ARCHIVED: Completed project: Mobile device management service

This content has been archived, and is no longer maintained by Indiana University. Information here may no longer be accurate, and links may no longer be available or reliable.

Primary UITS contact: Marc Kerr

Completed: September 14, 2012

Description: This is a multi-phase project to develop a service that allows for easy configuration of mobile devices connecting to the IU network, and to investigate other configuration and management options.

Phase 1 is a web-based implementation of iOS configuration profiles for IU Secure, email, and passcodes on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Phase 2 will investigate options for direct management of devices.

Outcome: The primary goal is to allow for easy one-stop, one-button mobile device configuration for IU services, and the eventual management of devices as needed.

Milestones and status: The initial service at https://mdm.iu.edu now allows users of iOS devices to get a configuration profile that automatically sets a passcode and establishes the proper settings for IU Secure Wi-Fi and IU email. This service is open to general IU usage, but has not been widely advertised. Since the summer of 2011, the UITS Support Center has successfully been using the service and has provided feedback for improvements. This web service also supports Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) for IU Secure configurations; an email configuration is also being developed.

For support documentation, see the following KB documents:

Limited meetings with third-party vendors have taken place for basic fact-finding about MDM services.

At the end of 2011, a separate mobile security working group consisting of members from this team, IU technology support professionals, and other UITS personnel submitted recommendations to management for basic mobile device policy changes and security enforcement. Implementation of those recommendations may require modification of this project or creation of a new project.

A new project, Get Connected for iOS and OS X, is being developed by John Grigutis, using this project as a starting point.

As of July 2013, this service has been retired.

Comment process: Contact Marc Kerr or Todd Herring for comment.

Benefits: Phase 1 of the service currently lets a user have an easy one-stop, one-button service for configuration of iOS device passcode, Wi-Fi, and email. We have also implemented Wi-Fi settings for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) users. The Support Center uses this service to assist users setting up IU email and Wi-Fi services.

Phase 2 will investigate other options for configuration and management of devices.

Related information: Find additional information from Apple's Mobile Device Management.

Client impact: Clients such as new students and users having problems connecting to IU systems with their devices will not need to reference configuration documentation for IU services. They will be able to connect to a simple URL and get the unique configuration information installed automatically.

Project team:

  • Project lead: Marc Kerr
  • Project developer: Josh LaMar

Because of changes in job responsibilities, the code of this project is being transferred to John Grigutis (Support Systems, Licensing, & Software Distribution).

Governance: Manager is Todd Herring with additional direction from UITS Support Center Tier 2, Executive and Internal Technology Support, University Information Security Office, Support Center, Support Systems and Licensing, and others.

This is document bana in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 16:19:59.