It works with SIMS, Arbor, Bromcom and every other MIS supported by Wonde, and it was built in the UK for UK schools and multi-academy trusts.

Why “glass box”?

Most school sync tools are black boxes: you press the button, cross your fingers, and find out at 8:45am what actually happened, if anything at all! Realsmart Sync is a glass box. Before anything runs, you can read the exact plan it will execute. While it runs, you can watch every action land. Afterwards, every change is written to an audit trail. Nothing is hidden, nothing is hand wavy and nothing irreversible happens without you typing it out in full.

• Preview mode on every platform: run the real sync logic and see the full process outlined with nothing applied
• Live dashboards: every success, error and retry message grouped by type, with plain English “what to do about this” guidance
• Read-only live checks: interrogate Google and Entra data directly from a user’s record, no admin console needed, it’s all in one place.
• Append only audit and logs: who changed what, when, and from where for full accountability.
• Reversible by design: deletions are soft and restorable, Classroom archiving can be undone, merges keep full history

One MIS feed. Every platform. Per-school control.

Each integration is a toggle of a switch, not a project. Turn platforms on or off per school, and flip any platform into preview mode at any time. The sync keeps on planning, but stops touching your data until you flip it back.

Google Workspace sync for schools

Everything your Google environment needs, provisioned from the MIS, see our dedicated MIS to Google sync page for the full story.

• Accounts created, updated, suspended and restored straight from the MIS data.
• Organisational unit placement driven by templates (/Students/{YEAR}, teaching vs non-teaching staff, suspended OUs) With a live preview of where every member will land
• Group sync with full Google group settings (posting, moderation, discovery) controlled per group
• Google Classroom provisioned from your timetable, with end-of-term archiving policy and a fallback owner so a course is never orphaned when a teacher leaves
• Guardian invitations for Classroom managed in bulk
• Full timetables synced to Google Calendar, per user, with one click re-sync ability

Microsoft Entra & Microsoft 365 sync

Provision Microsoft 365 for your whole school from the same MIS feed. Users, groups, Teams and licences, all visible in the same glass box.

• User provisioning with your UPN domain, straight from the MIS
• Group and Teams synced, plus administrative units by year and role
• Automatic Microsoft 365 licence assignment by SKU. New starters are licensed before their first lesson!
• Default password policy for learners and staff, as complex as you want to set it
• Live permission tests that verify every granted scope (read users, manage groups, assign licences) in seconds

Active Directory sync (on-prem)

A lightweight connector runs on your Windows Server and takes its orders from the same glass-box engine. So your on-prem environment gets the same visibility as your cloud. Find more details on our Active Directory sync page.

• OU mapping for staff and students, teaching vs non-teaching, leavers, home folders and profile paths with wildcards
• Year group and intake year mapping, plus attribute mapping onto AD fields
• Password sync down to AD, with an encrypted queue and a full per-user update log
• A preview export showing the exact rows the connector will apply, downloadable as CSV
• Exclusions and a test mode that runs the whole sync without writing a thing

Apple School Manager sync

Managed Apple IDs without the spreadsheet wrangling, see our Apple School Manager sync page.

• The full OneRoster CSV bundle built automatically from your MIS data
• Uploaded to Apple over SFTP on demand or via a daily schedule
• Test the connection, build the export, preview every CSV and upload, four separate, easy and visible steps

Proof before you press go

This is the heart of “glass”. Anyone can promise a school MIS sync; we show you the plan first, computed by the same code that runs live.

Moving to Realsmart from another sync tool? or even from no tool at all! Cloud reconciliation audits the Google estate you already have and lines it up with your MIS before the sync ever goes live. It sorts every account, group and Classroom into four piles (already lined up, needs a decision, only in Google, only in Realsmart), spots systematic naming differences, and proposes matching rules you confirm once, instead of matching hundreds of items by hand.

