Will Salamandersoft still create Teams following recent changes?

[ronnoco]

Hello all,

 

We use Teams and previously, Teams were created with a complex powershell script written by the previous IT Manager. I don't want to use this script for various reasons. I was planning to use Salamandersoft but have just read on here that MS have stopped the automatic creation of groups. Does this mean they can't be created through Salamandersoft?

 

Also, if it does, what are the main benefits of using the paid for version? Will it make life a lot easier for someone like me who isn't great with scripts, powershell etc?

 

Many thanks for any help.

[willtech]

Spoken to them about a week ago was told that new SDS profiles will not create the teams and their was not a way to auto create.

 

https://www.salamandersoft.co.uk/blog/teacher-creation-of-teams-managed-by-sds/

 

Salamander paid is great worth every bit we pay for nothing is not possible.

Edited July 2, 2020 by willtech

[3s-gtech]

I’m not 100% on how it works, but I think paid Salamander is a bit more powerful than just using SDS when it comes to Teams. Ours hasn’t long been set up - but when our year groups change it should create the new Teams straight from SIMS.

[ronnoco]

Thank for replying.

 

If you can't create the Teams in SDS, what are the other options for creating them?

 

1.) Can you create them easily another way using the export from the free Salamander utility?

2.) How does the Salamander full paid for version create them?

3.) Will the paid version help with archiving and housekeeping?

 

I'm swinging towards the full version as like I said, i'm not much of a scripter but need to be able to justify, etc.

 

Many thanks - this is all really helpful.

 

Gary

[msi_school]

Salamander have set our Teams up recently they can get the groups set up but 365 does not automatically create Teams groups from them, we make our staff do the final step following these instructions

 

When they set this up at the beginning of June they had a method to do this automatically but as we are only using teams as a pilot ATM we have not tried this.

 

I agree with @willtech salamander is worth the subscription, I have just found out that they can also do SIMS write back for an extra £100 pa.

Edited July 3, 2020 by msi_school
Correcting the English

[ronnoco]

So just so I understand, if you use the free Salamander utility, that will create your export, you can upload that through SDS (so the data is in Teams) but it just won't automatically create the Team, correct?

[msi_school]

So just so I understand, if you use the free Salamander utility, that will create your export, you can upload that through SDS (so the data is in Teams) but it just won't automatically create the Team, correct?

 

I use the paid for Salamander so I can't answer that question sorry.

[kennysarmy]

Hi,

 

I've been asked to look at this for our school too - ie. the best way to create TEAMS from our school data in Bromcom for remote learning in case we go in to lock down again in September and beyound.

 

My initial thoughts were just to let the teacher's do this, why spend money up front for something that may never occur. We use Firefly on a day to day basis so TEAMS has limited benefit, just the live lessons part!

 

If each teacher was to add the students manually to TEAMS before each day I don't think it would take them that long - but anyway!

 

Excuse my ignorance but what does SDS stand for?

 

Also does the blog post linked earlier in the thread mean that even if we went for the paid for Salander Product it would n't auto create the TEAMS anyway?

 

We've enquired with Salander, and if we placed an order now they could n't promise the implementation until October! Well done to those who thought ahead and got the solution in place. Are there any alternatives?

[3s-gtech]

SDS is School Data Sync. It's part of Office 365.

 

Yeah, Salamander have a long lead time as they're so busy at present. Working through the prerequisites takes a while too.

[FragglePete]

Did this a few weeks back after I posted here:

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/cloud-services/215048-sds-teams-existing-groups.html

 

Seems to work well. The process is a bit manual, so it doesn't take long but I generally do the following:

 

1. Run the PowerShell script listed in the thread that creates the .csv files of our Staff and Students who have the Employee ID number set as the MISID - we use Burconix to create our users from SIMS

2. Use the Salamander Free SDS Tool with these two .CSV files and this then creates all the necessary .csv files for SDS

3. I open up the Teachers.csv file and remove all the entries that don't have a e-mail address - as these would be 'staff' that don't have an AD account on our system (Governors, Invigilators, etc)

4. Upload the .csv files to the SDS profile and away it goes.

 

Doing this process I'm get no errors and its creating the 'Section_' groups along side my existing class groups and these are showing up to Teaching Staff when they open Teams. Seems to work well. I do it once a week and only takes a few minutes to process.

 

Pete

[ronnoco]

Hello all,

 

I have received confirmation from Salamander that the Teams can be created with paid version but as others have said, they won't be able to do this for September.

 

1.) If I use the free version, what will happen to all of our existing Teams? Do they simply stay there or do they need to be archived?

 

2.) Can I test the free version over the summer holiday or will it not populate data because terms has ended?

 

Many Thanks in advance for help with this.

[FragglePete]

Hello all,

 

I have received confirmation from Salamander that the Teams can be created with paid version but as others have said, they won't be able to do this for September.

 

1.) If I use the free version, what will happen to all of our existing Teams? Do they simply stay there or do they need to be archived?

 

2.) Can I test the free version over the summer holiday or will it not populate data because terms has ended?

 

Many Thanks in advance for help with this.

They stay as they are - all the ones created by SDS will be prefix with 'Section_' - teachers then get shown a nice list of their classes when they go into Teams.

 

Issue I have now is that I have a whole load of Teams created by Staff before I got SDS up and running - will need a sort and clear out but I have warned staff that its happening.

 

Pete

[NickBryson]

I have just found out that they can also do SIMS write back for an extra £100 pa.

Now that Capita have changed their write back charges I wonder if Salamander will follow suit ?