Go-Live Guide
Use this guide when preparing a pilot or district-wide rollout of Ember. It summarizes what your team and ours complete before students and teachers use the platform in production.
Overview
A successful launch aligns your people, data, and policies with Ember’s security and privacy controls. Most districts complete these steps in 2–4 weeks depending on SIS complexity and SSO requirements.
1. Contract & privacy
| Item | Owner | Notes |
|---|
| Data Processing Agreement (DPA) | District legal + Ember | Covers FERPA-aligned student data handling |
| Business Associate Agreement (BAA) | If applicable | For districts with HIPAA-adjacent programs |
| Subprocessor list review | District IT | Available on request for procurement |
| Approved use policy | District | Teacher and student acceptable-use alignment |
2. Identity & access
| Item | Owner | Notes |
|---|
| SSO (SAML or OIDC) | District IT + Ember | Recommended for staff; optional for students |
| Admin accounts | District + Ember CSM | At least two org admins with MFA enabled |
| Role mapping | District IT | Teachers, students, parents, subs — aligned to your SIS |
| MFA for administrators | District policy | Required for Ember org admins |
3. Rostering & SIS
| Item | Owner | Notes |
|---|
| Clever or ClassLink | District IT | Secure Sync or OneRoster — preferred for K–12 |
| OneRoster CSV | Alternative | Supported for initial pilots |
| Google Classroom import | Optional | Course-level roster pull |
| Nightly sync window | District IT | Typically off-peak; Ember confirms schedule |
4. LMS & tools
| Item | Owner | Notes |
|---|
| LTI 1.3 registration | District LMS admin | See LTI Integration Guide |
| Grade passback scope | Instructional lead | Which courses sync grades back to the SIS/LMS |
| Integrations inventory | District IT | Video, storage, identity — documented in onboarding |
5. Instructional readiness
| Item | Owner | Notes |
|---|
| Pilot cohort selected | Principal / IT | 1–3 schools or departments recommended |
| Teacher onboarding session | Ember CSM | Live or async training on grading, TA, and roster |
| Family communication | District comms | How parents access observer accounts (if used) |
| Support escalation path | District help desk | Tier 1 → district IT → Ember support |
6. Security & compliance review
| Item | Owner | Notes |
|---|
| SOC 2 control overview | Procurement | SOC 2 Controls |
| Incident notification process | District + Ember | Incident Response |
| Accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA) | District accessibility lead | VPAT available on request |
| Data retention preferences | District records | Aligns with state retention rules |
7. Launch week
- Final roster sync — confirm student and teacher counts match SIS.
- Smoke test — admin, teacher, and student login on a pilot course.
- Go / no-go — district IT and Ember CSM sign off.
- Hypercare — first two weeks with elevated support response.
Need help?
Our customer success and integrations teams walk districts through each step.
- Contact us for onboarding
- Security & compliance for procurement packets