How GAT Significantly Reduces Workloads and Speeds Up Domain Auditing at the American International School - Riyadh
About the School
American International School – Riyadh is an independent K12 school in Saudi Arabia that offers an American curriculum, including the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
The school enrols around 1,550 students of more than 60 nationalities. Graduates enter prestigious colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, the UK, and the Middle East.
Students use 1:1 devices, following the BYOD policy. The school has employed Google Workspace for Education Plus.
Students
Serving 2000 accounts / 1600 students.
Subscription Type
Manage Plan
Includes
About Khalid Abdeltam
What Challenges Faced Khalid Managing the School Domain
As in all top-performing international schools, data security is always a high priority. When the new Saudi Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) was approved, adhering to this law required some advancements in AIS-Rs’ current practice, which was when Khalid investigated using GAT.
Before installing GAT, Khalid used GAM to manage the domain, but it didn’t cover all his needs, such as monitoring external shares. GAM was more focused on reacting to ongoing issues – it didn’t allow him to be proactive in their prevention.
GAT Labs toolset was recommended by Greg Clinton from the American International School of Chennai during a presentation at the NESA (Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools) conference.
How GAT Labs Impacted This School Domain Management
Today, the GAT Labs tools support Khalid in enforcing data protection and cybersecurity in the school. GAT works perfectly for him when setting up, auditing, and reporting on school policies. He uses them daily to manage data retention, monitor user accounts, and schedule automated reports.
Enhanced Compliance with Data Protection Laws
Since September 2023, schools operating within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia must comply with the Saudi Personal Data Protection Law. This act requires, among other things, strict 5-year personal data retention. Before deploying the GAT toolset, achieving this compliance was challenging, so the school looked for a more advanced solution for monitoring and managing internal and external sharing of documents, including sensitive data.
"Using Gat, I was able to schedule this yearly basis where we keep data for five years and then automatically delete it. As the head of technology, I know the processes will be scheduled, and it's easier for me to manage."
Khalid schedules the automated deletion of the relevant OUs and other specific data annually using customized recurring workflows in GAT Flow. He sets the highest data privacy, cybersecurity, and child protection standards to comply with all national and global regulations.
Streamlined User Signature Management
Managing users was a time-consuming task. Previously, the IT team at the American International School Riyadh was used to update email signatures and amend email addresses manually.
Since deploying GAT on the domain, signature management has become an automated process. GAT Flow’s customized workflows allow Khalid and his team to automatically update user data, such as email signatures, when new members join the OU or their information has been modified.
How Khalid’s Daily Work Revolutionized with the GAT Labs Tools
With GAT Suite, managing their school domain and reviewing and updating all the user data now takes Khalid a few days instead of weeks.
GAT Labs tools have transformed how their Google Workspace for Education is managed. GAT+ improves monitoring of the entire school domain, particularly managing files shared externally. GAT Flow enables Khalid to automate recurring tasks such as signature management and personal data retention for five years.
His biggest success is carrying out a series of database clean-ups due to the system migration in 2024. Thanks to GAT, he was able to audit and remove inactive user accounts and their data from 2010-2011 over the summer – and this is just the beginning.
Khalid shares that the GAT Labs toolset brings great value to every school using Google Workspace for Education. He is happy to recommend it to the entire community of international schools that prioritize data protection and cybersecurity.
Discover how GAT Labs can help your school
manage your Google Classroom
How GAT Significantly Reduces Workloads and Speeds Up Domain Auditing at the American International School - Riyadh
How the American International School Chennai has significantly strengthened data security
Explore how the AISC Prevented 20+ Data Leaks in 2 Years with GAT Labs.
How The Green Acres Academy Reduced Work Time by 30% Year Using GAT Labs Tools
Discover how The Green Acres Academy has reduced 25-30% time spent on IT tasks.
How The Good Shepherd International School Improves Student Security and Safety
Explore how GAT Labs Improves Student Security and Safety at The Good Shepherd International School
How International School of Prague keeps students safe without removing their flexibility
How JerseySTEM is facilitating social change using GAT tools
How Tamborine Mountain College Elevated IT Efficiency with GAT
How Henry County Schools Created a More Secure Environment for Students and Staff
How Arts and Media School Islington Achieved a 40% Workload Reduction
How Hillsboro School District Enhanced Google Workspace Management and Data Protection
How Greece Central School District Overcame Administrative Challenges in Their Google Admin Console
How American School of Brasilia School Enhances Security While Navigating Budget Constraints
How Regents School of Austin Streamlined IT Operations
Explore how Regents School, a private classical Christian K-12 school, simplifies tasks like email signatures and user management while enhancing security using GAT+.
How Sacred Heart Major Seminary Tightened Security
How UNIS Hanoi Safeguards Data Privacy and Ensures Compliance
How Sunol Glen USD tackle data security, auditing, and budget constraints head-on
