Procurement Procedure and Audit Management - How do you do it?

[RobFrain]

Hi

I have a governors meeting later on and have been brought in to tell the governors what other schools do regarding their ICT procurement procedure. At the moment staff seem to be able to go out and buy a camera for their department and we wouldn't have a clue! We're aiming to stop this and centralise everything. Does anyone have any documents relating to this or (fingers crossed!) have a School ICT Procurement form?! What happens in your school if

a) A Staff member wants to purchase a camera for their department.
b) A staff member thinks they need new computers for their room (do theyhave a say?)

Related to this is our Audit Management. We currently use a simple excel spreadsheet, which we try to update every time we purchase something (Obviously if staff buy something its not on there!) What do other schools use?


Thanks in advance!!

[plexer]

All purchases go through the finance office, the school order form which must be completed for every purchase has a column on it to indicate if the item being purchased is classed as an asset.

If any item on the order form is classed as an asset a copy of the order is passed on to the asset manager who is the school ict tech.

When the item is delivered he takes down the details, serial number etc..., asset tags it and enters it into our asset register which at the moment is an excel spreadsheet but soon to be incorporated into our helpdesk.

He then signs the order to show the workflow is complete.

Ben

[buzzard]

@Plexer out of intrest what Helpdesk do you use that has the inbuilt asset management, I'm currently after one!

Back on thread, we do similar, any item that hits the bursar/finance team if it's classed as remotely ICT it's passed through us to make sure they're buying the correct item/it's not already in school. All departments now know they can't get things passed now and usually come to us for advice before buying.

[Soulfish]

For us all IT related purchases have to be bought through the IT Department. Firstly it ensures we know what IT equipment each department has, it also ensures that only compatible equipment and software is purchased. Secondly in 99.9999% of cases we can get much cheaper pricing for better products. By using our existing suppliers and government contracts (such as those offered by Buying Solutions and other regional consortia) we can ensure that we're getting the best price.

If an IT order is received by the finance department (and all orders have to go through them anyway) then it gets forwarded onto us if we haven't already signed off on it.

[Soulfish]

@Plexer out of intrest what Helpdesk do you use that has the inbuilt asset management, I'm currently after one!

Spiceworks does Asset management, and can handle purchases being logged through the helpdesk. Best of all its free

[nephilim]

If a staff member thinks they need a/some new computer(s) for their room, then the procedure here is to evaluate what software they need on the machines. If it is just a case that RAM needs upgrading then we do that, if new PCs are in order, we see about recycling old ICT ones (which usually are the best in school outside of the new suite), and beef them up a bit.

If they need a new camera for their dept, then we ask for specs, see what we can source and hand the list back to them. We never choose Sony Camera's as they have their own Memory Cards which are expensive and do not fit in conventional readers.

If they purchase ANY of the above, it comes from their department, not ours, as ours is strictly for ICT use.

[Disease]

All IT and software has to be approved by me (NM) first, departments fill in an order form it goes to me, I sign it off after checking compatibility/Price/Need things like that, after it is signed it off it goes to finance and it is marked for delivery to me. When it comes in we assett register it and ten pass it on to the department that wanted it.

[nephilim]

All IT and software has to be approved by me (NM) first, departments fill in an order form it goes to me, I sign it off after checking compatibility/Price/Need things like that, after it is signed it off it goes to finance and it is marked for delivery to me. When it comes in we assett register it and ten pass it on to the department that wanted it.

Pretty much same goes here as well