Mt Torrens Christian School

The Challenge

Mt Torrens Christian School was running Microsoft 365 licensing that didn't reflect what the school actually needed, or what was available to them. As an eligible educational institution, they had access to Microsoft 365 A5 licensing at a fraction of the commercial cost, but hadn't yet made the move. That meant paying more than necessary while leaving a significant set of security and identity features on the table.

At the same time, the school's identity controls had gaps. Email filtering was running below Microsoft's recommended baseline, identity risk policies weren't active, and their Google Workspace environment was managed separately from Microsoft 365, requiring manual provisioning whenever staff or student accounts changed.

The Solution

InterIntra started with the licensing. By moving the school to Microsoft 365 A5 under educational pricing, we unlocked the full Defender and Entra ID feature set without increasing spend. The cost optimisation effectively funded the security uplift.

With A5 in place, we configured Defender for Microsoft 365 to Microsoft's Standard protection baseline, tightening email filtering across the board. We then worked through a structured identity uplift: enabling Entra ID Identity Protection sign-in and user risk policies, disabling user consent to third-party apps accessing company data, setting passwords to never expire in line with current best practice, and enabling self-service password reset for all users.

The final piece was integration. The school runs both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, and the two environments weren't talking to each other. We deployed SAML-based Single Sign-On for Google Workspace alongside SCIM provisioning, so Entra ID now automatically creates, updates, and removes Google accounts as staff and student records change in Microsoft 365. User acceptance testing was completed before cutover, with the InterIntra team on hand during go-live to assist. Full handover documentation was provided to the school's internal contact.

The Outcome

Mt Torrens Christian School now runs a fully connected identity environment. Staff and student accounts are provisioned and deprovisioned automatically, removing a manual overhead that had previously sat with the school's admin team. Email is protected to Microsoft's recommended standard, identity risk policies are active, and the school's Secure Score reflects a materially stronger security posture.

The licensing move to A5 means the school is no longer paying commercial rates for a fraction of the available capability. They're getting more, for less.