Built for multi-academy trusts

Realsmart Sync is trust native, not school software with a workaround bolted on. Explore all our MAT features.

• A trust-wide overview: every school, every platform, user counts and sync health at a glance
• Find a single person across every school in the trust, with per-school status and one click log tracing
• A cross-trust activity timeline that follows one person’s accounts through every school, we know staff can switch schools in a trust.
• A guided merge wizard for duplicate people across schools. Compare fields, preview consequences, and undo from the merge history
• Per-admin school access: full or reduced, reviewed and changed from one screen
• App defaults pushed to every school’s launchpad in one action
• Shared Google domain “trust authority” so schools stop undoing each other’s work

End of year, without the fear

Summer is where school sync tools break schools. Ours freezes instead: after your final provision date the window closes, summer MIS churn is held, and everything resumes automatically for the new year. Reconciling new classes, moved year groups and leavers in one pass. Before any of it happens, you can run the entire end of term as a dry run for peace of mind.

• A visible provisioning window with editable freeze and resume dates
• School wide Classroom archiving policy, overridable per group and reversible
• End of term tidy-up for protected users and groups, with Classroom-ownership warnings and type-to-confirm deletion (soft, restorable, logged)
• Stale orphan review for cloud accounts that no longer exist in the MIS

Everyday admin, minus the drudgery

• Bulk actions across any selection of users: status, passwords, 2FA, QR login cards, roles, group membership
• Password rules, expiry and 2FA enrolment per school, for staff and students independently
• Imports that can’t hurt you: user import with column mapping and row by row validation (nothing queues until every row is clean), plus password and cohort imports with matched/unmatched previews
• One-click CSV exports. Users, logins, groups, emails, AD and Apple bundles, plus a daily snapshot of exactly what your MIS has sent
• A read only browser for your Wonde origin data, so you can tell in seconds whether an issue is in the source or the sync
• A read only, scope limited API with per-token permissions for your own integrations

All of it, in one price

Everything on this page is one product. Google, Microsoft, Active Directory and Apple included. MAT tooling included. The preview engine, the audit trail, the end of year automation, all included. No per-platform modules, no add-ons, no “enterprise tier” for the safety features every school deserves. Most schools recover the cost in saved admin time within the first term, and keep the peace of mind forever.

See your own data in glass. 91��ɫ a demo and we’ll connect your MIS in preview mode, you’ll watch the full plan for your school appear without a single change being made. That’s the point. Questions first? Get in touch.

Frequently asked questions

Which MIS does Realsmart Sync work with?

Realsmart Sync connects to your MIS through Wonde, so it works with SIMS, Arbor, Bromcom and the other management information systems Wonde supports. If Wonde can read it, we can sync it.

Can we sync to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 at the same time?

Yes. Each platform is an independent, per-school toggle many of our schools run Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra, Active Directory and Apple School Manager side by side from the same MIS feed, and each platform can be in live or preview mode independently.

Do we need to install anything?

For Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Apple School Manager… nothing. They’re cloud-to-cloud. For on-prem Active Directory there’s a lightweight connector that runs on your Windows Server and authenticates with a school specific token.

Is it safe to try alongside our current setup?

Yes, that’s exactly what the preview mode is for. We connect your MIS, the sync composes a full plan for your school, and nothing is applied until you switch the platform to live. If you already have a Google environment, cloud reconciliation lines it up with your MIS first so the sync adopts your existing accounts instead of duplicating them.

What happens at the end of the school year?

The provisioning window freezes over the summer on a final provision date that can be set by you, Google Classrooms are archived according to your policy, and sync resumes automatically for the new year, with a full dry-run preview available before any of it happens.

Does it support multi-academy trusts?

Fully. A trust-wide overview, cross school user search and log tracing, duplicate merging with undo, per-admin school access and trust-wide app defaults are all built in, one subscription, every school.

All screenshots in this post show our demonstration trust and test data.

