You have signed up for RM Unify and are wondering, "What now..?".

In summary, the main steps to getting set up are: 

1. Create RM Unify users.
2. Connect MIS.
3. Federate a Microsoft® 365™ or Google Workspace domain, or both!

Once complete, you have a number of other features to enable, including: Microsoft 365 Group Sync; Google Classroom Sync; Device Single Sign-On (DSSO) for Windows and/or Chromebook devices; Personal Launch Pads; Multi Factor Authentication and an App Library of educational and productivity apps.

In addition to the help and advice in this article and the links to many other useful articles, you and your users also have access to the RM Training Academy via RM Unify. This is a library of tutorial training videos to guide you through the setup and configuration of RM Unify functionality and of the RM Unify Management Console.

• RM Training Academy FAQ - TEC6813386

How do you want to create your RM Unify users?

• From your MIS, using MIS Sync in 'Create mode' - TEC5427652. You may also optionally choose to use this in conjunction with Network Provisioning* to have a complete 'MIS to RM Unify to Network' user provisioning solution.
• From your network, using AD Sync - DWN3182456
• From your network, using the CSV Extraction Tool - DWN3182515
• Via a manually created CSV file - TEC3274284
• Manual creation via the Management Console (Users, Actions, 'Create user').

MIS Sync in 'Create mode' and AD Sync are mutually exclusive; you cannot have both provisioning methods enabled at the same time.

Would you like RM to handle this part for you? Please call your Sales representative on 01235 645 316 for more details on this service.

You may choose to use your RM Unify accounts to provision your network (CC4 or vanilla Windows) accounts.

• RM Unify Network Provisioning - TEC5797903

The RM Installations team can install this for CC4 networks, or you can choose to install it yourself. For vanilla networks the installation must be performed by RM. Please call your Sales representative on 01235 645 316 for more details on this service.

Enabling data sync from your MIS allows you to benefit from:

• Enriched user data such as year group, registration group, MIS ID and UPN.
• Simplified user management using teaching groups.
• The ability to push year, registration and teaching groups to Microsoft 365 (as Microsoft 365 Groups or Microsoft 365 Classes to be used with Teams) or Google Workspace (as Google Classes).
• Making this MIS data available to apps and thereby giving your establishment a wider choice of apps.
• The Parent Management functionality to create parent accounts in RM Unify.

'Create mode' or 'Link mode'?
There is a key decision that you need to make on how RM Unify should process your MIS data:

Use MIS data to drive your user management - creation, modification and deletion of users; we call this 'Create mode'. And if you have already chosen Network Provisioning then you will most certainly have this mode enabled.

Use your AD or a CSV to drive user management but enrich the user data with information from your MIS; we call this 'Link mode'.

Regardless of the mode you select, you will still get the benefits highlighted in the section above and in both cases you can continue to manually create users for those people that will never appear in your MIS or AD.

• RM Unify MIS Sync - TEC5427652

The RM Installations team can assist you with the installation of MIS Sync where your MIS is one of the following: SIMS, iSAMS, WCBS (on-premise), Bromcom, or Facility CMIS. Please speak to you Sales representative for more information on 01235 645 316.

Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are free of charge for qualifying educational establishments. So you could certainly install one of these impressive cloud apps, but why not take advantage of RM Unify's unique ability to federate both services to your establishment? You can choose Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace as your email provider, whilst reaping the benefits of both services to improve teaching, learning, and overall productivity and management of your establishment, devices and users.

• Supported configurations when federating both M365 and Google Workspace - TEC4945314
• Federating Microsoft 365 - DWN3332757
• Microsoft 365 with RM Unify FAQs - NWS3442877
• Federating Google Workspace - TEC3306517
• Google Workspace with RM Unify FAQs - TEC5782172

Federating either Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, or both, can be a complex process where your domain is already in use, with active user accounts, mailboxes, OneDrive data, SharePoint data, etc. RM can assist you with your move to an RM Unify federation. Please speak to you Sales representative for more information on 01235 645 316.

If you are part of a trust (or simply a group) of schools sharing an IT support provider, RM Unify can be set up in a way that makes it very easy for the provider to manage all the establishments' users and applications from a single login.

