Pete10141748

Here it goes something like this: X person wants Y devices I put together required specifications for Y devices and go to my regular contacts at 6-8 different companies requesting quotes, usually within a week I put together a quick "best cost" note detailling why Z business is best to buy from even if they arn't the cheapest price on the list Note and filled out ordering form are sent to the Head for singing off Note and ordering form comes back arguing cost/suitability/who-slash-what the Y devices are for I take note + ordering form back to Head and explain what and who they are for and re-iterate why Z business is best to buy from Note + ordering form signed off by Head and sent to Finance I get called to Finance by BURSAR who argues that there are cheaper prices available to Z business's price I argue my point (again) about why Z business are best to buy from, usually in vain as order gets denied I re-fill an order form for the cheapest option available, knowing that it is going to be lousy equipment and/or support I take the form to the Head, explain why it has changed, get it signed off again I take form to BURSAR who then places the order sometime in the next 3 weeks Kit gets delivered Kit gets set up by me Kit gets used once by staff member, who thinks it is lousy/doesn't do what they though it would/takes training so CBA to learn to use it Kit gathers dust while they then come to me as they want to buy something else Process starts again. And that, no joke, is what happens for almost EVERYthing that is bought in this place *sigh*

Yup, same here too, though there is some discrepancies even between the male staff as well! The TA in the Foundation stage gets away with 3/4 length shorts whatever the weather and tshirts with slogans etc on them The sports team get jogging bottoms/shorts and school logo tshirts/polo shirts or whatever tshirt they want The male teachers have to wear smart shirts tucked into smart trousers, ties optional I'm somewhere in between, with my Dickies tough-work black trousers, casual-smart shirt/polo shirt and black trainers I used to wear suit+shirt+smart shoes every day, but as I've slowly become more casually dressed over the last few years no-one has said anything so I figure screw it, I'll just go for comfort now!

It was 32C when I came in this morning at 8.15am, opening all the windows has gotten it down to about 27C now. No aircon at all for me sadly

10 years ago I was using RM-network based Windows 95 machines...... to type up my GCSE coursework at high school I found a dot matrix printer stashed under the bench of the IT Suite when I started here 3 years ago! lol Didn't test to see if it still worked though.

lol I need the highest factored SPF I can find whenever I go out in the sun, even in this country! Hailing from the chilly north land of the Scots = very pale skin not meant to be in UV light for more than a few minutes

*shudders at the thought of going outside voluntarily* Xbox360+Gear of War 2 and Big Bang Theory episodes, that's my evening planned edit: LOL same time posting and the same theme, great minds think alike DevilsAdvocate

Problem with that is that once the cmd window is filled with the same text it doesn't look like it is scrolling anymore, so the effect only lasts a few seconds.... (can you tell I've used that before? LOL)

I've looked for something like this before, never found anything though. Have thought about creating something myself but never gotten around to it.....

Awesome, I'll pass that along to the techie, it was he who upgraded to W7 and then found MM to be lacking when trying to make things for our digital sinage system. Thanks!

Agreed, the new version of Movie Maker that comes on Windows 7 is dreadful, so many features are gone and it's impossible to create anything like you could in the older versions

Yup, they've either moved the file location or they had the movie clips on a memory stick and it's drive letter has changed/they haven't got it with them. MovieMaker is one of the things that causes the most grief for me. No-one can seem to keep their files in the same place 2 weeks in a row, even when everything is put into a shared folder/drive for them so they don't have to move anything! I do think MM is a little misleading though, as the "Import video/pictures" isn't really a true import, it's only creating a program-specific shortcut to the file location and anyone non-tech savvy won't know (or understand even if you explain it 3 times) that process, especially children. Bad bad bad software!

