Reg groups in teams?

[jblackburnHWGA]

I'm using Salamander to export the csvs for SDS.

 

Is there a way to draw out the reg groups using the same tool?

 

If not I'm guessing I need to export reports for the students in each reg group then use powershell to import them into groups named using the same script.

If anyone has such a script let me know

[Norphy]

Are you using the free tool or do you pay for Salamander? If you have the paid subscription, just contact them and ask them to change their extraction routine. Tutor groups are generated in SDS via their program for us.

[mthomas08]

Is that the freebie version or paid for? (sorry I know off topic and not answering your question).

[jblackburnHWGA]

sorry yea its the freebie version I didn't know there was a paid for version

 

how much is it? the tool is really good

[supportman]

sorry yea its the freebie version I didn't know there was a paid for version

 

how much is it? the tool is really good

 

Its about a grand a year, you can indeed create tutor groups with the paid version. We create them from email distribution lists.

[jblackburnHWGA]

a grand!

ok unless you wanna share your PowerShell you use i'll do some googling.

 

Guessing its just a create O365 group then populate from a csv kind of process which shouldn't be too complicated

[Norphy]

Considering how powerful Salamander is and how much time it saves, a grand is peanuts. It's well worth the investment and not just for Teams. I would seriously have a talk with their sales team and see just what they can do for you.

[supportman]

Yeh was going to say, it does a lot more than PowerShell scripts.

[paulkerton]

£1000 a year is £5.26 per school day.

£2.73 every day a year.

3 iPad 8th Generation

2 iPad 8th Generation if you get the keyboard and pen too.

 

It also means when changes happen in the API and your custom script inevtiably breaks, then it's on you. Otherwise, it's on the service you buy in.

 

It's worth every penny, and I'm not a Salamander customer.

[Ditto]

Like @paulkerton, I'm not a Salamander customer. Have a look at http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-software/217186-best-school-software-award-nominations.html and there is another thread that sings their praises. In truth, not spending that £1000 pounds, could cost you more than that in the long run. The trouble is that we are all very bad at costing our time.

[paulkerton]

I just want to add that I'm not a Salamander customer because I use Bromcom's built-in sync for our G Suite platform, and I also prefer Wonde Google synchronisation with SIMS, personally, as I find its functionality smoother and slicker.

But having automatic synchronisation of some kind is an absolute no brainer for the price, and Salamander is popular for good reason. It does a great job, and they're very willing to customise things for each customer's needs.

[jblackburnHWGA]

I was only joking about the money in balance its not so bad. We're moving to Arbor in April so i don't want something to use with SIMs that we don't need with Arbor.

I'll give them a ring and have a chat to them as we also really want to push timetables into people calendars

[mattpant]

I'm using the "FREE" SDS Tool from Salamander - and it does give you the option on the very first screen to extract the form groups to setup just these in TEAMS.

 

Very easy!

 

Excellent tool

[nickjelly]

Does the paid for Salamander product include synchronization of SIMS class changes in Teams? I take it from this blog post by Salamander that it does not and the onus is on Teachers to amend the class groups. Are there any products that provide that functionality? Edited September 21, 2020 by nickjelly

[supportman]

Does the paid for Salamander product include synchronization of SIMS class changes in Teams? I take it from this blog post by Salamander that it does not and the onus is on Teachers to amend the class groups. Are there any products that provide that functionality?

 

Yes its all automatic

[jblackburnHWGA]

I'm using the "FREE" SDS Tool from Salamander - and it does give you the option on the very first screen to extract the form groups to setup just these in TEAMS.

 

Very easy!

 

Excellent tool

 

Genius thanks MattPant i didn't notice the check box!!

[nickjelly]

Yes its all automatic

 

Really! That's interesting as that blog post says 'All class changes will need to be maintained within Teams, by the Teacher... Class membership will no longer sync from the Group to Teams.' Did you already have a sync profile set up before Microsoft changed things on 26 March?

 

Does the sync run daily or is it triggered manually.

Edited September 21, 2020 by nickjelly

[supportman]

Really! That's interesting as that blog post says 'All class changes will need to be maintained within Teams, by the Teacher... Class membership will no longer sync from the Group to Teams.' Did you already have a sync profile set up before Microsoft changed things on 26 March?

 

Does the sync run daily or is it triggered manually.

 

Yeh ours is setup before the change, not sure how it works now but ours is automatically updated.

[jblackburnHWGA]

its working now after the change and they've improved it.

 

You can tick now to have the teams create automatically or you can click a button they've added to see all the groups you are owner of to create the class yourself.

[Roberto]

£1000 a year is £5.26 per school day.

£2.73 every day a year.

3 iPad 8th Generation

2 iPad 8th Generation if you get the keyboard and pen too.

 

It also means when changes happen in the API and your custom script inevtiably breaks, then it's on you. Otherwise, it's on the service you buy in.

 

It's worth every penny, and I'm not a Salamander customer.

 

Some of the best money I spent in my role when I was a college IT manager. When you consider the hourly rate of my old team, the MIS staff costs, etc, I’d have practically been wasting government money if I hadn’t purchased it.