Just wondering if anyone else has been on the recieving end of a HT bringing in independent ICT Consultants to conduct an ICT Audit?

The story is this. A new SLT was formed approx 3 years ago. I notified the new SLT, (including Business Manager) then that we would need an investment in our back end in 2016. This was communicated to them at an ICT Strategy meeting and via an annual ICT Audit report that I send to all SLT members.

I carried out numerous hours worth of research and costing exercises, that I am sure you are all familiar with, until I arrived at my decision for the proposed change. In February 2016 I submitted my proposal and it was then added to the agenda for next ICT Strategy meeting. I packaged the proposal as normal with initial proposal, business case, research notes, details of the recommendation including company details, costs etc. The HT agreed that the work needed carried out, but she requested an Independent Consultation and Second Opinion on the proposal.

This was the first time in my 25 year career in the IT Industry that my judgement has been called into question. I have looked after several budgets and invested wisely and productively for establishments over the years and I pride myself on my business decisions.

Today, the ICT Consultant attended school and was impressed that I had all business cases, project plans and costings available. He agreed with my proposal for the backend system renewal stating that it was an excellent decision. He was also asked by th HT to check on internet connectivity and server side issues. Before he took a look at these I informed him that during that past two years we have been unable to carry out any essential maintenance during school holidays due to the amount of revision classes that have taken place. For example, I have scheduled the upgrade of a Server 2003 Fileserver on two occasions even though I informed the SLT that 2003 was no longer supported and that we could run into trouble because of that. The consultant could not believe this and marked it down to add to his final report that will be presented to the HT. All server and switch event logs were checked and, as I already expected, these checks were greeted with good comments with no technical problems to report.

I possibly looked at this the wrong way and took it that the SLT had lost confidence in me, or that the new SLT are just being thorough. It would be good hear some views on this especially if someone has been in the same position.

Cheers

Ed