Public user passwords

Public users can create their own user name and password for Citizen Access. When the instance happens that public users forget their user name or password, they can resolve this situation in a few different ways. They can select the hyperlink on the Citizen Access Home page to request sending the username and password information to them by email. Public users can also request their information in person or by phone. In this situation, agency employees can access the public user account information through the Public user screen in Civic Platform. The public user account holds contact and security information about identity verification.

When a public user requests that you reset his password either in person or by phone, ask him his security question and verify the user’s identity. Then, you send him a new system generated password email.

If you need to customize the password email, customize the related email notification template in Civic Platform, by navigating to Administration > Setup > Communication manager > Notification templates. Refer to the Notification templates section of the Accela Civic Platform Administrator Guide.

Change passwords manually

In the instance that public users forget their password, an agency employee can manually send a forgotten password email to them. Authorized agency employees can access the public user account information in the Public user screen in Civic Platform. The Public user screen holds account details including contact and security information about identity verification.

When a public user requests that you reset their password either in person or by phone, ask him his security question and verify the user’s identity. Then, you send him a new system generated password email.

For information on how to manually change a user password, see “Changing a User Password” in the Accela Civic Platform Administrator Guide.

Automate forgotten passwords

Your agency can automate the forgotten password email. To do this, you must display the “I’ve forgotten my password’ link on the Login page and the Send password button in the Public user screen in Civic Platform. This allows public users to answer their security questions from the Welcome page and Civic Platform can generate a temporary password. Agency employees can go to their public user account and select the Send password button to manually send the password reset email. When they are logged into Citizen Access using the temporary password from the email, they can change their password on their Account management page.

To automate forgotten passwords

  1. Display Forgotten password button and link.

    Verify the password fields are set to read-only in the Public user screen of Civic Platform.

  2. Define the forgotten password email, as follows:

    Customize the related email notification template in Civic Platform, by navigating to Administration > Setup > Communication manager > Notification templates.

    Refer to the Notification templates section of the Accela Civic Platform Administrator Guide.

  3. Customize the related forgotten password web page.

    1. Verify General is active in the navigation panel.

    2. Go to the Pages area and select the Login page.

    3. If necessary, customize the Login page. See Web pages.

    4. Select Save.