Studentnet News

13 February 2013


Automated Class Groups Now Available!

Cloud communication systems are now essential, but maintenance by hand of student lists is a burden. Our new Automated Class Groups (ACG) system auto-extracts class data from school databases. ACG is secure, private and auditable, with updating, reporting, backup, and reversion features. Studentnet is proud to announce that ACG is now ready for implementation at your school.

Supported Sources for Class Lists

ACG is designed to be simple to set-up and completely automated to run. Our aim is for complete hands-free operation. We believe we have achieved that aim. We also wanted ACG to be as flexible as possible. In particular we sought to support as many sources of class list data as we can. Our initial support for class list data includes the following sources:

  • LDAP (including Active Directory) - Studentnet retrieves the class list information directly out of the School's existing LDAP directory. This option fully supports Microsoft's Active Directory.
  • School Management System - Studentnet retrieves the class list information directly out of the school's management system. The following protocols are supported:
    o XMLRPC/LISS - Edumate, and iGloo. Support is provided for both school hosted and centrally hosted systems.
    o API - Synergetic
    o SIF-AU - coming soon
  • CSV Pull - Studentnet contacts a school download location and pulls down a pre-defined CSV file containing class list information. The individual class lists can be specified as a complete replacement for the previous list or as a delta variation of additions to that class list. That individual class list behaviour is configurable in your Nextmail administration console. The following protocols are supported:
    o SCP (encrypted)
    o FTPS (encrypted)
    o FTP (unencrypted) non-preferred option.
  • CSV push - Similar to CSV pull but instead, the class list file is sent by the school to Studentnet. CSV push is only available in special circumstances.
  • CSV manual - ad hoc updates initiated manually by the school's administrator through the Nextmail administration interface.

Operations

Once installed and configured, ACG is designed to operate automatically every night without further intervention. The following operational considerations apply:
  • ACG runs as a service on Studentnet's enterprise grade server infrastructure.
  • We leave as small a footprint as we can on the school's network and servers.
  • We only ever access school data in read-only mode.
  • All data is communicated across an SSL encrypted connection (except for the non-preferred CSV Pull FTP mode)
  • An option will exist for administrators to receive an email each day summarising changes carried out in the previous night's update.

Pricing

Studentnet has endeavoured to keep the pricing for ACG as low as possible. The following price model applies:
  • Standard Installation: $250 exGST (can be combined with ADI installation for the one installation charge)
  • Operations: $1.50/account/year exGST

Availability

We're ready now! Contact our support team (support@studentnet.net) to schedule installation at your school. Studentnet is very excited by the new possibilities that our ACG technology makes available. Contact us now to discuss your school's particular requirements.

Best Regards
The Studentnet Team

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Suite 1, 89 Jones St, Ultimo NSW 2007, Australia
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