RM Early User Provisioning Kathryn McChrystal, Support Consultant, RM Education

Agenda Introductions Overview of the User Provisioning Process SIMS Procedures Learning Platform Procedures Support and Resources

User Provisioning is a key process in the school year which can have a serious impact on the accessing of IT systems in school in September if not carried out correctly.

Why are we meeting today? Due to the importance of getting User Provisioning right, RM is making this matter a priority and taking time to ensure everyone concerned is up to speed. Need to get the right messages to the right people. Identified you as key people who can help to make the process successful.

Last Year – September 2013 In most cases the process was a success and an improvement on previous years. Over 95% of users in Salford were provisioned for September. Would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your hard work last year.

What is User Provisioning? RM uses data from your SIMS.net database to create user accounts and passwords for many ICT services such as , learning platform, CC4, RM Unify and cashless catering. It is an automated process that securely creates, updates and deletes user accounts. Data is entered once, in SIMS and is then used many times to populate various systems.

Why do it early? In order that accounts and passwords are ready for September, it is necessary to start the process now. Many schools across the country will be creating new user accounts. If everyone sends their data to create these accounts at once, this may place too much strain on the system resulting in backlogs and delays. Starting early means the data will arrive over an extended period and if there should be a backlog it can be cleared before term begins.

User Provisioning Process

Clean Data Complete Data Early Data Proactive Learning Platform account approval Proactive target system account checking Proactive target system maintenance Working WAN links (to ensure network can send your data to the data centre) Working data centre What makes successful User Provisioning? School RM

What happens if I don’t follow these procedures? Usernames and passwords will not be available for various systems in school. Students and Staff won’t be able to access these systems which could stop key processes taking place, important messages not being received and disruption to lessons.

SIMS Procedures

SIMS Extraction Process

Procedures to be completed in SIMS.net SIMS Year End procedures form an integral part of successful user provisioning. It is important to do these at the right time and in the correct order to ensure User Provisioning is successful. Complete data is essential – records will not be extracted and sent to the Learning Platform if certain information is missing.

Year End Procedures to be carried out in SIMS.net

Existing Students For student accounts to be created, the following data must be in place: Legal Forename Legal Surname Preferred Surname Date of Birth Gender

Existing Students For student accounts to be created, the following data must be in place: Year Group Reg Group UPN Enrolment Status of single or dual registration.

Existing Students Attendance marks are up to date and complete Date of Leaving is completed for leavers

Leaving Dates Year 11: Last Friday in June (27 th June 2014). Once this date is reached, these students will have their accounts deleted from the Learning Platform and other target systems. Year 6: 31 st July 2014 or before. This is to ensure that the student’s new school has time to take ownership of that student in the Learning Platform before September. This leaving date should be entered by 16 th June 2014.

Staff records For staff accounts to be created, the following data must be in place on the Personal Details tab, in Basic Details: Title Forename Surname

Staff records For staff accounts to be created, the following data must be in place on the Employment Details tab: Employment Start Date (will pick up future start dates) Staff Code Date of Leaving – blank or in the future

Pre-Admission/Applicant records For applicant accounts to be created, the following data must be in place: Basic Details: Forename Surname Date of Birth Gender UPN

Pre-Admission/Applicant records For applicant accounts to be created, the following data must be in place: Registration Details: Reg GroupApplication Status of AcceptedYear Group

Rejects log Where data is missing from SIMS and cannot be extracted, details will appear in a LP Rejects Log. CSE on site have been asked to provide you with these on a regular basis. You can then use this report to identify who has missing data and update records accordingly. Once corrected, next time Groupcall Xporter extracts data, the record should not be rejected and sent to the Learning Platform.

Admission Dates New academic year begins Year 7 Admission Date Inset Day Which day should the data manager run the Admit routine? What will happen if they do it on a different day? Whole school assesmbly Visit to the TEN Centre

Admission Dates Applicants must only be admitted on the date of admission recorded in SIMS. Applicants must not be admitted before or after, only on their admission date, otherwise their accounts will be soft deleted.

Learning Platform

Learning Platform Administration When data is extracted from SIMS it is transferred to the RM Data Centre where the records are processed. The data is checked to see if accounts already exist for those students and staff on the Learning Platform. It will then attempt to create accounts where necessary. Although most of this process is automated, some intervention from the Learning Platform Administrator will be required. Once LP Passwords have been downloaded, it will then send messages to other target systems such as CC4, Easymail and RM Unify to create accounts there.

