What's RM Education and RM Unify?

RM Education Ltd. is one of the leading suppliers of ICT to UK education. RM Unify is their cloud-based web application, now fully integrated with Microsoft Office 365. The Layer2 Cloud Connector can be used to connect to RM Unify, federated with Office 365, and sync almost any external data sources like databases, files or other local or cloud-based organizational data with native SharePoint Online lists and libraries. A great benefit for any school or university.

RM Education Ltd. is one of the leading suppliers of ICT to UK education. At RM Education everything is focused on helping teachers to teach and learners to learn, by developing engaging, inspiring solutions for the effective use of technology in education. RM Unify is a Web application that is specifically designed for schools to address some of the key challenges they are facing in teaching and learning every day. It's a completely cloud-based app that can be used everytime, from anywhere and on any device. One important part is Microsoft Office 365 including SharePoint Online for easy collaboration. 

Fig.: RM Unify home screen sample. The Layer2 Cloud Connector can sync almost any external data with Office 365, federated with RM Unify.

What's the Layer2 Cloud Connector for SharePoint and Office 365?

The Layer2 Cloud Connector for Microsoft SharePoint and Office 365 can connect and sync almost any local or cloud-based line-of-business data and documents with SharePoint - easy to setup (no-code), secure, always up-to-date - and bi-directional if required. No installation or customization on SharePoint necessary. All native SharePoint list and library features available for your external data: views, search, metadata, change notification, workflows, offline usage etc. Virtually any data sources supported: ODBC, OLEDB, Microsoft .NET based providers, Files (Excel, XML, CSV), RSS / XML feeds, SQL databases like MS SQL, SQL Azure, Oracle, MySQL, IBM DB2, IBM AS/400, IBM Informix, Notes, SharePoint (lists and libraries), local file system, cloud-based file stores, Exchange, Active Directory, Dynamics NAV/CRM, Navision, SAP and many more. More complex data sources, web services, custom COM or .NET objects, can be connected using 3rd party add-ons. Cloud-to-cloud connections e.g. to salesforce.com, Twitter, Facebook, Google etc.

 Fig.: The Layer2 Cloud Connector can sync almost any external data sources with SharePoint and Office 365.

How both apps are working together to integrate and sync?

The Layer2 Cloud Connector supports the specific federated Office 365 authentication via RM Unify. It can run in background to keep data current on both sides, the cloud and local IT. No coding, no changes at data source or destination, no network security changes.

What can you do? Just some examples:

• Sync your local file shares to the cloud without any restrictions regarding number of files, source and destination folders, flexible sync options, metadata...
• Sync local organizational data, like contacts, events, tasks, announcements and other data.
• Aggregate news feeds in SharePoint Online via RM Unify and receive notifications, start workflows etc.
• Sync SharePoint Online with local SharePoint or local Exchange.
• Sync SharePoint with local database content from almost any databases.
• Merge cloud-based and local data from several sources into one destination.
• Publish data from local Excel to lists for better collaboration.

Do you have specific requirements? Just let us know.

RM Unify Integration - Technical Specification

​To integrate with RM Unify you have to use the following connection string:

Url=myUrl; Authentication=RMUnify; Username=myUser; Password=myPassword; PortalUrl=myPortalUrl; SignInUrl=mySignInUrl; ...

• myUrl is the full url to the list or library including view or folder
• Authentication must be RMUnify to federate with this vendor
• myUser must be the email used for login, e.g. [email protected]
• myPassword must be the users password as used in login screen
• myPortalUrl must be the address of the organization's portal in Office 365, e.g. mySchool.sharepoint.com
• mySignInUrl must be the URL for sign in. You can retrieve this url with right mouse click on the RM Unify portal tile, e.g. to Team Site or mySite.

You can also make use of all other connection string options described for the Layer2 Data Provider for SharePoint (CSOM).

Please contact [email protected] for any help.

Pilot customer: Castle Court School

​The Castle Court School was the first school in UK that uses the Layer2 Cloud Connector to sync their local data with the Microsoft Office 365 cloud federated by RM Unify. Please contact [email protected] for more detailed information.

Is your RM Unify cloud still a data island? Next Steps...

You can download the Layer2 Cloud Connector for free after registration at the product page. Please contact [email protected] for any further support.

Ready to go next steps?