Gibson335 Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 If you had to move your 180+ laptop base from one OS and Office version to a new OS and new Office version would your senior management support you if you said you needed every one of those laptops in for the entire summer? I may be faced with doing that next year, and I know when I ask for this someone will ask the question, "What do other people do?" So I figured I'd ask. My thanks in advance to anyone who replies.
leco Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 I am currently tasked with writing a timeline to do exactly that. Change of OS version plus change of Office version. I have already informed SMT that I will require the summer break to work on it, also that I will require all laptops returned to base for the duration of the change. This last summer I recalled all laptops for a move of storage folders and install of new software. Only one laptop failed to materialise. It has been accepted by SMT that this may be an annual task and that laptops and/or desktops may be involved. 1
srochford Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 I would hope you would get support for doing it but why would you need them all for the entire summer? Why not ask groups of people to bring them in at intervals? Surely that makes your life easier (you get them in batches that you can image easily) and you're not buried under a mountain of machines?
strawberry Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 how many different laptop types are there? , you'll need to beta test this to the baps.
sted Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 I would hope you would get support for doing it but why would you need them all for the entire summer? Why not ask groups of people to bring them in at intervals? Surely that makes your life easier (you get them in batches that you can image easily) and you're not buried under a mountain of machines? id suggest if you dont teachers who are meant to bring them back in week 3 say will forget. Better to take them all in and if they want them back they can call to see if they are done
pete Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 If that was the only way to do it, they would. But it would affect lesson (assuming some of those are teacher laptops?) planning during the hols. I'd use early clueful test pilots (start now) and batches of machines. If half the English dept is going to the Crucible for the day, get them to drop off their laptops and have them imaging on the bench.
GrumbleDook Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 I too would go for the phased roll out. Try to coincide it with a refresh of some of your hardware if you can. If you get 30 new machines (1/6th of the machine base) and deal with those who are entitled to the new hardware. This will then give you a bank of 30 'loan' machines to issue and re-issue as required whilst you rebuild the new machines, run training on the new OS / Office suite, etc. It may increase your workload in the long term but make life easier for the staff involved. It could also give you a chance to do hardware checks etc ... get kit repaired ... etc.
dalsoth Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Sometimes the phased approach does not work. Staff may not come in during the hols to drop off laptops or may come in a few days or weeks later than agreed and you will end up with a higgledy piggledy mix of machines that have been completed and those waiting to be completed. If we dared to give the wrong laptop charger back to the wrong teacher there would be a riot! I would love to have a spare batch of loan laptops but here we are still using laptops 6 years old for some staff. Chance would be a fine thing! Sometimes you have got to rip that plaster off in one go. We sometimes take the whole 80-100 laptops in during the hols to rebuild to base image and to remove the crap that gets put on them and it takes maybe a week or so? If you have a test on each brand of laptop before you begin this process i'm sure you could iron any issues out before getting it done. Try to see things from the teachers point of view though as they will need to get work done in the hols and will appreciate it if you get things done as fast as possible.
maniac Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 We had all our staff machines in summer just gone, but this was because we totally changed the domain, and there was no alturnative option really. 180 machines is a lot to deal with in one go, I would try and go for the phased roll out option if possible. We found just dealing with 80 machines was difficult, finding space to store them, making sure they were labelled and named properly and making sure they were all given back to the right people, then dealing with the silly complaints about not having the same charger as they had last year etc. When you've got 20+ members of staff all queueing up at your office waiting for their machine back it's no easy task, particularly if you're also dealing with problems at the same time. If I could find an alturnative way to collecting in all the machines, I definitely would! Mike
GrumbleDook Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Sorry, should have made it clear about the phased approach. Don't wait until the hols for this, start as soon as you can after you get your budget for the year. I know most people wait until the holidays for this sort of thing but if you are clever with the new kit you buy in you can make this work.
Gibson335 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Posted October 2, 2009 I would hope you would get support for doing it but why would you need them all for the entire summer? Why not ask groups of people to bring them in at intervals? Surely that makes your life easier (you get them in batches that you can image easily) and you're not buried under a mountain of machines? (1) because it would be just one of about a hundred other jobs to do, (2) because the chances of staff bringing laptops back in on a schedule are so remote as to be incalcuable, (3) because then we get to do them in our time and fit in around the many other jobs, our holidays, etc.
Gibson335 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Posted October 2, 2009 how many different laptop types are there? , you'll need to beta test this to the baps. There will be 5 different types.
