Frequently Asked Questions

Don't forget to update your Postini account before the end of the calendar year while it's still free.  After December 31st, you will more than likely have to pay for your account.  Even if you don't route mail to your Postini account yet, enabling the account will lock in the free price.

Google Apps Lesson Plan resource - http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/lesson_plans.html

Lesson Plan Submission - https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/google.com/viewform?hl=en&zx=124702759...

Google Education Resource Center - http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/resource_center.html

Google Implementation Plan - http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=151500

Google Deployment Checklists - http://deployment.googleapps.com/Home/resources-deployment-planning/deployment-checklists

Probing questions and options to think about:

* Directory structure integration? Will you be leveraging LDAP/Active Directory to keep accounts updated?

          - eDirectory - SADA systems is a Google partner that can provide integration with eDirectory for single sign-on if using Novell.

          - Active Directory - UMRA by Advanced Toolware can be used to provision/manage accounts using Active Directory.

          - Single/Dual domains and name of domains should not interfere with LDAP integration.



* When deploying student accounts, how will you alert your community? ORVSD staff will have a sample consent letter available soon. Please check back.

          - End user agreement required

 * Purchasing Google email archiving through Postini

    * ESD provided archiving solution

    * District provided solution

          See articles below to use own archiving solution

    * Google Resource docs

          Outbound Mail Gateway - http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=178333

          Inbound Mail Gateway - http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=60730
 

  * There is no user identification for records/accounts created in Google Apps for Education. Username/email address is the sole uid for the entire domain.

            Some districts already have students access file shares using the State Secure ID number (SSID) as a login. But transferring this to the Google login is not feasible. Using the SSID could violate FERPA and will hamper communication. For email address book autocomplete, suggest using a first.last type login. Adding graduation year might help eliminate errant emails to previous students as email addresses are recycled to students with the same name in subsequent years and still allow autocomplete to work. For students in the same graduation year with the same name, a middle initial or incremental number could be used on a case by case basis.

          * What naming scheme will you employ? (just some possible solutions)

                First.last.gradyear@domain.com (joe.smith.2014@domain.com)

                gradyearFirst.last@domain.com (10joe.smith@domain.com)

                first.middleInitial.last@domain.com (joe.l.smith@domain.com)

                first.middle.last.gradyr

                first.[middle].last.gradyr@students.district.k12.or.us (joe.l.smith.2012)@students.district.k12.or.us)

                first.[middle].last[incremental#].gradyr@students.district.k12.or.us (joe.smith2.2012@students.district.k12.or.us)
 

 * Single domain - same security, access, sharing settings for teachers/staff as students

Some districts use this configuration as they feel providing two logins/passwords to multiple domains is cumbersome for staff. However, this eliminates the ability to make separate settings in each domain. Usually staff desire an open domain, so using this configuration would require an open domain that students were also using.

           * Dual domain - different security settings for teacher domain, student domain. Multiple accounts for teachers to be able to access/share work with students. Multiple administration points

Most districts seem to use this configuration so that different applications and closed/open domain settings can be maintained separately for staff and students. Of course, staff are required to have multiple logins to the staff and student domains. If staff already have a personal Google Apps account at home, most likely they will then have three Google logins/passwords to manage. Sharing documents between the two domains would be cumbersome/impossible unless both domains allowed sharing outside the domain and this may not be desired by the district for at least the student domain. When working in the student domain, staff would have an account @students.district.k12.or.us. This name is not quite accurate. This introduces an additional email address to manage/forward.

Some districts use a dual domain architecture to maintain different app settings, but open both domains. This allows documents to be shared among the two domains, and allows teachers to have one login since they don't need a separate login to the student domain to share docs. The district addresses COPPA/FERPA through the end-user agreement, et. al. However, it would appear students could share documents with "anyone" outside the domain. Google does not appear to have any way to allow sharing between two domains only.

          * Multiple domain - Multiple accounts for teachers to be able to access/share work with students. Multiple administration points

Introducing user policy management for Google Apps

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 9:00 AM

"FROM GOOGLE BLOG:  In the past six months, we’ve released a series of new features giving administrators more controls to manage Google Apps within their organizations. Recent additions include multi-domain support, new data migration tools, SSL enforcement capabilities, more mobile device security controls, and the ability to tailor Google Apps with more than a hundred applications from the new Google Apps Marketplace. Today, we’re excited to announce one of the most highly requested features from administrators: user policy management.  Now administrators can segment their users into organizational units and control which applications are enabled or disabled for each group. For example, a manufacturing firm might want to give their office workers access to Google Talk, but not their production line employees. Mayooran Rajan, CTO of Revevol Consulting, noted, "We work with businesses with 100 to 20,000 employees moving from on-premise solutions to Google Apps. The new user policy management feature helps us tailor Google Apps and provide businesses with granular control for each department within their company."



Link to Google Blog for full post

sub-domain of k12.or.us domain? (username/email address considerations)   i.e. students.district.k12.or.us

* provides clarity    

* is managed by existing DNS    

* is freenew domain all-together (LDAP integration, web presence consistency (i.e. .org domain instead to shorten (some districts prefer)

* requires separate registration, dns management, and yearly fee    

* may not look as "official" or "recognizable"    

* might be much easier to use    

* using .org should not impact LDAP integration