Overview
This setting allows an institute to automatically add a short suffix to the usernames that Classter generates for its users. It belongs to the Security Settings area of the application and is specifically designed for organizations that operate more than one institute (for example a group of schools, or a district) inside the same shared Classter environment.
When several institutes share one Classter environment (one web address, one Microsoft 365 tenant, or one Google Workspace domain), two different institutes could otherwise end up generating the exact same username for two different people. This setting exists to prevent that situation by making it possible to tell institutes apart directly from the username.
What This Setting Does
This setting lets an administrator type in a short piece of text – the “suffix” – that the system automatically attaches to the end of every new username it generates for that institute. The purpose of this setting, as explained in the platform’s own configuration notes, is described below:
Main Settings / General Settings / Security Settings / External Sync / Append a suffix to the username account (usually used in multi-institutes configuration)
In case of multiple institutes (e.g. a district or a group of schools) with one tenant (Classter single URL or single Office365 tenant or one Google App Domain), we may have the following problem: Two users from two different institutes may have the same username (e.g.m.thomson@schooldisctritname.classter.com).
In order to avoid this common problem, we suggest the following username format: username.suffix@schooldisctritname.classter.com.
It is common that the suffix is the name of the institute.
For example, username.schoolname@myschool.classter.com However, in this setting you can freely set any suffix you prefer for the particular institute you configure.
In short, the suffix is a free-text field that is stored separately for each institute. Any short piece of text can be used – it does not have to be the institute’s own name, although that is the most common choice, as long as it helps to clearly and uniquely identify the institute within the shared environment.
Where It Is Used
Navigation path: Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > External Sync
The setting is applied automatically at the moment the system generates a new username for a new user account belonging to that institute. This applies to every type of portal user, including employees, teachers, students, parents/guardians, and partners – there is no need to configure it separately for each role.
Because the value is stored separately for each institute, a group of schools or a district sharing one Classter environment can give each institute its own distinct suffix, while an institute that does not need one can simply leave the field empty.
Changing this setting only affects usernames that are generated after the change is made. Usernames that already exist are not automatically renamed when the suffix is added, changed, or removed afterward.
Business Logic / Behavior
Based on how the setting is designed to work, the following business rules apply:
- The suffix is a free-text field. Any value can be entered; using the institute’s own name is only a common convention, not a requirement.
- When a suffix value is entered, it is automatically added to the end of the username that would normally be generated, separated by a dot (for example, basename.suffix).
- The suffix is applied in the same way to every type of portal user (employees, teachers, students, parents/guardians, and partners); there is no need to set it up separately for each role.
- If the field is left empty, no suffix is added and usernames keep their normal, unmodified format.
- Spaces and characters that are not allowed in a username are automatically removed when the final username is built, so it is best to keep the suffix simple (letters, numbers, dots, or hyphens) to get a predictable result.
- The suffix only affects how new usernames are built going forward; it does not retroactively rename usernames that were generated before the setting was configured.
Example(s)
The platform’s own configuration notes illustrate the behavior with the following example:
Setting -> Active
E.g. Suffix = mysuffixTest
New username for users will be e.g., ttest.mysuffixTest@beta.classter.com
(image)
Setting -> Inactive
Username is without suffix
Setting -> Inactive
Username is without suffix
A further practical illustration of the same idea, using generic example institutes:
Suppose Alpha Institute and Beta College are two schools that both use the same shared Classter environment (for example, one single Microsoft 365 tenant for the whole group). Both schools happen to hire a new employee named John S. around the same time. Without a suffix, the username the system would generate for both of them would be identical, which is not allowed.
By setting the suffix to “alpha” for Alpha Institute and to “beta” for Beta College, the two usernames become “js.alpha” and “js.beta” instead, so both employees can be given a working, unique account without any manual adjustment.
When to Use
When to Enable
Enable this setting (enter a suffix value) when:
- The organization is a group of institutes (for example a district) that share a single Classter environment, web address, or identity domain.
- User accounts are synchronized with a shared Microsoft 365 tenant or Google Workspace domain, where each username in that domain must be unique.
- It is useful for staff or IT support to recognize which institute a username belongs to just by looking at it.
When to Disable
Leave this setting disabled (field left empty) when:
- The institute operates on its own, with no risk of username clashes with another institute.
- Each institute in the group already has its own separate, isolated environment or domain.
- Uniqueness of usernames is already guaranteed another way, and shorter, unmodified usernames are preferred.
Notes
K-12 versus Higher Education Mode: this setting behaves in the same way regardless of whether the institute operates in K-12 mode or in Higher Education mode. It is a general security and account-management setting and is not affected by the Higher Education mode configuration.
Prerequisites: before configuring a suffix, it is recommended to first review and configure the username format for each type of user, since the suffix is added on top of whatever username those settings produce. The related settings are:
- “Employee Username Format” (“Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > Accounts & Roles – SchoolPortal_Morfi_Onomatos_Xristi”)
- “Student Username Format” (“Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > Accounts & Roles – SchoolPortal_Morfi_Onomatos_Xristi_Mathiti”)
- “Teacher Username Format” (“Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > Accounts & Roles – SchoolPortal_Morfi_Onomatos_Xristi_Kathigiti”)
- “Parent Username Format” (“Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > Accounts & Roles – SchoolPortal_Morfi_Onomatos_Xristi_Gonea”)
- “Partner/Employer Username Format” (“Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > Accounts & Roles – SchoolPortal_Morfi_Onomatos_Xristi_Partner”)