Gibson335 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Posted October 2, 2009 If that was the only way to do it, they would. But it would affect lesson (assuming some of those are teacher laptops?) planning during the hols. I'd use early clueful test pilots (start now) and batches of machines. If half the English dept is going to the Crucible for the day, get them to drop off their laptops and have them imaging on the bench. Ah, but the OS in question probably won't be supported by Capita and our LEA SIMS support until closer to the summer.
Gibson335 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Posted October 2, 2009 Sorry, should have made it clear about the phased approach. Don't wait until the hols for this, start as soon as you can after you get your budget for the year. I know most people wait until the holidays for this sort of thing but if you are clever with the new kit you buy in you can make this work. Problem is, due to the way our lease purchase arrangements work, I can't purchase new laptops until July, therefore I can't build them and hand them out and start building from those handed in before the start of summer, never mind getting a decent number done. Also, and I should perhaps have mentioned this from the start, due to arrangements beyond our control, an element of crucial external support (which I cannlt divulge in public) will not work with a mixed economy of OSs and Office versions, which means we have to go from one to the other in one go!
beeswax Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 I hate to do this to ssiruuk2, but if you follow this link you'll see what happens without planning change management. It's not about the technology but the people who use it, and I can wholeheartedly agree with those who say that you should stage it. If you're lucky, or skillfully select a group to roll out the upgraded laptops to, you may find you have a pool of "champions", those who can see the benefits and will share and promote the technology amongst their peers.
p858snake Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 (edited) I would hope you would get support for doing it but why would you need them all for the entire summer? Why not ask groups of people to bring them in at intervals? Surely that makes your life easier (you get them in batches that you can image easily) and you're not buried under a mountain of machines? Teachers bring in their machines during their "precious" holidays.... lol We had all our staff machines in summer just gone, but this was because we totally changed the domain, and there was no alturnative option really. 180 machines is a lot to deal with in one go, I would try and go for the phased roll out option if possible. We found just dealing with 80 machines was difficult, finding space to store them, making sure they were labelled and named properly and making sure they were all given back to the right people, then dealing with the silly complaints about not having the same charger as they had last year etc. When you've got 20+ members of staff all queueing up at your office waiting for their machine back it's no easy task, particularly if you're also dealing with problems at the same time. If I could find an alturnative way to collecting in all the machines, I definitely would! Mike Space to store them shouldn't be a issue, if your at school during the holidays just take over the classrooms and move the desks into rows/benches and just image them from there. As for making sure they get "theirs", when they hand them in, on the bag put a piece of masking tape and a marker for their name. And to hand them back out, since they all have their names on them, just put them in the staff room in alphabetical order and a sign out sheet and a sign telling them to make sure they have the one with their name on it. Edited October 2, 2009 by p858snake
ssiruuk2 Posted October 3, 2009 Posted October 3, 2009 (edited) I hate to do this to ssiruuk2, but if you follow this link you'll see what happens without planning change management. It's not about the technology but the people who use it, and I can wholeheartedly agree with those who say that you should stage it. If you're lucky, or skillfully select a group to roll out the upgraded laptops to, you may find you have a pool of "champions", those who can see the benefits and will share and promote the technology amongst their peers. LOL thanks for that beeswax That post was me venting steam after a very busy summer, staff returning back and being totally negative and resistant to any change they face. I've seen it time and time again its not just upgrading the email system; the move from old paper registers to electronic was classic and yes they were very well informed of that one.. This was by a select few members of staff who have no idea the amount of work what goes into providing their ICT network and its continuing development / improvement. On the whole that upgrade was welcomed by the majority in the end and I'd do the same again. I do concede that I could have produced a document showing those non tech savy how to use the new version and the differences. edit: Forgot to say that we are pretty fortunate in our place regarding the thread topic; we get great backing by our SLT which is good to know. I have seen other schools local to us who are at the other end of the spectrum regarding support from above and I don't envy the IT teams there at all. Edited October 3, 2009 by ssiruuk2 1
beeswax Posted October 3, 2009 Posted October 3, 2009 This was by a select few members of staff who have no idea the amount of work what goes into providing their ICT network and its continuing development / improvement. Very few are interested in this side of it. My apologies once again.
jandy254 Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 I am currently tasked with writing a timeline to do exactly that. Change of OS version plus change of Office version. I have already informed SMT that I will require the summer break to work on it, also that I will require all laptops returned to base for the duration of the change.
beeswax Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 Why don't you, TonyJF and leco collaborate on this and then share your best practice with the rest of the community?
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