RM has released the first phase of planned improvements to RM Unify MIS Sync, strengthening the way staff-role data can move between Arbor MIS and Google Workspace. The update is currently being offered through an early adopter stage, giving selected schools and establishments the opportunity to trial a more detailed approach to managing digital permissions across their Google environments.
The development sits within RM Unify’s existing role in helping schools manage user provisioning and access. When a staff user is added to RM Unify, they are already assigned either a Teaching Staff or Non-Teaching Staff role. Where a domain is federated to Google, that user can then be placed into the relevant role-based group and organisational unit, supporting more structured account management.
The new improvement adds a further layer of detail. Through Groupcall’s Xporter tool, RM Unify can now receive additional staff-role data from Arbor MIS and synchronise it with staff members’ Google Workspace accounts. These additional values are taken from Arbor’s additional staff role field and synced to a new RM Unify-controlled Google attribute called Staff Roles.
It increases the potential precision of access management. Schools often need to control which staff can view or use particular resources, especially where documents, shared drives or collaborative tools contain sensitive information. By making additional staff-role data available inside Google, RM Unify can support more granular permissions and reduce reliance on manual account changes.
One practical use case is a shared Google Drive containing documents intended only for members of a senior leadership team. Once the additional staff roles are enabled and consent is granted for the relevant data extraction, those staff roles can sync into Google. A school can then use Google’s dynamic groups to create a group based on the Staff Roles attribute and assign access rights to the appropriate Drive folder.
The process can also help remove access when it is no longer appropriate. If a staff member leaves the school, goes off roll, or has a relevant additional staff role removed in the MIS, access to the associated Google resource can be withdrawn. That supports a cleaner control environment and helps reduce the risk of permissions remaining in place after roles have changed.
At this stage, the early adopter programme is focused on establishments using Arbor as their MIS and federated to Google. Once testing is complete and the capability is rolled out to all Arbor and Google customers, RM plans to consider wider coverage across the remaining MIS platforms it supports and Microsoft 365.
RM plc (LON:RM) is a global EdTech provider of learning and assessment solutions, supporting the full learning journey, from early years through to higher education and professional qualifications.