The post Realsmart Sync: the glass-box sync engine for schools appeared first on realsmart.

Many schools sign up for what appears to be a reasonable package, only to discover later that simple tasks are subject to punitive fees. It’s time to shine a light on these practices so your budget doesn’t suffer an unnecessary drain.

Hidden Charges for Small Brand Changes

Your school’s brand identity is crucial, and maintaining it should not be a costly exercise. Unfortunately, many providers treat the simplest updates as major development projects.

Imagine needing to adjust your primary school colour from navy blue to royal blue, or perhaps changing the font size on a navigation bar. These are minor CSS adjustments that take minutes for a professional developer. However, many school website providers will charge a minimum service fee, often billed by the hour, for tasks that are little more than administrative updates.

• Colour Changes: A simple refresh of your brand’s colour palette can trigger a service fee.
• Adding New Elements: Want to add a simple counter or a new testimonials section that uses existing code? Expect a charge.
• Creativity and Layout Adjustments: Introducing a slight design change to a page layout—perhaps moving an image from the left to the right—should be straightforward. When it requires the provider to log into the backend and make the change for you, you’re opening the door to a charge.

These charges often rely on the fact that schools are not given full, easy access to their own website’s core code or content management system (CMS), forcing them to rely on the provider for simple changes.

The Cost of Adding New Features

While major feature development is rightly chargeable, many providers charge substantial integration fees for elements that should be standard or easily plug-and-play. This often includes:

• Linking to a new third-party service (e.g., a new sports booking system).
• Adding a simple blog or news section that wasn’t included in the original template.
• Integrating social media feeds.

Always read your contract for what is included in the “standard” package and what qualifies as a “custom development request.” The line can be blurred to the provider’s financial advantage.

are easily added into realsmart school websites via a plugin any site admin can access.

The Migration Trap: Fees for Leaving

One of the most significant, and often hidden costs comes when a school decides to move to a new platform or provider.

This is the “exit fee” in disguise. School website providers know that if they make the process of leaving prohibitively expensive, schools will stay simply because they cannot afford the move.

Data and Content Export Fees

The content you created your text, images, documents, and news archives is your property. Yet, providers frequently charge hefty fees to “prepare,” “export,” or “release” your data. This process, which can often be automated or completed quickly, is manually extended and heavily charged for, ranging from hundreds to thousands of currency units.

Domain Transfer and Hostage

In some worst case scenarios, providers will make the domain name transfer difficult or charge excessive fees to release control of the school’s domain (e.g., yourschoolname.org). Always ensure your school legally owns and has administrative access to its domain name, separate from the website hosting agreement.

What about realsmart?

At realsmart we have no hidden costs, we don’t charge for changes to your brand, tweaks to pages or integrations with 3rd Parties. We don’t charge any exit fees, we don’t charge to move you over to newer platforms and access to our support team is also free.

Need some training? We will happily jump on a call, again no charge. Looking to move away to another provider? No exit fees to get an export of your posts and pages.

You may be thinking why do we not charge fees for some of these services if other providers do charge? Well we simply don’t believe you should be charged, it’s as simple as that. We form partnerships with our clients and if you leave we always want to leave that door open with a good previous experience.

The post Hit with hidden charges with your school website provider? appeared first on realsmart.

At realsmart, our powerful MIS to AD Sync tool has been specifically designed to completely reduce your admin workload. By automatically creating users, groups, and organisational units (OUs) straight from your Management Information System (MIS) into your Windows Server, you can save time and cut costs. In addition, you can ensure your data is always perfectly synchronised. In other words, The Ultimate Guide to AD Sync For Schools: Automate Your MIS to Active Directory gives your team the clarity to automate these crucial processes.

Why Choose Our Active Directory Sync For Schools?

Managing school network access shouldn’t be complicated. Our tool sits between your MIS and your Windows Server. We fetch data from your MIS to our realsmart system multiple times per day. You can then sync this data with your Windows Server as many times as you like.

