TechMonkey

I think we get our onboarding software to do it but all our users are set to Off under Audio Conference in Teams Admin (https://admin.teams.microsoft.com/users) Looks like the policies should be able to do this, but it isn't something we have looked at in depth.

Wait, what? So a product marked as Pro has less features than other products. In this context is Pro short for something other than Professional?

We use Inventry but wanted Pupil sign in as well so it didn't seem like it wasn't doing too much. You'd be looking at the best part of £4k although I would say the time saving for your staff not to have to input the details would probably even out the cost but that's just my thoughts. I think all the systems we have seen have self entry, even the basic ones that just used an iPad in a stand connected to a printer. If you want to keep it bargain basement why not hook up a webcam to the reception PC and get the staff to insert a capture into a template that they then print to a label printer but at that point I'm not sure what benefit you are getting apart from it isn't a handwritten book. You could jazz it up by making an Access database but then you start making a rod for your own back and the staff are doing more work than when it was just a book on the desk. Alternative systems are Osborne, Visipoint, Vpass and Ofec. Careful, you need to have a valid reason, not just incase the police ask.

My only thought is if they are hosting it they take the requirements off your hands and are responsible for any failures. They will also handle updates and backups. You also have a fixed cost for the year, rather than the possibility that the Azure server racks up an unexpected charge.

If this correct, you will make me a very happy man!!

I do a 3 year plan, with a future forecast going on showing hardware changes. Anything more than 3 years is a complete guess. Don't forget you need to have a copy of the School Development Plan to work against as it is no good them planning to bring a new building online Y3 and you having nothing in the plan. If their plan goes further than 3 years then build a skeleton plan on anything that affects IT, so again, if they have a new build coming on line in Y7 you will spec out rough networking costs and a rough cost for all the bits you are responsible for. This also can form a basis for your plans as Y5 & Y6 might be to get a new core switch, or upgrade the switch that a new building would hang off. My template I use is: * Overview - What the document is for * Current state of play - Walk through the infrastructure and department. A good place to highlight any issues you want to address or areas you are proud of. * Previous Plan evaluation - I go over what was done in the past three years or not, and any reasoning. Helps me focus on what still needs to do and good to keep a record of why something wasn't done * IT Department Vision - a section I have put together that is where I see the technology heading and how the school should leverage. It helps form my decisions and is a good reference for reasoning * Development Plan - Broken up into the 3 academic years I am covering and any overarching projects that may need better explanation. This is also where I normally add a little table projecting the extended plan, so switches, server infrastructure etc, when it is expected to be replaced and a rough cost. * Further recommendations - anything else that is either above my pay grade or out of my hands that I can suggest or give input to. Examples I have put in were getting a staff induction together (which has happened) or a new server room (which has not). Two copies get saved, the full version and a chopped down version that just has the development bits and an explanation that this forms part of a larger document. The whole thing, in theory, gets reviewed each year to progress it on a year, and evaluate the year gone. There is also a budget document that is my yearly costs and projected costs of projects. It may be a bit of overkill but at least anyone willing to read the full version can see my reasoning and if I get wiped out in a freak network rack accident anyone should be able to work out what the hell I was doing and where I was going. The vision bit is entirely up to you, the school may not agree with your vision, but I feel it is helpful in that at least whatever happens I have a set of ideals to work towards, whatever my budget, and areas I am not willing to compromise on.

Or this one https://www.cosmonautasoftware.com/page/ad2paxton

Thanks for the reply. We do use Teams but the query is what about when inspectors come around and want to have a look. Wix is an interesting prospect but I fear the lack of control or oversight. Firefly is something I have seen but the cost for benefit is not in the right ballpark.

War of the Worlds always fascinated but terrified the pants off me when I was little. Loved the Jeff Wayne album and all the cover art but I remember having to go eat in the Kitchen one time when the film was on!! I'm hoping I can get through this one.

Just wondering if anyone is successfully using any software to curate digital work? I'm fed up of teachers getting pupils to print all their work to just stick it into their books but I do understand they need to be able to show they are marking work and be able to show inspectors what the class has been doing. It would also be nice for Parents to be able to see the excellent work their cherubs produce. I've seen mention of SeeSaw, that looks good, but ideally I would like it to tie into an MIS, minimise the admin needed. Any ideas?

