Preparing for (re)Enrollment

Preparation is the difference between a smooth device refresh and a long week of avoidable surprises. Before the project starts, confirm what needs to be collected, what needs to be deployed, and how each device should be assigned when it comes back online.

Use the questions below as a planning checklist, and look for places where FileWave can remove manual work from the process.

Device reclamation

Step one of a refresh is often retrieving devices that are already in the field. If that applies to your project, decide whether you need to know who returned each device, where it came from, or which devices must be handled differently.

Example: Brian is retrieving and reassigning all iPads in his district. Two-thirds of the devices will be wiped, updated, and re-enrolled for new users. The remaining third are at the end of a two-year lease and must be returned to the leasing company.

Brian plans an on-site student return at three locations, with a technician receiving devices at each site. His team could record each serial number or asset tag and compare it against the lease spreadsheet, but that would be slow and easy to get wrong.

Because the return serial numbers are known, Brian can create a FileWave custom field called Return? before collection starts and populate it from the spreadsheet. He can then assign custom wallpapers ahead of return, such as a yellow lock screen background, so technicians can see immediately which pile each device belongs in.

Another example: Emily is replacing all Windows devices in the Finance department. Because Department is already tracked as a custom field in FileWave, she uses that list as her starting point and adds a true/false custom field to track device return. As each device is returned, technicians can look it up quickly in FileWave Anywhere by asset tag and update the field from False to True.

Every retrieval project is different, but the same principle applies: use the data FileWave already has, or add a simple custom field before the project starts, so the collection process is faster and easier to report on.

Content

If devices are entering or re-entering the environment, they will need software, configurations, restrictions, and utilities. In FileWave terms, that means filesets and assignments. Before enrollment day, confirm the content is ready.

• Do you have the content built that you need to deploy?
  • For Apple Apps and Books/VPP apps, are the licenses already available? Waiting until enrollment day to procure licenses is asking for pain.
  • For more complex filesets, are they built and tested?
  • For software, build filesets ahead of time and test that installation, activation, and any post-install steps work as expected.
  • For restrictions or profiles, confirm how they behave in production before they are assigned broadly.
• Do you have the right structure for assigning that content?
  • If you are assigning a restriction profile to student devices, can you reliably distinguish student devices from staff devices?
  • Groups, smart groups, and LDAP groups are all good options when the data supports them.
  • If content is tied to a physical location, such as a school or office, decide how that location will be represented in FileWave. Custom fields can work well when you do not have a reliable directory source.

Pre-assigning content

You can pre-assign content for FileWave managed devices before those devices are enrolled. Devices can match on identifiers such as serial number, MAC address, or device name. That means you can prepare groups, custom fields, and assignments with a CSV import before the first device is unpacked.

Practically, this can remove a lot of hands-on staging. If the data is ready and the assignments are in place, users can unbox devices and FileWave can apply the planned content as the devices enroll.

Documentation and process

Write down the plan and share it with the people helping you. Anything that is not documented becomes a question during the rollout.

• How will devices physically get to users?
  • Individual drop shipment?
  • Pickup or handoff by classroom, department, or site?
  • Large groups, such as 200 students in a gym at one time?
• Can the local infrastructure support the plan? For example, can Wi-Fi handle 100 devices enrolling in the same room?
• How will you record which user received which asset?
• Does the Acceptable Use Policy need to be acknowledged, signed, or recorded?

This is not complicated work, but it punishes vague planning. The more you can decide before the refresh starts, the less you will have to improvise when the room is full of devices.