Starting Monday, Sept. 9, all faculty and staff will find a temporary tile in Okta to set up multifactor authentication (MFA) and self-service password reset options ahead of the move to the new Microsoft sign-on dashboard. Completing this setup will provide the best experience when Microsoft officially becomes the Iowa State dashboard on Sept. 16.
Information Technology Services (ITS) is planning a two-step process this month for the previously announced migration from Okta to Microsoft. The location for the dashboard (login.iastate.edu) will not change. Here's the timeline:
- Preview phase. On Monday, Sept. 9, the new Microsoft sign-on dashboard will be available to preview via the temporary tile in Okta. Campus users will receive an email Monday from ITS with more details about the new dashboard, and during the week they're encouraged to sign in to confirm access and get familiar with nuanced differences between the old and new systems.
- Transition phase. During the week of Sept. 16, the new sign-on dashboard will replace the Okta dashboard (the URL will redirect from the Okta to Microsoft dashboard). While users will notice minor visual changes, the more significant changes are background upgrades that will improve the security of digital identities at Iowa State.
Pay attention to multifactor authentication
In early August, ITS transferred campus users' text and voice call verification factors to Microsoft. Not all methods were transferable, including the Okta Verify app. During the preview week, users are encouraged to review their transferred factors and set up more factors before the official transition on Sept. 16.
- Verification methods automatically transferred: SMS text and voice call (if users provided them)
- Verification method no longer available: Okta Verify app
- New verification method available Sept. 9: Microsoft Authenticator app
- Verification method available, but user will need to set up again: Google Authenticator app
- Verification method available, but rollout will be delayed: YubiKey
The Microsoft and Google authenticator apps are free downloads (Apple and Android versions).
Use the new dashboard
On Sept. 16, ITS again will notify campus users via email that the new dashboard is live. For those who confirmed access and MFA factors during preview week, the transition should be seamless. The log-in process will remain largely the same. Users will:
- Go to login.iastate.edu
- Enter their full email address and password
- Complete multifactor authentication
- See a dashboard to access your apps such as Workday, Canvas and others.
The new sign-on dashboard will be preloaded with the apps used most by faculty and staff, but each user can add, remove and customize apps to their liking.
Review your bookmarks
Did you bookmark the Okta site? Once the new dashboard is live, users should review any bookmarks they've made to the sign-on dashboard. The destination of the bookmark should be login.iastate.edu, not iastate.okta.com, which is a bookmark for the Okta dashboard.
Access to Okta dashboards
Individuals' Okta dashboards will be available for a time at okta.iastate.com and through a link on the new Microsoft dashboard. Users can open the two dashboards in separate browser windows to compare them or to customize their Microsoft sign-on dashboard.
"While both dashboards will be available this fall, we encourage everyone to use only the new Microsoft dashboard to log in to apps and university system," said Amy Ward, identity services manager, ITS. "We have taken steps to keep both dashboards operational during the transition, but the best experience will come from using the new dashboard."
Self-help resources
Campus users are invited to visit the project webpage to review information about the sign-on dashboard's transition from Okta to Microsoft, including ITS' summer email messages ("communications archive"). They may email any questions to Ward's project team at identitygovernance@iastate.edu.
If users experience issues logging in, they should contact the IT Solution Center, 294-4000, or email solution@iastate.edu.
Currently, the sign-on dashboard change impacts all faculty, staff and students with these exceptions:
- Role account Net-IDs
- Ames Lab employees
- Campus users who only use a YubiKey for multifactor authentication.
Ward said ITS will help transition these groups later this semester.
Why the change?
The Microsoft sign-on dashboard creates a seamless environment with the Microsoft apps already in use at the university and improves digital security for the campus community by consolidating more functions in one enterprise system.
In 2017, when Iowa State implemented the two-step verification process for logging in to university systems, Okta was the system chosen for the MFA and a secure sign-on dashboard. The evolution of systems and digital identity since then necessitated an update.
