PotNoodleTech

Email your DPO with a concice list of the many areas is it not compiant with gdpr and safeguarding etc. Reccomend they remove the system as it's a databreech waiting to happen. Leave it to DPO and SLT as it's their remit to lose sleep over it, not yours!

Yeh the LA are forcing us to move to HWB intune etc in a year or two and deleting their active directory etc. Luckily I won't be there at that time to have to deal with that

Actually yeh now that it's ben mentioned above if you held me by gunpoint and told me to cancel veeam - synology would be the next one. I went to see a school in the next county that was using synology alot and was very impressed.

Veeam is the absolute last thing I would try and cost save on. Theres plenty of other meat on the bone first. Get rid of the £3k a year garbage curriculum software programmed by a guy in a shed and hardly ever used by teachers before looking at mission critical stuff IMO.

I mean google is like next gen compared to Microsofts offering - I disable a chromebook it's done in a couple of mins max wherever it is in the world, I add an app, it starts appearing generally in a matter of seconds. For every windows device you set up, depending on your deployment method, you san set up 10-50 chromebooks in the same amount of time. Microsoft and mobile devices remind me of Capita/ESS vs Bromcom/Arbor- 10 years behind suck in a quagmire of past bloatware and poor programming, simply put unable/impossible to catch up.

Name the company then so we can avoid.

Thing is more often than not having the ability to be flexible is a big positive especially if it's over a 5 year period. I don't miss the lease days where we basically couldnt do jack sh* until the lease renewal.

Just be very carful if you have pets, the robots cant distinguish between dust, and poop

All's well that ends better as me old mate Bilbo used to say!

All received well. I kinda don't agree with anything you say mind - hope you take that well too Frankly if your establishment has to replace it's entire IT estate this year all in one fell swoop as it's literally all out of date, that is a systemic failure of your senior leadership team in the same way it would be their lack of leadership/planning/budgeting if the roofs were falling in and doors falling on pupils and heating not working and lights out? IT is the 4th utility and education establishments that fail to realise this will get (are, have already been) left behind. Sorry. But that's how I see it. Believe me I've been there, I've had £5k a year budget to run the entire school during the dark times in the past. It's taken a long time but now we've never spent more on IT, and the lights are still on heating still on, spending an extra 50k a year every year for the last 5 years hasn't destroyed the school contrary to what they said back in the old days, except now we're writing the case studies for the inspectors not following them. Sorry.

Im not involved in this one the head of ICT is doing it but I believe they are creating a separate AI policy rather than bundling it into existing esafety.

Just my friendly 2p as someone who's been doing this a very long time. You guys are missing a bit off a trick here as Cybersecurity best practices implemented over the last 2 years gives you an actual physical solid reason to push for new hardware and software, a reason we have literally never had the luxury of before, even better, endorsed by DFE and Welsh Gov etc where they have basically said for the first time ever, devices and software have to be modern, updatable and fit for purpose. Don't squander the opportunity sticking to the old ways of beg borrowing stealing make do and mending. 2 facts here are. 1. BIOS updates anything non updatable or that doesn't get regular updates (regular as in once a year or more) be it a old optiplex 3020 or an old chromebook has to be replaced. 2. Windows 11 - it's non negotiable really - come December 2025 if you have not upgraded you are out of scope for cybersecurity and you could argue if push comes to shove safeguarding (in terms of being hacked and losing valuable personal data of safeguarded pupils). We've never been able to argue these arguments as good as this before - previously we had no ammo other than "it's slow and we could do with newer". Think about this - and then make some plans for what needs upgrading. It doesn't even need to be new we are buying refurb/used chromebooks and PCs to help get rid out our last remaining out of scope devices.

To be honest the main issues your school faces are not the technical hurdles you describe above but the fact that you have no hope of complying with safeguarding or data protection laws or best practices. Having unmanaged devices with multiple user accounts (home and personal) logging on is a recipe for a safeguarding incident or a data breech and a prime spot in the local newspapers. This alone should be reason enough for your SLT to see sense - if they are not interested in safeguarding or data protection then I guess we'll just have to let the school fail it's next inspection.

I'd do an extra 3 hours a week for an extra 60k a year.

Just don't go Pay G - get contract phones then you never have to worry about missing a top up or teachers with 50 kids running out of credit in the middle if sibera.

Looks like a good role!

Looks like our Gov framework has dropped Clevertouch and gone Samsung WAD series. Anyone used them?

Fair enough but you have a support contract with Ricoh on a unit like that right so you could get it fixed same/next day through them?

I've got a Pro 8300s that report everything fine. Your unit would have been installed by ricoh and their engineers usually set the papercut stuff up correctly at the time of install, so have you called Ricoh to let them know they didnt set it up right and to get it fixed? It's the easiest way as they literally do hundreds of them probably get it sorted in 30 minutes.

Oh mine are lead acid but still going strong giving 90% runtime after 6+ years.

Can you see anything in the log files/web interface on the core switch? If it's the same two netgear switches going down repeatedly it could literally be a problem with the switches - or the cabling? Only real way to find out would be to fit a HP switch and see if it stays up? You ca get the really old stuff like 2626 cheap as chips nowadays - grab one and test is my advice!

Very good - I am always happy to be proven wrong!

Understood pete, and makes total sense. What about getting hold of used parts from someone that deals in used UPS's something like serversource/bargainhardware/itinstock/etc or even ebay? Or god forbid even aliexpress? An actual real, correct fan but used would do, or even the whole fan tray? Also as an aside I moved from APC to Eaton years ago and never looked back way more reliable way longer battery life etc - the fact that APC don't have £10 fans in stock to keep an £8000 UPS running is shocking.

Aah the old "we don't have the money to hire someone" but presumably based on your entire thread, they can and will find (even more) money to pay a third party support company?

They literally said 6 years, 6 years ago lol