When users appear in your MIS, they are automatically provisioned to realsmart. Because we have constant access to your live MIS data, we can keep your AD up to date by seamlessly adding new users. Furthermore, we remove suspended users and maintain complex OU structures. Moreover, The Ultimate Guide to AD Sync For Schools: Automate Your MIS to Active Directory explains how these automated actions can improve school security and efficiency.

Key Features Designed for Schools

Our super cost-effective tool gives you complete control over how your data is handled. Key features include:

• Easy Web Interface: Update all your sync settings from our easy-to-use cloud interface from anywhere, at any time. Simply log in, make your changes, and they will be reflected the next time the sync runs.

• Disable Users Automatically: Automatically suspend users in AD and move them into a specific disabled OU as soon as they leave the school in your MIS.

• Run PowerShell Scripts: Trigger custom PowerShell scripts on new users as they are created to handle advanced network permissions and folders.

• Total Customisation: Configure how display names appear, which groups users are attached to, and set default passwords (including forcing a password change on next login).

• Automated Logs and Notifications: Never miss a beat. When you run an AD Sync for schools, you receive an automated email notification detailing exactly what has changed, alongside full change logs stored securely in our Smartadmin system.

We’ve made configuring your MIS to AD Sync incredibly straightforward. The first step of the process is telling the realsmart system exactly how you want your data mapped out.

Through our customisable user interface, you can set rules for display names and specify where users belong in your Organisational Units (OUs). You can also map out your groups and apply your school’s unique password policies. Additionally, you can always refer back to The Ultimate Guide to AD Sync For Schools: Automate Your MIS to Active Directory whenever you need clarity on best practices.

If you’re an existing customer looking to get started, you can follow our comprehensive step-by-step guide on .

Deploying on Your Windows Server

Once your rules are built in the web app, the next step is connecting it to your school’s local environment.

You can run the sync tool directly from your Windows Server using the built-in Windows Task Scheduler. This means you can dictate exactly when and how often the sync pulls the processed MIS data down into your Active Directory. Whether you want to sync once a day at midnight or every hour, you are entirely in control.

Need help installing the client on your server?

A Super Cost-Effective Solution for Schools

School budgets are tight, and IT resources are often stretched thin. You don’t need to spend thousands on enterprise-level identity management platforms that are overly complex and hard to support.

Our tool is tailored specifically to the education sector—providing exactly what schools need to bridge the gap between their MIS and their local network without the premium price tag.

Ready to make manual data entry a thing of the past?

Learn more about our Microsoft Active Directory Sync tool and book a demo today!

The post The Ultimate Guide to AD Sync For Schools: Automate Your MIS to Active Directory appeared first on realsmart.

How to defend against these threats

• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA): MFA is a critical defence against attackers logging into your account and accessing sensitive data.
  School Admins can now force staff to use MFA either on a user by user basis or select all staff. Simply select users and select Enable 2FA from Password Bulk Actions. We recommend Google Authenticator (or use an Authenticator app that you are already using)
  
  This realsmart article explains how your admins can implement MFA
  
  
  This article will help your staff set up MFA
  
  

• Educate users: Train your staff to be cautious of phishing attempts and to report suspicious activity immediately.
  
• Ensure your password is not a default. Adopting the ‘three random words’ technique can help users to use suitably complex passphrases that they can actually remember.
  
• Adopt a password policy for your users, where they must use complex passwords and a password expiry duration prompts user to update their password.
  
  This article explains the realsmart password options and settings
  
  

What Realsmart are doing to ensure you are more protected

• Realsmart is taking a pro-active approach to ensure that you have the tools to protect your users and data
• Admin users can now be managed in an Admin OU in your Google Workspace Environment
• All users in the Admin OU can easily be prompted to enable Google’s multi-factor authentication via google 2FA settings

Our Commitment

We value your trust and are committed to maintaining the security of your users data.

