MacAdmin - Managing 30 iPads Part 1

I've been tasked with managing 30 iPads - yup, 30 and all of which will change hands daily. What we're looking at is an easy way get an iPad out of the box and into the hands of the user as quickly as possible, reducing downtime and increasing productivity. We'll go through the processes in detail so without wasting any more time, let's start with what you need.

Requirements

• a Mac running the latest version of OS X

• Apple Configurator 2 or later

• a sync / changing station

• reliable Wi-fi

• required cables (power, lightning)

• an apple ID (and password) enrolled in the Volume Purchase Program

Now if you don't have a charge or sync station that's just fine, you'll still be able to manage all your iOS devices, just individually by connecting and syncing them one at a time.

Regarding the Apple ID though, it's imperative that you have an Apple ID enrolled in their VPP as to allow for bulk purchasing and deployment of apps from the Apple App store. You can still manage the iPad's without Apps though, however to take full advantage and ensure uniformity between all the devices, a single apple ID enrolled is best.

Let's Begin

1. Connect all your iOS devices to the sync station, you'll need them to be powered on and unlocked if you're starting with iPads that already have a pre-existing configuration on it, otherwise if they are straight out of the box, turn them on and connect them to the station, do not need to proceed with setup

2. On your mac, visit the App Store, you'll need to download and install Apple Configurator 2. As of this post that's the latest version.

3. Once you have that installed, open it up, we're going to create a Blueprint

4. Click > Blueprints > Edit Blueprints > New now name your blueprint. In our case, we're going to name it "School Blueprint" and click Done ​

1. Now you can see that the blueprint was created and now listed. Select Edit Blueprints and double-click the blueprint you just created we're going to customize our blueprint.

2. In the screen below, you're going to select Prepare, this will allow you to apply specific instructions for this Blueprint to apply to the iOS device(s) you wish to manage such as Organization information, basic apps and skipping the setup assistant.

1. Proceed through the prompts and fill in any information pertaining to your organization, apps you wish to have at the beginning and skipping the setup assistant

2. You can proceed to create blueprints for applying updates, back ups and any other condition that you require for your organization.

And that concludes this part of our MacAdmin series, we'll be reviewing profiles on our next post.

Until then, B-E-Z

Side note: Blueprints are basically templates or backups for your devices so you can manage settings, options, apps, and restore data and look and feel of the lock and home screen and then apply those templates onto iOS devices.

Example: Creating a Blueprint will allow you to customize all the devices to have the same wallpaper, basic apps to start with and skip the entire activiation/setup process entirely.