CTIDTech

Do any of these options also offer MFA or 2FA for students? What's to stop someone using someone else's card/badge? If so is this an extra cost?

Good read and well worth noting! We MFA or 2FA all users (students as well) to access all their digital resources - Students use an image/PIn depending on age, Teachers use a PIN if they refuse refuse to use their phone, and everyone else authenticators. Took some training initially, but all on board now for everything! Much safer and another tick in the box!

There are many tools out there that can integrate with just about all technologies these days in the event that your MIS does not work with them! - I would do an inventory of all software utilised (if you do not already have this) by all stakeholders - staff, parents, students, governors, HR, Finance, housekeeping, catering etc. and then ask your potential MIS providers which they do/not integrate with - If you do this from the get go, or seek assurances by 'x' that these will be complete then you should have at least a little peace of mind and something to cling to if they let you down. You are in a much stronger position pre-purchase than after. I would also enquire as to whether you would have access to a central data lake at Trust level. This ensures that you do not need 15 separate data pulls from a software solution for all the different schools *and the associated costs that the software solution passes on to you which reduces risk and access! Hope this helps.

They can use the API and I know they are working on MAT level data! If you have the data lake option in Arbor this may help. I would call them and speak to someone there to get a definitive answer. I think Odyssey Education sell this in the UK and should be able to help.

We use AI tools all the time in many areas also - Questionnaires, surveys, general staff/parent engagement as well as many technical questions too as mentioned above- One tip I was given was ask it the worst questions to ask then ask it to rephrase these - it usually does a great job - Another factor is we all have to think of is copyright issues too - especially if publishing externally anywhere (however this is no different from anything else folks do today - just possibly more likely to beg steal or borrow)!

I think paying for access to our own data is pushing it a little! Keen to hear the final outcome.

To a point, there is an argument to say that with brute force attacks you can almost get you into any system depending on the sophistication of the attack and tool used. The QR code is encryped and no mention of the website to go to, it is simply to help the youngest learners easily access their resources which used to be kept in a teachers notepad at the front of the class and save time in the classroom which our staff wanted us to solve. We don't use it for older children...they can enter their details or use the Log in with MS button in our case. Staff also log in this way (not QR code) and use their MS authenticator (it's not a one size fits all approach) The images change in both location and also what they show every time too so is more than enough for us and better than none! Also, we now do account claiming through this too (started with staff) and now with students so we never have to email or share user details again on paper/using traditional methods so a win win for us.

What MIS are you using?

I think Cloudwise is for Google log in only into Chromebooks only ( ) whereas I think ClassLink can do Win 10/11 and Chromebooks using AD Azure or Google. https://help.classlink.com/s/article/Sign-into-Windows-with-QuickCards#:~:text=Click%20Single%20Sign%2DOn%2C%20select,need%20it%20for%20Windows%20setup) & https://help.classlink.com/s/article/Logging-into-Chromebooks-Using-ClassLink so really depends on what your users are using in school and at home? Let us know what you think of both!

Have you thought of an SSO layer to give you what you need? Just sign in once and hey presto - click the app they want and they are in?

Are you talking about monitoring on school owned devices only?

Which MIS are you using - Can you not ask them?

https://www.ess-sims.co.uk/products-and-services/sims-finance - Have you looked at this? We don't use it.

We met them at Bett and they have clients all over the world and they comply with GDPR etc

Not quite - THE QR code is the username and password - they don't need anything else! (We use this for younger children) For older we use Log in with MS. They are then asked to present some form of MFA - Image (Y1-4), PIN (Y4-13) or Authenticator (staff/admins) - You do not need to have to MFA enabled for students but we do for the reasons above. So they can operate independently. The MFA is just that, and the QR code gets them into the devices (Win and CB)and loads ClassLink straight away if configured or gets them into ClassLink where they can access all their resources from any device.

What MIS are you using as many now have this feature built in?

The QR code is their user name and password to either authenticate into ClassLink which is then backed up by MFA for students staff etc - This is important because they can lose them, get bags stolen or whatever else happens to them too! If using a Windows or Chromebook device they can also use this to authenticate into he device itself - this can be set up and takes them straight to their launchpad! So it cuts out loads of log on issues and means that our smallest users flash the qr code at log in to the device, and then everything we want them to access is SSO from the dashboard they have. So in effect no user name or password to enter at all from the user end - the QR code does that for them.

We use the pin and images for students and authenticators for staff and Yubikeys for Admins - You can have different levels for each user. I agree that this can be shoulder surfed, but so can entering details - We give users a QR code (something they have) and then they MFA using one of the methods above (something they know) - Here is some more info from their website https://www.classlink.com/solutions/multi-factor-authentication - In practice this works very well and is certainly better than none.

I've not used it but have heard of others that do but may be worth asking what https://teamsos.co.uk/ charge?

We use a third party software to get the data from MIS and then create the SSO into any application we like from a launchpad. May be worth looking into this as a future option. Not sure how to solve your problem and hope ESS can solve the issue.

I regularly drive into London with my kids although they are both now over 18 so not as much worry!!! Worry still there but they are adults now! I would have dropped them off at a tube station (probably on Northern Line with a car park) and parked up then picked them up later from the same sattion. Alternatively as someone has said previously, YHA's are a good option (St Pancras is close I think) however for a private room, it will not be cheap.

Can you not filter the fields in Groupcall to ensure you only share the necessary fields for the purpose of the contract. If they cannot restrict this, then I would walk away as potential GDPR breach - What does your GDPR policy state?

Yes you are correct, everything is accessed through the Launchpad. We use CL in our schools and we access the office365 suite through the launchpad. It may be something worth looking at.

Start date = hand over and access date for us. No exceptions. If they are needing access and working prior to this then HR need to recognise this and change the start date.

I've seem some videos where whole schools using iPads use a sign in app from which all the users can sign in (even on shared devices) and then access the resources they want - even if they only ever sign in once - See this youtube video for info - - - Updated - - - - forgot the link doh!