Steve21

I'd assume from the wording below they won't be allowing multi-year details to be taken out "to avoid the changes" but wordings more iffy on that FAQ, sounds like if the renewal is before May you could be in luck but if it's after that then no: Can customers renew early to retain current offerings or pricing? No. Early renewals, early commits, or requests intended to avoid the new Education program changes aren't encouraged or permitted. Current agreements, pricing, licenses, and entitlements remain in effect through the end of the institution’s existing contract term. Standardized pricing levels apply at the institution’s first eligible renewal or extension on or after May 1, 2027. The remaining portfolio, retirement, storage, and licensing changes apply at the first eligible renewal or extension on or after January 1, 2028. Steve

Based on the FAQ page I'm hoping it sounds like we'll be ok until the end of the agreement (Microsoft 365 Education frequently asked questions | Microsoft Learn): Do the portfolio updates affect an institution before its current agreement ends? No. Current agreements and pricing remain in effect through the end of the current term. The updated offer lineup, storage entitlements, minimum purchase thresholds, and retiring-offer milestones apply at the first renewal on or after January 1, 2028. Will institutions on multi-year agreements be affected before renewal? No. Existing multi-year agreements remain in effect through the end of their existing agreement terms until that agreement ends, even if January 1, 2028, falls during the term. The portfolio, storage, retirement, and licensing changes apply at the institution’s first renewal or extension on or after January 1, 2028. Steve

Yep from the graphic boredguy posted above, "more than 90% below faculty pricing" still suggests a major cost involved for students going forwards Looking at last year £46 for an A3 for faculty, even 90% below (£4.6 per student) with 1000 students would be another £4.6k on top just for A3 which could quite easily double just that part of the licensing depending on teacher numbers Steve

If it's working on the HP one and not the unifi have you checked you don't have things like IGMP snooping/multicast/DHCP spoofing etc options enabled on the VOIP port profiles on the unifi switches? Sometimes they can block the provisioning procedures on the phones And under the same query have you checked on the PBX as to whether the phones are set to automatically reprovision on that 3rd Thursday etc? Just to narrow down if it's related to that process Steve

I'd assume Arbor has the same options as SIMs/Bromcom where you can mark an employee not to be counted for workforce census, this stops them being added into the "statistics" etc, unless you're referring to custom reports etc which then you'd need to get them to edit them seperately That way the staff members sync to external systems including CPOMs etc but then don't affect any of the DfE stats, but also allows for timetables/seating plans etc Steve

ios 16 or later it's showing so very doubtful And nothing else I've ever seen, it's either AC2 via iPhone/Mac or via DEP directly - It doesn't need to be an Mac/iPhone as part of ASM, just needs the app and you log into the app with ASM details so can use a personal one etc if worse comes to worse I guess there might be an option to do so via Apple support, but no doubt that'll be faff if they even let you Steve

You can use configurator via iphone/mac to add them into ASM - It's just they have a 30-day window in which they can be removed from ASM rather than locking instantly so need to be aware of that option in the settings (or try not to give them out instantly :P) And yes any MDM can be bought separately to the devices just may cost slightly more as sometimes you get discount as a bundle Steve

Been to a couple previously and found no real point to most of them - They're normally not direct from the company/product, but a reseller who hosts them on behalf so just mainly just advertising "insert product" that you'll definitely need and should buy into (Which we've also had issues in the past when actually deciding to buy a product and finding that vendor has reg dealed you due to events) In terms of actual learning/technical etc it's more Glossy Sales PowerPoints at the overarching problems, rather than something you feel you go away learning from (95% of Cyber Attacks can be stopped in 10 seconds... but now to buy product to do so etc) Obviously each to their own, and depends on how far the event is, but not had much luck with vendor based events before, much more prefer local meetups with schools in the areas etc Steve

We normally get all ours on FS, they're as genuine for non-genuine you'll get 😛 SFP-10GSR-85 J9150D HPE Aruba Compatible 10GBASE-SR SFP+ 850nm 300m DOM Duplex LC/UPC MMF Optical Transceiver Module for HPE Aruba and OfficeConnect Switch Series £24.00 £24 last time I did an order HPE Aruba J9150D Compatible 10GBASE-SR SFP+ 850nm 300m Duplex LC/UPC MMF Transceiver Module for HPE Aruba and OfficeConnect Switch Series - FS.com United Kingdom Edit - Just to clarify we run those in the newer 5406s, so they're certainly supported for those (They re-code them to be "genuine" as such), but obviously would be worth checking with a small order for your specific one (If you email them with model specific details they'll recommend the correct ones too) Steve

