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One of the users is not receiving email using the password. What do we do?

10/11/2009

Sometimes, when an administrator creates another user (or when a coordinator registers or invites a new authority), the email generated by the system and directed to that user doesn’t quite get delivered.

The system sends new users, almost immediately or within mere minutes, a first notification by email informing that they will receive a second email with the password within 24 to 48 hours. If 48 hours have elapsed and the new user has not received the email with the password (or the notification), the best thing to do is to reset the password, after first checking the correct spelling of the email address in the user file.

A new password is then immediately sent out, and in less than 5 minutes the email with the new one should arrive; if however, the email with the new password does not arrive after resetting, this confirms the existence of a problem due to which the emails sent by IMI are not getting to that user.

The problem will most likely be due to the antivirus/anti-pam settings of the user’s electronic mail system. Some email systems that have very strict anti-spam and anti-virus measures may block delivery of certain messages because they suspect (wrongly so, in this case) that they may be dangerous.
To try to fix (or at least confirm) this problem, the user experiencing the problem must have its own IT services look at the ‘quarantine’ area for messages addressed to the user, roughly corresponding to the time that the user attempted to reset the password, that may have been classified as ‘bad’ messages and consequently not delivered. If this is the case, these messages can surely be recovered and delivered to the user.
Just as important as recovering this first message and making sure the user receives it is ensuring that the problem is resolved for future emails. This can be accomplished by including the Commission’s domain on the whitelist of authorised email contacts by introducing the sender’s email address on the whitelist so that future messages will not be blocked.

If there is a delay or complication in reaching the IT services, and only as a temporary solution, the user can reset the password by using a personal email address such as gmail.com or yahoo.com. This way, the user can receive emails from IMI, albeit to a personal, and not official email account. Given that IMI never sends sensitive information via email – this kind of information is only located in the system, whereas email is used to notify of new developments that require the user’s attention – using a personal email does not imply a legal conflict (data protection, for example.), but it is a nuisance, as work-related emails should be received at a work email address. So users should continue to insist with their IT service to make sure that these messages do not stay blocked.