The BlackBerry Enterprise Activation feature is undoubtedly one of the principle selling points of the BES solution and makes remote device activation for corporate usage by users themselves as simple as any user-driven process can be - but it is possible to make the process even simpler, and more tailored to your BlackBerry deployment, by customising the default Enterprise Activation password received by users containing their Enterprise Activation password.

By default, the email contains the user's activation password and brief instructions as to where to put it on the device itself:

For existing BES installations these instructions refer specifically to the BlackBerry Device OS 5 and earlier: the location of the Enterprise Activation wizard on OS 6 devices is different, therefore it may be worth amending the default message to contain instructions for newer devices, such as the 9800 Torch.

Read on for instructions on how to customise this message.

BES 4.x

Launch the BlackBerry Manager console.
Select the BlackBerry Domain and click on the option to Edit Properties, the following window will be displayed:

Select General --> Custom Activation Email Message. Edit the message as required, using strings such as "$n" for username, "$p" for password and "$x" for the password expiration time. To enter a custom subject use the "+" sign before the subject line at the beginning of the text box on a separate line:

Save the changes. Any new activation passwords will now contain the revised text:

BES 5.x

Access the BlackBerry Administration web interface. Browse to Devices --> Wireless Activations --> Device Activation Settings:

Enter the same text using the same wildcard settings for username, password and expiration settings.

This message could also include instructions on configuring the BES OCS client if desired - http://ukblog.im-mobility.com/setting-blackberry-enterprise-server-acces...