Overview
This article explains the setting that lets an institute choose one Employee who is automatically alerted whenever a Parent’s password-reset request cannot be completed through the two-factor identity verification step. It works together with the two-factor authentication process that Classter can apply to the Forgot Password flow for Parent accounts, and is found under Main Settings / General Settings / Security Settings / Basic Settings / Employee receiving notification for unsuccessful forgot password request
What This Setting Does
When two-factor authentication is enabled for the Forgot Password process, Parents who request a new password must additionally confirm their identity through a one-time security code sent to the mobile number on their profile. This setting defines which Employee is notified when that confirmation step cannot be completed successfully – for example, because the security code could not be delivered.
Once configured, whenever a Parent’s identity verification fails during a password reset, Classter automatically:
- Sends an email to the selected Employee describing the unsuccessful attempt, including the Parent’s name and the reason the verification could not be completed.
- Creates a matching entry in Classter’s internal messaging system, which can also reach the Employee as an in-app or push notification, depending on their notification preferences.
Only one Employee can be selected for this setting. The setting itself does not decide whether two-factor authentication is used for the Forgot Password process – it only determines who is informed when a verification attempt cannot be completed.
Where It Is Used
This setting is found at: Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > Basic Settings.
It only takes effect during the Forgot Password process that Parents run from the login screen, and only when two-factor authentication has been enabled for that process. It has no effect on password resets performed by Students, Teachers, or Employees, since two-factor verification during Forgot Password applies only to Parent accounts.
Business Logic / Behavior
Prerequisites
- The setting that enables two-factor authentication for the Parent Forgot Password process (see Notes below) must be turned on. If it is off, no identity-verification step is performed at all, and this setting has no effect, since an unsuccessful attempt can never occur.
- The Employee chosen in this setting should be an active Employee with a valid email address on file, since the notification is delivered by email.
How it works:
- A Parent selects Forgot Password and receives a password-reset link by email, as normal.
- If two-factor authentication for Forgot Password is enabled, opening that link makes Classter send a one-time security code by SMS to the mobile number on the Parent’s profile.
- If the security code is sent successfully, the Parent sees the configured success message and completes the password reset. No Employee notification takes place in this case.
- If the security code cannot be sent – because the Parent has no mobile number on file, or the SMS message could not be delivered – the attempt is treated as unsuccessful. The Parent then sees the configured unsuccessful-attempt message, and the Employee selected in this setting receives an email and internal notification describing the failed attempt and its reason.
Business rules that can be inferred from this setting’s behavior:
- Only one Employee can be designated as the recipient; this is not a distribution list.
- A notification is generated for every unsuccessful attempt, not only the first one.
- If no Employee is selected, Classter has no recipient to match, so nobody is notified when a verification attempt fails. An Employee should always be selected while two-factor authentication for Forgot Password is active.
- This check applies specifically to Parent-type portal accounts. It is unrelated to the separate two-factor verification that can be applied to profile updates or Consents, which is controlled by other settings.
K-12 Mode vs Higher Education Mode
This setting behaves the same way in both working modes, whether the institute uses K-12 mode or Higher Education mode (controlled by the Enable Configuration for Higher Education setting). What matters is the user role, not the working mode: this feature only applies to Parent (Guardian/Relative) portal accounts. In practice, Parent portal accounts, and therefore this setting, are used far more often in K-12 mode, since Parent portal access is commonly required for younger Students. In Higher Education mode, Parent-type portal accounts (for example, emergency contacts) are less common, so this notification is triggered less often, but it works identically wherever such accounts exist.
Examples
When the user cannot successfully complete the password reset, the following message appears on the screen and the employee you have selected, is notified for unsuccessful forgot password request.
Employee: Marthese Farrugia
Setting -> Active -> Employee -> Martese Farrugia
Parent forgets the password
Employee receives Push Notifications for unsuccessful Forgot Password as shown below
When to Use
When to Enable
Configure this setting whenever two-factor authentication is used for the Parent Forgot Password process, so that failed identity-verification attempts do not go unnoticed. This lets administrative or support staff step in proactively and help Parents who cannot complete a password reset on their own.
When to Disable
There is no need to configure this setting if two-factor authentication for the Forgot Password process is not used, since no verification attempts, successful or unsuccessful, will ever take place. Leaving it unconfigured while two-factor authentication is active is not recommended, since failed attempts would then go completely unnoticed.
Notes
Related settings:
- “Use 2-factor authentication for relatives at forgot password process” (Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > Basic Settings – Use_Two_Factor_Authentication_At_Forgot_Password): the master switch that turns the identity-verification step on or off for Parent Forgot Password requests. This setting has no effect unless that one is enabled.
- “Successful message for 2-factor authentication” (Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > Basic Settings – Two_Factor_Authentication_Message_At_Forgot_Password_On_Successful): the message a Parent sees when the security code is delivered successfully.
- “Unsuccessful message for 2-factor authentication” (Main Settings > General Settings > Security Settings > Basic Settings – Two_Factor_Authentication_Message_At_Forgot_Password_On_Unsuccessful): the message a Parent sees when the security code cannot be delivered – the same scenario that triggers the Employee notification described in this article.
