Employee Username Format

Overview

The Employee Username Format setting defines the template used by Classter to automatically generate account usernames for new employees (non-teaching staff) when they are registered in the system. By configuring this template, administrators ensure that all employee accounts follow a consistent, predictable naming convention across the institution.

This setting belongs to the Accounts & Roles section of Security Settings and is one of several role-specific username format settings available in Classter — each covering a different user type (students, teachers, parents, employees, and in Higher Education mode, lecturers).

What This Setting Does

When a new employee record is created in Classter, the system reads this format template and uses it to suggest a username for the employee’s login account. The suggested username is built by extracting parts of the employee’s first name and last name according to the defined pattern.

Format Template Tokens

The template is built using placeholder tokens. The most commonly used tokens are:

• [SchoolPortal.FirstName(N)] — Takes the first N characters of the employee’s first name.
• [SchoolPortal.LastName(N)] — Takes the first N characters of the employee’s last name.
• [SchoolPortal.Code] — Uses the employee’s internal identifier code.
• [SchoolPortal.CrossCode] — Uses the employee’s cross-reference code.

The value of N specifies how many characters to extract. For example, N=1 extracts only the first letter, while N=10 extracts up to ten characters. Tokens can be combined with literal separators such as a dot (.) or an underscore (_) to produce formats like “j.smith” or “john_smith”.

Advanced Options for Compound Names

For employees who have compound names (e.g., two first names or a hyphenated last name), the format dialog provides advanced split functions that can extract only the first part of the name. For example, a format can be configured to take only the first word of a first name, ignoring any secondary first names — ensuring that the generated username remains clean and short regardless of how many name parts the employee has.

Automatic Character Conversion

The system automatically converts the employee’s name characters to produce a valid, system-compatible username. This includes converting accented or non-Latin characters to their Latin equivalents (for example, transliterating Greek characters to the Latin alphabet) and converting the result to lowercase. This ensures that the generated username works with standard authentication systems regardless of the language or script used to store the employee’s name.

Duplicate Username Handling

If the generated username already exists in the system (for example, because another employee has the same first initial and last name), Classter automatically appends an incrementing integer to make the username unique. The first collision becomes username1, the next username2, and so on.

Configuration Interface

The format template is not typed directly as free text. It is configured through a dedicated pop-up dialog that opens when you click the three-dot button (…) next to the setting. The dialog provides:

• A visual pattern builder where you select the type of field (First Name, Last Name, Code) and the number of characters to include.
• A preview and test area where you can enter a sample first and last name to immediately see the resulting username before saving.
• Validation to confirm that the pattern is syntactically correct.

Where It Is Used

Location in the application: Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > Accounts & Roles

This setting is applied when a new employee account is created in Classter, whether created manually through the administration interface or via a bulk import. The generated username is presented as a suggestion that the administrator can accept or manually override before saving the record.

The setting is per-institution (per-company), meaning that each institution in a multi-institution environment can define its own employee username format independently.

The username generated by this setting is the account login name used by employees to sign in to the system. It is distinct from the employee’s display name, email address, or internal code.

Business Logic / Behavior

• The format template is evaluated at the moment a new employee account is created.
• The suggested username is a starting point. Administrators can manually change it before saving the employee record.
• If the suggested username already exists, the system adds a number suffix automatically (1, 2, 3…) to ensure uniqueness.
• Character conversion is applied automatically, so the result is always a standard, lowercase, Latin-character username.
• Changing this setting after accounts have already been created does not rename existing accounts. Only new accounts created after the change will use the updated format.
• This setting covers only the username format. It does not affect the employee’s email address format, display name, or login password policy.

K-12 Mode

In K-12 mode (when the “Enable Configuration for Higher Education” setting is disabled), the Employee entity covers all non-teaching staff — for example, administrative personnel, support staff, secretaries, and other roles that are not classified as teachers. Teaching staff have their own separate username format setting (Teacher username format). This setting applies to all employees who fall outside the teacher role.

Higher Education Mode

In Higher Education mode (when the “Enable Configuration for Higher Education” setting is enabled), academic staff such as lecturers and professors are managed as a separate entity type — Lecturer — which has its own dedicated username format setting (Lecturer username format). In this mode, the Employee username format setting applies specifically to non-academic administrative and support staff. The format behavior is identical in both modes; only the scope of who is considered an “employee” differs.

Examples

Example 1 — First initial followed by last name

Format template: [SchoolPortal.FirstName(1)][SchoolPortal.LastName(10)]