Choosing a Trusted Partner for Apple School Manager
Apple School Manager handles device enrollment, app and book distribution, and Managed Apple Accounts for students and staff. Districts running iPad devices and Mac computers at any scale need these capabilities to run smoothly. Depending on the needs of the district, it can help to have a trusted partner set up and maintain their device fleets and the software behind it.
What Makes Education Different
Apple School Manager has similar capabilities to Apple Business, formerly known as Apple Business Manager. However, it has school-specific capabilities that make a real difference when it comes to functionality for districts.
- Class rosters and Managed Apple Accounts can sync straight from your student information system, so accounts are created and updated automatically as enrollment changes. For a district with thousands of students and constant movement between schools, this automation helps do the heavy lifting.
- Shared iPad support lets multiple students use the same device while keeping their own data, settings, and work separate. This makes device carts a practical model to use for districts.
- Classroom and Schoolwork are apps that integrate through Apple School Manager directly. These Apple apps are free to use and give teachers ways to manage classes, monitor student activity, guide learning, and share assignments and other documents with students. All this can be done without requiring teachers to work with IT or file tickets.
The setup of Apple School Manager looks quite different from a corporate deployment. The scale may be similar, but the buying cycle and needs are completely different. The support model has to account for the fact that a district IT team is usually much smaller than an enterprise team managing the same number of devices.
What to Look For in a Partner
When you are assessing partners to help you manage your device fleet, there are a few things to look for to make sure the partner is the right one for you.
A trusted partner for your needs should understand education purchasing. District budgets, purchase orders, E-Rate timing, bond funds, and grant cycles all shape when and how devices are purchased. A partner who only knows commercial procurement may miss deadlines that matter to your district.
Any partner you are vetting should be an Apple Authorized Reseller. Devices purchased through an authorized channel can be added to Apple School Manager automatically, which is what makes Automated Device Enrollment work. This creates the capability for zero-touch deployment, and if devices are bought outside of the correct channel, they have to be added manually. For districts doing large summer refreshes, manual work at that scale isn’t realistic.
Partners should understand the Student Information System (SIS) integration. Roster sync tends to be the piece most likely to cause problems. It depends on what system you are using, the hygiene of your data, and making sure it is set up correctly to sync with Apple School Manager. A partner who has done integrations like this before will usually spot problems months earlier, saving time and headaches after school has started.
Finally, partners need to be there during the hard weeks. Every district has two or three weeks a year where everything is happening at once, so it’s worth asking a prospective partner directly what their support looks like during your back-to-school season.
Getting the Foundation Right
Ensuring all of your systems work together as one system is something that pays off year round. MBS works with districts to align their procurement, SIS, Apple School Manager, and device management system to connect seamlessly. We also offer districts ongoing support. If your district is standing up Apple School Manager, migrating from another platform, or trying to make sense of a setup that has drifted over the years, reach out and we can help you work through it.
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Mac Business Solutions is a certified Apple and Jamf partner specializing in enterprise Apple device management, lifecycle services, and IT infrastructure for commercial and federal clients.
Apple, the Apple logo, Apple School Manager, Apple Business, Classroom, Schoolwork, iPad, and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions.
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