The most common issues users can experience when signing in are a white screen, an error message from Microsoft or an access denied message from the platform. This article helps you understand what to do when these issues occur. Also, have a look at this checklist to resolve issues when signing in.
WHITE SCREEN
Check 1
In most cases, the white screen simply occurs because users do not have an account. Some users incorrectly assume that they already have an account (think that all users were migrated) and try to sign in with their old Smartlink credentials. It is therefore important to communicate clearly to your customers that they have to register first. Rule out that users are signing in with their old credentials/password. You can check this by looking them up in the USER MAINTENANCE overview. If they do not appear (i.e., not registered), they have tried to sign in without registering first.
NOTE: Only the roles CustomerCenter Operations, Distributor, and Internal Admin CC are able to search in the USER MAINTENANCE overview.
Check 2
In other cases, the user might be in the system but has the wrong user status. Users can only sign in successfully if their user status either is set to Access Granted or Active. If the status is set to Confirm Email, Inactive, To Verify or Invited, signing is not possible. Check the user status in the USER MAINTENANCE overview.
MICROSOFT MESSAGE 1
This issue is related to the previous one. The old platform required a different password than is being used in other Microsoft applications. However, the new platform uses Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) which is a sign-in application also used by other apps (Teams, Jabber, Microsoft ToDo, etc.).
In a nutshell, Azure AD saves your credentials in a cloud and uses this information every time you sign in an application that uses the active directory. As a result, the authentication of your user account happens automatically. This also means that your sign-in credentials for the new platform are the same as your company credentials. For example, the email address and password you use for Outlook are the sign-in credentials of the platform once you have registered (!).
Such an error message looks like this:
Check 1
Users trying to sign in with their previous password get an error message because these credentials do not exist in the active directory. Ask the user if they are using their previous password and explain to them that this is not required. Once they have registered, they can sign in using their company credentials.
Check 2
If the user signs in with an email address different from the one stored in the active directory (for example, an old Atlas Copco domain: @it.atlascopco.com), Microsoft will show an error message. Again, make sure that the correct credentials are being used.
Check 3
If the correct credentials are being used and Microsoft still shows an error message, the IT setup of the user's company is blocking the use of Azure AD. This issue should be solved locally by their IT department. Usually, this is not too hard for them to fix. If for some reason their support is reluctant to do so, our own IT department can take action and create what they call an 'emergency account'. For this, you need to create a ticket in myQUEST.
MICROSOFT MESSAGE 1: SL-PORTAL-PRODUCTION
When an external user registers by invitation, there are a few steps that should be followed (explained here). One of those steps, the final one, is signing into the portal for the first time. However, for this to work, the link from the confirmation mail should be followed. Many users try to sign in without using the link in the mail. Not using this link means that the registration process is technically not finished yet. The user ends up not being added to the Active Directory and therefore not being able to sign in.
The mail with the link looks like this.
ACCESS DENIED
If the platform shows an ACCESS DENIED message, the user has not been verified yet. The user still has the status To Verify, meaning that the admin must take action. Go to the USER MAINTENANCE overview, find the user, and verify the account to give the user access. Detailed instructions of the verification process can be found here.
NOTE: Service providers who wish to avoid the verification procedure can either choose to invite all their users or to turn on the AUTOMATIC REGISTRATION feature.