Internet Favourites - Controlled by Staff

EISNet has always supported a form of managed favourites that allow staff to create internet shortcuts that appear for all pupils. However this was not ideal as it meant pupils could view only the favourites created by staff, and not their own. 

EISNet v1.8 includes a much improved internet favourites system for staff and pupils. 

Firstly, all staff and pupils can create their own shortcuts and it remains stored with them regardless of whether they are roaming or mandatory profiles. The important change we have implemented is a folder in everyone's favourites is called 'Shared'. Staff can create internet shortcut's and put them in the Shared folder. This is achieved by creating a favourite in the normal way using Internet Explorer.

Pupils also see this Shared folder, but they cannot edit the contents. 

This is a good method of sharing internet favourites for pupils during lessons.

Enabling packages for all users and the Package Deployment Overview

In previous version of EISNet it was not possible to Enable a package for all users. You could enable packages for Staff, Pupils and Managers (and any level below) but a generic, all levels approach was not possible.

Today we have added this as an option. Simply right clicking the Users node in the main EISNet structure now gives you the option to assign login messages and enable software for everyone.

Finally for today - quite possibly the most useful addition to package deployment we have added since EISNet v1.7 was released - the Package Deployment Overview. This tool, written by our colleague John Fermor, allows you to see which packages are deployed (or deploying) and their current state. It updates live, so there is no need to refresh the page.

The return of the login message

When coding on something complex, it is sometimes good to take a break and work on something else for a while. This helps avoid becoming stuck on a particular problem. This week I found myself in this exact position whilst working on EISNet profiles so I chose to work on something else.

A number of customers have requested a feature that did exist in EISNet before v1.7 which was the ability to do a login message, or a 'Message of the Day'. This is fairly simple to add in, but we don't like doing things by half. If we are going to put a feature in, it's got to be solid and dynamic that could work to as many requirements as possible.

Introducing Login Messages

In EISNet Management Studio, we have added a option to show a login message for Pupils, Staff or computers, and at any possible level beneath. For example, you can set a login message to appear for a particular user, intake/class, key stage area or all Pupils (or staff) . Like wise, you can also set a login message for a particular computer, room or all devices.

You can set a Valid From date and a Valid To date, so that the messages expire when they are no longer relevant. In addition, you can choose whether to show the message when the user is logging in, or after they have logged in. On the screenshot below, you'll notice 'Show on wallpaper' this may be added at a later date, but probably won't be in the v1.8 initial release.

The first thing after logging in is a welcome message to the end user. When a staff member logs in, it shows their title (Mr/Mrs/Miss) and surname (for the techies reading this, this is actually the 'displayname' field in Active Directory). For pupils however, it simply shows their first name.

When a message is shown during login, it will show for four seconds before moving onto the next message (assuming there are more than one message to display). In this instance the login is halted whilst the message is displayed, but it will automatically continue once all the messages are read. In a later release, you will be able to customise the amount of time it waits, on a per message basis.

Finally, if a message is set to show after login, they will be shown the message in a familiar prompt style. The user can still use the device and work as normal whilst the message is displayed.

If there are more than one message to display, the window will show 'You have new messages' and also show a 'Previous' and 'Next' button to navigate.

Now that's done - back to Profiles.