Removing Users from an Organization Account Removes User from ArcGIS Online

[TedCronin]

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.

[MikeMinami]

Yes, this is the way it works. You can't be a member of an organization and also have personal content that doesn't belong to the organization. I equate this to having a work email address and a personal email address. When you leave your organization, you don't take your work email address with you. If your users have personal content, they should join your organization using a different account, or one that you create for them.

Thanks,

Mike

[TedCronin]

Yes, this is the way it works. You can't be a member of an organization and also have personal content that doesn't belong to the organization. I equate this to having a work email address and a personal email address. When you leave your organization, you don't take your work email address with you. If your users have personal content, they should join your organization using a different account, or one that you create for them.

Thanks,

Mike

Good, thanks for the comparison, email is a good example to use.  Yes, when I set these up we had issues with the invite process as I had already posted on, so I just did not realize these users would completely lose their accounts on ArcGIS Online, understandable for the Org.  Is this in the doc?  If not it should be in Red or Bold.  I know this now, but others may get stung in the future.  Thanks Mike.

[MikeMinami]

There's a warning message that appears when someone attempts to use their existing account to sign up with an organization. It says something to the effect that signing up will transfer all your items to the organization and that the organization also has control over your content and groups.

In order for a user to be removed from the organization, all of their content must be removed or transferred to another user. Upon removal of the user, that username is released from the organization and the user can re-register their ID and start using their account as a personal account.

Thanks,

Mike

[AllenRisley]

Several of the campus users who would like to use our ArcGIS Online organizational account have balked at doing so because of this organizational control issue.  These users are faculty members who have created their own content previously with an ArcGIS Online personal account and do not want that content to become property of the group.  They intend to make use of the organizational account services/resources during a particular semester, but then may not make use of the resources.

What should they do?  If they keep their personal account and create a new organizational account, will they be able to transfer content between the accounts?  This issue of ownership of intellectual property is a big one.

Allen Risley
Academic Technology Support
California State University San Marcos

[MikeMinami]

If a user chooses to join an organization with an existing account, all their content go under the control of the organization. There is no backing out once this happens. If they want to maintain control over their content, they should not join the organization with their existing account. Instead, they could create a new account to join the organization and use that to manage items that belong in the organization.

Thanks,

Mike

[DanMcCoy]

Mike Minami‌
Since it's been a few years, I just wanted to check to see if anything has changed related to the possibility of removing someone from an AGOL org without deleting their account (preferably, moving to personal account),,,?

Thanks,

Dan

[DanMcCoy]

Also, ideally, the ERIS access (GeoNET identity, etc.) would remain intact for a user leaving the organization and reverting to a personal account...

[MikeMinami]

Dan McCoy‌

Yes, there have been changes here and what you want is possible.

When the Admin deletes a member from the Organization, if Esri Access is enabled, the account will convert to a personal (public) account. If Esri Access is NOT enabled, then the member will be completely deleted. The member can't own content or groups when being removed. 

[deleted-user-AzQ5lcTQbS2a]

I think I'm following along properly with the thread, but have one more question/point of clarification.  I'll outline the situation:
1) user has AGO personal account with data
2) starts a new job and is invited to the AGO organization with the SAME username as his personal account.
3) his data now become part of the organizations content
4) he is no longer with the AGO Organization and needs to be removed.

So, I understand that his content will need to be deleted or changed to another owner before the user can be deleted.  What are the options for preserving his personal content that he brought into the organization?  If he creates a new global account, how is the content transferred without adding him to the organization and starting the whole nightmare over again?

Thanks!

Stacey
former esri