Password Services Self-Management User Instructions and FAQ



Password Managment Self-Services

User Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Password Management Self-services allows you to perform four functions on the password that you use to login to the IHG network. This is sometimes called your Merlin password. In the past this has required a help desk call but now it can be done quicker and easier on your own. While self-services provide you the ability to do these tasks, you can still call the help desk in case it is not working or if it is unavailable to you.

You can read the User’s Guide at . This has screen shots to guide you through the steps to perform self-service functions.

Password Management Self-Services provides:

1. Change a valid password – Allows you to change your password at your request, for example when it may expire soon or you think it may be known by someone else. You must know your current password and your account must not be disabled. This mirrors what you can do on your PC today; it is simply an alternative way to do this.

2. Change an Expired Password – If you know your password but it has expired you can change it via Merlin to a new one that will work

3. Self Registration – Before you can use the Forgot My Password Reset feature you need to register and answer five secret, self-authentication questions from a list of 10 possible questions. These can be updated when you want to via the “Edit Profile” option on Merlin.

4. Forgot My Password Reset – If you password is not expired but you forget it or are locked out due to too many failed logon attempts you use your secret questions to set a new password.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Do I have to use self-service?

2. Do I have to self register?

3. If I am locked out of my computer can I still use self-service?

4. Do all employees of IHG and franchisees have access to self-service?

5. Can I change or look at the answers to my secret challenge questions?

6. What happens if I forget the answers to my secret challenge questions?

7. What happens if I answer some of my secret challenge questions incorrectly?

8. What safeguards are there to protect my secret challenge questions?

9. Could someone hack my self-service questions and change my password?

10. If I have questions or problems with self-service, who can I call?

11. What is the password policy?

12. What happens if I need to change my password within ten days of last changing it?

13. What makes good answers to secret challenge questions?

14. What if I have a question that does not apply to me and that I do not have an answer for?

15. What about other situations that you have not provided for?

16. Are the answers sensitive to case or spaces?

17. What happens if I change my password on-line but not while I am on my computer, will they become un-synchronized?

18. How can I safely use Password Self-Services on a public or shared computer?

19. Can I use self-service with browsers other than the IHG standard Internet Explorer (IE)?

1. Do I have to use self-service? - No, you can call your help desk at any time. They retain the ability to provide the full range of services. This is just another way to provide some services quickly and easily.

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2. Do I have to self register? – No. If you don’t you can still routinely change your password but you cannot reset it if you are locked out. You will have to call your help desk if you are locked out.

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3. If I am locked out of my computer can I still use self-service? – Yes, you can access self- services via any computer that you can access the Password Management Self-Services page from. You can ask a co-worker to let you log onto Password Management Self-Services from their computer (while it’s their computer, you use YOUR log in to the services) or use one at home. Be sure to clear the browser cache and log out when you are completed.

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4. Do all employees of IHG and franchisees have access to self-services? – Yes, this is in place for all people to sign-on to the IHG network or to Merlin.

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5. Can I change or look at the answers to my secret challenge questions? – Yes, there is an “Edit Profile” feature that lets you do this.

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6. What happens if I forget the answers to my secret challenge questions? Call the help desk who will provide you with a new password that must be changed on your first login. Once you are logged in, use the “Edit Profile” to look at or change the answers.

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7. What happens if I answer some of my secret challenge questions incorrectly? – You will have five tries to answer the questions correctly. On each try, three questions are randomly selected from the pool of five that you registered so you may have different questions to answer that you may remember the answers to. If you cannot answer three questions in five tries, Password Management Self-Services will be locked out and you will have to call your help desk who will reset your password then you should use the “edit profile” feature to review your questions and answers.

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8. What safeguards are there to protect my secret challenge questions? – Your answers are encrypted in the security servers and there is no means to un-encrypt them except by the “Edit Profile” program. No people, including any IHG management or support staff, except yourself can read your answers.

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9. Could someone hack my self-service questions and change my password? – No, the security of the system is based on using multiple easily remembered but hard to guess questions. The service will lock out after five unsuccessful tries to prevent a hacker from eventually guessing your answers. Further there is a system security setting to prevent multiple, user password changes within 10 days. This prevents a hacker from changing your password, using your account, then changing the password back so you do not notice.

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10. If I have questions or problems with self-service, who can I call? Call your regular help desk.

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11. What is the password policy? – The corporate password policy standards for choosing a password are:

• It must be at least eight characters

• It must include three of: upper Case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. Special characters are anything other than numbers and letters such as: ! @ # $ % ^ & *.

• It must be changed at least every 45 days

• You cannot change it more often than every 10 days (although a help desk can do this for you)

• You cannot reuse your last 10 passwords

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12. What happens if I need to change my password within ten days of last changing it? - Call your help desk. Self-service cannot be used in this case.

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13. What makes good answers to secret challenge questions? – They should be easy for you to remember but hard to guess. To do this, do not use common answers and do not use answers that can be guessed from Merlin’s “People Detail Information” page. For example, “John” or “John Smith” would not be good answers to a question about your friend’s name. A better answer would be “John William Smith.” If your answer is really common, try adding a special character (!, @, #, etc.) or number (e.g. some digit(s) that mean something to you such as part of your phone number) to all of your answers (for example, “John&) . Password Management Self-services support any special characters including non-Western keyboard ones. This will make the answer nearly impossible to guess in five tries but the consistency and meaning will help you to remember it.

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14. What if I have a question that does not apply to me and that I do not have an answer for? – This could easily occur as it is impossible to define five questions that are relevant for all people in all locations but unique enough to be hard to hack. You may have to make up an answer. There is no answer checking so for example, you could put in a current friend’s name in when asked for your childhood friend. This actually makes the system more secure as a hacker will not know if you’ve answered a question literally or made up an answer so there are more possibilities to guess.

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15. What about other situations that you have not provided for? – Self-service was designed to handle the most common situations where it made sense to provide self-service but not all cases. You should call your regular help desk for all situations that are not provided for. You are always welcome to provide feedback via your help desk

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16. Are the answers sensitive to case or spaces? – Case (capital or lower case) does not matter but spaces and punctuation do make a difference. For example, “johnsmith” and “JohnSmith” or “JoHnSmItH” are all the same but “John Smith” is different.

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17. What happens if I change my password on-line but not while I am on my computer, will they become un-synchronized? – Yes, they can become un-synchronized but when you next connect your computer to the network they will synchronize. You may see pop-up windows and you may be asked to log out and re-log in.

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18. How can I safely use Password Management Self-Services on a public or shared computer? – It is important to understand that if you access Password Management Self-Services on a computer that others may use, you need to be sure to completely close out all browser windows before you leave that computer, even for a few moments. While any browser windows are open, sensitive data may be available in cache or a user could use the back button to see sensitive pages. Never bookmark Password Management Self-Services pages because you must properly sign on to them, they won’t work properly from a book mark in any case.

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19. Can I use Password Management Self-Services with browsers other than the IHG standard Internet Explorer (IE)? – IHG only supports IE but the self-services will probably work for most standard browsers. If it does not work, please try another browser or call your local help desk.

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