Patman

Hi Genesis: Sorry for the late reply - just seeing this. We have not had a good experience with Cloudpath. Registering Android devices is quite problematic and, in some cases depending on the version, impossible. It works nicely with iPhones. It does not work for us with Macbook Pros. Cloudpath engineers say that Macbook Pro works fine for them (that doesn't help us). They sent us a 20 page document for Android users to register - hardly practical! They told us a new version would be out this month (Jan 2017) that would fix the issues. Now they say this is delayed until March. It looked like a great solution and we love Ruckus, but the implementation has not been successful. I would not recommend it. We are looking for an alternative. Best, Patman

XIJ, do you know what the popular alternatives are? I am wondering about getting rid of the notebook software altogether and just using touch screen displays. Staff would not have to learn to use notebook software and could use the software they are used to using such as powerpoint, prezi, or any other software they are proficient with. Do you know what folks are doing?

Does anyone know if there is a market for second hand SMART products? They have been absolutely terrible in supporting us. Always a flurry of emails and responses but nothing gets done. We are really fed up to the eye teeth with them. We cannot get timely responses for licensing issues, we cannot get timely responses and fixes for hardware issues, and we cannot get any onsite training for our staff. We are looking to unload our 90 boards. Does anyone know of a market for them?

Hi All: I wonder if anyone has implemented this. We have SharePoint and we have developed some nice tools in it. We have developed other tools outside of SharePoint, but they require the user to authenticate against AD. I want the user to be able to click a link in SharePoint and be sent to the external applications, but not have to explicitly log in. I would like the external application to be able to extract the username. That external application can then determine if the user is authorised to use the application. We have on premises SharePoint that we want to move to the cloud. I see lots of documentation regarding using REST to put apps in O365 or using federated services for accessing other applications or fairly complicated OAuth discussions, but I think the above is simpler. But it might not be possible. Am I over-simplifying? Over-thinking? Has anyone done this? Thanks in advance. Patman

Hi Stuclark: Sorry for the late question on this thread. If you are routing your students through the firewall, does this mean they cannot access the AppleTV? Does this mean they cannot share what is on their iPad on the AppleTV with the class? We are getting requests for AppleTV and we are trying to make sure we have the best configuration. Thanks, Patman

Hi Sarchs: We can get quite stressed when we know audits are approaching. Remember that audits are there to help the organization - and you. I have just had my fourth audit in 18months (yes, you read that correctly!). Two were during financial audits, one was a specific internal IT audit, and one was an external IT audit. I have learned from all of them and we have improved as a result of each one. Try to take a positive attitude that you are going to learn from them. For me, it turned all of the processes into enjoyable, positive experiences. Good luck! patman

Hi Liam: How do you regularly remind them? What are the consequences for violations? Do the SLT support you in deed as well as verbally? patman

One of the challenges might be that O365 is not an "all in one" for a teacher's tasks. For example, a teacher can share files, etc, but s/he can do that in a VLE or a 3rd party application like Edmodo that has more features, can't they? Another example, parents cannot see assignments, can they? Our staff are a little bit frustrated with having to "go to different places to do different things". I was hoping that by moving to Sharepoint (on premises, before O365) we might be able to integrate 3rd party applications and staff would only have to sign on once to access all the tools they need. But SSO does not mean "one time sign on", and it does not allow us to integrate data from multiple sites and applications. Our vision that we have sold to the staff is "one stop shopping for everything, anywhere, anytime, from any device". I think that is what our staff want, but o365 only delivers a subset of tools to them. It appears to be a nice subset, but it is still a subset.

Hi Liam: We are just getting untracked. Can you tell me a bit about the teacher dashboard? Do the teachers like it? Can parents see homework posted and due dates? Thanks, Patman

Sorry for my ignorance Bossman, what is JRE?

If you were being audited right now, how many of the following documents would you have? Which would you not have? edit: Sorry, I should have said that item 1 is the school strategic plan 1 DC Strategy, Plans, Objectives 2 IT Strategy, current and planned IT initiatives 3 IT Organisation Chart 4 Job Descriptions of IT team 5 Details of Hardware, Network Devices, Applications, Databases, Development, Platforms, Operating Systems, Licenses, AMCs, Support Agreements and other Softwares 6 IT Processes 7 IT Policies, Acceptable Usage Policy 8 IT Risk Register and BCP & DR documents 9 Logging and Monitoring Reports, VAPT Reports 10 Data Ownership Matrix 11 Data Classification 12 Data Management policies and practices 13 Software Development Standards 14 Testing Standards 15 UAT Policy 16 Service Performance Metrics 17 Customer Satisfaction Survey Results