Better class discipline from the teacher? Enforcement of the rules that you don't unplug or alter the physical state of the equipment? Suspension of the user account of anyone found doing it? These types of things always fall to us to sort out in a "technical fashion" when really it's just a result of a lazy teacher not paying attention to their class or not telling pupils off for mucking about. Failing that, superglue the cable into the port. Then when they yank it out and break it, you can charge them for a new one

Spiceworks for monitoring what is on each machine, free easy to use and oh yeah, free! I keep a folder which has all the actual License info in it (agreements, contracts, letters etc), but like Timbo343 I basically just know what software is installed on each machine anyway As for unwanted installs, our users can't install anything themselves so that takes a huge chunk out of the equation! We also have Sophos Anti-Virus + NAC, Firewall and Data Control all run from the handy web-interface. In the past 3 years the only times I've had anything unwanted come onto my network was from a memory stick contaminated from someone's home machine, and I'm taking steps to make sure that can't happen soon too (banning the use of all unencrypted school-issued removable media using Sophos

Every school should be having every visitor and staff member sign in and out in some fashion, for fire safety etc. Here we use software called VeriCool Reception which runs on a touch-screen you have to sign in to before you can come through the main security door of the school http://www.vericool.co.uk/schoolreception.html It also prints out labels for visitors and is useful for fire drills (or the real thing!) too. That coupled with trust and the fact that something was reported broken and now it isn't (ie you fixed it) should be enough to prove you were there! Failing that, you could get the school to pull up the CCTV footage of you arriving and leaving, which is useful for showing how long you were there for as well

Same as Mike posted above; I send what I want to my account manager via email, he usually gets me a quote within a day and it's almost always a bit cheaper than the site price too

All's gone fine here too

hahah! Now I want one with that printed in large lettering across the front

Our AUP states that no-one should be storing personal files on their school-provided laptop. If we find they are, they get send a "File Removal Notice" requesting that remove the files (listed by location) by a set date (typically, a week). If we check and the files are still not gone then they get sent a 2nd notice which is CC'd to the Head. If they still don't remove them after the 2nd notice then we inform the Head and she goes to them for 'a talk' (luckily this hasn't had to happen yet!) We get all the excuses under the sun as to why the files are there; "I tranferred them from my camera as the laptop has a card reader and just haven't got around to putting them on my own PC yet" when the photos were taken 2 months ago "I don't have my own PC so where else am I supposed to put (personal) photos from my (personal!) camera?" Not my problem! Buy an external HDD for your own stuff maybe?

Currently we have: 1x File 1x Applications / Software Library 1x SIMS/FMS + admin files 1x DC 1x Sophos / Ghosting / Misc 1x FreeNAS 1x Backup D2D2T system Over the summer I hope to be replacing all of the current kit to move to: 2x File 2x DC 1x much beefier Applications / Software Library 1x much beefier SIMS/FMS/Admin 1x Sophos / Ghosting / Misc 1x Spiceworks / IT Dept shared 1x FreeNAS 1x Backup D2D2T system

The video was funny, but this reponse is just awesome *rofl*

hahah awesome! I'd probably get told off if I wore that here, even as a joke!

If there is no school name mentioned, no-one insulted and no further reasoning as to why "they job is s###" then I highly doubt anything can be made of it.

It might depend on exactly what they wrote. If it was something like "I can't stand working at (school name) because (name/s of staff) is a (insert insult)" then certainly something can be done, even if it's just wrist-slapping, because it can be taken as libel I think. If it was just general "I hate my job / working with kids / writing lesson plans" sort of comments then I doubt there's much you can do.

How about RM.com Shop: The new and improved RM Mobile One Have 6 of them here all being used by Foundation Stage children for the past 10 months, and no problems yet!

Sorry, my bad explanation, I'd like them to sign in to them once (say, in the morning when they pick one of them up) and then they stay logged in so whenever they need them they just touch the button and they can instantly be used. But yes, I am still thinking of them along the lines of a laptop-replacement and not so much as a supplemental device live a calculator. EDIT: just realised that's probably quite a daft idea what with data protection and all that, so scrap what I said above!