Chromebook Management Console for School: A Useful Tool to Manage Devices
The Chromebook Management Console is yet another reason to acquire Chromebooks for your school. It’s a cloud-based administrator console that enables you to control your entire fleet of Chromebooks, from configuring network access, controlling applications, tracking devices, and customizing features to performing a whole range of other administrative tasks, all from a single interface.
Since it’s cloud-based (or web-based—however you may want to call it), you can access this console from any device, as long as you have an internet connection. It’s perfectly suited for practically any educational or organizational use case where you need to manage a large number of Chromebooks.
Furthermore, the Chromebook Management Console can also be used to configure certain settings for Parallels® Desktop for Chrome OS, a software solution that enhances the capabilities of Chromebooks by enabling them to run Windows and Windows-based applications locally. This innovative solution is a big boost to Chromebook usability, considering that Chromebooks can’t normally run Windows/Windows applications unless they’re delivered remotely through the network or the internet.
Chromebook Management Console Overview
When you have tens, hundreds, or thousands of Chromebooks, it’s extremely difficult to manage them manually. For this to be feasible, you need a way to manage all of them from a single administrative interface. You can do that with the Chromebook Management Console.
The Chromebook Management Console is acquired through a perpetual license. There’s a license designed for educational institutions and another one designed for other organizations. The license for education is given at a discounted rate. It’s worth noting though, although the license is perpetual, support for each hardware model isn’t. The good news is that Google increased its Chromebook auto-update policy to eight years. That should be more than enough for most situations.
Chromebook Management Console in Organizations
Let’s talk about some of the Chromebook Management Console features that organizations may find useful. Here are a few:
- Managing employee devices—The ability to rapidly deploy and then manage tens and especially hundreds or thousands of Chromebooks should be a godsend for most organizations, whose IT teams are already inundated with an unending stream of IT issues and projects.
- Implementing policies—There are over 100 policies that can be enforced through the management console. Policies can be applied on a device, user, or app/extension level. This is useful for security, efficiency, and testing purposes.
- Defining organizational units—The console allows you to group users into organizational units (OUs). So, for example, you can create OUs for accounting, legal, sales, and contractors and then apply specific policies for each OU.
- URL blocking—Whenever given internet access, some users tend to visit sites that aren’t related to their work. This not only affects their productivity but can also expose them to malware. By using the console, administrators can take advantage of the URL blocking feature to prevent users from straying to malicious sites or sites that can hurt productivity.
- Managing applications – Administrators can also use the console to remove, view, or force-install applications, or even set policies for specific applications or extensions.
- Tracking devices—The Chromebook Management Console can also be used to assign devices to specific users and then generate configuration and usage reports, thereby providing administrators visibility into the organization’s assets.
- Configuring network access—The ability to configure network access for users through the console can be helpful not only for providing users internet and network connectivity but also to enforce security safeguards. It can help ensure users are protected by your organization’s web filters and firewalls.
Chromebook Management Console for Education
With the advent of hybrid learning, students are now more exposed to a greater number of threats, from malware and network-based threat actors to ordinary theft. As such, it is in the school’s best interest to enforce security measures that can mitigate these threats. The Chromebook Management Console can play a vital role in this regard. It can:
- Block applications and websites—If adults can be tempted to install unofficial applications or visit non-work-related websites, how much more can students be tempted? This is worrisome because it can expose students to various threats such as malware. To prevent any unauthorized activities, administrators can use the administrative console to block or allow specific applications and websites.
- Assign policies—In addition to application and website blocking, there are over a hundred more policies that can be implemented through the Chromebook Management Console.
- Track students’ device usage—All managed Chromebooks generate usage info, which can then be viewed through the console. Administrators can see various information, including password changes, account recovery changes, the date and time certain events occurred, the IP address associated with a log action, and so on.
- Handle student off-task behaviors—Since teachers can view a Chromebook’s browser history, they can use the console to implement more stringent measures if off-task behaviors are discovered.
In addition, the console can also be used to streamline certain administrative tasks such as assigning students to devices, providing network access, or installing applications.
Provide Secure Access to Your Windows Applications with Parallels Desktop for Chrome OS
As mentioned earlier, the Chromebook Management Console can be used to configure certain settings for Parallels Desktop for Chrome OS. But what is Parallels Desktop for Chrome OS, and why are we mentioning it here?
One of the biggest issues hounding Chromebooks is their inability to access Windows-compatible, native applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, which may hinder student/teacher and organizational performance. While these applications can be accessed through their web-based versions (either the free online versions or the Microsoft 365 versions), both versions become unusable the moment the user loses internet access.
Parallels Desktop for Chrome OS addresses that limitation. It provides users an easy and affordable solution that allows Chromebook users to access the Windows applications they’re accustomed to, regardless of whether they have an internet connection. This means users will not experience any loss of productivity.
Users of Parallels Desktop for Chrome OS can enjoy all the benefits of Chrome OS and Windows from a single device. They can share files and other content between each OS, switch between OSs effortlessly, and perform several other functions that involve the two platforms.
Learn more about Parallels Desktop for Chrome OS, and get a free trial!
