Naming standards have existed for shared accounts and resources, but we now have the same standards apply to any mail-enabled groups also.  Tools to create these accounts and groups now require ITS to follow these standards. 

Mail-enabled groups (must be a universal group) may be used as a distribution list or a security group for granting permissions to a shared account mailbox or resource. 

Any subgroups within the mail-enabled group must conform to the naming standards and be mail-enabled. 

In order to differentiate between user HawkIDs and a group, each group name must contain a hyphen and follow the standards below.

Shared accounts

Requesting a Shared Account

Shared account ID and email alias must be: 

• Alphanumeric, 3-20 characters.
• Must contain at least one hyphen character.  This cannot be the first or last character.
• Must start with an abbreviation for the Department, Organization, or Program name followed by a hyphen
  e.g., ITS-Help-Desk; VPR-ResearchGrants
• No spaces or special characters.
• Length limit of 20 characters or less including hyphens.
• The Account ID/Alias is what will appear before the @uiowa.edu e.g.,: ITS-Help-Desk@uiowa.edu

Note: The hyphen is used to distinguish these accounts from user HawkIDs.

Resources

Requesting a new resource

Resource Name must:

• Begin with RES- followed by BLDGRoom# or BLDG-EquipmentDescription
• Maximum 20 Characters, including hyphens and RES-
• No Spaces or Special characters

Mail-Enabled Groups 

Requesting a mail-enabled group

Mail-Enabled Group name must:

• Must be a universal group
• Must contain at least one hyphen character.  This cannot be the first or last character.
• Must start with an abbreviation for the Department, Organization, or Program name followed by a hyphen
• e.g., ITS-Help-Desk; VPR-ResearchGrants
• No spaces or special characters.
• If being used for permissions to a shared mailbox or resource, we recommend the name match the name of the shared account/resource with an ending identifier
  e.g., its-lc100-calendargrp or its-helpdesk-emailgrp 
• Please leave the following identifiers for ITS email team use: SA-; -SG ; RES-

Aliases for an existing Departmental Account or Group

@uiowa.edu Email Alias Naming Standards (No exceptions)
** The organization, department or program name (or an abbreviation for it) MUST appear first and be followed by a hyphen  
  (e.g., IntMed-cath-lab; HCIS-ideas; UIHC-AdvancedCare; dentistry-research; ITS-HelpDesk)
* Must contain at least one hyphen. 
* No spaces or special characters allowed
* Limit of 32 characters or less to the left of the @ sign.
* The alias needs to clearly represent the purpose of the mailbox
* Use of overly generic aliases will not be allowed
Note: It is best to have the AccountID and the Email Alias be the same whenever possible