witch Posted June 16, 2020 Posted June 16, 2020 I have been asked to create Office 365 accounts for all the pupils - is there a way to import data from SIMS to do this please?
3s-gtech Posted June 16, 2020 Posted June 16, 2020 Yes - but do you have an Active Directory already? It'd be easier to sync from that using a tool called Azure Active Directory Connect. If they're not in AD, you can produce a CSV from SIMS to do this https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/enterprise/add-several-users-at-the-same-time 1
paulkerton Posted June 16, 2020 Posted June 16, 2020 https://sds.microsoft.com/ https://id.sims.co.uk/support/pages/version/dff5ea7f-9e2c-46f8-8a89-c7c45555207b Might wanna reach out to a third-party company though such as Salamander who've got a load of experience doing this, and not a huge cost to do so. If there are any issues (and trust me, there can be issues) it also means that you're supported to fix the problems. 1
Norphy Posted June 16, 2020 Posted June 16, 2020 Do you have a local Active Directory? Are your students in there? If so, the easiest way to get them into Office 365 would be to install Azure AD Connect and have it synchronise your student accounts and groups to Office 365/Azure. This can also synchronise passwords from your local AD to Office 365 as well, so they don't have to remember another password. You'd then be able to assign Office 365 licenses to a group that your students are a member of and they'll be able to access the resources that your school wants them to accesss. If your school/MAT is willing to spend some money, it's worth contacting SalamanderSoft who would be able to automate exports from SIMS into Active Directory and/or Office 365/Azure AD for you. Other options are using CommandReporter.exe inside SIMS to generate CSV files with your students information and writing a script to process this and create accounts. There's also a feature called School Data Sync which can take the output of a CSV file and create Office 365 accounts for you. 1
witch Posted June 16, 2020 Author Posted June 16, 2020 I know at some point we attempted to do the AD sync thing and it failed but I have no info on that attempt atm. Thanks for the info- I will have a look and see if it makes any sense to me. Paying out, however little, is not something we can do at the moment so it will have to be me that does this stuff
elbmod Posted June 16, 2020 Posted June 16, 2020 Do you have a local Active Directory? Are your students in there? If so, the easiest way to get them into Office 365 would be to install Azure AD Connect and have it synchronise your student accounts and groups to Office 365/Azure. This can also synchronise passwords from your local AD to Office 365 as well, so they don't have to remember another password. You'd then be able to assign Office 365 licenses to a group that your students are a member of and they'll be able to access the resources that your school wants them to accesss. If your school/MAT is willing to spend some money, it's worth contacting SalamanderSoft who would be able to automate exports from SIMS into Active Directory and/or Office 365/Azure AD for you. Other options are using CommandReporter.exe inside SIMS to generate CSV files with your students information and writing a script to process this and create accounts. There's also a feature called School Data Sync which can take the output of a CSV file and create Office 365 accounts for you. +1 for salamander - really helpful people and it just works! Pete
witch Posted June 17, 2020 Author Posted June 17, 2020 +1 for salamander - really helpful people and it just works! Pete and just costs..not an option at present
3s-gtech Posted June 17, 2020 Posted June 17, 2020 Salamander helps, but is really not necessary at this point. AADC is all you need - if the previous attempt to use it failed, it’s a case of working through any issues. It’s pretty reliable though. As I said, you can also upload via CSV if you prefer, but this is far more work as pupils join and leave and passwords won’t be the same.
psydii Posted June 17, 2020 Posted June 17, 2020 AzureAD connect is all you need for a single domain. Have a noodle around admin.microsoft.com to get an understanding of what might have been sync'd previously. If you have on-prem exchange I believe you still then need to run the hybrid wizard on the exchange server to enable mailflow and future mailbox migrations. It sucks that you can't have Salamander.
paulkerton Posted June 17, 2020 Posted June 17, 2020 and just costs..not an option at present It's a balancing act though isn't it? The cost of a third-party product vs the time you'll put in over the course of the next 12 months setting up, testing and delivering a solution yourself and the maintaining it. I understand budgets are all tight at the moment, so you have to make the call "well I'm already paid to do this" though.
willtech Posted June 17, 2020 Posted June 17, 2020 Salamander helps, but is really not necessary at this point. AADC is all you need - if the previous attempt to use it failed, it’s a case of working through any issues. It’s pretty reliable though. As I said, you can also upload via CSV if you prefer, but this is far more work as pupils join and leave and passwords won’t be the same. About to say the same here. As well if you AADC setup you can make use of Azure Active Directory Seamless Single Sign-On to auto sign in users that are logged into devices. Makes ours and their lives easier and less help desk tickets
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