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Account renewal FAQ/en

General questions

Why do Alliance accounts need to be renewed?

The annual renewal of all user accounts is essential in order to collect up-to-date information required by our granting agencies and to deactivate accounts that are no longer in use.

Who should renew an Alliance account?

All Alliance users must renew their account between May 6 and June 9, 2026. If you do not renew it, your account will be automatically deactivated after that date. This means that you will not be able to access your data, but it will not be deleted immediately. You can renew your account at any time after it has been deactivated.

If I just created my Alliance account, do I still have to renew?

An exception is made for recent account holders: If you created your account after January 1 you DO NOT have to renew it at this time. However, you still have to accept the new policies and consents, which will prompt on CCDB the first time you try to log in.

Where can I read Privacy Policy and other agreements that I have accepted?

All agreements that you are required to accept or indicate your preference has to be accepted on CCDB. Once signed, you can see them in the Agreements page. This includes:

  • Policies, Standards, Terms, and Procedures.
  • Consent to Access User Data.
  • Optional transfer of file ownership on account deactivation.
  • Consent to receive optional news and communications from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.

The policies are available on the Alliance website.

What is a primary role and what is it used for?

Your primary role must correspond to your main position, generally the one you will hold for the longest. For example, if you have a full-time faculty appointment at one institution and adjunct appointments at other universities, your faculty appointment should be your primary role. If you are a student or a researcher, your primary role should be the one with your primary supervisor.

Note

If you do not renew your primary role during the annual renewal period, your account will be deactivated.

When new roles are activated they are automatically set as the primary role by default, but users can change their primary role at any time (see Question 1.6 for details).

Primary roles are important because it helps us to manage accounts with multiple roles, facilitates communication with those users and helps with reporting.

Can primary roles be changed?

Yes. Users with multiple active roles can change their primary role at any time on CCDB's Home page. Simply go to the role of your choosing and click on the Make this role primary checkbox located next to it.

My situation has changed (e.g. I am moving to a new faculty position at another Canadian academic institution or I have moved from Master's to PhD, etc.). What should I do?

If your role has changed, you must apply for a new role, which you can do here (or log into CCDB and go to My Account → Apply for a new role).

If you need several roles, please request one role at a time. Any new role approved is set as your primary role by default. If you do not wish to have a new role set as your primary role, just uncheck the Make this role primary? box.

If your current role(s) is no longer needed, please click on “disable old roles.” This will leave your new role as the primary one and deactivate any other role you have.

My account has expired and has been deactivated. I will not renew it, but I still need to have access to my data to move it off the Alliance Federation clusters. What should I do?

Please send an email to support@tech.alliancecan.ca so that we can assist you with your request.

I don’t see the answer to my account renewal question in this FAQ. Who do I go to for help?

Please send an email to renewals@tech.alliancecan.ca so that we can assist you with your request.

I am a faculty member. What happens if I don’t renew my account by the deadline?

Any active account that is not renewed between May 6 and June 9, 2026, will expire and be automatically deactivated after that date. Note, however, that accounts can be reactivated at any time, even after they have been deactivated.

If you are a faculty member with sponsored users and you allow your account to expire, your account as well as the account of all those users you sponsor will be deactivated. Any job submitted by you or your sponsored users will be paused and your research group will lose access to their files until the sponsor account is reactivated.

If your account or those of your sponsored users are no longer needed, you can let them expire. Otherwise, you must request that they be renewed or apply for a new role if your situation or that of your sponsored user(s) have changed.

What do I have to do to renew my account?

You will receive an email during the account renewal period with a link to the account renewal form on the CCDB. Please update your contact information and Field of Research, fill out a short User Satisfaction Survey and update the status of your sponsored roles (e.g. students, postdocs, and so on). Please refer to Question 1.7 if the roles of any of your sponsored users have changed since last year.

University faculty who have sponsored other users will also be asked to update the status of these accounts (i.e. whether they are continuing or their work is done and the sponsorship has therefore ended).

Once you have updated and confirmed all information and updated the status of your sponsored users, you must click the REQUEST ACCOUNT RENEWAL button on the left side of the account renewals form to initiate the renewal request.

I am a Principal Investigator (PI) with a faculty role moving to a different institution. Will users sponsored with my old role be transferred to my new role automatically?

No. Any user you want to sponsor with your new faculty role will have to apply for a new role sponsored by your new faculty position.

If you have a RAC allocation, this means that users sponsored with your old role will lose access to the Resource Allocation Project (RAP) where your resources are allocated. Once your sponsored users get their new roles activated, you may have to add them to your RAP. You can add to and remove RAP members by going to My Projects → Manage Project Membership

In my account renewal form I indicated that one of my sponsored user has moved on and will not continue under my sponsorship. Can I still access the files of that user?

Consent from that user may be required for you to access the files you want. If you need access to such files, it is important to make arrangements with your sponsored user as soon as possible, to mitigate the risk of a former sponsored user becoming incommunicado. For more information, please consult this page.

I have a sponsored role (e.g., Doctoral, Masters, External Collaborator, etc.). What do I have to do to renew my account?

You will receive an email during the account renewal period directing you to the account renewal form. Please update your contact information, complete the form and fill out a short User Satisfaction Survey. Once you have updated and confirmed all information, you must click the REQUEST ACCOUNT RENEWAL button on the left side of the account renewals form to initiate the renewal request.

If your sponsor has marked you as continuing, you may renew your account. You will receive an email during the account renewal period directing you to the account renewal form. Please update your contact information, complete the form and fill out a short user satisfaction survey. Once you have updated and confirmed all of the information, click on the REQUEST ACCOUNT RENEWAL button on the left side of the account renewals form to initiate the renewal request. Once done, your account will be renewed immediately or as soon as your sponsor renews their own account.

If your sponsor has indicated that you have moved on, graduated, or changed positions, you will not be able to renew that particular role. Instead, you must apply for a new role that reflects your actual circumstances (new sponsor, institution, position, etc.). Read more here.

I completed the renewal of my account on CCDB but my sponsored role is still deactivated. How can I reactivate it?

If you completed the renewal of your account on CCDB but your role(s) still show as deactivated, that's because your sponsor has not yet renewed / reactivated their account.

Your role should be activated as soon as your sponsor renews their account and confirms your role.

If you have any questions or need help, please email renewals@tech.alliancecan.ca.

Note

Your account will only be activated once your sponsor confirms that your role is continuing AND renews their own account.

I made a mistake and renewed my account with the wrong role. What can I do to correct this mistake and renew my account with the right role?

You should create a new role with your current information and update your account with the new role. Just log into CCDB and in the main menu, under My Account, go to Apply for a new role. Follow the instructions and select your new role. Your sponsor will receive an email with a link to a page where they can confirm this new role. Your old role will automatically expire and be deactivated on the morning of June 11, 2025 if it is not renewed.

If you want to have several roles, add a new role by going to https://ccdb.alliancecan.ca/me/add_role and click on “disable old roles” on that page. It is possible to submit several applications, but you can only set one of them as your primary role.

I am trying to reactivate an old sponsored role but my sponsor cannot confirm it. What should I do?

Please send an email to renewals@tech.alliancecan.ca so that we can assist you with your request.