Update on Logistics

(snipped image 'borrowed' from Apple website)

I should preface this by saying that some of these posts are going to include a lot of 'tech speak' and details that may not be interesting for some readers. I am documenting these details for the sake of those who may be interested in duplicating this program and who need to know the technology management side of such a project.   

Although, we are a week into the training, we are still getting our feet under us in regards to the infrastructure of the technology project. I have chosen to take an approach of the 'layered approach' of iPad management. In other words, all of the iPads being used in their project are BOTH supervised and allowed to be customized.  Using the Apple Configurator system  (Deploying Apple Configurator), as the manager, I am able to create restrictions, lock settings, default wifi settings, etc, but as the individual users, they are still able to purchase their own apps with their Apple IDs and customize their own devices.

In order to make this happen, many things need to occur. I have the group management side covered, but it's easier said than done getting each individual set-up on his or her own device. Here are some key steps:

1. Set up an email account with an email address that is easy to remember, and set up the password for that email account. (I recommended all participants set up a Gmail account for various reasons.)
2. Set up an Apple account by using that same email address as the Apple ID, and set up the password for that Apple account.  (For the sake of easy remembering, I recommended that the passwords be the same, but in hindsight I realized that some email account passwords were set up as all lowercase (i.e. tomato123) and Apple requires at least one uppercase letter in their passwords so we had to tweak it a little (i.e. Tomato123)  See Create and Manage Apple ID 
3. Set up the individual's Apple ID on the iPad so that ITunes and App Store is connected to the Apple ID.( Settings->ITunes & App Stores) This set-up can occur without the use of a credit card, and free apps can therefore be 'purchased' without a credit card number included.
4. Set up iCloud on each device with the individual's Apple ID so that the individual's data (mail, contacts, calendar, photos, notes, etc) is backed up on their own iCloud account. (Settings --> iCloud). This ensures that they have access to their data even if they leave The Mission Project and are no longer using that specific iPad. 

Apps can be purchased and pushed to each individual device using the VPP (Volume Purchasing Program) (VPP for Business) but we're still finalizing our set-up of this system, so at this time, the only option for loading apps on each device is manually one device at a time, going through the App Store using the individual's Apple ID.  This is one of the reasons we are focusing only on FREE apps and BUILT-IN apps right now. This is time intensive since this is not an independent skill for our participants at this time. I will be thrilled when our VPP is up and running.

Based on our learning experience, setting up the Volume Purchasing Program is not as easy as it sounds. It's probably most challenging for small not-for-profit organizations like ourselves. The Apple VPP enrollment process requires a business credit card and business information that sometimes is not readily available.  The take home note to this is... if you are managing a project like this, give yourself plenty of time prior to 'launch' to take care of all of the administrative set-up.