Removing Users from an Organization Account Removes User from ArcGIS Online

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05-31-2012 11:21 AM
TedCronin
MVP Honored Contributor
If I have a user that owns data, their own data, they then are asked to be a part of the Organization, if I then want to remove the user, I need to delete their data that they brought into the organization which may not be associated with the Organization.  The second issue, I see is when I delete the user from the Organization, which perhaps they were a part of a group of mine prior to be invited to my Organization, they are removed automatically from the group that they belonged to prior to joining the Organization.  The third issue, when the user is dropped from the organization, they are no longer associated with ArcGIS Online.  The user name account is dropped, and therefore the user needs to re associate the user account (Global ID) with ArcGIS Online.  I cannot just invite them to a group, they have to completely start over with ArcGIS Online, which perhaps is the biggest issue compared to the above.
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22 Replies
MikeMinami
Esri Notable Contributor
I suppose the answer is: don't join an organization with an existing personal account if you have personal content you want to maintain independent of the organization.  There are no workflows that allow you to transfer content out of an organization to a personal account. The only items you can "copy out" are web maps, by making them public in your organizational account, then finding them with your personal account, opening them, and doing a 'Save As'.

Thanks,

Mike
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FredMiller
New Contributor
My problem is related but different.  I am trying to remove students accounts from an organization. I have deleted all the items they own and removed them from groups. However, when I try to delete their accounts, I am not allowed to do so and receive a message that I can't delete anyone owning items or groups.  Are there items or groups I can not see?
Also, this seems like a pretty laborious process, is there a streamlined way to delete several users at once?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me,
Fred
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MarieJacobs
New Contributor

I am having the same problem. Did you find a way to remove students without it being such a laboro

ius process.

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V_StuartFoote
MVP Frequent Contributor

David,

I just spent a little time doing this. It is a bit tedious--but intuitive.  Only decision is whether to simply delete the student content, or to transfer their content and ownership of their groups over to a faculty member.

If just deleting, it goes quickly, but that may upset their faculty.   So, I've just created a "transfer" folder for each faculty to hold student content and then assign ownership to faculty member placing it in the "transfer"folder.  The Group content remains intact--so also have to transfer the group to the faculty now owning the content.  Then able to delete the student account.

Mike Minami‌  for organizational accounts with transient membership, like Educational institutions, it would be very helpful to provide an automated deprovisioning method to Administrator's (or the primary Admin). Perhaps -- simple clear all group ownership with drop down assignment to another user, and then a  choice to delete all content or to transfer all content ownership to another user. And finally delete the user.

Stuart

MikeMinami
Esri Notable Contributor

Currently, there are no plans for increased automation of content transfer and user removal. We have a general solution that works (although laborious) across different types of organizations. Admittedly, an organization representing a school has slightly different requirements because students come and go in groups, whereas people leave in smaller numbers in other types of organizations; thus, the transfer of user content is more easily managed.

However, I can see the merits of having some bulk ownership transfer of items and groups to a single user. I don't think we'll ever allow a choice to just delete all content in bulk. We are intentionally conservative in this respect because we don't want admins accidentally deleting content without reviewing it, because there is no undo.

I will write up bulk transferring of ownership as an enhancement. However, as we have a working solution, there's no guarantee this will be implemented.

Thanks

Mike

MikeSims
New Contributor

Yes, This is a very important function for Org Admins. Especaily for large state or fed agencies (like mine). I know there is a warning, but it doesn't make it clear that it is almost impossible for an individual (that had a personal AGO acct prior) to get their prior existing content out after they leave the organization if they join with their existing Acct. I guess I'm saying that until this tool gets developed there should be a VERY explicite warning (with this example case included).

From the existing warning I realized the data would be merged with the Organizations. What I didn't understand (maybe a "Learn more" link in the warning?) is that there would be no way for me as the Admin to easily send the user away with the personal data that was merged with the Organization at the end of employment.

Again, We have high turn over (interns, OPS employees, etc) in a large (17,000+) organization so doing this on a case by case basis will be untenable.

I realize that I shoudl forve the user to create or create for then a Org specific acct (now). But I didn't learn this until I had the ugly realization too late. Just trying to help others avoid this issue in the future.

Thank you for listening. I Love the AGO service!

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RobbynAbbitt
New Contributor III

Hi Mike -

I am new to this thread and also trying to delete students from our organizational account for the first time.

I have gone in a deleted all of their files and folders that I can see, but I am still getting an error message:  "Unable to delete member: x. Member must not own items or groups"

How can I figure out what is causing the issue?  I saw someone else's problem was related to BAO access.  I haven't opened that up for students so it isn't that for me.

Any other ideas on what might be the issue?

And I'd like to second the idea of coming up with a process to delete many users and their content at once.  From a University's teaching perspective it becomes a management issue with keeping on top of new students and keeping the organization current.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Robbyn

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RobbynAbbitt
New Contributor III

Hello again -

I managed to find that the students I couldn't delete were owners of their own groups.

I had assumed that I would be able to see all items they owned AND all groups they owned on a single screen.

I'm now going through and looking at each individuals groups and deleting and THEN I can delete the user.

One suggestion would be a single screen where you see everything for an individual -one place to delete content(or move content from) AND delete their groups, and eventually delete them as a user.

dkav
by
Occasional Contributor

Mike,

I wish to add my name as another higher education admin user who is frustrated with the lack of 'automation of content transfer and user removal'. In the absence of GUI updates, is your team open to providing an API? Anything to save me hours of tedium.

Thanks,
Darren

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MikeMinami
Esri Notable Contributor
What usernames are you trying to delete? You can send me a private message if you like and we can check what the problem is. Are you sure you've removed all content in all folders?

Admittedly, the process is laborious. But, we don't want people to inadvertently delete users and possibly important content.

Thanks,

Mike
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