Disabled vs Locked CERVIS Account Status Options

Question:

I need to make it so that a particular volunteer can no longer register for events. I see there are three options under CERVIS Account Status on their profile: Unlocked, Locked, or Disabled. What is the difference between these options?

Answer:

If you have a volunteer that you no longer want to be able to sign into CERVIS or register for opportunities, you can change their "CERVIS Account Status" to Disabled. You can do this by following the steps below:

1. Login to your CERVIS Account.
2. Click on the Search / Manage Volunteer Database link under the "Volunteer Management" section of the Main Dashboard.
3. Search for the Volunteer in question.
4. Select the button to the left of their name to Update / Edit Profile.
5. Near the bottom of the menu, change the "CERVIS Account Status" to Disabled.
6. Click the Update Volunteer Information button to save your changes.

The “Disabled” option allows administrators to permanently lock a volunteer out of using their account. When you set this field to “Disabled”, a volunteer will not be able to sign in to their account nor will they be able to self-register online for any available opportunities. Volunteers with disabled accounts will not receive any mass emails sent through your system. This should only be used in very specific instances where you have a volunteer that you no longer want to have access to the system.

Please note, while these actions will prohibit this volunteer from using these associated credentials to log-in and/or register for an opportunity, it would not prevent them from using a new email address to create a new account.

The “Locked” and “Unlocked” options are used by the system to prevent password guessing attacks against a user's profile. Most of the time, a volunteer’s account is “Unlocked”. An account will become “Locked” when a volunteer has more than 4 consecutive failed login attempts against their account. When this occurs, a volunteer will not be able to login and register for events until they request an automatic password reset using the Don’t Know Password / Reset Password link on the login page, or until an administrator manually unlocks their account. When this occurs, the volunteer will be notified that they need to reset their password, so there is typically no action needed by an administrator. Volunteers with “Locked” accounts will continue to receive email messages from the system just the same as unlocked accounts.