Establish project milestones

The following milestones help you follow a structured path from planning through implementation and full utilization. Assign a person to be directly responsible for the development of each element, and assign others who might help them. Determine when you want each step to be completed. Some of these steps can be done concurrently.

• Complete the Apple School Manager enrollment: For more information, see Sign up for Apple School Manager in the Apple School Manager User Guide and see the video series Enrolling Your School.

• Define the scope of your project: This helps you implement best practice deployment strategies that scale according to your needs. For more information, see Consider best practices for different deployment scenarios.

• Identify clear goals and success metrics: Establish ongoing opportunities to measure a range of practices help you track your progress and support continuous innovation.

• Identify resources and processes that support a successful deployment: Make sure you have the external support needed for a smooth rollout.

  • Assemble a diverse team of stakeholders, such as IT, leadership, and faculty. This ensures that the initiative isn’t only an IT or academic initiative but also a districtwide undertaking based on a common vision. For more information, see Enable IT with best practices.

  • Engage your immediate and extended community to ensure buy-in.

  • Engage Apple Professional Services to help with the planning process. For more information, see Use Apple Professional Services.

• Evaluate and optimize infrastructure to align with project scope: Make sure your infrastructure is upgraded and prepared for all the devices.

  • A robust wireless network infrastructure is crucial to the success of a mobile device deployment. A wireless network must be designed for both coverage and capacity, with particular care taken in regard to access point placement, power levels, and channel selection. For more information, see Plan your network infrastructure.

  • To provide equal access for remote learners without reliable home internet access, use cellular technology to help students continue to learn from anywhere. For more information, see Deploy iPad with cellular connections and see the video Planning for Cellular Connectivity.

  • Take inventory of existing devices, and plan the process for deploying new devices, from shipping and receiving to device distribution. This includes asset management and inventory as well as secure, climate-controlled storage.

  • Evaluate and select an MDM solution. For more information, see Choose a mobile device management solution and see the video Choosing an MDM Solution.

  • Plan for student data privacy requirements in your country or region, and define security requirements that align with your organization’s policies. For more information, see Comply with privacy laws.

• Define a Managed Apple ID strategy: By setting up Managed Apple IDs for students and teachers, you provide them with access to key Apple services and content that enable a personalized learning experience, including iCloud storage, iWork collaboration, and the Schoolwork app for iPad. With these accounts, teachers can organize and streamline workflows, and ensure that students have access to their work wherever they are, while keeping personal data private and secure. It’s also possible to configure and deploy devices without Managed Apple ID accounts. For more information, see Use Managed Apple IDs and Managed Apple ID features for students and teachers in the Apple School Manager User Guide and see the video Planning for your School.

• Integrate your existing systems: Make sure your existing systems are updated and connected.

  • Link Apple School Manager to your MDM solutions. For more information, see Link to a third-party MDM server in the Apple School Manager User Guide and see the video Connecting to your MDM.

  • Set up a connection to your Student Information System (SIS). For more information, see Integrate your SIS in the Apple School Manager User Guide and see the video SIS Integration.

  • Configure your Identity Provider (IdP) for federated authentication. For more information, see Intro to federated authentication in the Apple School Manager User Guide and see the video About Federated Authentication.

• Run a test deployment: Assign a set of initial devices to implement and test configurations. This ensures that you can test, iterate, and finalize settings and policies before fully launching your program.

  • Align device management settings with your policies.

  • Set up content caching, Classroom, and device management configurations.

  • Configure and deploy devices for faculty cohort pilot.

• Enable IT: The IT department is an integral part of your deployment and needs access to best practices and resources. For more information, see Enable IT with best practices.

  • Leverage Apple Professional Services and training offered by your MDM vendor.

  • Plan for ongoing support and service, including help desk, AppleCare integration, service procedures, and Global Service Exchange (GSX).

  • Plan for ongoing training, documentation, monitoring, and schedules for updates.

• Enable faculty: Make sure your faculty has the tools and resources necessary to create meaningful and engaging learning experiences for your students. For more information, see Enable faculty to integrate Apple devices into their teaching.

  • Provide Professional Development through Apple Teacher and Apple Professional Learning. For more information, see Teacher resources on the Apple Teacher website.

  • Align curriculum, Apple programs, apps, and books with the objectives you defined for your learning environment. For more information, see Align content with learning objectives.

  • Select a core set of apps, books, and curriculum and plan for content distribution with Apple School Manager and your MDM solution. For more information, see Intro to preparing your environment and the video Planning your Content Needs.

• Launch: Distribute and deploy Apple devices. For more information, see Device enrollment configuration options.

• Measure progress: Have a standardized and single source to track your identified metrics and show continuous progress towards innovation.