Calgary Academy: From Manual Passwords to Automated Identity in Minutes

Calgary Academy is a K-12 independent school in Alberta, Canada, serving around 850 students and staff across a mixed-device environment. When Director of Technology for Learning David Cloutier joined, he inherited a manual identity management process that was costing the team weeks of setup time every September; and leaving students without access to learning resources. With Clever IDM and Classroom MFA, Calgary Academy automated account provisioning, closed a critical insurance gap, and made MFA work even for kindergarteners.

Calgary Academy is a K–12 independent school in Calgary, Alberta, with approximately 850 students and staff. The school runs a mixed-device environment — one-to-one for younger students, Bring Your Own Device for older grades — across Mac, PC, and iPad. David Cloutier, Director of Technology for Learning, manages the school’s digital environment and previously implemented Clever at another district before bringing it to Calgary Academy.

The Challenge: A Manual Process That Couldn’t Keep Up

When David joined Calgary Academy, identity management was a manual treadmill. Every September, the team would scramble to generate Excel spreadsheets with random passwords to email to teachers. By the time the “Send” button was hit, the data was already out of date.

The result? Students waited a week or more just to log in to their learning resources. For an IT team, this wasn’t just a backlog—it was a barrier to education.

To make matters worse, Calgary Academy faced a gap in their cybersecurity insurance: they lacked MFA for students. With a new provincial ban on mobile phones in classrooms, David couldn’t just ask kids to check their texts for a code. He needed a solution that was invisible to the user but invincible to hackers.

The Solution: Automated Provisioning and Classroom-Friendly MFA

Calgary Academy had already implemented Clever as their one-stop-shop for automated rostering and single sign-on to provide students and teachers instant access to applications. They layered on Clever IDM and Classroom MFA to add protection and fulfill insurance requirements for students and staff. 

Clever IDM: This syncs directly with the student information system (PowerSchool) and writes back to Active Directory. The moment a student enrolls, their account is live. No spreadsheets, no manual entry, no waiting. 

Classroom MFA: David needed a solution that a 5-year-old could master. By using Clever Badges (QR-coded cards students scan on a webcam), kindergarteners can now log in with a simple scan—no phone required. Older students and staff use age-appropriate methods like PINS. 

Implementation Strategy

For many school boards, the fear of a complex rollout—and the resulting classroom tech support tickets—often stalls progress on critical safety measures.

To solve for this, David started with a phased approach: a pilot over spring break using a small group — starting with his own son in kindergarten — before a full rollout over summer break. 

Clever’s built-in training resources (including slide decks and a Kahoot for student enrollment) meant teachers could introduce MFA to their classes without the IT team having to build anything from scratch.

The Impact: Faster Access, Fewer Tickets, Full Compliance

Since implementing Clever IDM and Classroom MFA, Calgary Academy has seen measurable improvements across the board.

Time & Operations

• Student account provisioning time dropped from up to a week to within an hour of SIS enrollment.
• IT support tickets and walk-up requests related to logins dropped significantly, as password management became largely self-service.
• The IT team freed up time previously spent on manual data entry to focus on supporting learning in classrooms.

Security & Compliance

• Calgary Academy is now fully compliant with cybersecurity insurance requirements — MFA is enabled for all users, not just staff.
• MFA is deployed across all K–12 age groups without requiring student mobile phone, in line with provincial phone guidelines.
• Account provisioning and MFA setup happen automatically, reducing the window of unprotected access for new students.

Strategic Alignment

• Clever directly supports Calgary Academy’s strategic goal of workflow efficiency — enabling staff to spend more time supporting students.
• The phased rollout model and dedicated onboarding support made change management smooth, with no rollbacks needed.