Functional account
Functional account
A functional account is a user account that is not assigned to an individual person, but to an organisational unit, a project or a function. This makes it possible, for example, to have email addresses such as projektname@uol.de or institutsname@uol.de with their own email inbox.
What you can do with it
- Emails received in a functional account can be forwarded to be forwarded to .
- Several people can use the functional account at the same time, e.g. its email inbox.
- If the person responsible for a functional mailbox is away on holiday, another person can also be authorised to take over the correspondence on their behalf.
- Services such as cloud storage/Nextcloud can be used.
What is not possible
- Functional accounts do not have ‘Lecturer’ status in Stud.IP and are therefore unable to create or moderate mailing lists.
- Functional accounts are not transferred to the DFN-AAI infrastructure and cannot use EDUROAM Wi-Fi.
- By default, there is also no Wi-Fi access for functional accounts on the university campus. (If this is required, it must be explicitly mentioned and justified when submitting the application.)
- Functional accounts cannot download software intended for individual use
- Functional accounts do not have access to the library’s personalised services.
Applying for a functional account
A functional account is set up via an automatic workflow. Only employees of the university can apply for functional accounts. As the application for functional accounts is based on the dual control principle, another person must be selected as the approver for the account. In addition, it is also determined who is to be responsible for the functional account.
The person responsible has the right to request changes to the account or have it deleted and is used as the email contact for important information regarding the account. If the responsible person leaves the university, another employed person must take over responsibility for the account, otherwise the functional account will be blocked.
Requesting a functional account
For change requests (adding or withdrawing authorisations for mailbox access) for a functional account, please use the form 'Authorisation for the mailbox of a functional account' (only in German), which can be accessed in the IT service portal under 'My workplace'. Please send any other enquiries about the functional account by email:
Validity of function accounts
Duration
Guest, course and function accounts are deleted after 180 days of non-use. One month before, you will receive an email informing you that your account is about to be deleted. If you reply to this e-mail, you will be given the opportunity to delay the deletion for a further 180 days. Only if you do not reply within one month will your account and all its contents be irrevocably deleted.
Assignment to a person
A person who is in a current employment relationship with the university must always be assigned to a function account. Employees who will soon be leaving the university will be informed of which function accounts they are responsible for and advised that a new responsible person(s) must be assigned to the function account. If this is not done, the function account will be blocked and later deleted.
How do I add a valid work account to my Outlook?
Outlook client
These instructions are intended to help you set up or switch your account yourself.
We need to distinguish between two scenarios here.
Scenario 1: The email address you wish to use is already set up with your login details.
Scenario 2: The email address you want is not yet set up in your account.
Please check for yourself whether the email address is already set up in your account (Case 1) or whether the email address you want is not yet displayed in Outlook (Case 2).
Case 1 – The email address you have chosen is already set up with you, with
login details
Case 2 – The email address you want has not yet been set up in your Outlook
account
I use several functional accounts – how do I access them all?
There are two scenarios here:
- Functional accounts that you have applied for yourself or that have been assigned to you fall under your own account responsibility (see ‘Responsible person’). Authorisation for these accounts is set automatically.
- For functional accounts for which you are not the account manager, the account manager must first grant you authorisation. You must contact them to request this (e.g. via an email enquiry to the functional account’s mailbox). If a person is unsure which accounts they are responsible for, this information can be viewed at https://konto.uol.de under → Application → ‘My user accounts’.
Once authorisation for a functional account has been granted, the functional account’s mailbox can be integrated directly into your own Outlook client using the functional account’s published email address (e.g. funktion-email-name@uni-oldenburg.de). Detailed instructions can be found here.
What if I am currently the account holder, but someone else is supposed to manage the account?
If you are no longer the person who should manage the account, you can transfer responsibility for the account to another person at any time via https://konto.uol.de under ‘My Accounts’.
Alternatively, if you do not wish to relinquish actual account responsibility, you can also authorise other people to take on additional management responsibilities for a functional account. Alternatively, the people who are to take over the administration can visit the service page and, via ‘Request administration of another functional account’, ask the account holder to grant them administration rights for the account. This request can then be reviewed and approved or rejected by the account holder.
How can I set permissions for a function account?
- You can set the permissions for a function account yourself via the self-service portal.
- Click on ‘Application’ in the top menu.
- An overview of various functions will open (see image below).
- Under the heading ‘User accounts’, click on the ‘Authorised users for FKT account’ field.
- This will open the settings for function accounts.
- First, select a function account – this is only possible if you are assigned as the person responsible for it.
- You can now add and remove other authorised users for the selected function account. The selected users can access the function account’s email inbox and use two-factor authentication for the function account.
ℹ️ The following information applies to the transition to two-factor authentication (2FA) for functional accounts in October 2026
Special handling of two-factor authentication (2FA) for functional accounts
Just as with individual university accounts, 2FA provides additional protection for functional accounts too. The following sections describe how 2FA is used specifically with functional accounts and what you need to bear in mind. General information on two-factor authentication can be found on the relevant information page.
What is the login process like for functional accounts using 2FA?
Please note: 2FA login for functional accounts will be introduced in November 2026. This means that not all of the following information is currently in effect:
Visually, the login process for functional accounts looks exactly the same as you are already familiar with from personal accounts. However, there is one technical difference:
- First, you must enter the login details for the functional account, i.e. the account name and password.
- You must then also enter your personal second factor. For functional accounts, you must use a one-time password (‘TOTP’) for this; a ‘YubiKey’ (FIDO2) cannot be used. You can find out how to set up this second factor in the next section.
If you only wish to access the email inbox of a functional account, you do not need a second factor. 2FA is only required to log in to other services such as cloud storage or StudIP. Consequently, it may be the case that only the person responsible for the account knows the functional account’s password and, where applicable, has linked their second factor to the functional account.
Setting up 2FA for a functional account
Each functional account you wish to access must be linked to the second factor of your personal account. This must be set up by the person who manages the functional account. Since October 2026, this has been possible directly via the self-service portal – as explained in the section above.
In order for your second factor to be linked to a functional account, you must first set up this second factor yourself for your own account (if you have not already done so). You can find out how to do this on the 2FA information page.
However, there is one technical caveat: you cannot currently use a YubiKey (FIDO2) as a second factor for functional accounts! Instead, please use the one-time password (‘TOTP’) feature.