sign In page.
- Click Forgot Password.
- Enter your Username and Email and click Send Code.
- You will receive an email with the subject line: Emergency Reporting account email verification code and this email will be sent from Microsoft on behalf of Emergency Reporting Canada.
- Enter the code. You will see the message “Verified” if the code matches.
- Enter and confirm your new password.
How to Change Your Email for Password Recovery
If you would like to change the email address associated with your ER User Identity, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Emergency Reporting account.
- Go to My Profile on the lower left-hand side.
- In My Profile, click Change Email for Password Reset.
- Confirm your Identity.
- Enter and Save your new email address.
Linking Multiple Agencies to One Identity
With new ER User Identities, comes the ability to link a single User Identity to several different department accounts. For example, say you volunteer at three different departments. In the past, you needed three separate sets of credentials to sign in to those different accounts. With our new authentication model, you can use a single User Identity to sign in to them all. Once you link all your departments to a single User Identity, you’ll be presented with an account selection option when signing in. This will allow you to select the department you’d like to access.
What to Do If You Are Locked Out of Your Account
If your department account is locked because of inactivity, you need to contact your department’s administrator to be unlocked.
If your ER User Identity is locked because of too many unsuccessful sign-in attempts, your Identity will automatically unlock after approximately five minutes. Once unlocked, you can attempt to sign in again. A subsequent failed sign-in attempt will lock your Identity for one minute and longer for any additional failed attempts.
We’re Here to Help.
If you experience any issues with the new sign in, please contact Support.
Call: 1 (844) 253-9337
Email: [email protected]
