SCCM in Primary schools

[bze07]

Hi All

 

Has anyone setup SCCM in a primary school is it worth it or not?

 

Thanks

[SimonWindisch]

Yes, love it love it love it.

 

Simon

[yac2016]

yes but overkill for a primary, depends what you want to do?

[DJ-1701]

Yes, also love it.

[sparkeh]

Hi All

 

Has anyone setup SCCM in a primary school is it worth it or not?

 

Thanks

Yep, totally worth it.

 

I don't think its overkill at all.

[FN-GM]

yes but overkill for a primary, depends what you want to do?

 

Suppose it depends on the size. There is one near me that is bigger than a secondary school I know.

[mikeprice]

worth it if you have time to set it up

because then other problems are fixed far more easily

 

problem I had was that just as I got past other problems it all went a bit manic - but the SMT would never understand the concept of spending a fair amount of time doing something that they don't understand

 

Their attitude was 'can't you just re-install windows' - which of course I could - but it then took a lot of time to install windows plus about 1 hour to get all the application done because some of them were a bit awkward and required reboots

 

which was even more reason for SCCM

[chaplic]

I've not set it up - 100 pupil primary - 40ish laptops. I use MDT to build the laptops which has most apps baked into it. Where additional apps have been required and are MSIs I've just used group policy. Where the app is't an MSI I've home brewed a solution where the install files are copied to the laptop via GPO then installed via startup script. Spiceworks is in use for asset inventory.

 

I have two servers running as domain controllers and file severs as dfs-r, and my judgement at the time was sccm was overkill and 2 1/2 years later it seems to have been the right one.

[nicholab]

I would consider PDQ full version a better fit. I user the free version on top of SCCM but would consider a MDT + PDQ setup in a smaller environment. It great as it is a lot more direct than SCCM.

[matt40k]

Wouldn't InTune make more sense for a primary school?

[birchanger]

I'd have thought that MDT (with a database if necessary) is a far easier path for a primary. Yes, SCCM allows for app deployment at any time, but is the complexity justified when compared with MDT and GPO deployment? If all you're looking for is OSD, then SCCM users tend to use MDTs task sequences in any case.

[DavR]

We are a big primary and have SCCM, frankly having come from a bare bones WDS + Group Policy background I have found it very much overkill (it was installed before my time). Everything takes longer and is more complex than it needs to be, I find the whole thing sluggish and unresponsive. Mainly I just need to update programs or applications, and that was so much simpler using GP assigned software / startup scripts.

 

The only bonus is that, when it is running correctly, software updates deploy seamlessly in the background, without adding startup delay. I will admit that Task Sequences offer a lot of opportunities too.