AUTOMATIC SETUP OF SERVICES FOR COMPUTER SYSTEM USERS

摘要

Various services within a computer system are automatically set up as users are added to the system through a directory service (420). A user template (506) is selected that already contains default settings (530-540) for each of the services available on a system such as e-mail and a web service. Various user templates exist and contain different default settings for each available service depending upon the user. Default settings from each service (504) are copied onto a new user form (508). Next, default settings from the selected user template are copied to the new user form and override any conflicting default settings from the services. The default settings from the new user form are used to automatically set up and enable each service for the new user. The data from the new user form is copied into a central account database (300) that contains rows (305) of user information, with columns (314-322) corresponding to a particular service. Each user is automatically enabled for use with available services including an e-mail account and a generated web page. When an individual user then logs on to the computer system, the services available have already been set up for that individual user. If the user has any special privileges such as being an administrator, webmaster, or a postmaster then that user may begin performing that role.