Continuity of Service before/during BSF

[tsky]

Just threw a huge spanner in the works with our BSF plans seeing as noone had noticed the gaping hole in their rebuild ideas.

 

Main Internet connection comes into site A, main network currently routes from site A to site B (200 yards away) to connect the two sites. Link to site A is critical to keep connection to Internet and LEA for teaching and learning, purchasing through county, SIMS, yadda yadda yadda....

 

BSF Build plans:

Site A is having a new building slapped on the side when BSF build starts.

Site A staff and pupils then move into new building on Site A, freeing up Site A.

Network is not connected to existing network as new infrastructure about to be built in Site A.

Site A is gutted and renovated, new network infrastructure installed and server room moved.

Site B staff and pupils move into renovated site A and the new site A is switched on with managed service.

Site B is demolished.

 

 

 

"So... what happens in the 18 month gap of renovation where you turn the network off to the school, don't have a network running in your new building and are still teaching?" says I to the SMT and the BSF team that were in.

 

"Uh... er..... we hadn't thought of that... oh... that might affect the other schools who are doing the same in the LEA"

 

"yes.. I should imagine it would. I should imagine you want to put a continuity of service clause and penalty in any contracts you're negotiating!"

 

I'm out of here (as probably are the rest of my team) before managed service kicks in...(my contract is a fixed 2 year one which runs out about 9 months before the managed service is due to kick in) so we'll not have anyone in here potentially who will be able to link systems or sort problems.

 

Then.. it gets better...

 

"What happens 5 years down the line?" says I

 

"What do you mean?" says SMT & BSF guys...

 

"Well.. your contracts with managed services seem to be a 5 year fixed and you're talking about infrastructure bits in with that. So.. in 5 years, you're potentially in the position where you A> don't have any staff in the building who look after your IT infrastructure or know how it runs and B> don't actually have any infrastructure to run on a day to day basis"

 

"....er... well... oh... we hadn't thought of that...."

 

"For someone who is PAID to THINK about these things.. don't you THINK it's about time you ACTUALLY DID!?!?!?!?"

 

 

BSF.... FAIL.

 

Why is it that the people who are in charge of the whole process who were put in charge because they were supposed to THINK things through and CONTINUE to keep education running are doing their hardest to STOP the teaching and learning process!?!?!?

 

 

 

[bossman]

@tsky:

Absolutely spot on.

 

Here in our county, devolved capital has been put on hold due to the BSF and any schools who had plans to expand and have the contractors waiting are having to cancel but still pay for the work done so far.

 

Why is it that the people who work at the top get it so wrong all of the time and waste valuable tax payers money to boot.

 

Our first BSF beacon school had no IT when it opened for business and the staff were not happy because they haven't had the input and the building is basically not fit for purpose.

 

If I didn't laugh so hard I would cry :)

[beeswax]

Once you're tuped you stay tuped, it doesn't matter who the MSP is, or if the MSP changes. If the current MSP fails to deliver you get someone else in who takes over the current tuped staff and the infrastructure, provided that someone else wants to put in a bid, at this point I'm scratching my head as to what happens next. Can anyone offer clarification on this point?

[DAckroyd]

Scott adams put it best when he wote this:

[Dilbert] Why does it seem as if most of the decisions in my workplace are made be drunken lemurs?

 

[bin man] Decisions are made by people who have time not people who have talent.

 

[Dilbert] Why are talented people so busy?

[bin man] They're fixing the problems made by the people who have time.

[broc]

 

"So... what happens in the 18 month gap of renovation where you turn the network off to the school, don't have a network running in your new building and are still teaching?" says I to the SMT and the BSF team that were in.

 

 

You mean you were CONSULTED?

 

There's a novelty..... must make a note of that.

[CyberNerd]

Once you're tuped you stay tuped, it doesn't matter who the MSP is, or if the MSP changes. If the current MSP fails to deliver you get someone else in who takes over the current tuped staff and the infrastructure, provided that someone else wants to put in a bid, at this point I'm scratching my head as to what happens next. Can anyone offer clarification on this point?

 

you could conceivably be Tuped back to the school/LA

I know of non-it contracts where local councils have outsourced a service, only to bring it back in house a couple of years later when they realise it was a waste of money. People i know with that contract got tuped twice, only the management changed.

[tsky]

You mean you were CONSULTED?

 

There's a novelty..... must make a note of that.

 

No, not consulted whatsoever - I just gatecrashed one of their high-fly meetings.

