Fun with GIS 334: School Org Optimization

[CharlieFitzpatrick]

The new year approaches, and you’re surely ready for a rest. But if you have a little time, consider these tasks you can do to make your K12 school or district ArcGIS Online Organization better. The Org is the heart of your license, and all tasks relate to it, so it needs some TLC to run well.

[1.] Update the Org’s named leaders (we see these often badly out of date)

[1.1] Primary Maintenance Contact = person(s) whom Esri Customer Service has on file as the key contact for the entire license = THE named main person(s) at https://my.esri.com (=”MyEsri”). There can be more than one person named. If there are issues, contact Esri Customer Service (888-377-4575, option 5).

[1.2] ArcGIS Online Org “Administrative Contacts” aka “Primary Admins” = person(s) who are key points of contact for automated email notifications about Org operations. There should be at least two, who are still actively involved in Org management, designated in the Org Settings. See https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, p.18, and https://esriurl.com/funwithgis329. If there are issues here, like “We have no admins at all!”, contact schools@esri.com and describe the issue/s.

[1.3] ArcGIS Online Org admins who are not “Primary Admins” = persons with full admin power but not designated as the full “Administrative Contacts”. Think of these as “equal to Primary admins but with less responsibility”. Again, see https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, p.18, and https://esriurl.com/funwithgis329.

[2] Boost your Org’s security (a stitch in time saves way more than 9 here!)

[2.1] Security Policies are set by the admin in “Organization > Settings > Security.” Recommendations include 2.2-2.6 below but also #3:

[2.2] Turn off the first three options in Access: Allow Anonymous access, Allow members of other Orgs to sign in with their Org credentials, and Members can edit their profile and who can see it.

[2.3] Turn off at least the first and last in Sharing and Search: Members who are not admins can make things public, and Show social media links on items and groups.

[2.4] Think consciously about your sign-in policies and best practices.

[2.5] Logins are best set via single sign-on (SSO), so see https://esriurl.com/k12sso. Also, turn off the permission to log into the Org via a social login.

[2.6] Consider the remaining policies and whether your situation needs to engage these. The Access notice and Information banner may be useful for reminding members of key protocols, like not sharing anyone’s personally identifiable information (PII).

[3] Update your Org’s roles and privileges (default User and Publisher are not good for K12)

[3.1] Schoolwork often involves collaboration, which is best accomplished by a user assigning over an item to another person – giving by the user, receiving by the recipient. These are special privileges not found in User or Publisher roles, so you need to customize roles to support this. See https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, pp.12-13 for examples and guidance.

[3.2] Consider carefully the advantage of giving specific privileges to teachers, such as seeing all items, moving someone’s item, or making items public.

[3.3] Establish a Showcase role and login. See https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, p.23. This is the safest way to share content the school/district wants to make public for an extended time.

[3.4] Make your life easy by crafting well-designed settings for “New member default” which are needed for both SSO and username/password situations. See https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, p.22.

[4] Set credit limits

[4.1] This can be done with new member defaults or on an ad hoc basis by role or individual. Protect against the accidental or purposeful squandering of credits by setting limits. See https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, p.27.

[5] Organize content

[5.1] Groups and Hubs are both valuable for organizing and presenting good content. Schools should have Groups for teachers, subjects, and all manner of subsets. Schools and districts should have Hubs for presenting content of value.

[5.2] Admins should be setting and acting on policies for retention of users and content. This helps everyone optimize their experience by minimizing clutter.

These are all good steps to take anytime. Get a start on the new year when you have a little time to read, think, explore, test, and optimize. Help everyone have a better experience tomorrow.