Rolling out an enrollment process for a fleet of refurbished smartphones running /e/OS, connected to a self-hosted Nextcloud — files, contacts and calendar synchronized, with no Google account and no proprietary MDM subscription.
The cooperative's field technicians used to travel with personal phones or Android devices tied to a Google Workspace account billed per user. As the renewal approached, the organization wanted to leave that dependency behind — without falling back on an equally costly, equally closed proprietary MDM (Intune, Jamf).
The budget constraint steered the choice towards refurbished hardware: rather than buying new, equip the fleet with refurbished phones flashed with /e/OS — provided the installation and connection process to the existing Nextcloud was reliable and reproducible, not hand-tinkered device by device.
Refurbished devices rather than new, no recurring MDM subscription per device.
No dependency on a Google account — files, contacts and calendar hosted by the cooperative.
The same enrollment process applied identically to every new device.
Being able to reassign or wipe a device cleanly when someone leaves or a device is replaced.
Every device receives the same enrollment profile (accounts, restrictions, base apps) — no settings redone by hand from scratch on each device.
Files/contacts/calendar sync goes through a standard CardDAV/CalDAV connector — replaceable, with no vendor lock-in.
Tracking who uses which device stays independent from the technical enrollment process — the cooperative keeps control without depending on my tooling.
The reset procedure between two users is documented to the same standard as the initial enrollment — not bolted on afterwards.
Checking /e/OS compatibility and the physical condition of each model before installation.
Installing the system, removing residual Google services, configuring automatic updates.
Accounts, restrictions and base apps applied identically on every device.
Syncing the technician's files, contacts and calendar, tested before handing over the device.
A short sheet explaining the basic usage, with a contact for the first week in case of issues.
Quality control of the refurbished hardware (battery, screen condition) depends on the supplier chosen by the organization — this process doesn't include hardware expertise.
Some banking or administrative apps refuse to run without Google services — worth checking case by case before a team fully switches over.
Advanced MDM-style remote management (locking, real-time geolocation) isn't covered — this process stays deliberately simpler than a full MDM solution.
Strong authentication on Nextcloud accounts wasn't included in this initial deployment — a separate project, to be handled with the same care as with Matrix.
Every organization has its own usage patterns and constraints — let's talk about yours before talking about a solution.
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