What are the "things" being referenced? Most often it's things like favourites which can by sync'd with browsers now, or open tabs which again can be sync'd. If it's something stupid like a folder/view setting you could always create a custom policy for her Can't think of much nowadays that you can't replicate without a roaming profile, so would be worth trying to narrow down the specifics as to what's needed Steve

There's talk on the forums about Playstation and Xbox making a "convert to digital" process, but I assume that'll only cover Games and for a "set number of years" etc Guessing with everything being streamed nowadays the day of the DVD/BlueRays being supported is limited Steve

It's still recommended to use 2012 compatibility by ParentPay if you check their migration docs (At least up to September last year when I was did one) Steve

We don't have SIMs anymore but I know previously you need to re-run the config setup for Exporter each time SIMs upgrades as it copies some of the files into the folder Have you tried that if you just deployed the latest SIMs update? Steve

I haven't tested it yet but there's new options in the most recent ADMX for start menu For example "Hide Category view in the Start Menu" which says it makes it default to Grid view instead, or is it only list you're after? Might view you a hint from that GPO what reg key it's changing though Steve

Morning All, Not sure if it'll help many if you're still using Win10 at home or family etc but looks like they've sneakily added another year in now: Windows 10 Extended Security Updates | Microsoft Windows Steve

Generally we stick with seperate ones as most the time people realise they hate them and then want them removed again In terms of brands 3M are expensive but work well Generally you need to make sure it’s the right size for the monitor and aspect as they either sit inside the monitor or stick to the frame Steve

it's terrible! Coming from an Impero background to Senso V2 and we have had nothing but problems all year with it - Waiting months for bugs fixes, just to have it broken again when another patch comes out There's no reliability in any part of it, whether it's trying to view screens, shutdown, wake up etc We'll be looking at alternatives at renewal Steve

Good Afternoon All, Odd question, but we have a problem with Edulink where it syncs "all" student records even for leavers from Bromcom which is then clashing with a Staff login because they have the same email address (being the same record within Bromcom) - Does anyone know if you can remove "just" the student record via Bromcom without deleting the active staff account? (Trying to change email etc on student record also updates the staff because it's the same user as such). As the staff member was a student more than 20 years ago there's no valid reason to have the student data and it's just causing issues with syncs currently Thanks, Steve

It depends which "new" one you're referring to as there's two... 😛 There's the "new" FMS in cloud which is really just a migration of database to a VM and includes the new reporting tools Or there's the "new new" FMS which is the full cloud rebuilt one. The contract renewal mentioned a "short term" move to the "new" one, followed by a full move to the "new new" one down the line Steve

There was a massive section in this years renewal regarding the FMS changes (One of the reasons we jumped ship this year) - The last I heard from schools that didn't move is that they're still not finding the new FMS fit for purpose though and lots of schools who moved over are now being moved back by ParentPay again as a temporary fix, so would be worth pressing on that side of things as to whether it's actually likely to move anytime soon! Steve

There's a whole bunch of paperwork linked to new builds for schools when Trusts get assigned funding to build new schools etc for the contracts to meet, mainly linked to the physical structure/materials, but also random specific details like size of doors/airflow etc etc, but some of the IT requirements fall under them too as a requirement which DfE specific minimums to meet Design standards: employer's requirements - GOV.UK Just a nice reference to compare against other requirements when asked to reference items Steve

Look under the DFE new build requirements for a general idea as to what’s expected in any new build contract https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6971f649d8adeaf266040501/ER-DFE-XX-XX-T-X-0201-Technical_Manual-A-C01.pdf page 353 for AV screens etc Steve

Its a bug in Chromium for the last few days (Guessing your Chrome is an older version currently), but it'll affect both versions Edge/Chrome: Can't open downloaded file when Downloads folder is a UNC path (malformed \\?\ path on open) [519243472] - Chromium There's a fix coming, but current workarounds attached in the above thread if you wanted to try them Steve

You need a user with the DPO role enabled (normal sysadmin isn’t high enough) then there’s a a new report under Routines - Data Out - Person Data Output Steve

The easiest way (not particularly shortest) is mass run PDO reports for everyone as that should include all data under the GDPR export Bearing in mind it only would need to be done for the sub section of staff/students that’s fall outside the MIS migration work (eg 7 years for Bromcom) and the GDPR cut-off of not holding leavers data anymore Steve