Write an ArcGIS Online Admin Swap Letter of Authorization

Summary

To make an administrative change to an ArcGIS Online organization, Esri requires that a formal request be submitted as a letter from a C-level executive officer or equivalent (i.e., your CEO, CIO, CFO, or business owner), including their handwritten signature in ink.

The letter of authorization serves two purposes:

• An acknowledgement that business continuity practices were not put in place and/or followed by the company to maintain access to their ArcGIS Online organization.
• The company’s executive leadership is providing authorization for Esri to make a change on their behalf as a last resort to regain access to their organization.

Preliminary steps

Esri Technical Support assisted in confirming that your company is unable to access any administrative member accounts through UI/UX methods, nor through the assistance of your IT department, as described in the article "Problem: Unable to change your ArcGIS Online Organization's default administrator". As a last resort, Technical Support can upgrade one of your existing ArcGIS Online Organization members to default administrator. To do this, your formal authorization must undergo our approval process.

Procedure

As a C-level executive officer or equivalent (i.e., CEO, CIO, CFO, business owner, etc.) for your company, please write a letter containing the following information. The case contact representing your company will submit the letter for Esri to review.

If you have a question about the required information, please direct questions to the Support Analyst on the case before submitting the letter.

Letter Requirements

1. Written on official company letterhead or cultural equivalent that identifies the company.
2. The letter must reference:
   1. The Esri Technical Support case number associated with this request.
   2. At least one subscription identifier for the ArcGIS Online Organization, such as:
      • The 9-digit subscription number (not to be confused with your customer number)
      • Short URL for the organization (i.e., [shortURL].maps.arcgis.com)
   3. A detailed explanation of why your company does not have administrative access and needs Esri to act on your behalf. Please include the first and last name associated with all accounts in the organization with an administrator role. (2-3 sentences) 
   4. What needs to be changed by stating the request type and associated info:
      • Update ArcGIS Online Organization member's role
        • The individual's full name
        • ArcGIS Online username
        • Email address associated with the username
      • - or - Invite new Administrator (Single-User Organization Only)
        • The new default administrator’s full name
        • Email address
          • An email alias is not accepted. The email address must be specific to an individual, not a group.
          • Always prioritize corporate domain email addresses over third-party addresses like Gmail or Yahoo.
3. C-level executive signature block including:
   • Full name
   • Handwritten signature in ink
     • Digital signatures are not accepted.
   • Title
   • Email address

After the letter is completed with ink signature, scan and email the letter to the Esri Support Analyst handling your case.

How Your Request Will Be Processed

Once the letter has been received, the Technical Support analyst will submit the request and Letter of Authorization for review. Upon review and approval, Esri will make the requested change. Letters missing required information will be rejected and require the executive to re-write and re-submit. Requests may be denied if they are not deemed a valid reason for acting on the customer’s behalf. Additionally, Support will notify the requestor and the signing executive via email upon completion of the request.

A Note for the Executive After Processing

Note:
Once this process has been completed, it is recommended as a best practice to leverage a SAML IDP, or have more than one default administrator at any given time so that future disruptions are avoided. Additional considerations can be found in this blog: Keep home fires burning -essential ArcGIS Online operations