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University Information Services
 

You can change almost all your personal Lookup entries yourself; the exceptions are described below.

Institutional data in the directory is looked after by an "editors' group" for each institution; information about this group can be found at the foot of the institution's page in the directory.

Who can change your data in the directory

The people who have the right to change any of your data are:

  • Yourself, for most items
  • University Information Services (UIS), for certain special items listed below. Some items may be changed automatically when your details change in central University databases; see the section on Jackdaw, below.
  • The editing group for your institution (so that they can add you to the institution, for instance, or update your telephone number). However, they can't change the visibility of any of your personal data, or add you to or remove you from groups within the directory (unless they also manage the groups). They also can't change your leaving email address. To contact the editing group, go to the institution's page in the directory and follow the link at the bottom to the editors' group, where you will find information about the group.
  • Managers of groups of which you are a member; these can add you to the group or remove you but they cannot change the rest of your data.

If you appear not to be in the directory at all, see the FAQ on Why can't I find someone in the lookup directory?.

You can track changes that have been made to your data using the History tab on your personal page.

Lookup and Jackdaw

Jackdaw is the name of the UIS's user account management database. Certain information about users (registered name, surname and institution) is derived initially from central University databases (CamSIS, CHRIS). Changes in Jackdaw are fed through nightly to update the Lookup database. You may see a note on your page saying "Page last updated by Jackdaw", for this reason.

How to change your registered name or surname

Lookup keeps three versions of your name: surname, registered name and Display name. The only one you can change yourself is your Display name, which determines how your name is shown in Lookup.

Your registered name and surname in the database are derived from Jackdaw (see above), which obtains them initially from central University databases. You cannot change these directly. Your registered name has a fixed format of initials and family name. If this is wrong, e.g. there is a spelling error or you have changed your name, please  so that the error can be corrected in Jackdaw and, if necessary in other University systems.

You can make any or all of the versions of your name private. Note that, if all versions of your name are private, users searching the directory will not normally be able to find you.

How to change your institutional affiliation(s)

Initially you will be listed in the lookup directory as a member of the single institution shown for you in the UIS database, Jackdaw. If this initial value is wrong, please  so that it can be corrected there.

If you are also a member of another institution, such as a College, then this information needs to be added to the directory by the institution (you cannot add yourself to an institution). To get yourself added to (or removed from) an institution other than your primary one, you should contact the editors' group for the institution, which you can do by looking at the bottom of the institution's own page in the directory.  Generally institutional administrators will deal with this when new members arrive.

Undergraduates are listed in Jackdaw as belonging to their College; postgraduates normally belong to their Department. Colleges may choose to add their postgraduates' College affiliation in bulk to the directory, but if they have not done so you can always ask them to add you.

If you change institution and are a member of University staff, information about your new institution will be fed through from central administration and appear in the directory, normally within a week. However, this will not in all cases remove you from your old institution (because many people are members of more than one institution); if necessary, ask the old institution to remove you from their list. Changes of College where your primary institution is a Department are not automatically fed through to the directory; you need to ask your old and new Colleges to amend their directory lists.

If central staff records disagree with the information in the directory, then it is possible that changes your institution has made to your directory entry may be reversed by the updates from Jackdaw. These updates will not remove you from an institution, but may add you to an institution from which you have been removed by the institution's editors. If the staff records appear to be wrong you should ask the affected institutions to contact central administration to get them corrected.

Where an institution has child institutions (e.g. the undergraduates of a College), a member of a child institution is initially listed only under the child institution and not under the parent. The editors' group can change this if desired.

Adding or changing your manager

Optionally you are able to add or update the name of your manager on your own lookup entry if you wish to add this information. Once you have added a manager to your lookup entry, your name will also appear on their Lookup page as one of their reports.

Change of CRSid

In the vast majority of cases, CRSids are issued via automatic process by the UIS, and it is not normally possible to change them. If you change your name, the registered name associated with your CRSid can be changed, and the CRSid itself would remain the same. In some circumstances (gender reassignment, to prevent harassment, etc.) a new CRSid may be issued.

For enquiries, please email user-admin@uis.cam.ac.uk

How to change group membership

Membership of a group in the directory is controlled by the managers of the group; you cannot add or remove yourself. To find out who manages a group of which you are a member, go to the groups tabs on your personal page and select the group. For other groups you will need to search the directory for the group by name or identifier.

To make your membership of a group invisible (other than to the managers of the group and yourself), go to the groups tab on your personal page and select the level of visibility required.

Adding Tags

Tags are a way of providing additional information about yourself. You may add any value as a tag to your Lookup entry. You can click on any tag to see other people who have added the same tag value to their Lookup entry.