Revilogy, the approach you take will depend on what you want down the road. Will you want to do a lot more of this kind of thing, or do you just want to do this and be done with it? Here are a few more thoughts. 1. Programming, Database Design, and SQL, are 3 distinct, but interrelated skills. 2. If you want to get a database up and running relatively quickly with a nice interface, but with limited users, you can use Access. There are lots of online resources available. Google "learning access database". It takes care of both frontend (your "code"), and backend (your database). You can typically connect Access to an existing database. 3. If you want to learn to program and get the fundamentals that you can apply to other languages, you can try something like EdX's https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-harvardx-cs50x#.VObCcGSUcrM and if you want to dip you toe into SQL, you can try something like SQL Introduction Good luck. patman

Hi Revilogy, Do you know C# well? What database are you planning to use? Are you designing the database, or are you updating and querying it? If you are designing and creating it, what resources as far as machines, etc, do you have? There are some basics of designing databases that, if understood well, make your use of SQL much more effective. You say you are still a student. At what level are you at the moment? -patman

Can you set up Office 365 or Google Apps? I think it is not only an issue of being able to share or transport data, but also an issue of custody of data. The staff might use these personal resources for storing school data. If they leave, you do not have access to the data. I think the school should have custody of data where it can. My 2p worth... Patman

We just got the software paperwork before the weekend:rolleyes: I'll find out this week and post.

Hi: This is a simple question. Does anyone here work at a school that runs F1 in Schools and also use Autodesk that is supplied by being a member? If so, when do you get your software and license? We have just got ours. We build our images well ahead of time (old school) - before the summer holidays, and now we are being asked to install this software. The F1 in schools coordinator claims that this is when it became available. Is anyone here implementing Autodesk for F1 in Schools? Anyone getting their software and licenses earlier (Springtime at least?). With thanks. Patman

Yes, that is what we do, different admin level account to user account, but the admin level account is user-specific for audit. We are also fortunate with our staff - excellent skill level and experience background. If you are in Dubai, please stop in (Dubai College)

Vikpaw - greetings from the UAE! Are we addressing 3 issues here? 1. Access control - who has access to what in MIS and accounts 2. Continuing of service if disaster befalls a crucial IT Member 3. Ability to audit behaviours for everyone, including the IT Manager and anyone else with access One approach has been to have an uber user/password that is locked away in a safe and available only under strict conditions and audit. This takes care of items 2 and 3, but can make item 1 a little cumbersome if permissions are restricted and sysAdmin has limited access to slices of the system Another approach is for several (say 2 or 3) higher-level sysAdmins to have full rights almost everywhere but can only log in with their own credentials, not a general admin user/password and have audit logging on. It solves the above issues with 1. MIS access control because it is logged and monitored by more than one person 2. Continuation of service if tragedy befalls one of the three 3. If one of the three is suspected of wrong-doing, the others can be approached for auditing purposes Am I off-base here? pjf

Thanks for your replies so far. How do your staff feel about the password changes? Must the new password be sufficiently dissimilar to the old? Do staff write them down? Forget them? Elsiegee40, what is the procedural reasoning behind the password in a safe? How will it be accessed? By whom? Under what conditions? Greg- these are internal developers Once again, thanks for the replies, they are very helpful.

Hi All: I am doing a review of our policies for passwords and access to accounting software. I wonder if some of you might share your school's policies. 1. Do you force a password change every (say) 6 months? 2. Does someone other than the Head of IT have the uber password? The Head/Director/Bursar? 3. For coders/developers, what sort of access and password policies exist? For example, do those writing programs to query accounts info have full access? 4. Do you have any policy documents you might consider sharing? Thanks so much, Patman

I have dual citizenship. I have never lived in the UK, but enter the UK on my British passport. I have never had any trouble.

Thanks SYNACK, We just took on an additional 6 Ricoh machines so yes, we do need mfp integration. Thanks again, pjf

Thanks Glennda: I've actually been in touch with Papercut. They have sent me a number of contacts - none of which is current or which respond. We have had a couple of vendors in, but there is a bit of a cultural difference of what constitutes a deadline. Our latest deadline was to have a solution in place at the end of June (ready for the following academic year). New staff come in tomorrow and we still do not have a complete solution. Hopefully we can find a UK-based company that can help. Thanks again, Patrick

Anybody have recommendations for a company to do a Papercut installation?