Setting Up a Whitelist Pilot Program

This guide walks you through planning and executing a pilot deployment of KyberGate's Approved Sites Only (whitelist) mode for a subset of your school before rolling it out broadly.

Why Pilot First?

Switching from standard blocklist filtering to Approved Sites Only is a significant change. A pilot helps you:

• Identify missing domains before they affect the whole school
• Get teacher feedback on which educational tools they rely on
• Tune the approved list based on real usage data
• Build confidence with administration before a school-wide rollout
• Minimize disruption to daily instruction

Phase 1: Planning (1–2 Days)

Choose Your Pilot Group

Select a small, manageable group to test with:

• 5–10 devices in a single classroom or grade level
• Choose an engaged teacher who will report issues quickly
• Avoid high-stakes periods — don't start during testing windows or report card time

Survey Teachers

Before setting up the policy, ask pilot teachers:

1. What websites do you use daily for instruction?
2. What online textbook or curriculum platforms do students access?
3. Do students use any specific apps or tools for projects?
4. Do students need access to Google/Microsoft apps?
5. Are there specific research sites students regularly use?

Compile their answers — these become your initial approved list.

Gather Domain Requirements

Based on teacher input, map their tools to domains. For example:

Phase 2: Configuration (30 Minutes)

Create the Whitelist Policy

1. Go to Filtering → Policy Manager in the KyberGate dashboard
2. Click Use Template → 🔒 Approved Sites Only (Whitelist)
3. Name it something clear: "Whitelist Pilot — Mrs. Johnson's Class"

Add Domain Bundles

Based on your teacher survey, add the relevant bundles:

1. Switch to the Filtering tab
2. Click each relevant bundle to add it:
   • ✅ Google Workspace (or Microsoft 365) — almost always needed
   • ✅ Educational Platforms — covers Khan Academy, Quizlet, Kahoot, etc.
   • ✅ Essential Infrastructure — auth, MDM, certificates
   • ➕ Add LMS, Testing, Research bundles as needed
3. Add any custom domains from your teacher survey

Target the Pilot Group

1. In the General tab, go to Targeting
2. Select Specific Devices or Specific Groups
3. Choose only the pilot devices or group
4. This ensures the whitelist only affects the pilot — everyone else keeps standard filtering

Set the Schedule

For the pilot, consider:

• School hours only (8:00 AM – 3:00 PM) so devices work normally at home
• Weekdays only — toggle off Saturday and Sunday

Save the Policy

Click Create. The policy propagates to all proxy servers within 60 seconds.

Phase 3: Active Pilot (1–2 Weeks)

Day 1: Close Monitoring

On the first day, actively monitor:

1. Activity Logs — Go to Activity → Logs, filter by Blocked
2. Watch for blocked requests to educational domains you may have missed
3. Have the pilot teacher report any sites that aren't loading
4. Add missing domains as they're discovered

Common Day-1 Issues

Week 1: Monitoring and Adjusting

• Check activity logs daily for the first week
• Ask the pilot teacher for a daily "thumbs up / issues" report
• Add domains as needed — the list stabilizes quickly (usually within 3–5 days)
• Document every domain you add and why — this becomes your school's master approved list

Week 2: Stability Check

By week 2, the approved list should be stable:

• Few or no teacher-reported issues
• Activity logs show only expected blocks (social media, gaming, etc.)
• Students are productively using allowed educational tools

Phase 4: Evaluation and Expansion

Metrics to Review

After the pilot period, assess:

1. How many domains were added after the initial setup? (Fewer = better template coverage)
2. Teacher satisfaction — Did the teacher feel instruction was disrupted?
3. Student behavior — Were students more focused? Less off-task browsing?
4. Support tickets — How many "unblock this site" requests came in?
5. Activity log data — What blocked domains were students trying to access?

Decision Points

Based on the pilot:

• Expand gradually — Add one grade level or department at a time
• Adjust the approved list — Your pilot list becomes the foundation for school-wide deployment
• Consider scheduling — Maybe whitelist mode during instruction time, standard filtering during free periods
• Get admin buy-in — Share the activity data with your head of school or administration

Expanding to More Groups

1. Open your pilot policy
2. In Targeting, add more groups or change to All
3. Or duplicate the policy and target different groups (useful if different groups need different approved lists)

Sample Timeline

Tips for Success

• Communicate with teachers before enabling whitelist mode — surprises cause frustration
• Keep a shared doc of approved domains so teachers can suggest additions
• Use the Export feature to back up your approved list before making changes
• Don't aim for perfection — start with major platforms and iterate
• Check the block page — make sure students see a clear message about who to contact for access
• Enable Request Access on the block page so students can self-service request new domains

Related Articles

• Approved Sites Only (Whitelist Mode)
• Domain Bundles: Quick-Add Educational Platforms
• Block Page Customization
• Configuring School Schedule