Setting Up Your Employee Computer Account

This article will help you sign into your employee computer account for the first time.  Affiliates and Project Personnel also use employee computer accounts.  Your computer account is a Microsoft account and it will be used to access all VIU tools.

What is my employee email?

In MOST cases, your VIU email will follow the format:  firstname.lastname@viu.ca.  If you have a preferred name, or you have changed your name, please review this article:  How Do I Change My Name?

How to sign in / set up your computer account (email)

  1. go to outlook.office.com
  2. sign in using your @viu.ca email
  3. use the password provided to you that follows this format:  EmpYYYYMMXXX (Emp remains as is, the YYYY is your birth year, MM is your 2-digit birth month, and XXX are the last 3-digits of your SIN)
    • if your birthday is May 17, 1930, and your SIN was 000123456, your password would be Emp193005456
    • if HR does not have a date of birth or SIN on record for you (common for affiliates), you can use 1900 as the birth year, 01 as the birth month, and 998 for the SIN
  4. update your password to one you can remember and that follows VIU's password standards
  5. sign out, then sign in again to ensure the new password is recognized

If this is your first time signing into your account, you will be prompted to "Stay Secure - more information is required."  This is prompting the set up of 2-step verification (2SV) for future sign-in attempts.  Follow these steps to complete the setup of your 2-step verification method:

  1. click Next on the 'stay secure, more information required' box
  2. you have 3 options for setting up a 2-step verification method
    • to use the MS Authenticator App, follow the prompts on the screen
    • to use your phone for a texted verification code, click the bottom left link that says 'I want to choose a different sign- in method', then select Phone
    • to use a hardware token visit this page and review Option 3:  How do I set up 2-step verification methods (option 3)
  3. once your account has at least one authentication method set up, you will be able to access your account successfully 
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