Learning Platform Process It may take up to 24 hours for data to be processed. Administrators should be aware that new records will not appear immediately in the LP.

If only some of the information matches up, these records will be flagged and the Learning Platform administrator will need to match and approve these records manually. Login to the Learning Platform and go to Home | Admin Tasks | User Accounts and select Approve Accounts. Matching and Approval

LP Administrator can see how many accounts are awaiting approval. Click here to Approve accounts From here it is possible to display a list of users and their suggested matches, along with the option to create a new account. Select the required match or click create a new account. Click Approve Selected Users.

Learning Platform administrators should now receive notification that accounts need to be matched/approved. It is recommended that they regularly login to the Learning Platform during this period to check whether any accounts need processing. Matching and Approval

Once accounts have been created, usernames and passwords are generated. These can be downloaded from the Learning Platform in an Excel file, ready to distribute to students and staff. As this information is sensitive it needs to be handled in accordance with your local information security policy. To ensure that users provision into target systems such as CC4, Easymail and RM Unify, passwords must be downloaded. Usernames and Passwords

Matching and Approval Click here to download passwords

When the usernames and passwords are downloaded, you may find that some are flagged as “this user is owned by establishment xxxx” This means that the user has a matched account at another school and the other school is the owning school (responsible for setting the password). Transferring Accounts between schools

If you need to distribute the password to this user you can transfer ownership of them to your school. Within the Learning Platform select Admin Tasks | Transfer Account Ownership. Transferring Accounts between schools

An existing user account may get stuck in the net if some of their details have changed in SIMS e.g. staff member gets married and changes their name. The CSE on site will identify any users stuck in the net and provide you with details. You will need to confirm that the user in the net and the current live user in LP are the same person, even though their details differ e.g. Mrs. Jones was Miss Smith. You should send confirmation to the CSE, preferably in writing via . They can then release the account. Users stuck in the Net

Users Stuck in the net

Target Systems Once accounts are created in the Learning Platform and passwords have been downloaded, messages are sent, to target systems such as CC4, EasyMail and RM Unify to create accounts in these systems.

Logins and Passwords for these target systems will be the same as those generated in the Learning Platform. Therefore one login will allow staff and students to access multiple systems. Provisioning target systems such as RM Unify RM will carry out necessary checks to ensure that accounts and passwords are transferring correctly to these target systems.

Support Resources and Timescales

Data Managers and Learning Platform Administrators can access the following guidance documents from the SIMS area of the Learning Platform: Data Managers Guide SIMS.net Year End Procedures Support and Resources

RM Staff have received training and been briefed on what both school and they must do to ensure the process works correctly. RM are running proactive Daily Checks to ensure the systems are working correctly and that users are being provisioned and moving through the stages of the provisioning process in a timely manner. Support and Resources

Check that GroupCall Xporter is extracting data from SIMS and inform you of any data that fails. Monitor progress of accounts through the Learning Platform to check that data is being matched and approved and that no one is stuck in the “Net”. Carry out cross-checks to ensure that accounts created in the Learning Platform match those created in the target systems such as EasyMail and CC4. Ensure that password synchronisation is working between the Learning Platform and target systems, such that changing the password in one changes the password in the other systems. RM Daily Checks

Completion Goal It is recommended that you aim to have: Completed your data in SIMS Approved accounts in the Learning Platform Downloaded Logins and Passwords by the end of the Summer Term In this way, if there are any issues and people need to be contacted, they are still available, before the summer holidays begin.

Timeline From WhitsunEnter data into SIMS from ATF/CTF file JuneValidate data for early provisioning June Data automatically extracted from MIS and sent to Data Extractor June/July Learning Platform user matching and account creation approval June/JulyDownload usernames and passwords July/AugustPrint ID cards SeptemberIssue logon details

Summary Be Proactive Start Early Check SIMS data is complete Regularly check the Learning Platform for accounts to be approved Aim to have SIMS data complete and accounts created by the end of the Summer term. Let RM know if you are having any problems sooner rather than later

Thank you for listening.

Questions?