The post Security Update appeared first on realsmart.

Take a look at the plugin in action on our own website below!

Step by step guide to add the snowfall effect

Need a hand to activate the plugin? Follow these steps to get the website snowfall effect applied to your school website!

1. Log into your website with an administrator account (required to activate plugins)
2. Navigate to the WordPress dashboard
3. Click on “Plugins” on the left hand side navigation bar
4. Search for snow in the plugins search box
5. You should see a listing for a plugin called “WP Snow Effect”
6. Click activate
7. All done!

What to do next?

Don’t forget to set a reminder to de-activate the plugin when you are ready for the website snow effect to be taken down. You can also customise the plugin with some additional settings which include specifying which pages the effect is to appear on, the amount of snowfall and even the size of the snowflakes!

Don’t forget if you need any assistance our support team and have plenty of assistance for you!

The post Website Snow Effect! appeared first on realsmart.

For HR managers, school administrators, and compliance officers, maintaining a “Single Source of Truth” for policy documents is a constant headache. You upload a PDF, link it on a page, update the PDF, and suddenly the link breaks—or worse, staff are still downloading the outdated version.

Enter the Smart Policies Plugin to assist in managing your school policies efficiently.

A Professional Document Library for WordPress

We built Smart Policies to solve the specific problem of grouping and displaying critical documents without the visual clutter. It’s not just a file list; it’s a document management experience ideal for handling school policies effectively.

Why You’ll Love It

1. Text links are boring and hard to scan. Smart Policies renders your documents in a clean, modern interface that mimics the look and feel of professional cloud storage tools like OneDrive. It looks trustworthy and organised right out of the box.

2. Instant Searchability Your employees shouldn’t have to scroll through 50 files to find the “Social Media Guidelines.” The plugin includes a built-in, instant search bar. As soon as a user types, the list filters down. It’s fast, responsive, and intuitive.

3. Cloud-Native Efficiency Designed with modern infrastructure in mind, Smart Policies integrates seamlessly with our CDN. This means your files are served securely and quickly via the cloud, keeping your WordPress site lightweight and fast.

5. Drag, Drop, Done. Managing policies shouldn’t require a developer. Managing your school policies becomes straightforward; if you can use the WordPress Media Library, you can use Smart Policies. Select your files, give them a friendly “Display Name”

(so users see “Annual Leave Policy” instead of ALP__Latestv1.pdf), and drop the shortcode onto any page.

Get Organised Today

Stop manually coding HTML lists for your documents. Switch to a smarter, safer, and cleaner way to manage your school’s policies.

Ready to clean up your compliance docs? .

If you are not currently a Realsmart customer, check out our Smartsites page!

The post Stop the Policy Chaos: Introducing the Smart Policies Plugin appeared first on realsmart.

As an existing Realsmart customer, you already understand the value of automation. You use our MIS-to-Google Sync to ensure that when a student joins or a staff member leaves, their digital identity is instantly updated in Google Workspace. It’s seamless, secure, and saves countless hours of administration.

But identity management is only half the battle. The other half is licensing management.

Many schools are now moving beyond the free “Education Fundamentals” and adopting paid tiers like “Education Plus” or “Teaching and Learning Upgrade” for advanced security and teaching features. Managing these paid licenses manually is a headache, a compliance risk, and often leads to wasted budget on unused seats.

By appointing Realsmart as your official Google Reseller, you don’t just get a place to buy licenses; you unlock a new level of intelligent automation that bridges the gap between user identity and user licensing.

The Realsmart Reseller Advantage: More Than Just Procurement

As a Google for Education partner, Realsmart can supply all types of Google Workspace licenses. But why switch your reseller relationship to us?

The answer is simplicity and synergy.

