The Termination Notification System (TNS), which automatically terminates or disables accounts when employees leave the Lab, has been implemented for all LBNL divisions since August. Since TNS went into full production, a number of questions have come up. Here are some of them, with the answers.

Question: "Why do I get so many emails"?
Answer: Each termination action is controlled by the ITSD help request system. For both workflow and audit purposes, help request "tickets" are automatically created to carry out the disable and eventually the delete actions for each account. As those of you who use the ITSD Help Desk already know, when we resolve tickets, an email confirmation (with optional survey request link) is sent out to the requester. For purposes of TNS, we use the supervisor of record in HRIS as the requestor.

A typical employee may have multiple accounts, so there are multiple tickets created. Using a mail filter to receive these emails and store them for a short period of time in a special folder is one way of handling this email traffic without having to process each one individually.

Q: Isn't there an easier way to request the immediate deletion of all the employee’s accounts without having to request it for each one individually?
A: Not now, but the release date for an enhanced Web site for TNS will allow supervisors to select a "delete now" option without having to enter any further information.

Q: When I get a notification from TNS that a terminated employee’s accounts will be disabled in two business days and deleted in 30, do I have to go to the Web site?
A: No. This is the default action that will take place. If there is no reason to request a change, there is no need to use the Web site link provided in the termination notice.

Q: I would like to receive a notification in advance of the employee termination so I can take actions to request a status change to guest (which is typically required to allow continued access to lab resources).
A: TNS is triggered by the HR termination action. There is no way TNS knows when someone is likely to leave. Supervisors can work with their administrative and HR support staff to request a change to guest status at the same time the termination is processed, however. Taking this action in advance automatically stops TNS from doing any account processing.

Q: What computer accounts does TNS control?
A: Both the IMAP electronic mail and Oracle Calendar are two of the systems that are managed by TNS. Disabling these accounts is achieved through LDAP, which is also used by a large number of corporate applications (IRIS, Site access, JHQ, Employee Self Service, and so on). The ITSD Help Desk disables the LDAP account as a way of disabling all of these systems. Novell and NT4 accounts are also part of TNS (using tools specific to these environments) and more will be added in the future.