pete

So have you tried renewing the expired (in July 2020) self-signed certificate running on server wdf-vc2016.wdferrers.sch and then adding it to a GPO so the domain computers trust it? We're a Vericool customer and I have opinions about them, but I wouldn't expect them to renew a certificate on a server I'm responsible for. Support their application? Sure. Renew certs? No.

We also do the .psd / equivalent Gimp with layers (which is an upgrade from the previous "Head of Geography redrew it in biro" method). Making it easier to maintain has been on my "when I get time" list for years.

We put additional sockets into the exam hall and required students using laptops to be seated along those walls.

Assuming you're swapping out battery packs when necessary, it's sized appropriately for the load and it's setup to auto-test and email you when there's a problem, 7 years isn't necessarily too long.

For music composition, our lot are using Noteflight (http://www.noteflight.com) and really like it.

A poll, because I'm at the "start fulfilling the contract terms or we stop paying you" stage with our provider.

We go round the edge + tables in the middle or round the edge with a tongue down the middle (as in kennysarmy's diagram) if we need the extra seats. In an ideal world with big enough rooms I'd have them all facing away from the teacher similar to @Disease, staggered so the kids don't encroach on each other's space.

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (which I think is mentioned earlier in this thread).

Currently: SIMS for the basics. Personnel folder structure appropriately locked down for the rest. As @pysdii mentions, SIMS lacks granular permissions to properly secure sensitive data and default roles/permission groups overlap unnecessarily. Soon: The trust is moving to Every Compliance & HR (http://www.weareevery.com). It is not cheap, but so far it's looking promising.

Single or dual 24", depending on space/work, usually on an adjustable arm, newer ones on gas piston arms (bit more expensive, but easier to adjust monitor) 24" monitor prices are a bit stupid at the moment though.

I made a complaint about that. Wonde are acting on behalf of government and should be meeting accessibility requirements. I suspect it's the DfE being over cautious (and/or barring the door after the party horse has bolted), but it's not acceptable.

Lock screen & login background is typically a school-specific picture overlaid with school logo. The image changes when IT or SLT get bored of it. Desktop wallpaper is fixed for the kids, staff can pick whatever provided it's SFW. I still have to pick/design something for trust central teams, mainly because they have no nice pictures of their own.

Observium is very good, especially in recent versions after they relaxed the need for dns names for devices. Setup and autodiscovery is fast too, provided you've already got SNMP configured on devices. However, if you're starting from scratch, I'd go LibreNMS (it's a fork of Observium) as it has features (device config backup integration, graylog export, 2FA) missing in Observium Community Edition. There's an Ubuntu 20.04 OVA that you can spin up and test with in their downloads: https://github.com/librenms/packer-builds/releases/tag/21.2.0

We're using Sage 200. As a budget holder, it's rather annoying (permissions aren't granular enough to provide decent reporting within the application and reports exported from Sage are poorly formatted). The finance dept quite like it though. They're gone through FMS > Corero > Sage 200 and Sage is closest to the ideal that they've got.

Something along the lines of: "I'm looking for offers in excess of £X and benefits Y to consider moving from my current position". Some schools will attempt to low-ball you, but you probably don't want to work for them if that's the case. And the "oh, we have to pay Z grade for that position" isn't true. There's room for negotiation / escalation to someone who can say "pay more for a good candidate".

Minimum 2 per desk +10-20% (depending on number of drops) per office/room to avoid the expense of additional cabling 2 years down the line when a desk is added or the room is re-arranged. Office with 6 desks would usually have: 2 drops per desk (phone + desktop) 2 drops in the drop ceiling (AP / other) 2 drops where a printer/copier is likely to sit (one to use, one to trash when they move the copier without unplugging it) 2-4 drops on another appropriate wall/place to cover rearranging said office. It's significantly cheaper and easier to add drops all in one go than have them added piecemeal later.

We use this: https://signature.email/ ...with a template per school. Staff are sent a schoolname.signature.email link (protected with an access code to deter enterprising students). Once there, type in name, job title and email address and it'll generate a signature for pasting into Outlook (or will email you it).

@slugshead - what fire panels is your site running? The "let site team know which building/thing was triggered" sounds useful.

Doorbell wired to a mushroom switch that can ring a unique tone in N+1 staffed places. It's not elegant, but it has limited points of failure during the working day when people are around.

We use Colour Data UK Ltd - https://www.data-label.co.uk/ Label: 3M Silver Polyester + Standard Lamination Size: 38 x 19 mm Adhesive: Permanent Print: Green (Silver label colour, black text and barcode, green overlay (think PAT label) creating silver text on header) Quantity: 5,800 over 5 sorts (5 sites) Price: £448 per 5,800

What order do they come out in? And is it consistent with a field in SIMS / the tracking report.

The gall to sit there on Zoom and say "It was a surprise that Capita Education development was in such a poor state, hence we need 3 year contracts for cash flow reasons" when a basic level of due diligence would have turned that up pre-purchase.

If you hinted which area of the country you're in, we could provide recommendations. I can recommend the firm we use, but if their staff have to travel too far the bill will include hotel rooms.

Ask a decent* local cabling contractor? It should be cheaper than buying new switches. *I mean, clearly not the muppets who put a comms cab in the office.

Haven't spotted the break clause email yet, but aware it should arrive. For those that have seen it, is it: 3 Year contract that either party can terminate with 6 months notice 3 Year contract that can be terminated within 6 months of starting the contract? Some other variation?