Configuring devices in bulk for Apple School Manager

After you have added your devices to Apple School Manager, you must add them to Ivanti EPMM. Teacher and student iPad devices must use Device Enrollment. In addition, the teacher and student 1:1 iPad devices must have the “Managed Apple ID” custom attribute pre-defined and Shared iPad devices must have the “DeviceCartName” custom attribute predefined. Assigning the devices to the correct Apple Device Enrollment Profile and setting the appropriate custom attributes can be done easily in bulk.

Before you begin 

Complete the procedure in Editing Ivanti EPMM roles for Apple Education management.

Bulk-assign devices to a Teacher or Student 1:1 device enrollment profile for use with Apple Education

Procedure 

  1. From your Apple School Manager account, go to the MDM server configured for Apple Education in Ivanti EPMM and download the list of serial numbers. Only devices assigned to this MDM server can be used with the bulk-assign feature.
  2. Create a CSV file to pre-assign the Managed Apple ID to the appropriate serial numbers:
    1. Using the CSV file in step 2, remove serial numbers that are not teacher or student 1:1 devices.
    2. Remove the column “DEVICE_TYPE”.
    3. Add a column for the column name of your Managed Apple ID custom attribute. This could be something like “ManagedAppleID” and is based on what you chose when Enabling Apple Education in Ivanti EPMM. You can view this attribute name at the top of your Apple Education page under the label “Managed Apple ID Attribute Name.”
    4. (Optional) Add any other custom attribute you want to the CSV file by creating a new column for the attribute and entering a value for that attribute for each device. Any custom attribute you create here must match the custom attribute you have already created in Ivanti EPMM.
    5. For each row, add the appropriate Managed Apple ID for the teacher or student in the column created in step c above. This will be something like "[email protected]," and should match an individual in your Apple Education > Individuals tab.
    6. Save the CSV file and close it.
  3. Navigate to Devices & Users > Device Enrollment and, in the row of your Device Enrollment account, select the number link in the Enrollment Profiles column. The list of enrollment profiles for your Apple School Manager account displays.
  4. Select an existing profile that is a “multi-user” profile and then select Actions >Assign Devices to Profile.
  5. In the Assign Devices to Profile dialog box, click Upload and choose the CSV file you created above and then click Assign. The devices will be assigned to this enrollment profile with the appropriate individuals pre-assigned to the devices.

Bulk-assign devices to a Shared iPad (multi-user) enrollment profile for use with Apple Education

Procedure 

  1. From your Apple School Manager account, go to the MDM server configured for Apple Education in Ivanti EPMM and download the list of serial numbers. Only devices assigned to this MDM server can be used with the bulk-assign feature.
  2. Create a CSV file to pre-assign the Managed Apple ID to the appropriate serial numbers:
    1. Using the CSV file in step 2, remove serial numbers that are not Shared iPad devices.
    2. Remove the column “DEVICE_TYPE”.
    3. Add a column for the column name of your Device Cart custom attribute. This could be something like “DeviceCart” and is based on what you chose when Enabling Apple Education in Ivanti EPMM. You can view this attribute name at the top of your Apple Education page under the label “Shared Device Cart Attribute Name.”
    4. (Optional) Add any other custom attribute you want to the CSV file by creating a new column for the attribute and entering a value for that attribute for each device. Any custom attribute you create here must match the custom attribute you have already created in Ivanti EPMM.
    5. For each row, add the appropriate device cart name in the column created in step c above. This will be something like "History101Cart," and should match an individual in your Apple Education > Shared Device Carts tab.
    6. Save the CSV file and close it.
  3. Navigate to Devices & Users > Device Enrollment and, in the row of your Device Enrollment account, select the number link in the Enrollment Profiles column. The list of enrollment profiles for your Apple School Manager account displays.
  4. Select an existing profile that is a “multi-user” profile and then select Actions >Assign Devices to Profile.
  5. In the Assign Devices to Profile dialog box, click Upload and choose the CSV file you created above and then click Assign. The devices will be assigned to this enrollment profile with the appropriate individuals pre-assigned to the devices.

When you assign your Apple School Manager devices to your Apple Device Enrollment profile using the modified CSV file, Ivanti EPMM automatically assigns the custom attribute (and its value) to each device upon registration.

The above steps can be done multiple times and can include partial lists of serial numbers. Only serial numbers in the uploaded CSV file will be edited. If you wish to remove a custom attribute for a particular device, upload the file with the column name of the custom attribute and leave the value blank.

Note the following:

  • If you assign a device cart to a device that was not registered with a multi-user device enrollment profile, the device will be configured incorrectly and will not function as a Shared iPad.
  • Ivanti EPMM will reject a CSV file that has invalid serial numbers, invalid custom attribute column names, or has invalid CSV syntax.

What happens on the device

Ivanti EPMM sends the Apple Device Enrollment profile to the relevant devices. When the device is in setup mode, the device will be prompted to apply the configuration and be given a login to the MDM enrollment.

Related topics 

For details about creating the custom attribute, see Creating a custom attribute to use with Apple School Manager.