The question of the system has been asked too many times in the years that you have been working on the campus network."We want students to log in with their school numbers and not to write a code again."It sounds reasonable, but when you actually land, it's a little bit of a curve around the way. The article wants to make it clear that the system is designed, not to list your functional tables, but to tell you what different options are going to encounter in real use.
What's the core of the account system?
The system of accounts for the WiFi network on campus is essentially balancing two things: identity certainty on the management side with ease of use on the user side. The management hopes that account numbers and real people will be tied to a library of books, teachers' information banks; the user wants to use them without passwords, without downloading APs, and mobile phones. Both are naturally pressing and the difference in the design of the system is essentially one way or another.
If a school goes through a set of meals, the account number is not associated with costs, and the problem is relatively simple. If you have to do traffic-based, long time-based, or different grade-species, the system will assume the function of accounting identity, which will multiply in complexity.
Project "Study": Looks like the best.
The SAT program is most often mentioned and the logic is direct: schools have a school-based system, a school number is the only sign for everyone, and it corresponds to the campus’s web account number as clean as possible. And many schools now have a single identity card platform (CAS/LDAP), which is connected to the Internet, and in theory users are going to go through an account.
But when they actually land, the problem comes out one after another.
The first is the symmetrical cycle. School registration systems are usually purchased from the old system of third-party manufacturers, and interfaces are not complete or even complete, or require a procurement process and matchmaking.
The second problem is account life cycle management. Students enrol, transition to a profession, drop out, and graduate. Every node needs an account synchronisation. If you have a real-time interface, it's always available."The account number is still in use."Or..."Newcomers are in the system, and they have no account."Classic problem. Every year, the network administrator is knocked out by this kind of thing.
The third problem is password. Where's the initial code for the SAT? If it's a uniform identification code, it's all over that side of the network. If you maintain the password on the side of the network, you have two systems."Uniform"The original intent is contradictory.
This is not to say that the Engineering Program cannot be done, but it requires a lot of pre-conditions: schools have accessable unified identification platforms, their interfaces are stable, the quality of the data is high, and matching coordination resources are in place. Schools that meet these conditions simultaneously often have a mature information infrastructure and the ability to promote integration across systems."The leadership's job is not maintained a year after it's online."。
Mobile phone number scheme: Operator friendly, but name-based logic.
The mobile phone programme is more popular in many schools and vocational colleges, simply because the user does not need to match the system, register itself with a cell number, text message-receiving authentication code, very low thresholds, and very short opening times. Schools do not have to make complex systems integrations to allow their students to access the Internet.
For a network billing system, mobile phone numbers have a natural advantage: they carry a certain real name. China’s cellular number requires users to verify their user identity, so the cell phone number is an account number that has a basis at the level of physical authentication compliance.
But mobile phone options have their own problems.
The first is a change of number. It is not uncommon for students to switch cell numbers and their phones to offline, especially in the intergrade group. After the change of cell phone numbers, how do you handle the old number-strapped meal packages, balances, historical records? Do you need an administrator to move?
Second is the question of parents. Some schools (especially boarding junior high) purchase parent mobile phone numbers, which facilitate parents' control over children's time and flow online."A parent number tied to multiple children's accounts.", the design of account numbers is not low.
Three is that mobile phone numbers are not naturally suitable for bulk control."Operation by the Faculty of Law"Bases.
Micro-Certificate Program: Best experience, but not core school scene
Micromail sweeps have been very mature in business for years, with hotels, malls, cafes. But there are several structural constraints to the campus scene that make it difficult to mainstream micro-credit programmes.
The first is the issue of minors. A large number of pupils in compulsory education are minors, and schools tend to control their use of mobile phones and micro-letters themselves.
The micro-credit account and the Quest account are completely cut apart, and schools cannot make a history of identification, class batching, and association charges through the Quaker account. Micro-Credit programs can be used as a way to authenticate visitors’ access to the Internet at best, and it is difficult to build a system for core student groups' accounts on micro-mails.
Moreover, the access to micro-credit requires public capacity development, maintenance of service numbers, configuration of OAuth mandates, and technical thresholds and maintenance costs. Many primary and secondary schools have no human resources at all.
Mixed programme: actual selection of most projects
The typical combination is:
The main account number is a studyer, which binds the school registration system (or manual bulk import) for regular students and teachers; the temporary account number is a mobile phone number for short-term visitors, those who did not enter the system during the arrival of new arrivals, and some external staff without a school number.
The benefits of this programme are flexible and cover different groups; the disadvantage is to manage an increased level of complexity, with a larger number of accounts, and with more time being spent by operators who maintain two sets of accounts simultaneously.
The connection between account design and the billing program
The choice of the account system cannot be discussed separately from the fee-based scheme.
But if the billing is to be based on grade differences (e.g. $50 a month in a bag, $360 a year), separate meals per dormitory and teaching, or allow student-filled balances to be consumed by traffic, the account number must carry these sub-descripts, and the system side should automatically match the package rules according to the account attribute.——In the mobile phone program, you can't automatically judge whether this cell number is a freshman or an outside teacher.
A thing that can be easily ignored: how do you initialize the account?
The logical design of the accounts is discussed, but it's often the initialization of the accounts when they land. How do you import thousands or even tens of thousands of account lots into the system before school starts? Who provides data when imported? What is the format?
This is often seen as a project delivery."Technical Details"Ignored, data are not kept up until two weeks before the start of school, and there are many errors in formatting and duplicate accounts.
It is reasonable to identify the source of data, import format, check rules, and subsequent account number synchronization frequency at the project ' s project establishment stage.
Last point: to find out what the status of information is in schools before choosing a solution
There is no single account. The engineering program is good, but only if the school informs it; mobile phone programs are flexible, but not as complex as operations can be underestimated; and micro-credit programmes have a good experience but cannot enter the core campus.
Before the programme was designed, the most worthwhile thing to do was to get a picture of what was happening in school: did there be a unified identity certification platform? How much of the data on the student population were there? How many people were there in the information sector? What was the demand for control over the accounts?"Most advanced programmes"Take the run.