Secondaries that took over management of one or more primaries...

[mrbios]

What process was involved in this for you and your school?

 

Nothing has been decided yet, nothing even in writing about it as an idea, but I've put this as an idea to our business manager that i think we could improve the IT provision within the primaries in the area while also saving them money. I'd like some real world examples and/or opinions from those that have done this though.

 

This has all stemmed from my sons primary school (15 minute walk from my work) mentioning that their IT support was poor, their internet connection was poor, the current IT that students use was fairly poor and that their idea of some iPads couldn't go ahead because of all that.......not that the last one is a bad thing, because i don't think they understood what they'd be letting themselves in for with iPads (especially given they have no wireless at all right now...) but there's a clear issue there that they are getting a poor service, and i have a strong desire to help them, even if that ends up meaning volunteer work for them, but ideally i'd like to bring them under our wing as it were.

 

I'm not sure what information I'm asking for at this point, but i want some opinions and just any information you can give me that might help us make an informed decision as to whether this is a good idea or not?

 

It may be important to mention that we are not an academy, and as far as I'm aware neither are they.

[Steve21]

How big a team do you have, and how many are you looking to support?

 

We used to support 7 schools at my old place, and generally I'd say whatever time they had allocated you're talking twice (or even three times) as much time spent on it as expected. Between "extras", quotes, "can you just remote on and fix XYZ" etc etc

 

We also purchased company (well department) van to get to/from them with bunch of spares/store in the back etc.

 

At times like SIMs upgrades we'd easily have 3 of the 5 in our team doing primary stuff for them as obviously everyone wants it at once

 

Money wise we didn't do it as a big earner etc, but enough to support the job role (had one person focused on feeders), costs of VAN, Insurance fees etc etc, as more a good will/gesture keeping friendly with local feeders etc

 

If you are doing it consider getting a proper web-based helpdesk, as all the scraps of paper at multiple sites really doesn't work, and once we had it setup we could see all the jobs in advance of visiting them, and any pre-work/parts could be got etc

 

However on the plus side, once a few of them agreed their network was rubbish we could rip theirs out, and basically put a mini-version of ours in, meaning a lot of config/settings we already know and it's copy/paste job.

 

Oh that GPO to resolve XYZ "looks at your school and copies over", same with software etc etc

 

And pay specific attention to your contract and what you put in it (e.g. disclaimers, "best attempts" etc) As they'll soon try to use it against you when they can. e.g. Put in what happens if Tech is ill and things need rescheduling, or what if #2 primary has network fail and you need to reschuled etc

 

Steve

Edited December 11, 2015 by Steve21

[mrbios]

How big a team do you have, and how many are you looking to support?

 

We used to support 7 schools at my old place, and generally I'd say whatever time they had allocated you're talking twice (or even three times) as much time spent on it as expected. Between "extras", quotes, "can you just remote on and fix XYZ" etc etc

 

We also purchased company (well department) van to get to/from them with bunch of spares/store in the back etc.

 

At times like SIMs upgrades we'd easily have 3 of the 5 in our team doing primary stuff for them as obviously everyone wants it at once

 

Money wise we didn't do it as a big earner etc, but enough to support the job role (had one person focused on feeders), costs of VAN, Insurance fees etc etc, as more a good will/gesture keeping friendly with local feeders etc

 

If you are doing it consider getting a proper web-based helpdesk, as all the scraps of paper at multiple sites really doesn't work, and once we had it setup we could see all the jobs in advance of visiting them, and any pre-work/parts could be got etc

 

However on the plus side, once a few of them agreed their network was rubbish we could rip theirs out, and basically put a mini-version of ours in, meaning a lot of config/settings we already know and it's copy/paste job.

 

Oh that GPO to resolve XYZ "looks at your school and copies over", same with software etc etc

 

And pay specific attention to your contract and what you put in it (e.g. disclaimers, "best attempts" etc) As they'll soon try to use it against you when they can. e.g. Put in what happens if Tech is ill and things need rescheduling, or what if #2 primary has network fail and you need to reschuled etc

 

Steve

 

Currently a team of 3, but in our small discussion there was talk that if this idea took off we would look to appoint another, with a view of that person being the primary contact for the primaries.

 

Some sound advice there from the looks of things, thank you. In terms of managing a primary, do you link their network to your own in any way? or manage it as its own entity?

[Steve21]

Currently a team of 3, but in our small discussion there was talk that if this idea took off we would look to appoint another, with a view of that person being the primary contact for the primaries.

 

Some sound advice there from the looks of things, thank you. In terms of managing a primary, do you link their network to your own in any way? or manage it as its own entity?

 

I wouldn't ever consider moving them onto our network unless you were directly linked e.g. academic trust etc, specifically said against that when SLT suggested it at our old one

 

Each school has their own ideas and ways they want to work (you might have seen my example in another thread, one primary didn't even have a domain and just a workgroup, while another didn't want managed wireless etc etc)

 

You'll find it a lot easier in the long term to keep them separate, so each can have their own ways (ipads at once, while another wanted to look at cloud ideas etc), it also means the costs are more in line with "other companies" as you're not suddenly requiring them to pay for better internet or hardware etc to be installed at your school. Try running a 200 machine junior across 10Mb internet

 

Or another example one primary wanting local admin to install "insert rubbish KS1 devices/home printers"

 

Generally they're only ever going to require 1-2 servers so as long as you have a decent remote system in place there's not really any benefit of having it all at your site.

 

Steve

[DJ-1701]

Yeah, you certainly don't want them on the same network, segregation is always best if the school is not the same entity. I agree a lot with @Steve21's view, there will be cheeky requests and if they have a mobile number to contact expect it to be given out to staff or contactors (even if you are told it will not be), and to possibly be contacted out of hours. Also if you are going to have any formal agreement, I suggest you consider the word Reasonable rather than Best when specifying service levels.