# Go Account Age, Guardian and Shared-Email Settings

HTML version: [Go Account Age, Guardian and Shared-Email Settings](https://support.gladstonesoftware.cloud/gooperator/go-account-age-guardian-and-shared-email-settings)

## Problem
Administrators need to set the age rules that decide when a junior can hold their own Go login and when a parent or guardian is needed, and to understand how Go handles several accounts on one email address.

## Resolution

1. **Open the age settings**
   - In Operator, go to `Configuration > Modules > Configure`. There are two separate age settings, and they are easy to confuse; check which you are changing.

2. **Set the age at which a person can have their own account**
   - The minimum age for a customer to hold their own Go login (for example, 14). Under-age existing accounts can't log in to Go and get a "contact the centre" style error.
   - A junior below this age joining online must add a parent or guardian, who is created if needed and set as **primary payee**.
   - If the own-account age is **0**, the guardian/primary-payee step never triggers, because every child is allowed their own account. Raise it for the guardian step to apply.

3. **Set the age at which a person no longer needs a guardian (consent age)**
   - The age from which no parent or guardian is required (examples: 13, 16, or 17 as the adult age).

4. **Match the GMC settings**
   - In GMC `Configuration Manager > Member Facing Global`, set these to match your Operator age settings:
     - **Online Services Consent Settings**: **Max age requiring parental consent for online services** and **Online services requiring parental consent for a minor**. Records without a date of birth don't need consent.
     - **Linked Member Bookings**: **Make bookings for linked members**, **Make payment for linked members**, **Manage bookings for linked members** and **Maximum age for having restricted access to linked members account settings**.

5. **Decide an account policy before launch**
   - Several accounts can share one email address, each with its own password. A unique email per person is still preferred where practical.
   - If shared emails are allowed, test creation, login and reset for shared-email, same-name, parent/child and expired records.

6. **Move from Connect logins (if applicable)**
   - If your old app or Connect uses member ID + PIN, switch it to email + password in Plus2 (`Configuration > System > Config > Connect settings`) before Go goes live. See [Switching Customer Logins to Email and Password Before Go Goes Live](../plus2/switching-go-login-to-email-and-password-in-plus2.md).
   - Customers will need to reset their passwords, so warn them first.
   - Update any email templates that use member ID or PIN placeholders.

## Notes

- **Trade-off:** if juniors hold course sales on their **own** account and parents log in as the child to pay, the own-account age must be low enough for those children. Moving juniors to primary payee (parent pays, membership on the child's record) removes the need for young children to have their own login, so the own-account age can then be raised.
- **Shared emails**: the email address is the login name; Go uses the password to tell the accounts apart. Connect required a unique email per person; Go doesn't.
- **Duplicate detection** uses **email + date of birth**. If someone signs up with a combination that already exists, Go says it looks like they already have an account and offers a login button. They can still continue and create a new account if they confirm it isn't them.
- **Password reset** lists every account on that email and asks which named account to reset. Accounts without an email are not listed. Take care with two people of the same name on one email (usually parent and child).
- **Duplicates** can be found in Gladstone Reporting. Delete one that has no sales; otherwise rename it "DUPLICATE", remove the email and set the status to Purge. See [Managing Duplicate Records in Gladstone 360](../gladstone360/managing-duplicate-records-in-gladstone-360.md).
- Don't create a duplicate record just to get round an identification problem; help the customer instead.
- 360 records use the **Home** email as the Go login, so it must be set as main.
- **Guardian step never appears for juniors**: check the own-account age is not 0, and check the GMC **Online Services Consent Settings**.
- Related: [Group, Junior and Linked Memberships in Gladstone Go](group-junior-and-linked-memberships-in-gladstone-go.md); [The Customer's Go Account in Gladstone Go](the-customers-go-account-in-gladstone-go.md); [Member Facing Global and Shared Global Settings in the GMC](../gladstone360/member-facing-global-and-shared-global-settings-in-the-gmc.md); [How to Manage Junior Memberships and Guardian Bookings](../plus2/how-to-manage-junior-memberships-and-guardian-bookings.md).