Because we already manage your user provisioning lifecycle through the MIS Sync, we are uniquely positioned to manage the licenses attached to those users. Consolidating your licensing with us means:

1. A Single Point of Truth: Your identity management and licensing support are under one roof. Our support team knows your MIS setup, your sync rules, and now, your licensing structure.

2. Simplified Billing: Reduce vendor sprawl by handling your Google costs through the same partner managing your Google identities.

The Game Changer: Intelligent License Automation on Suspension

This is where having the folks who manage your identities also manage your licenses pays huge dividends.

You already rely on Realsmart to automatically suspend a user in Google Workspace when they are marked as “off-roll” or leavers in your MIS. This secures the account immediately.

However, a suspended user still holds onto a license.

If that user was holding a premium “Education Plus” license, you are still paying for it even though they can’t log in.

When Realsmart is your reseller, we close this loop. Because our system triggers the suspension, we can simultaneously trigger an action to strip the paid license from that user.

The Benefit: This instantly returns the expensive license to your Available pool, ready to be reassigned to a new active user. You no longer need to manually audit suspended users to claw back licenses. It ensures you are only ever utilising licenses for active members of your community.

Taking Control: Automated Licensing via Organisational Units (OUs)

While Realsmart handles the removal of licenses upon departure, Google provides excellent native tools for the automatic assignment of licenses upon arrival.

To maximise efficiency, you should configure your Google Admin Console to assign specific licenses based on Organisational Units (OUs). For example, you might want everyone in the “Staff” OU to automatically receive an Education Plus license, while the “Students” OU receives Fundamentals.

Here is a quick guide on how to set this up:

1. Access License Settings Log into your Google Admin console. From the Home page, go to Billing and then License settings.

2. Select Your OU On the left panel, click on the Organisational Unit (OU) you want to configure (e.g., “Mentors”).

3. Choose the License Type Select the license subscription you wish to manage for this OU (e.g., “Google Workspace for Education Plus”).

The Next Logical Step

You trust Realsmart with the security and efficiency of your user provisioning. Let us extend that same efficiency to your licensing budget.

By moving your Google Workspace for Education licensing to Realsmart, you gain intelligent automation that ensures you are no longer paying for licenses assigned to suspended users, all while simplifying your support and billing.

The post Why Realsmart Should Be Your Google Workspace for Education Reseller appeared first on realsmart.

For years, the WordPress Classic Editor was the standard tool for updating school websites. While it did the job, let’s be honest, it wasn’t always user friendly. We know that for busy school administrators, teachers, and office staff, trying to format a newsletter or upload a gallery often meant wrestling with shortcodes, broken layouts, and a lot of frustration.

At Realsmart, we believe your website should be as easy to manage as it is beautiful to look at. That’s why we are championing the (Gutenberg). It is a transformative solution that allows anyone regardless of technical ability, to build stunning, professional pages in minutes.

Think of the Block Editor like a digital set of building blocks. You don’t need to know code; you just pick the piece you want (a paragraph, an image, a video, or a file) and stack it into place.

Here is why the Block Editor is a game changer for your school, and how it works seamlessly with your Realsmart design.

1. What You See Is What You Get (Literally)

The old Classic Editor forced you to work in a text box that looked nothing like your final page. You had to rely on a “Preview” button to check if your image was aligned or if your text was wrapped correctly.

The Block Editor uses a True Visual Editing approach. If you drag an image to the right of your text, that is exactly where it stays. This gives non technical users the confidence to create attractive layouts without fear of “breaking” the site.

• Classic Editor (Old Way): Relied on complex menus and guesswork for columns and spacing.
• Block Editor (Realsmart Way): Want a row with a photo of the Headteacher on the left and a welcome message on the right? Just insert a Columns Block and fill in the blanks. It’s responsive, meaning it automatically adjusts to look great on mobile phones, a standard for all Realsmart sites.

2. Stunning Visuals Without the Design Degree

We know that first impressions count for prospective parents and your community. The Block Editor makes adding “wow factor” content incredibly simple.

