Bring Your Own Identity (BYOID) at UCC

What is BYOID?

Bring Your Own Identity (BYOID) allows external parties such as external examiners or project collaborators to use credentials from their home institution or personal accounts instead of UCC issuing them a separate account. Since moving to Office 365, this occurs when someone shares a document or folder via OneDrive or Teams with a non-UCC email address. BYOID has replaced sponsored/affiliate accounts for external users who need to log into Canvas.

How Does It Work?

The concept is simple: UCC trusts the home institution to authenticate the user, and UCC authorises access to the application. 

1. UCC redirects the login request to the person’s home institution.
2. The institution verifies and responds back to UCC.
3. The user gains access—sometimes requiring a one-time 'Allow' click.

How Is It Set Up?

External users (non-UCC managed accounts) can be added in two main ways:

1. Direct Addition to Microsoft Tenant: For some applications (e.g., Canvas), the UCC sponsor requests that the account be added directly to our Microsoft Tenant and assigned to any required groups.
2. Invitation via Email: For most Microsoft collaboration tools (Teams, OneDrive, etc.), the external user receives an email invitation, the best practice for opening these links is to
   • Copy and paste the invitation link into a Private Window in Microsoft Edge or an Incognito Window in Chrome.
   • Institutional accounts on institutional devices usually work in a normal browser.
   • For personal accounts, we recommend that a dedicated browser profile for that account is set up.

The invitation directs the user to a Microsoft sign-in page. They should log in with the account added as an external user in UCC. After this, they can access UCC resources.

Troubleshooting Common BYOID Issues

Even with BYOID, external users may encounter problems when accessing UCC resources. Here are the most frequent issues and how to resolve them:

Invitation Link Doesn’t Work
Cause: Cached credentials or browser session conflicts.
Fix: Open the invitation link in an InPrivate/Incognito window.
       Clear browser cache or use a dedicated browser profile for the external account.

Wrong Account Logged In
Cause: Browser automatically signs in with a different Microsoft account.
Fix: Sign out of all Microsoft accounts in the browser.
       Log in again using the account that received the invitation.

Access Denied After Accepting Invitation
Cause: Permissions not granted or account not added correctly.
Fix: Confirm with your UCC sponsor that your account is added to the correct group.
       Reaccept the invitation if prompted.

Canvas Access Problems
Cause: Account not provisioned in UCC’s Microsoft Tenant.
Fix: Contact your UCC sponsor to ensure your account is added directly to the tenant.