1.What will my LGfL Unified Sign On username and password allow me to do? Your LGfL USO username and password is a single set of credentials that can be used with many of the services provided by London Grid for Learning. This ranges from Sophos Anti-Virus and Curriculum Central to email services and all of the LGfL premium content. A full USO service for all staff and pupil users is provided to every establishment that subscribes to LGfL.
2.I don’t have a Unified Sign On account – How do I get one? Every pupil and member of staff in an LGfL school is entitled to a USO account. Each school should have at least one Nominated Contact set up; additional rights are assigned to this person so that other usernames and passwords at his/her school or authority can be created and managed. Nominated Contact permissions are assigned through the LGfL Support Site by the schools Head Teacher. To do this, please ask your Headteacher to login to the LGfL Support Site and click through User Accounts | Nominated Contact Management Alternatively, Nominated Contact permissions can be granted through the submission of the request form found here. If no Head Teacher is registered for a school, then this needs to be done first using this form here.
3.Why can’t I request the creation of generic accounts? For licensing reasons, generic account names are not allowed within the LGfL Unified Sign On system. To understand why, consider the Sophos licence provided through LGfL which allows teachers to install Sophos on laptops that they take home, and even their own personal workstations at home. The problem with generic accounts becomes apparent when a teacher leaves the school and starts work elsewhere. If the teacher continues to use a generic account to update Sophos on his/her computer at home, then there is a breach of the Sophos licence. By contrast, if the teacher has a personal account then this would be disabled when they leave the school, and the breach of licence described above will not occur.
4.What should I do to create USO accounts for everyone at my school? The process for setting up USO accounts is documented in this flowchart.
5. What is Shibboleth authentication Shibboleth is a technology, developed by the Internet2 group, that enables the exchange of information about a user (known as attributes) between that user’s institution (the Identity Provider or IdP) and a Service Provider (SP), authenticating a user and allowing the SP to decide whether to grant access to resources. The London Grid for Learning operates a Shibboleth Federation with LGfL/Atomwide USO. Further information about how Shibboleth works is available from the UK Access Management Federation. |
