Intune + Windows Districts - On the fence with a battle... User Driven or Self Deploy

[intense_username]

Hi all. We're a district of just over 3000 student devices. About a third are iPads and have been in Intune for a few years. This year we're looking to begin moving our Windows devices to Intune. I essentially have a completed setup and we're ready to start a pilot and, barring all goes well, lean into an actual deployment this summer. This project is only focusing on student devices (no staff devices yet). I'm really hung up on User Driven or Self Deploy mode and I'm honestly not sure why. I just see benefits to both and it's a bit of push-pull in both directions. For what it's worth we also have A3 licensing.

 

User Driven (with preprovisioning - I wouldn't consider this for students if not for preprovisioning). This process is slightly more involved for us during setup. Not much, but, it's not as "just boot and let it rip" like Self Deploy mode is. It populates the primary user in the device listing within Intune which is neat, would be helpful for sure, but I'm not sure it's mandatory for our use case. When students first fire up the device there would be a slightly longer time they have to wait than Self Deploy as the device seems to need to check in again for any last minute app installs before realizing nothing is needed and then moving on to finish up the login process. Not a big deal, but an observation nonetheless.

 

Self Deploy mode just feels more like SCCM imaging. You tell the thing to run, it does, and it drops you off at the login screen with your branded background, etc. It feels like it leaves less guesswork out of the mix since you can SEE it's done, whereas with User Driven when you hit reseal and it shuts down, you're just kind of hoping it's good to go (though I haven't had it backfire in testing to really warrant any legit concern yet, so, there's that). Even though we're 1 to 1, students do rotate devices now and then due to damages, repairs, loaners, etc. Sure, we don't get the username in the Intune device listing, but again I'm not sure it's a big deal for us.

 

I spoke to an IT Director in a district twice our size in another state. He was a big User Driven fanboy, but later transitioned to Self Deploy and seems to like it more so he's sticking to it. I question how good devices will behave if we preprovision them with User Driven, reseal them/shut them down, and let them sit for the summer. It's hard to pinpoint it other than a "mild preference driven by a gut feeling" that Self Deploy may be a better fit for student devices.

 

It's also worth mentioning that I plan to make core apps required on all devices, however, I plan to make a good number of apps available within Company Portal that students can self-service-install on their own accord. I've read a few instances that suggest Company Portal behaves better with User Driven, but based on more recent reading + my own experience, Self Deploy seems to work just fine. In fact, one user cited that Company Portal allows any user that logs in to use it, whereas User Driven is limited to the primary user alone (which would require wiping the device each time it changes hands - not a big deal, but food for thought).

 

Has anybody had this ridiculous internal mental battle, or just me? What are you using? What's your vote?