Tag: ESchool

eSchool/TAC/HAC Links

UPDATE 12/28/2020 – Apscn’s work on upgrading eSchool, TAC and HAC is complete. Your old shortcuts/links may not work. Use the following to access these resources:

Original Post 12/15/2020 “Planned Outage Alert – eSchool/TAC/HAC”:
Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN) Student Management Unit will be taking eSchoolPLUS (including TAC and HAC) offline Sunday, December 20, 2020 12:00pm (Noon) to begin work applying upgrades to the system. The system is expected to be back online Monday, December 28, 2020.

Staff – TAC/ESchool VPN

To use TAC, ESchool, or EFinance from home or otherwise off campus, the state requires that you connect through a VPN. We provide BPSD-VPN for staff issued laptops to facilitate this.

Instructions to connect to the VPN for WINDOWS (link) and MAC (link) are below:

Windows 11 Users

Staff with school issued Windows 11 (or 10) laptops

Link: Quick video demonstration

  1. Click the Start button or Windows key (square containing 4 squares) or the search box at the bottom of the screen.
    Windows 11 Button/Icon
  2. Type VPN Settings, then click VPN Settings (it should say “System Settings” just below it)
  3. Look for BPSD-VPN under VPN connections then click Connect
    • If you do not see BPSD-VPN, Launch Software Center and look for it under Applications or Installation Status, where you should be able to click on it to either Install or Reinstall it.
  4. You should be prompted for your username and password
    Enter your SCHOOL short username (The part before @bentonschools.org; ie: jdoe)
    Enter your SCHOOL password (the password you login to email with, not the one you use for TAC, eSchool,etc and click OK
  5. When finished, Repeat steps 1-3 above and click “Disconnect“
    Please – Always Disconnect when finished working for this session so others can use this resource!

After successfully connecting to the VPN use the following links to access the resources that you need:
TAC – https://www.bentonschools.org/tac
ESchool – https://www.bentonschools.org/eschool
EFinance – https://www.bentonschools.org/eFinance

MacOS / Macbook Users

Staff with school issued Macbooks

  1. Click the Wifi icon in the top right corner of your Macbook desktop
  2. Click “Network Preferences“
  3. Click “BPSD VPN” in the list in the left column.
    ** If you do not see it yet, your Macbook hasn’t applied the policy. Reboot and try again. Some policies may only apply after rebooting.
  4. Check the box at the bottom “Show VPN status in menu bar” and Apply.
    ** This will place a new VPN icon in the top right corner of your screen. Left of the wifi icon, left of the battery icon. It looks similar to a battery or the grill on the front of a Jeep.
  5. Click the red X (top left) to get out of this settings window.
  6. Click the VPN icon described in step 4 above
  7. Click Connect BPSD VPN
  8. Your username should be listed.
    Enter your SCHOOL password (the password you login to email with, not the one you use for TAC, eSchool, etc) and click OK
  9. You should now be able to access resources as if you were on campus!
  10. When finished, Click the VPN icon described in step 4 above and click “Disconnect BPSD VPN“
    Please – Always Disconnect when finished working for this session so others can use this resource!

After successfully connecting to the VPN use the following links to access the resources that you need:
TAC – https://www.bentonschools.org/tac
ESchool – https://www.bentonschools.org/eschool
EFinance – https://www.bentonschools.org/eFinance

Revision History

  • UPDATE 2/1/2023 2:26pm – New Macbook instructions.
  • UPDATE 2/1/2023 6:52pm – New Windows 10 instructions.
  • UPDATE 10/15/2025 – New Windows 11 instructions and brief video. Should also work for Windows 10.

UPDATE 2/1/2023 1:05pm – Stay tuned… We should have a solution very soon…


UPDATE 2/1/2023 11:25am
The state VPN (F5) that is used to access eSchool, TAC, EES, etc from remote networks is currently experiencing a licensing issue causing it to reach max capacity which is preventing users from connecting. This is an issue at the state level; however, BPSD IT is currently looking into options to alleviate this issue.

F5 VPN Error - The maximum number of concurrent user sessions has been reached. No new user sessions can start at this time.
___________________________________

Original Post
AS OF 2/1/2023 – Please use the directions above for VPN access..
Staff – ESchool/TAC – Friday, April 3, 2020

To access TAC, E-School or E-Finance from home you must first connect to the APSCN VPN.  Instructions for the VPN are here: ApscnVPN via F5 (Jan 2021) (Updated 3/16/2021 with Jan 2021 version)

Once connected to the VPN, Even if the option isn’t displayed, TAC should be reachable at www.bentonschools.org/tac and ESchool at www.bentonschools.org/eschool

MAC USERS:
If you get the following message, please follow these instructions to Reinstall the F5 VPN (link).

WINDOWS USERS:

If you get the error shown above for Mac users (The session reference number: nnnnnnnn):

  1. You will need to install a new version of the F5 VPN for accessing TAC.
  2. Click the start button (lower left corner), type in “Software Center” (without the quotes) then click the App to open it
  3. Select the “2021 F5 VPN Install” – follow the prompts.
    *** If it asks for the server enter: apscnvpn.k12.ar.us
  4. Select TAC and/or login when prompted.