The Manage Other Establishments feature can be used to 'masquerade' into another establishments' Management Console, in order to perform the required tasks, without having to maintain multiple admin accounts at each of those establishments. 

• Manage Other Establishments - TEC6551629

Where you have chosen either RM Unify AD Sync or Network Provisioning, your users will be able to automatically sign in to RM Unify and all connected apps (including Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace), as soon as they log on to their Windows domain-joined device, or Chromebook.

• Enable single sign-on (SSO) for domain-joined Windows devices - TEC4668878
• For Chromebooks - SSO is already enabled and simply requires either AD Sync or Network Provisioning to synchronise your network passwords to Google Workspace. This allows your users to access all network and cloud resources with a single set of credentials
• For Windows 10/11 SE devices - RM Unify Azure AD SSO is enabled by default for all the establishments - TEC4668878. It allows users to single sign on to RM Unify when signed into a Windows device with their RM Unify managed Microsoft 365 account
• The browsers compatible with Azure AD SSO are Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome (which just requires the Windows 10 Accounts extension to be installed)

Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) is a process to allow RM Unify to verify a user's identity with more certainty than by using just a password. By enabling MFA for your chosen apps, you can be reassured that your apps and data are as secure as possible.

• Enabling RM Unify MFA - TEC5941143
• How to configure RM Unify MFA with trusted IP addresses - TEC8637174

It is also possible to enforce MFA for your RM Unify Super Admin users when accessing the Management Console for even greater security.

As well as the default, role-based Launch Pad, it is also possible to enable an additional Personal Launch Pad for all your users. This allows your users greater flexibility to configure, order and create tiles that fit the way they work, teach and learn.

1. Logged on to the Management Console as an RM Unify Super Admin, select Launch Pads from the left-hand side menu.
2. Click the Settings button, tick the Enable Personal Launch Pads box and click Save.

When your users log on, they see the default role-based Launch Pad, but will also see an icon  indicating that they also have access to their My Launch Pad. From here, they can add any app which has been made available to them in the App Library by the administrator. They can also create their own link tiles, complete with title and image, essentially tile-based shortcuts to their favourite websites. Once a Personal Launch Pad is populated with apps and tiles, it will become the default Launch Pad shown when a user logs on.

Custom Launch Pads, used in conjunction with MIS Sync, allow you to deliver an individual Launch Pad for each of your student year groups.

• Custom Launch Pads setup video - RM Training Academy

RM Unify is going to be a part of the way your establishment works, so make it look the part by adding some of your official branding. A background image (maybe a photograph of the premises, or simply a block of co-ordinated colour) can underlay all your Launch Pads. You can then also add the school, college or academy logo to the footer of every page.

1. Logged on to the Management Console as an RM Unify Super Admin, select Branding from the left-hand side menu.
2. Click each Set button and follow the instructions to upload images for the background and logo.

Your quick and efficient method of communicating directly to your logged on RM Unify users.

Notifications are displayed to users on the RM Unify Launch Pad via a bell icon on the top task bar. If there are notifications to read, a red dot appears over the bell icon  and clicking it will open those notification(s). If there are no notifications to read, then the bell icon remains white. That's it!

• RM Unify Launch Pad Notifications - TEC6047587

If you choose to provision your RM Unify accounts using MIS Sync in 'Create mode' (with or without Network Provisioning), then your users can configure their accounts with their chosen password recovery email address, lessening the burden on your administrators if they forget or need to reset their password.

Manually provisioned and CSV provisioned accounts can also self-serve but AD Sync provisioned accounts must reset their passwords from the network.

Logged on to RM Unify, it's possible to access Help by simply clicking the  icon at the top of any page:

• RM Support Portal - To access the RM Knowledge Library of technical articles, guides and installation notes; My Support Calls (or Support Online as it is sometimes referred to) to log and update support calls; the RM Unify service status page
• What's Next - To view and comment on proposed product changes and improvements, and also...
• Ideas - To post your own suggestions for the RM Unify roadmap
• Blog - The principle communication channel for RM Unify release updates, upcoming changes and issues, and best practice advice
• Edugeek - For advice and support from your IT contemporaries; the RM Unify customers who have 'been there, done that'!
• The RM Unify Quick Start Guide for users