The program that brought thousands of reusable app licenses from the Apple App store to Nebraska Athletics and the Cornhusker Marching Band, is now available across the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to departments, faculty and staff.
Apple's Volume Purchase Program for Education enables bulk purchasing and remote automatic install and updates of iOS and MacOS apps. University of Nebraska–Lincoln Information Technology Services has provided this service through the creation of the Apple VPP purchasing form in eShop. The program offers significant time savings, tax-free purchases and discounts of up to 50 percent on most apps when ordering 20 or more licenses.
"We were able to make a one-time purchase for each of the apps that the directors decided they wanted to include on the Cornhusker Marching Band iPads," said Jan Deaton with University of Nebraska–Lincoln Bands. "This allowed us to provide them to the students without requiring them to purchase, download and install the apps individually. Another big benefit is that because of the one-time purchase, we don’t have to re-purchase the apps each year."
Through the program, departments utilize the Apple VPP form and Jamf Pro endpoint management tools available through ITS to purchase and distribute apps to university provided devices. Installing Jamf Pro's Mobile Device Management (MDM) profile on devices allows admins to configure devices to automatically install and update apps.
With the majority of their apps offered for free, Tate Guillotte, director of video technology with Athletics, said the biggest benefit has come from the time saved by using the Apple VPP and endpoint management tools.
Tate combined those tools with the University’s Active Directory to prompt automatic install of the purchased apps when a user activates the device and signs in with their My.UNL ID (AD Account). Users automatically receive the appropriate apps and configuration based on who they are, rather than what device they have.
"Integrating with the university's Active Directory allows me to not waste time replicating data, but instead focus on making sure the end users have what they need to be productive," Guillotte said. "The students have been able to get up and running faster by using the VPP program, not having to create and remember an Apple ID. It has shortened the learning curve for new users to iOS and helped them be productive faster."
Guillotte added that the program has reduced the number of accidental downloads, while streamlining the management of entire user groups.
The process has saved Deaton's team the hours of work installing and updating software on more than 300 devices, while improving the user experience for students.
"The students thought the iPads were a great asset in marching band and they were thrilled and amazed that the apps were automatically installed," Deaton said. "We can control all aspects of the iPad if needed, but we allowed our students the freedom of personal use in addition to their marching band classwork."
The program is accessible through eShop, where purchases can be made without a purchasing card using the standard requisition process. According to ITS Enterprise Apple Administrator, Phil Redfern, 462 different apps have already been purchased through Apple's program at the university, totaling more than 40,000 total app installations. Redfern added that Apple eBooks purchased through the program are considered consumables, and cannot be re-deployed.
"Our goal is that all macOS and iOS app distribution in the future will be done through Self Service or Auto-Install when the device is activated," Redfern said. "Our Apple endpoint management tools are leveraged by the entire NU system and the Apple VPP Software form on eShop contains a list of all the active Apple VPP accounts that we manage. As long as an individual’s department is on that list they can benefit from this service."
For help obtaining an Apple VPP account and device management tools, contact Phil Redfern at phil.redfern@unl.edu.
For information the VPP process, visit: http://go.unl.edu/VPPguide.
Written by: David Houfek