• Galleries Made Easy: Forget uploading images one by one. With the Gallery Block, you can drag and drop an entire folder of photos from the latest school trip or sports day. The editor automatically arranges them into a sleek grid that looks professionally designed.
• Video & Media: Want to embed a welcome video or a virtual tour? Just paste the link into a Video Block, and it embeds perfectly. No embedding codes or HTML required.

3. Keeping Your Brand Consistent

One of the biggest worries for schools is maintaining a consistent “look and feel” across hundreds of pages. With a customized Realsmart website, the Block Editor becomes your brand guardian.

We configure your specific Style Variations and Block Settings to match your school’s colours and fonts. Whether a teacher is updating a class blog or the office is posting a vacancy, the buttons, quotes, and headings will always match your school’s unique branding automatically. You focus on the content; the editor handles the design.

4. Effortless Compliance and Accessibility

School websites must adhere to strict accessibility guidelines (like WCAG) to ensure all parents and students can access information. The Block Editor does the heavy lifting for you:

• Automatic Accessibility: The blocks generate clean, semantic code that screen readers love.
• Helpful Prompts: When you upload a photo, the Image Block reminds you to add “Alt Text” (a description of the image), ensuring you remain compliant without having to think about the technical details.
• Policy Management: Using our specialized integration, you can easily link to policies stored in Google Drive or OneDrive directly within a block, ensuring you never have out of date statutory information on your site, a massive win for DfE compliance.

5. Save Time with “Reusable Blocks”

This is the secret weapon for busy school secretaries and communicators. If you have content you use all the time, you can save it as a Reusable Block.

• The “Emergency Alert”: Create a high visibility notice for snow days or school closures. Save it, and next time you need it, drag it onto the homepage in seconds.
• The “Call to Action”: Have a standard “Apply Now” or “Contact the Office” section? Build it once, save it, and drop it onto any page whenever you need it.

We Are Here to Help You Switch

Making the switch is simpler than you might think. WordPress automatically keeps your old content safe in a “Classic Block” until you are ready to update it.

To help you get the best out of your Realsmart website:

• Use Our Guides: Check out our support portal for easy to follow guides on using the Block Editor.
• Team Training: We offer training as part of our onboarding process. If you need a refresher for new staff on how to use the File Block for newsletters or the Social Feed integrations, let us know!
• Unlimited Support: Remember, as a Realsmart customer, you have access to unlimited . If you get stuck trying to arrange a page or want advice on the best block to use for a specific announcement, our team is just a phone call or email away.

By embracing the Block Editor, you aren’t just updating software; you are empowering your whole school community to tell their stories beautifully and easily. Everyone we’ve introduced to the block editor has not looked back!

The post WordPress Block Editor: Creating Content Has Never Been Easier appeared first on realsmart.

If you’re in school IT, your world likely revolves around two massive, time-consuming challenges: finding ways to get True SSO into Entra and automated Entra ID provisioning from your MIS.

1. The Password Problem: A constant flood of helpdesk tickets for forgotten passwords to Microsoft 365, Google, and a dozen other learning apps.

2. The Data Problem: The endless, manual, error-prone task of updating user accounts every time a student joins or a class changes.

You know what you need. You’re searching for a seamless SSO into Entra (formerly Azure AD) to solve the password problem. But you also need robust, automated Entra ID provisioning from your MIS (like SIMS, Bromcom, or Arbor) to solve the data problem.

What if you could solve both with one, education-focused platform?

This is why Realsmart is the Identity Provider (IdP) your school needs. It’s not just another SSO tile; it’s the central engine built to automate your entire school’s digital identity.

The Game-Changer: Automated Entra ID Provisioning from Your MIS

Let’s start with your biggest headache. Your MIS is the single source of truth, but getting that data into Microsoft 365 is a manual nightmare.