I'm good at gatecrashing and spoiling "aren't we wonderful!" parties.

[broc]

No, not consulted whatsoever - I just gatecrashed one of their high-fly meetings.

I'm good at gatecrashing and spoiling "aren't we wonderful!" parties.

 

Now that sounds more like it, you had me worried that support staff were being involved for a moment

 

I think we are excluded from these meetings because all we do is find problems with their 'grand' plans ......

[mpe]

No, not consulted whatsoever - I just gatecrashed one of their high-fly meetings.

I'm good at gatecrashing and spoiling "aren't we wonderful!" parties.

No doubt they'll be taking steps to prevent you from doing so in future. Including making sure that you either don't know the time and venue or deliberatly picking times where you are elsewhere.

[mpe]

Now that sounds more like it, you had me worried that support staff were being involved for a moment

 

I think we are excluded from these meetings because all we do is find problems with their 'grand' plans ......

It's generally easier to bluff people who don't know anything about the issues involved. Also who don't even know the right questions to ask.

[GrumbleDook]

*sigh* It isn't rocket science really ...

 

Existing building has connection.

 

New building is constructed and kitted out with a temp connection between the two buildings.

 

New line is run into the new building (but not connected)

 

New building is finished and people start moving across

 

New line is connected and old one disconnected.

 

Old building *still has connectivity due to the temp line*

 

Old building decommissioned.

 

Temp connection removed.

 

Old building knocked down.

 

Ok ... that will be £1500 please.

[PiqueABoo]

*sigh* It isn't rocket science really ...

 

Wrong - it isn't rocket science in the real-world and that's not where we are. The above rings so many bells I could go deaf.

[Tallwood_6]

Why arn't current ICT support and service providers included in the initial planning, surely it would be in the best interest for all those involved? Or is it assumed that all existing ICT support staff are incompetent and all existing ICT infrastructure is defunct and outdated?

[powdarrmonkey]

is it assumed that all existing ICT support staff are incompetent and all existing ICT infrastructure is defunct and outdated?

 

Yep.

 

 

 

.

[DAckroyd]

and all existing ICT infrastructure is defunct and outdated?

 

it is here! - couple of weeks back we removed a hub from a switch cabenet

[broc]

Why arn't current ICT support and service providers included in the initial planning, surely it would be in the best interest for all those involved? Or is it assumed that all existing ICT support staff are incompetent and all existing ICT infrastructure is defunct and outdated?

 

I suspect the problem may in part be due to the 'perception' held by LAs planning BSF (and those advising them) who like to think that their existing LA internal Education IT support organisations are 'running' the secondary school ICT already, and that all schools do is employ toner drones for ICT support.

 

This myth is perpetuated by organisations like Partnership for Schools because it allow them to promote managed services more effectively too. If you have seen any of PfS 'sales pitches' you will know what I mean.

 

It also serves the purpose of some LAs who are keen to regain control of school assets in any way they can, and controlling ICT along with other 'soft' site services such as cleaning,caretaking, and catering are all examples of where the LA in partnership with the LEP can achieve this.

[Dos_Box]

I suppose it's a good example of how IT in schools still is not begin thought of as a critical component in some schools. If a company were relocating the IT assets and infrastructure would be one of the top items on the project agenda.

[tsky]

For all they rattle on about how we're going to "create new learning opportunities and enhance technology in education" all they really mean is "we like to have some computers that do word processing and web browsing".

 

They've even put LESS labs on the new build plan than we have at the moment. We're going from having (counting in CLC use) 5 labs down to 2. Go figure.

 

All they care about it seems is getting a nice new classroom that's painted the colours the teachers want. The infrastructure seems to be at the back of their minds.

 

I was told "oh yes, we want wireless, yeah everything wireless" to which I replied "you can have wireless zones but your computers will be WIRED so get that out of your head right now. Just because it 'works at home' doesn't mean you can hang labs of desktop PC's that do video editing with remote storage (based on your plans) off it.

 

GAAAAAHHHHH

[Large panning shot of tsky screaming at the sky, zooming out google-maps stylee]

 

They employ you to "make a difference" and "point us in the right direction because you have real-world experience" and what they REALLY mean is "can you keep us in stock with toner and make sure I can download all my pr0n ok please, I don't like change"

 

*sobs into his very strong Java coffee*

 

Knowing what the architects and builders are like in this place, even if we put in temporary links between sites they'll put a digger through it like they did with one of the other school blocks...

 

[Crazy Admin Rant Warning!]

