Recommended Best Practices for Adding Users

Learn the considerations and necessary tasks to perform before you create users in your environment.

Review and complete the following tasks before you add users to the system:
  1. Create individual facilities before creating users so that you can select facilities when you start adding new users. Create individual facilities only if your Vocera system supports users at multiple physical locations. Otherwise assign the user to the Global facility.
  2. Create groups and departments ahead of time so that you can select them when you add a new user.
  3. Develop a systematic method for assigning a unique user ID to each user. Users enter their user IDs to access My Profile, and they may enter the user IDs of other users to send an email message from a mail client to a device. Here are some possible methods for assigning user IDs:
    • Utilize existing employee ID numbers for creating user IDs.
    • Use existing email addresses, but without the domain reference. For example, if a user's email address isjsmith@yourcompany.com, the user ID could be jsmith.
    • Combine the initial of the first name and the full last name of a user to create a user ID. For example, if a user's name is Josh Smith, the user ID could be jsmith.
    • Use any combination of alphanumeric values to create a user ID. Pure alphabetic values are typically easier for users to remember. However, in certain situations, you may need to use numeric or alphanumeric values for user IDs.

      For example, Vocera uses the user ID as a PIN to uniquely identify users to a nurse call management system. If you are integrating Vocera with a nurse call management system that requires numeric or alphanumeric PINs, you can provide these values as user IDs.

    • Use the character set of matching the locale when you enter names into the system. For example, Celine may not be pronounced the same way in French locale as Céline. It may, therefore, be necessary to add alternate spoken names (for example",Sailine") or new dictionary entries.
  4. Avoid using generic user profiles for Username. A generic user profile is a user name that you add to the Vocera database with a person's role instead of with the person’s first and last name.

    For example, the names "Temp Nurse One" and "Manager on Call" are both generic profiles if they are configured as users. Multiple people typically use a generic user profile to log in at different times, instead of only a single person.

    Generic user profiles hinder or defeat the following Vocera features:

    • Personal messages

      Users cannot leave personal messages for an individual who is using a generic profile. Anyone using the profile can listen to the message and delete it.

    • Learned names and voice commands

      Individual users can train the Genie to recognize the way they say names and voice commands. When multiple users share a single profile, the system learns the way one person speaks, but the other users will have bad speech recognition and may be unable to place basic calls.

    • Asset management

      When a device is lost, the Vocera Report Server helps you find it by identifying the last user that logged in with it. When the most recent user is a generic profile, you cannot determine which person last used the missing device.

    • Call by name

      You cannot call a person with a generic profile user name when using the Call by name, locate that person, or even find out if he or she at the Facility.