Apple School Manager Integration
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- Last UpdatedDec 10, 2024
- 8 minute read
When you enable Apple education support settings, you can then integrate Jamf Pro with Apple School Manager. Integrating with Apple School Manager allows you to do the following:
Specify a class naming format. This is applied to all classes imported from Apple School Manager.
Specify a class description format. This is applied to all classes imported from Apple School Manager. The description is displayed in Apple's Classroom app.
Sync Jamf Pro with Apple School Manager to automatically update user and class information in Jamf Pro at a scheduled time. You can also force Jamf Pro to sync immediately with Apple School Manager.
Choose user criteria for matching imported users from Apple School Manager with existing users in Jamf Pro. Imported user information is appended to the Roster category of user inventory information for the existing user in Jamf Pro.
Automatically create new users in Jamf Pro by importing users from Apple School Manager. For more information, see Users imported to Jamf Pro from Apple School Manager.
Automatically create classes in Jamf Pro by importing classes from Apple School Manager. For more information, see Classes Imported from Apple School Manager.
Jamf recommends that you only use one Apple School Manager account to integrate with Jamf Pro. Using more than one account makes it difficult to isolate the account causing issues when troubleshooting.
Integrating Jamf Pro with Apple School Manager creates one instance of Apple School Manager in Jamf Pro. To integrate with Apple School Manager, you need to associate an Automated Device Enrollment (formerly DEP) instance with the Apple School Manager instance. You can associate one Automated Device Enrollment instance with one Apple School Manager instance.
If you encounter the Error connecting to Apple services error, Jamf recommends renewing your Automated Device Enrollment token. For more information on renewing your Automated Device Enrollment token, see Replacing a Server Token File to Renew an Automated Device Enrollment Instance.
- Class Naming Format—
When a class is imported, the variables are applied to the display name of the class in the order you select. For example, if you select "Course Name" and "Class Source ID", the class is imported to Jamf Pro with a name like "Biology12345". The default values for the class naming format are "Course Name" and "Class Source ID".
- Class Description Format—
When a class is imported, the variables are applied to the description of the class in the order you select. For example, if you select "Location" and "Instructor", the class is imported to Jamf Pro with a description like "EauClaireSamanthaJohnson". This setting overwrites existing class descriptions the next time Jamf Pro syncs with Apple School Manager for classes that have already been imported.
The following table displays the available variables in Jamf Pro and the values for class information that the variables match in Apple School Manager. The same variables are available for the class naming format and the class description format:
Variable in Jamf Pro | Class Information in Apple School Manager | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Location Name | Role/Location | |
Class ID | Class ID | |
Class Source ID | Course ID | |
Course Name | Course Name | Course Name" must contain a value prior to importing the class to Jamf Pro. |
Class Name | Class Name | |
Course Number | Course Number | |
Class Room | Room | |
Class Site | N/A | Value is populated based on the site the class is imported to in Jamf Pro. |
Instructor Name | N/A | Value is populated based on "Last Name" for the teacher that is imported with the class. If there is no value for "Last Name", this value is populated with the value for "Full Name". If there are multiple teachers in a class, the "Instructor Name" value is populated with the teacher name that comes first alphabetically by last name. |
Instructor Grade | N/A | Value is populated based on "Grade" for the teacher that is imported with the class. If there are multiple teachers in a class, the "Instructor Grade" value is populated with the teacher name that comes first alphabetically by last name. |
Class Number | Class Number | |
Custom | N/A | In addition to variables, you can apply a custom field to the class naming format to separate variables or enter custom text. For example, if you select "Course Name", , and "Class Source ID", and enter a hyphen (-) in the Custom Text field, the class is imported to Jamf Pro with a name like "Biology-12345". |
If a value is not available in Apple School Manager for the variable selected in Jamf Pro, a blank value is displayed in Jamf Pro for that selected variable in the class name.
You can configure how frequently Jamf Pro syncs information from Apple School Manager. Configuring a sync time allows user and class information to be updated automatically if there is updated information available in Apple School Manager. You can choose to sync never, daily, once a week, every other week, or once a month. The default sync time is "Never". In addition, you can force Jamf Pro to sync immediately with Apple School Manager. For more information, see Forcing an Apple School Manager Sync.
Information is only synced from Apple School Manager to Jamf Pro, not from Jamf Pro to Apple School Manager.
When the configured sync time is reached or you have forced an Apple School Manager sync, inventory information in the Roster category is updated for the imported users and users associated with an imported class. Class information, such as the display name, is also updated. If you modify the class naming format after a class has been imported, the class name is updated and the class naming format is re-applied to the classes that have been imported.
If a student or teacher is added to a class in Apple School Manager after a class has been imported, the user is imported to Jamf Pro and matched with existing users during a sync based on the criteria for matching imported users from Apple School Manager. If there is no match, the imported user is added to Jamf Pro as a new user in the Users tab.
If you have not yet imported users or classes from Apple School Manager when the configured sync time is reached, information is synced at the time configured and stored in the Jamf Pro database for the class or user until they are imported.
Jamf Pro performs one sync at a time.
When you integrate Jamf Pro with Apple School Manager, you choose Jamf Pro user criteria to match with Apple School Manager user criteria. Users that are imported to Jamf Pro are matched to existing users in Jamf Pro based on the selected user criteria.
The following table displays the criteria you can use to match imported users from Apple School Manager to existing users in Jamf Pro:
Jamf Pro User Criteria | Apple School Manager User Criteria |
|---|---|
Email (Jamf Pro server) | |
Email (Jamf Pro server) | Managed Apple Account |
Username (Jamf Pro server) | Source System Identifier |
Source System Identifier Username | |
User Extension Attributes | |
Managed Apple Account (Jamf Pro server) | Managed Apple Account |
The default criteria matches "Email (Jamf Pro)" with "Managed Apple Account" from Apple School Manager and an operator of "equals".
To integrate with Apple School Manager, you need to integrate Jamf Pro with Automated Device Enrollment. For more information, see Automated Device Enrollment Integration.
- Choose criteria to use for matching imported users from Apple School Manager with existing users in Jamf Pro using the Matching Criteria for Importing Users options:
- Select Jamf Pro or Apple School Manager user criteria from the User Criteria pop-up menu on the right.
- Select Jamf Pro or Apple School Manager user criteria from the User Criteria pop-up menu on the right.
When you import users or classes, the variables selected for the Class Naming Format are applied to the class display name, and the user information from Apple School Manager is matched to existing user information in Jamf Pro based on the selected criteria.
Jamf Pro updates user and class information from Apple School Manager at the time configured.
You can force Jamf Pro to sync immediately with Apple School Manager. This allows you to update user and class information in Jamf Pro when needed. For more information about syncing Jamf Pro with Apple School Manager, see Apple School Manager Sync Time.
Forcing Jamf Pro to sync with Apple School Manager can add significant network traffic in Jamf Pro. Jamf recommends that you force sync at a time other than when you choose to flush logs or back up your database.
- In Jamf Pro, click Settings in the sidebar.
- In the Global section, click Apple education support .
- In the list of Apple School Manager instances, click the Force Sync button next to the instance that you want to manually sync Jamf Pro with.
Jamf Pro immediately syncs information from Apple School Manager.
If you force Jamf Pro to sync with more than one instance of Apple School Manager, Jamf Pro performs one sync at a time.
Deleting an Apple School Manager instance removes the information in the Roster category of user inventory information that is imported from Apple School Manager. This disables Shared iPad for users.
Deleting an Apple School Manager instance does not remove the users or classes that have been imported from Apple School Manager.