Creating and Managing CiviCRM Users

CiviCRM supports multiple users. This means that any number of authorized users can log in to the system and work simultaneously. Each user must have their own user account and login credentials to access the system. This guide explains how to log in for the first time, create and manage additional users, and set passwords.

1. User Accounts in CiviCRM

In CiviCRM Standalone, user management can be accessed via Administration → Users and Permissions.

Every user must have a contact record in CiviCRM. This means that the user's first name, last name, and email address are taken from their CiviCRM contact record. A user account consists of a username, the associated individual contact representing the user in the CiviCRM database, and the user's role(s) and permissions within the system.

In polbeo polishub, usernames should consist only of lowercase letters, without special characters, hyphens, or underscores.

When polbeo provisions a CiviCRM instance, the users "admin", "polishubadmin", and "cronuser" are created automatically.

The "polishubadmin" user is associated with the contact "KUNDEN ACCOUNT" because only an email address is required to request a polishub instance. After logging in for the first time, you can edit the "KUNDEN ACCOUNT" contact and enter the first and last name of the person using the system.

The "admin" and "cronuser" accounts serve technical purposes only. Neither these accounts nor their associated contacts may be deleted.

The "admin" account is particularly important for the system's ability to send messages, such as password reset emails.

The "cronuser" account and its associated "cronuser" contact are required for automated processes, which are managed under Administration → System Settings → Scheduled Jobs.

2. Logging In for the First Time

Once your polishub instance has been set up, you will receive two emails from polbeo.

The first email confirms that the setup is complete. It contains the web address of your polishub instance in the format phxxxxxx.polbeo.de and the username polishubadmin.

A second, automatically generated email contains a link that allows you to set a password for your polishubadmin account for the first time.

You can then log in using the username polishubadmin and your new password.

3. Username and Password

To log in, you need a username and a password.

The polishubadmin account has full administrative privileges and can create additional user accounts in the system.

Separate user accounts should be created for other people working with the system. Sharing the same user account among several people (known as "account sharing") is strongly discouraged for reasons of data security and data protection.

4. Resetting Your Password

If you have forgotten your password, you can use the password reset function on the login page.

The system will then send a link to the email address associated with your user account. You can use this link to set a new password.

Note on sending emails: Your polishub instance is preconfigured to send system and notification emails using a sender address configured by polbeo for the "admin" account. Do not change this sender address without also adjusting the SMTP configuration. For more information, see Sending Emails from CiviCRM.

5. Setting Up Two-Factor Authentication

We recommend enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) for user accounts. To do so, navigate to Administration → Users and Permissions → Login Settings and select "TOTP" from the "Multi-Factor Authentification classes" dropdown menu. The next time you log out and log back in, you will be prompted to configure the second authentication factor for your username.

How two-factor authentication works: The password associated with a username is the first factor. Anyone who knows both the username and password can gain access. Since unauthorized third parties may also know these credentials, the second factor requires users to possess something that enables them to generate a temporary second password. This provides additional security because generating the second password depends on possession of the required authentication device or secret.

Please note that CiviCRM does not generate recovery codes. If you lose your TOTP secret (also known as the shared secret or secret key), please contact our support team to have your authentication credentials reset.

6. Creating Additional Users

You should create individual user accounts for everyone who regularly works with your polishub instance. You can do this under Administration → Users and Permissions → User Accounts.

In polbeo polishub, usernames should consist only of lowercase letters, without special characters, hyphens, or underscores, to avoid technical issues.

When creating user accounts, assign only the permissions each person actually needs. In particular, administrative privileges should be granted only to users who need to modify system settings.

7. Further Documentation

The following sections of the official CiviCRM documentation describe the underlying user management features.

CiviCRM Installation Guide

Install CiviCRM Standalone – Relevant to sections 1, 2, and 6: Logging in to a Standalone instance and the basic setup of users and permissions.

CiviCRM User Guide

Users contacts – Relevant to sections 1 and 6: The distinction between CiviCRM contacts and user accounts and how they are linked. This chapter primarily covers installations integrated with a content management system.
Permissions and access control – Relevant to section 6: Fundamentals of roles, permissions, and access restrictions in CiviCRM. This chapter also focuses primarily on CMS-based installations.

Technical Documentation for CiviCRM Standalone

Users, Roles, Permissions for Standalone CiviCRM – Relevant to sections 1 and 6: Technical foundations of CiviCRM Standalone's built-in user and role management.

How This Guide Differs

The general CiviCRM documentation mainly covers user management in conjunction with Drupal, WordPress, or other content management systems. This guide, by contrast, describes user management in CiviCRM Standalone, including initial login, password recovery, and two-factor authentication. It also explains the user accounts configured by polbeo and their respective functions within polishub.

The setup of two-factor authentication using TOTP is not specifically documented for CiviCRM Standalone in the general manual chapters linked above.

Documentation last updated: October 25, 2026. The linked manual chapters refer to the latest available English-language documentation ("latest").

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