Affixxius - is the big one. Create the typical blockbuster style videos. Bonjour School Photography - is a leader in photography and now do videos. Loud Monkey - has been recommended to us but are not specifically schools Look for a local shop that could work with you? Companies always want to break in to the education market and getting one customer can lead to others. BUT, and it is a big but, I would say really think about what you want. How often do you, or people you know, sit and watch the classic 3 minute+ trailers for companies or products? These days it is more about short snippets, things that can be posted to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. So an alternative is get stock footage that can be used for different purposes and splice it together for a longer intro video, or get some action cams and create authentic footage within the school. Get the Head to talk about an upcoming event or the Head of PE to talk about the Rugby World cup and how it can relate to the school and their team. Of course the issue with that is who does it, who has the time and how do you keep it fresh. That is up to the school.

No problem. We all need it at some point

I know most of us feel it at some point, but that creeping feeling that we will be found out, that we don't really know what we are doing, that we are just keeping one step in front of everyone else. I read a great post by Neil Gaiman and having just watched First Man it really resonated with me https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/160603396711/hi-i-read-that-youve-dealt-with-with-impostor I hope this helps someone, even if not now right at this moment.

300 devices. And I can't remember the actual cost but I'm sure it was peanuts. We use it for controlling Windows Defender as well as imaging and deploying applications. I'd agree with 2 days following the Windows-Noob guides.

Have a word with Vipre then. We have been with the system that has cycled between a few different names and it has kept our issues low. Allows visibility for those times someone complains that an email never was sent or if we have to find if it hit our network at all. It is cloud based and we used it successfully with both an onsite Exchange and with O365. We are paying £1650 a year, that is for 145 licenses but covers us with 550 pupils and 130 staff. That is a historical price though so I can't guarantee that will be what is offered now. It does have optional extras, like sand boxing and link re-writing, but you don't have to have them.

Excel? Depends on what your requirements are. Do you have a helpdesk as that might have an asset tracking bit. Spiceworks can scan your network and give you a list, which is quite useful but I'm not a fan. There are open source systems like GLPI that can do this via a web interface, but can be a bit full on and overwhelming, for example allowing you to log the wall socket, patch panel and switch port that a device plugs into.

I did get one of the Rocket books which has an App to allow uploading to various cloud storage and apps just by ticking a shape. It is quite nice to have an electronic copy that can then be erased. I find I use OneNote on a tablet or my phone more though

Would be my first thought incase they are actually videos or documents with the file extension renamed. If too big for notepad try Notepad++.

Windows Defender does a fab job here. If you haven't got SCCM you are a bit more limited to what reports you get and you have to use GPOs or scripting to set it up. Depending on how much you would be saving by dropping Sophos, you could get Office 365 ATP to help with spam and phishing. I am looking into ATP for next year. Currently we use Vipre, which is very good but I want to streamline.

OneNote?

You don't have to spend £££. From what I have seen the Spam filtering is fine, you just have to put the work in. If you want to off load that you can pay other services, including an MS option that looks very comprehensive.

As someone early mentioned and I keep banging on about, skills not software. Don't teach Word, teach word processing; don't teach Windows, teach resilience and how to search. Teach the fundamentals and then teach how to find the rest. The biggest issues I hit with staff is them not knowing which software to use or what each does. Someone recently came to me and said they don't understand Excel, and when I asked what they wanted to use it for they didn't know. If someone doesn't know what a spreadsheet, any spreadsheet, can do then how can they even approach it correctly let allow use it effectively. It also doesn't help when people, especially those that should know better, use hyperbole such as in thread title. Unless anyone can give me clear reasoning for the statement that I have missed, and not personal preference? Otherwise we may as well just yell Windoze sucks, Mac is rubbish, Linux Roolz!! MS was founded in 1975, so gaining a contract in 1978 can't really count as before they were founded, especially when MS was founded a year before Apple.

We were pretty agnostic for a while, having both available and Google gained a bit of traction because of one teacher. But once other teachers started looking they gravitated to O365. I'd say both are a much of a muchness, each having strong points and weaknesses. You make your choice and you go for it. I'd say Google Docs not doing mail merges natively is a big bummer. Although not being able to do mail merges via Onedrive or SharePoint is as much of a pain. MS seem to be throwing everything they can at the wall and seeing what sticks and what the users can do with it, but not really giving much guidance. Google seems to be in a constant beta and things get dropped at will. My personal feeling is that Google systems are a bit more clunky and adhoc, but that may be because I use it less often now. Saying all that, if an edict from on high came down from on high to swap to Google I wouldn't be too fussed. Annoyed at the loss of work and extra learning I and the staff would have to do, but not about the system.

Agree. Send them a link to the Play and Apple store. They should have the contacts and resources that will suggest what will be good. You will end up making a massive list and them just saying they aren't suitable.

Depends on how mission critical it is counted as. We are in a similar boat and were investigating what to do. We've found if we upgrade we have to upgrade a load of our APs too as they are no longer supported by newer offerings. 11k to replace, with an ongoing cost of £900. Maybe next year.