SchoolProtect User Guide

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Editing Policy Groups

When a policy group is in 'edit mode', its contents are displayed and can be modified to suit requirements.

This allows you to:

1.Edit the properties of the policy group such as its name, description and priority.

Please note: priority only applies to policy groups that target users rather than IPs. Even if present on an IP policy group, the priority does not have any effect.

2.Edit existing filtering policies inside the group

3.Create additional policies inside the group

4.Create or amend the scheduling of policies

5.Change the target of the group.

SchoolProtect functionality: How to target/activate a Policy Group in SchoolProtect

Settings Contained In A Policy Group

A policy group contains

•Properties

These include the name of the policy group which you can change to anything you require. A number of special characters such as !"£$% can not exist in a group's name.

The priority setting should be a whole number between 0 and 999.

In user-based policy groups, the priority setting is used to define higher and lower priorities. This is needed in case a single user is in two or more groups. When such a user needs to receive the appropriate policy for them, they will get the policy that has the highest priority. The highest priority is defined by the smallest number, so that 0 is the highest priority in the system and all subsequent numbers take a lower priority.

E.g. A user is linked to three policy groups. The priority settings of the groups are 1, 2 and 5. When that user logs in, the policy they should be filtered by is the one with priority setting of 1 since that is the highest priority available to them. As a rule, higher priority policies tend to be less restrictive than lower priority ones.

Please note: that the priority only applies to user-based policies and applying this number to policies targeting IP addresses will have no effect. This box will be not editable when the policy group is linked to IPs.

Description is an optional field to help you remember what purpose each policy group is designed for.

•One or more filtering policies

By default just one filtering policy will exist within a policy group. This will be the default policy which will have a default schedule of 24/7 attached to it.

The default policy within any policy group should not be deleted but can be modified and renamed as needed.

However, unlimited additional policies can be created. Each new policy will need a separate schedule created for it in order to take effect.

New filtering policies are created by pressing Clone on an existing policy within the group and then modifying its settings.

•Schedule

The default policy in a group will have a schedule which is set by default to 24/7.

Each new filtering policy added to a group will need a separate schedule created for it in order to take effect.

Use the Add New Schedule button to define a schedule for a new policy.

Once you have several policies and schedules, the View on Calendar button will show the various policy timings and relationship to each other.

•Target users

Each policy group needs to have a target defined in order to become active.

A target can be:

1.Any number of IP addresses

2.Security groups from your On-Prem Active Directory

3.Groups of USO users

4.Chromebook per-user filtering

5.Windows Azure AD devices

A policy group can only be linked to one type of target. For more details on targeting see below.

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Scheduling Policies

A policy group is designed to contain one or more filtering polices. All the policies in a group will have the same target but the different policies can be scheduled to take effect at times.

Each policy group contains a "default filtering policy". This policy is used as the starting point for that group. The default policy cannot be deleted although you can reconfigure the settings and change the name.

The default policy should also be linked to a schedule that is set to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Please note: It is possible that long-term users of SchoolProtect no longer have 24/7 policies within some filtering groups as these may have been modified in the past. It is advisable to have a schedule for 24/7. Not having such a schedule does NOT mean that filtering is off during the missing hours. In fact, the opposite happens and filtering reverts to a system default level over which a school has no control. It may also negatively impact on the web logs being correctly attributed.

Create a new filtering policy

Click Clone next to the policy you wish to use as the starting point for a new policy.

Give the new policy a name and click the Clone button in the pop-up to complete the action.

The new policy will get added to the list. To the right of this policy you will see red text saying Add Schedule. Unless a schedule is defined, this policy will never take effect.

Click the Add Schedule link or the Add New Schedule button further down the page to create a schedule.

When adding a schedule ensure the correct policy is selected at the top.

Specify the days and times needed to for the selected policy.

•Tick the day(s)

•Set the start time (hour and minutes)

•Ensure the End Day is set. This is provided by default and can be changed but should never be "inactive".

