The user already exists

Problem:

I (or someone on my project) tried to register as a user, but a Researcher account with that email address already exists. How do I proceed?

Solution:

This message means someone added you as a Researcher to the system before you registered as a User. In this situation, please send a message to support@pointbluehelp.zendesk.org so we can make sure everything gets set up correctly before you start entering your survey data. At this time, there is no functionality in the software for you to do this yourself. You will be asked to register again as a User after we adjust your account configuration.

Background for Project Leaders:

Giving a Researcher access to the system is not the same as setting up a User in the system and giving that Researcher access to your project. So what is the difference?

A User is the name you use to log into the system. A User is verified that they have provided a proper password, and is given access to different applications (eg, Biologists, Project Leaders). It’s effectively a way to manage the ability to login to our apps.

A Researcher is how individuals are identified in a Project. For your project you would give a Researcher access rights to your Project.

A Researcher is linked to a User by their email address. This linkage is created when a user goes through the registration process, which creates both a User and a matching Researcher in the system.

You cannot create this connection the other way around, that is, you cannot create a User when you enter a new Researcher.

The reasons to create a new Researcher are:

You need to enter data collected by a Researcher who won’t be adding it themselves through one of the data entry apps.
You have a user that is given access to the system as a Point Blue employee but they don't have a Researcher record in the system