��𲹱�����������’s Microsoft Entra Sync tool is the solution you’ve been looking for. It bridges the gap. This is powerful, set-and-forget Entra ID provisioning from your MIS:

• Automated User Accounts: Realsmart reads your MIS and automatically creates, updates, and disables staff and student accounts in Entra ID. A new student in your MIS is in Teams by lunchtime—without you lifting a finger.

• Intelligent Group Creation: It doesn’t just create users. It automatically builds and maintains your critical groups in Entra ID: teaching groups, registration groups, year groups, and more.

This deep automation saves hundreds of IT hours, eliminates data-entry errors, and ensures your learning environment is always in sync.

True Single Sign-On (SSO) into Entra

Once your users are in Entra ID, how do they access it?

This is where Realsmart’s role as a central IdP shines. By federating your Microsoft 365 tenant with Realsmart, you deliver a true SSO into Entra.

The experience becomes seamless:

1. A teacher or student logs in once—at your Realsmart-powered school website or portal.

2. From their personalised dashboard, they click the Outlook, Teams, or OneDrive icon.

3. They are in. Instantly. No second password prompt.

This single, secure “front door” eliminates password fatigue, slashes helpdesk tickets, and reclaims valuable learning time.

One IdP for Your Entire Hybrid World: Microsoft, Google, and Your Portal

Let’s be realistic: almost every school is a hybrid environment. You run on Microsoft 365, but you also rely on Google Classroom, a school website, and other third-party apps.

Realsmart unifies this entire landscape. The same IdP and the same single login that provides SSO into Entra also signs your users directly into:

• Google Workspace: No more “Sign in with Google” vs. “Sign in with Microsoft” confusion.

• Your School Website: The portal becomes the central launchpad for everyone—staff, students, and even parents.

• All Your Other Apps: From online textbooks to VLEs, if it supports SAML SSO, Realsmart can connect to it.

Stop Searching. Start Automating.

If you’re tired of manual data entry and are looking for a complete solution for both SSO into Entra and automated Entra ID provisioning from your MIS, your search is over.

Realsmart is the partner built for education that solves both problems at once. It streamlines your IT management, secures your environment, and gives your users the simple, frictionless experience they deserve.

Ready to see the technical details? Check out the to see just how deep this integration goes.

Need any help? Contact Us.

The post Get True SSO into Entra & Automated Entra ID Provisioning from Your MIS appeared first on realsmart.

Why a Countdown Timer is useful for Schools

Countdown timers are more than just a visual gimmick; they’re a proven method for enhancing engagement. By visually showcasing the time remaining until a key event, you can:

• Create Urgency for Deadlines: Prompt students to prioritise their studies as exams approach or encourage timely submission of assignments.
• Build Excitement for Events: Generate buzz for school plays, sporting events, or charity drives, increasing attendance and participation.
• Improve Student Preparedness: Provide clear visual cues for important dates, helping students manage their time and prepare effectively.
• Enhance Communication: Offer a simple, eye-catching way to communicate upcoming events to students, parents, and staff.

How to Implement the Shortcode

We make it incredibly easy to integrate a countdown timer into your website. With just a simple shortcode, you can customise your timer to fit your specific needs. For detailed instructions and advanced options, be sure to check out the .

Here’s a basic overview of how it works:

1. Identify Your Target Date and Time: Determine the date and time of an upcoming event.
2. Insert the Shortcode: Place the countdown timer shortcode directly into your page content or widget area (header widgets are ideal!).

Customise (Optional): The plugin looks great out of the box but it can be customised to match your brand colours, contact our team if you need help with this.

Example Usage for Schools:

Imagine your school wants to clearly display the remaining time until the final exams. You could use the shortcode to place a prominent countdown on the student portal or the school’s homepage, encouraging students to focus on their revision.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need help putting a countdown timer on your school website, our support team will be happy to help!

The post Countdown to any event with our countdown timer! appeared first on realsmart.