Manhattan Ogden School District Automates Microsoft Hybrid AD to Achieve Better Control and Efficiency

Overview

Key Capabilities:

True hybrid management with a single web portal that manages both Active Directory and Microsoft 365
Simultaneously provision, manage or deprovision Active Directory and Microsoft 365 user accounts
Ongoing automated enforcement of groups and Microsoft 365 licenses
Automation from provisioning to group and licenses management across hybrid environments to improve efficiency and security
A system that accepted data from multiple data sources

The Results:

Streamlined onboarding for teachers and students; reduction in tedious manual work caused by errors in provisioning process
Gained better control over group management to the end-user level for frequently changing school district

“There are probably hundreds of products that can create AD accounts and many less that can create M365 accounts. Very few (if any) that seem to understand hybrid environments like Cayosoft does.”

— Todd Bryant, Data Manager at Manhattan-Ogden Unified School District #383

Cayosoft Administrator for True Hybrid Management

Introduction

With 6,500 students in grades PK, K-12, Manhattan-Ogden Unified School District #383 is a highly rated, public school district located in Manhattan, KS. The district was using another product for close to 10 years for the provisioning and de-provisioning of network accounts. Originally, these were Active Directory accounts with local Exchange server and then moved to a Microsoft 365 hybrid environment in 2016.

The IT Business Challenge

Previous software began to cause intermittent issues and the network department found itself spending more and more time fixing accounts. At the start of 2019 school year, when there was many new staff and student accounts being created, the IT staff was battling numerous issues with the provisioning process. Accounts were being created, but users were getting local mailboxes instead of remote mailboxes, they were not getting the correct user groups assigned, and Microsoft 365 licensing was not being applied, among other frustrating issues.

“Support was being provided by the reseller and billed at an hourly consulting rate,” said Todd Bryant, data manager at Manhattan-Ogden Unified School District #383. “We had to decide to either pay consultants to upgrade all the systems and find the issues or to take time to look for another product to manage our hybrid environment.”

“We had been using the same product for so long, and spent a tremendous amount of time fine turning all of our rules exactly the way we wanted, so there were some reservations in the department about moving to a new management solution,” said Bryant.

Finding A Solution - Cayosoft Administrator

Manhattan-Ogden looked for a new solution to automate account provisioning and enable password resets for both individuals (self-service) and the help desk. The district uses their HR and student information system as the source of authority for user accounts. “When we started running Cayosoft, I was surprised to see a number of users who were in the wrong groups and Organization Units,” said Bryant. “We used Cayosoft to move users into the correct OU and groups. This has fixed the issue of student and staff not receiving communication because they were not in the correct distribution group. This has also eliminated potential security concerns.” The biggest benefit to Bryant is in the automation and efficiency for him and his team. “The more we can automate the better. When there is a new student or staff, their accounts are automatically created. And when a user changes locations, the accounts are automatically moved and they get all the correct group membership assignments.” “I was surprised how easy it was to configure Cayosoft Administrator to enforce licensing and remove local mailboxes. This year we have had a lot less calls of new students and teachers saying ‘I don’t see any Microsoft 365 apps when they login’, which used to happen when the license was not applied correctly. “Now, if there is issue where licenses didn’t get applied, Cayosoft corrects it before the end users even notice.” The fact that Cayosoft is purpose-built for hybrid Microsoft environments is also helping Manhattan-Ogden improve efficiency. “There are probably hundreds of products that can create AD accounts and many less that can create M365 accounts. Very few (if any) that seem to understand hybrid environments like Cayosoft does”, said Bryant.

Learn More about Cayosoft

Cayosoft offers the only comprehensive solution enabling IT Admins to securely manage, continuously monitor for changes, and immediate recover their Microsoft platforms, including on-premises Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, and Microsoft 365, from one unified platform.

To learn more about Cayosoft’s solutions visit, our Product pages.

Check out these relevant resources.

Case Study

Mednax Improves Enterprise Hybrid Microsoft 365 Security and Admin Efficiency

“Cayosoft Administrator is our one-stop shop for anything we need to do with a particular user, from provisioning to mailboxes to licenses. There is a major ROI in having it.”

Blog

AD and M365 Account Provisioning & User Lifecycle Management: Hidden Costs and Recommendations

It’s estimated that the provisioning process can cost between $15 and $60 per user – and that’s just for the account creation. When adding in the costs associated with updating or deprovisioning the account, those numbers climb even higher.

Datasheet

Cayosoft Administrator: The Best Way to Manage the Hybrid Microsoft Enterprise

While clear benefits drive IT to embrace Microsoft’s hybrid and cloud platforms, the move can jeopardize security, efficiency, and compliance goals. Legacy solutions that sustained these goals in the past cannot adapt easily to hybrid and cloud, and often become barriers to adopting these new platforms.