There are several cases in which it is necessary to merge two institution accounts in Xorro-Q.   The most common is where a Facilitator has created a new, stand-alone "source" account, and wants to join this into the institution's "target" account to take advantage of the institution's plans, shared resources and shared administration of participant lists and groups.  Another case is where institutions are coming together in practice and it makes sense to merge their accounts in Xorro-Q.

There are two paths by which an institution merge request is created:

1. Initiated by a Free Facilitator
2. Initiated by any Institution Manager

A merge request may either be approved, rejected or left unanswered.

How a Free Facilitator initiates a Merge Request

When signing up as a Free Facilitator, a new user is asked to identify the organisation for which he or she works (see "How do I get started as a Xorro-Q Facilitator?"

While typing the name of their organsiation, a list of possible institutions is presented.  If (instead of creating a new account) the Facilitator selects one of these institutions, then a temporary stand-alone "source" institution account is created, and a merge request is sent to the Institution Managers for the "target" institution account.  This allows the new Facilitator to work unimpeded while waiting for the merge request to be approved.

Until an IM from the institution approves the merge request, the new Facilitator's account is not merged into the institution account, so he or she will not have access to shared resources, group lists etc.

How an Institution Manager initiates a Merge Request

Any Institution Manager can select "My Institution" under the Profile menu, and then select "Users".  Press the button "Institution Merge Requests" to see a list of any merge requests made of the institution.  Press "Create Merge Request" to create a new one. 

In the form's drop-down list, start typing to find and select the institution you want to merge with.  On pressing "Create Merge Request", the Institution Manager(s) in that account will be asked to approve the request.

What happens when a merge request is approved?

Once the merge request has been accepted, the "source" institution account will be merged into the "target" institution account.  All Facilitators in the Source account will become standard Facilitator users in the target account:  Institution Manager privileges are not conveyed to the transitioned Facilitators automatically, however the inidividual accounts may be adjusted after the merge by an Institution Manager in the target account. 

Any questions and activities authored by Facilitators in the source institution account will be moved into the relevant Facilitator accounts in the target institution.  Any Results from running activities in the source institution will also be moved into the relevant new Facilitator accounts in the target institution, however all participants from the Source institution will be imported as Alias entries, ie without IDs.  This is to avoid the risk of conflicts and data corruptions when importing participants from the source institution.

What if a merge request is left unanswered?

If a merge request is not answered then the source and target institutions proceed as before the request was made, ie without any impact whatsoever on either.

Merge requests do not have any definitive expiry.

Categories: Xorro-Q, Admin / IT, Facilitators.
Tags: institution merge,combine,merger,merge request.