•Once all the selections are made, save the schedule. It will now take effect at the next scheduled time.

A new schedule will be shown in the list with one row for each day.

Edit a filtering policy

After cloning, or at any point, to edit a filtering policy click the Edit link to the left of the name.

Create overlapping schedule

A policy group may consist of many different policies, all scheduled for different times. Each policy should have its own schedule and overlapping schedules can be created.

When schedules overlap, they are simply layered on top of each other and the next schedule will start at its specified time. When a scheduled policy ends, the filtering policy will revert to the next active schedule.

Use the View on Calendar button to get a visual overview of how the policy schedules relate to each other. This will also help you easily identify any schedule that has been set incorrectly.

Editing a Filtering Policy

After clicking Edit on a policy group, please choose Edit on the policy you would like to change in the table titled "Filtering Policies". This will be to the left of the policy name you wish to modify.

This will show the different components of that policy.

The different types of items are separated in tabs. These are:

•Local List

•Categories

•Linked Bundles

•Schedules

•Properties

Local List

This list contains a set of entries which are either allowed or denied. These entries are used to increase the flexibility of the rules created by the definition of categories.

It allows you to allow an individual resource which is in a blocked category or to block a resource that is in an allowed category.

Adding an individual entry

To add an entry to the allow or deny list, please click the appropriate colored Add button. Green for allowed & red for denied.

Once the button has been pressed, a green or red box will pop up, asking for information. Once completed, please click Save to add the entry.

Information on the different item types is visible here

In this example, www.youtube.com is being added as an allowed URL, to give access to the website.

Once an entry has been added you will see it in the list that is has been added to.

The previous example has been saved & so the entry now appears in the allowed item table.

Changing an entry

To edit an entry, please click Edit next to the item. This will load a pop-up containing the entry's current details. Please make any required changes and then click Update.

This allows the entry or entry type to be changed.

Adding multiple entries

It's possible to make changes to a policy on bulk, without having to add entries one at a time.

This can be done via a spreadsheet containing the entries that need to be added.

Please use the example spreadsheet as a template, available via the Download Sample File button, to ensure the file will process correctly.

Once a spreadsheet has been filled out, simply upload the file via the import button & the changes will be made. The validation report will show any issues with any of the entries.

The contents of a policy's local list can be exported into a spreadsheet if required via the export button. This will export is into a format that can be uploaded to another policy if required.

Categories

Each filtering policy contains definitions for all the categories available in SchoolProtect. Categories will show as either blocked or allowed and can be changed at the establishment's discretion.

A number of categories are blocked at the system level, meaning that the school is not able to change the definitions of those categories. These categories are outlined in a separate list at the bottom of the screen.

To change a category definition from allowed to denied or vice versa, select one or more categories and use the arrows to move the categories into the other list.

When such a change is made, the effect takes effect nearly instantly and no saving of the setting is required.

Linked Bundles

The bundles tab allows you to link pre-existing bundles of URLs, IP addresses, keywords and other entries to the policy being edited.

There are three types of bundles, ones created by your establishment, a group you are part of and others which are available from the system level.

If you wish to allow access to resources like YouTube, a bundle will be available that is maintained at the system level. You can choose to link this bundle to your policy and it will serve the desired purpose as well as get automatically updated if any other items need to be added to it in future.

A list of the available bundles is visible on the screen. You can easily view the contents of each bundle. If you decide to use a bundle simply link it to the policy. The same bundle can be used in multiple policies.

Schedules

The schedules tab within a filtering policy allows you to create and edit a schedule for the selected policy.

Each policy in a group must have its own schedule in order to take affect. Existing schedules can be edited to change the day and/or the time.

The simplest way to change a schedule is to delete an exiting schedule entry and create a new one in its place.

To see how the different schedules of the various policies relate to each other, use the View on Calendar button to get a visual overview. A policy without a schedule will never be active.