What is the best way of setting up accounts?

There is no 'best way' of creating accounts. It is up to organisations to decide what the most appropriate method is for them.

• Accounts can be created manually via the administration interface but this is not a practical method when large numbers of accounts are involved.
• Self-registration involves least work in the short term by the administrator, but gives an organisation less control over the users. It is likely also to create more work for administrators later on; for example, expired or redundant accounts have to be cleared up, and information in self-registered accounts may not migrate easily. Nevertheless, self-registration works well for many organisations where large numbers of personal accounts are required and bulk uploads cannot be easily organised.

   

• Bulk uploading involves more immediate work, but is an efficient way of creating and maintaining multiple accounts.