Apple School Manager and ZuluDesk - Tips and Tricks

It's been a wild ride since Apple School Manager (ASM) rolled out on July 14.  Here are some tips and tricks that will help make your integration easier.

I chose ZuluDesk (ZMS for ZuluDesk Management System) as my MDM but all the MDM's have common data structures and integration as required by ASM.

ASM documentation at this point is vague on some points.


ASM

• Uploading Instructors to ASM
• Upload instructor to ZMS first with password
• Then upload instructor to ASM with this format:
• First Name, Last Name, Person Id (=SIS user ID), Person Number (=username), email
• ZMS will sync and add Managed Apple ID
• Changing name in ZMS changes name in AMS but changing in AMS doesn’t change name in ZMS

 

• Uploading Students to ASM
• Fields
• First Name, Last Name -  match
• Person ID = (used our SIS 8 digit user ID)
• Person Number = username (doej2025 e.g.)
• Password Policy = Digit4 (for Shared iPad’s)
• Email = email

• Uploading Classes to ASM
  • For ZMS the ASM sync is a one-way sync from ASM to ZuluDesk. Classes created in ZMS need to be exported and imported in ASM. Currently there is no automated way to sync from ZMS to ASM. Your MDM maybe different.
  • Fields
  • Course Name (1-HR-Smith e.g.)
  • Course Number (1,2,3 etc.)(hidden not used ZMS)
  • Class id (use WH = Course ID 71735 from our SIS e.g. Jones' HR) (in ZMS 1002470-39) (hidden in ASM)
  • Class Number (leave blank) (1A e.g. in ASM)(hidden not used ZMS)
  • Instructor Ids = Person Id = used the 8 digit SIS user ID, you can add multiple teacher ID's in this cell, just separate by commas. I setup homerooms with all special areas teachers and other grade level teachers as teachers for these classes so they could all leverage the iPad management features introduced with ASM without having to manage multiple classes for each homeroom. So the librarian is a teacher for all homerooms, so she can control the iPads and if a student leaves or a new student arrives during the year I only have to edit that homeroom.
  • Students Ids = Person Id = WH ID (put all in one cell separated by commas)
  • Deleting class in ASM does not delete the class in ZMS
  • If you delete a class in ZMS and not in ASM - class comes back (on way from ASM to ZMS)(This may vary with your MDM).
• 
  

  Assigning iPads
• This probably applies mostly to ZMS. After you have the students, teachers and classes setup you will want to automatically assign your iPads. I have a database of our iPads with serial numbers linked to an asset ID. ZMS uses "Placeholders" that when you use DEP to enroll your iPads you can automatically assign the iPads to a user and name it with your asset ID.
• Import csv file into ZMS with these additional fields:
• • Username
  • Email
  • FirstName
  • LastName
  • SerialNumber (of the iPad)
  • Placeholder (name of the iPad, iPad-2233 e.g.)

   

  • Rerun the sync from ZMS and that brings the class assignment back
  • This will create placeholders so that when you DEP the iPad it will assign it to the student and name it

  
  

Managed Apple ID's:

• Keep in mind these limitations on Managed Apple ID's (MAID's)
• MAID's do allow use of iCloud, ITunes U and ASM (all those management features like screen lock, app launching, etc.)
• Limits of MAID - prohibited from
• • App Store (allow browsing but not purchasing, paid or free)
  • iTunes Store (allow browsing but not purchasing, paid or free)
  • HomeKit connected devices
  • Touch ID
  • Apple Pay
  • Find My iPhone
  • Find My Mac
  • Find My Friends
  • iCloud Mail
  • iCloud photo sharing
  • iCloud Keychain
  • FaceTime (can be enabled for your institution)
  • iMessage (can be enabled for your institution)
   

I hope this post has been helpful.