Cloud Monitor Replaces “Hot Mess” Process with Efficient, Centralized Management
Deer Creek Schools, located in Edmond, Oklahoma, supports approximately 8,000 students and 600 faculty and staff across a 1:1 Chromebook and iPad learning environment.
The district uses Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals for its digital learning and operational needs. As CIO, Scott Haselwood is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the IT department and ensuring that students and staff can access a safe online environment.
“What used to take us half a day to handle a student putting something inappropriate in their Google Drive now takes us minutes. With Cloud Monitor, we can go in and take care of it in minutes. The time savings alone makes the investment worthwhile.”
— Scott Haselwood, CIO, Deer Creek Schools
Scott’s belief in the value of proactive security led the district to adopt ManagedMethods’ Cloud Monitor, seeking a tool that would bring surgical precision and efficiency to managing their Google Workspace environment.
Challenges
Managing and investigating issues within Google Workspace was highly burdensome for Scott and his lean IT team. They found that Google’s Admin console lacked granularity and tools for effective, timely action. He compares it to a Chief Financial Officer using grid paper instead of Excel: you can get the job done, but it’s unnecessarily time-consuming and inefficient.
“Google Admin console is great in a lot of ways, but being able to get very granular and surgically remove problematic emails and files is extremely difficult. Cloud Monitor makes it fast and easy to get really surgical with the problem, resolve it quickly, and move on with our day.”
— Scott Haselwood, CIO, Deer Creek Schools
The biggest pain point was the process of handling student activity, such as students saving inappropriate materials to their Google Drive. To address the issue, Scott had to perform a process that he refers to as “a long, hot mess,” which required logging into Google Admin console to change the student’s password, logging into the student’s account, trying to find the problematic content, sometimes consulting Google Vault, taking action, and then resetting the password back to a default and letting the principal know the student could log back in. “It wasn’t a waste of time, it’s necessary work, but it took too much time,” he says. “I would spend four hours working on a thing I could have done in 20 minutes.”
“We’ve used GAM [Google Apps Manager] in the past, but I’m not a big fan of it,” Scott explains. “I want to see what’s happening. I don’t want to have to trust that I typed in the exact right coding or phrase to see what’s going on.”
This cumbersome process didn’t just impact student safety issues. The lack of visibility and quick action was also a major risk when a phishing email made it past their email security filters and spread through many inboxes. Scott’s team didn’t have an efficient way to find and remove the phishing emails in bulk. Rather, they had to rely on staff recognizing something suspicious and forwarding the emails to them.
“We had spam spread into about 600 staff and student accounts. We used Cloud Monitor to quickly remove the email from everyone’s inboxes and set a rule to block it automatically. Unless they were checking emails on a Sunday night, nobody knew what happened.”
— Scott Haselwood, CIO, Deer Creek Schools
“Google Admin console is great in a lot of ways,” says Scott. “But being able to get granular and surgically remove things is very time-consuming and difficult.”
Results
“What used to take us half a day because a student decided to put something inappropriate in their Google Drive now takes us minutes. Thanks to Cloud Monitor, we can get it out of there in about five clicks and move on with our day.”
“If you’re spending four hours working on a problem you could have solved in minutes, you are wasting time. Nobody wants to sit around all day looking at student accounts. Cloud Monitor is a tool that frees up that time while keeping inappropriate content out of our Google accounts, allowing us to do other things that are strategically important for the district.”
— Scott Haselwood, CIO, Deer Creek Schools
Cloud Monitor has given Scott and his team the surgical precision and automated efficiency they desperately needed across Google Workspace for both cybersecurity and student safety. This precision proved vital during a recent incident where spam emails spread across about 600 student and staff accounts. Using Cloud Monitor, Scott’s team was able to quickly remove the email from all affected accounts and set up a rule to automatically block further distribution.
The platform has exceeded Scott’s expectations in many ways. “When you’re doing the free trial, you’re kind of focusing on the top four or so things. But, as you use the product more, you start finding all the different ways that Cloud Monitor makes your life so much easier.”
“The first thing I do when a threat is detected is hop into Cloud Monitor. I can immediately see the worldwide login image and check if an account has been compromised from outside the district. That quick, high-level visibility for critical security questions is invaluable.”
— Scott Haselwood, CIO, Deer Creek Schools
For Scott, ManagedMethods is more than just a tool, they’re a partner. “One of the things we really need in K-12 is a partner, and ManagedMethods is a good partner. They’re not a huge corporation that will treat you like just another ‘Dear User’ number, which I really appreciate,” he says. “When we need help or training, we can easily get in touch with support. Additionally, the quarterly audits they will reach out to us to schedule have been very beneficial.”
Scott encourages other K-12 technology leaders to take advantage of Cloud Monitor’s 30-day free trial offer to see how it compares to what you’re currently using—particularly if you’re not using anything at all.
“Nobody wants to spend four hours searching a student’s account to find some dumb thing they put in their Google Drive.” Scott concludes. “If you want to keep doing things the way you’ve always done it, that’s fine. But Cloud Monitor is a tool that will save you an incredible amount of time and effort, giving your team time back to do things that are strategically important.”
Want to learn more about improving your district’s cybersecurity, student safety, and classroom engagement?
Get started with your free Google Workspace and/or Microsoft 365 security and safety audit today.