It's absolutely crazy that every time I try and talk to the BSF consultants/architects/planners/buttmunchers all they say is "oh well, yes you have a vested intereste don't you - potentially losing your job!"

"I DON'T GIVE A S4!7 ABOUT MY JOB ... I CARE ABOUT THE 1100 KIDS THAT CAN'T LEARN AND THE 100 STAFF THAT CAN'T TEACH YOU MORON!"

 

When will these people start acting like the professionals they're supposed to be and talk about education as a WHOLE service instead of segregating each chunk of the rebuild. IT infrastructure is necessary to underpin everything.. from lowly registers to learning platforms, email, network storage, phone systems and computer labs.

 

Aaaaaand what are they all winging about... what colour their walls are.. the fact they don't have an office for every member of staff... that they're not going to have a printer on their desk...

 

[GrumbleDook]

It varies from LA to LA about how much they expect to keep and use existing kit or infrastructure. It also depends on the internal communication within the different teams within the LA who deal with building projects.

 

They may have presumed that the IT lot would be sorting it and the IT lot presumed the buildings lot would do it (as it is the 5th service after gas, electric, water, telecoms ...) It also partly depends on whether the school has their own ISP or if they are using the LA's ISP / RBC.

 

Basically ... it is poor project management. No other way to describe it really ... and could have been picked up by quite a number of people before you spotted it.

[tsky]

Basically ... it is poor project management. No other way to describe it really ... and could have been picked up by quite a number of people before you spotted it.

 

Nail on the head right there.

People who are paid extortionate amounts and they have no ability to project manage.

[GrumbleDook]

And there is the issue that if the QA was done right by the people paying them that it wouldn't be an issue ... the problem with large projects like this is that it comes down to 'matrix management' ... people not in the same department / group / team / company who are trying to communicate things.

 

Most project like this (not just in education) suffer due to problems with communication, especially around the project management. Sometimes it is not the project manager's fault, sometimes not the client's fault (the LA in this case) but trying to get review meetings to stop these problems occurring are hard due to people having to do two or three different roles, BSF/PFI just being one of them.

[localzuk]

These sort of problems are why we project manage any work ourselves in school now.

 

Rather than it being passed around a load of managers who are 25 miles away, we have our project manager on-site at all times during planning and during implementation too.

[GrumbleDook]

The problem is that schools are often notorious for poor project management themselves ... and what some people think of as project management really isn't, missing out huge chunks of important bits such as consultation and communication ... simply telling people "this is what you are getting!" is not consultation or communication. This applies not just to the technical side of things, but also changes in working practices for all staff, changes to school uniform ... it just goes on, and groups like NCSL and SSAT have a significant amount of CPD to try and rectify this ... it just doesn't filter all the way through schools.

[bossman]

BSF started out as a concept ideal of replacing the old decrepit 60s buildings throughout the whole of the country and it seemed like a damn fine idea to those people running the country as it focused on our youth and how fine an investment it would be.

 

Then the private industry consultants got on the "gravy train" and sat next to the "Architects" who in turn rubbed their little hands with glee at being given free license to design new conceptual buildings which had no real purpose but to visually look good.

 

As it stands now no matter how much consultation goes on before the desired build and no matter how intricate the details drawn up during this long drawn out process you only get what they want you to have, due to cost restraint as all the consultants and other processes are taking the lions share of the money which leaves little else for any changes.

 

It makes me laugh when I hear so called experts and learned people within the process actually believing what they are told by the consultants, that they will get all the requirements they have asked for.

Our Beacon BSF school here has not got what they asked for, most of the rooms are too small to teach the required numbers, no storage for whatever the teachers what to store in their teaching rooms, the canteen facilties too small for everyone to have access and the queues for it trailing back into the reception area.

These schools are all the same in design as the Architects have long gone with their money and the Government have no more money for more designs to be drawn up.

 

In all it is a farce which we the taxpayers are funding again so private companies can reap the benefits.

It disgusts me as much as the scandal about the MPs claims debate. :mad:

[DAckroyd]

They've even put LESS labs on the new build plan than we have at the moment. We're going from having (counting in CLC use) 5 labs down to 2. Go figure.

 

Why are they still putting in computer rooms? - you want a couple at most but the subject IT should go and all classrooms should have a class worth of computers round the edge so you can just go and use computers when required and no worry about booking IT rooms and stuff - you could also have computers designed to work with the subjects that use the rooms (ie english would only need an eeeBox but media would require Core i7's for video editing and stuff)