mthomas08

We upgraded to 2016, what a nightmare. I downloaded all the guides, got given a bunch of software to install. Spent the majority of two weeks doing this on a freshly built server and half the time on the phone to Capita with bits that didn't exist in the documentations. Like the document server which just installs and works..... yet it didn't..... The performance has actually dropped a bit but we upgraded the current server to Server 2016 and SQL 2016. The bad news was it didn't fix our constant memory errors in certain aspects of SIMs but we now have some SQL maintenance plan tasks (which apparently should be run often by everyone anyway)... Still, Capita Support were 10/10 during the upgrade with me constantly phoning them up.

Looked at this a while ago.. wasn't impressed. Only worked in the App which you can't get working on W7 at the time (that should be gone next year anyway). On non touch screen devices like staff laptops it was very poor. With SLG being cancelled you've got no choice but to use this. We went over to EduLink and it's been so much better.

To be fair to them... if you have an email address down as the Parent + Parental Responsibility and no court order... the email address should be safe. You can change the link expire period in hours and they can only click the link once. So there is quite a bit of security already before they even get an account. Still, no harm in having a DOB as a feature but I assume they would need that for each child the parent has IF it got added.

Well our deployment of edulinkone went very smoothly. Didn't take long getting the mis/ad sync setup and using our exchange to relay allowed us to send out parent accounts by email. Not only did they sign on quickly, we even have parents wanting to update their details on our mis so they can get it too..... This helps email addresses for attendance and other letters we send out.... Complaints? None so far. Some parents have not read through the email correctly which is fine (about 15 out of 450 so far). Some need updated details (parental responsibility etc) Our next step will be to look at the parents evening and enable one or two other functions. The fact we can quickly turn off a function has helped (we need to tweak a few things internally). Compared to the annual SLG deployment nightmare................. I have to say.... edulinkone has been better deploying to everyone compared to just new year 7s with SLG or other platforms. This really has been the smoothest deployment of anything system wide. And it just worked.

Interesting "The heart of the issue concerns the telemetry information sent by Windows 10 operating system and the company’s cloud solution back to the US." "This information can include anything from regular software diagnostic data to user content from Office applications, such as email subject lines and sentences from documents where the company’s translation or spellchecker tools were used." Collecting such info is violating GDPR. M$ can't disable this function and students/staff generally don't have access to anything on "agreeing" to the terms etc. M$ hasn't been forthcoming? course not? Is this another Facebook issue? Or is there no storm on this because M$ generally doesn't get involved in politics like a lot of other people seem to? The work around is the school asking for consent but understand that technically kids can't consent to this? Can't the school type up a simple copy or even provide the terms in an online document for parents/students to read? "This resulted in a migration of school accounts to a European data center, where they could be accessed by US officials upon request." I can completely understand this gripe. At the end of the day we need to provide this system, replacing it isn't quick nor easy... and who says the rival products don't do the same thing? All seems a bit ... fussy to me..

We have it in our policy that the police may request access to certain footage for criminal investigations (along these lines). That's it. They don't need access to our CCTV and no one does externally. Only 3 have direct access with 2 more added on for extra bits. The footage requests/access is given to SLT and a few others.

And this is it ladies and gents. You have really hit the nail on the head. Staff should not need to be exporting the data and altering in all kinds of ways with excel. The work load this creates is manic. Not to mention how they currently link up their products from one system to another (SLG, SIMs Service Manager, InTouch and SIMs Online). Yet companies that pull data out of SIMs to sync can do it in a lot less fuss and with ease. Take EduLink for starters which pulls data out and injects it back in SIMs. You would think after all this time they would have a far better system that is automatic, easy to setup and little to no maintenance. A member of staff here is looking at taking over options and even looked at the online version but was that simple? Nope. They can't even make the timetables without a bunch of required steps. We have not long found out that SLG is being decommissioned. We are still having memory errors and I am very tired of jumping through hoops that are on fire just to record these for zero solutions on the horrizon. I need to breath.

We are on 2012 R2 here - 50-70% CPU. Will install the hotfix later and fingers crossed.

Glad we are not the only ones. Main reason we are looking else where is the password nightmare in SLG. We pay for SLG and Parents Evening. These two can be replaced with EduLinkOne. It can potentially cut costs to our SMS usage because it includes a basic messaging system added witht he App notifications this could cut down texting needs. The attendance section seems pretty good. It also has the option to link up to SMS systems but we've not looked at that yet - one of our next steps to test. Still waiting for a response from our cashless catering system on this note. A school mentioned a one off cost to link the cashless system. I don't see any forseable costs except this one and maybe connecting our SMS system. Only because some companies don't like being linked to without a cost... but we shall see. Our parent/teacher seems happy "very user friendly" she is singing praises. The software to connect SIMs/AD (LDAP) is very simple and EduLink provide instructions and assistance on making sure everything works a treat. We didn't spend much time making sure the settings worked. They also provide documentation on creating an account that has write access to a field in their AD accounts (for those of us that totally forgot). It can take all the data you need like the behaviour, achievements (negative/positive), timetables, detentions. You can also choose what section is enabled for each user type. So you can enable timetables for staff but remove it from parents/students. You can go to their website and click on the DEMO. You can even ask for a Live Demo and get your systems connected. You'll be able to see your SIMs data live and can get your staff/students to play with it. I am just waiting for more staff volunteers to test ours. We are at the point where I want a fussy approach because I can't complain at all so far and that doesn't happen often.

Hi All Does seem like a ton of positives for ELO. We are currently reviewing our options to cut costs and provide a more simple integrated system. Parent Evening Some have said there are functions not available? what kind? Cover Is this on it? I can't see it on the demo Could I get a list of every little negative people can think about? I think for us this is a definite no brainer because of the costs it saves annually. Are there any schools in Kent/South East signed up to this?

We went to CleverBox after quitting RealSmart. AS @theeggmaster said there is the other thread there. I'm glad we left them, took control of our G Suite and things have never been better. Only nice thing I can say about RealSmart is the SIMs uploader to G Suite for accounts etc. That really is it...

We had a GDPR audit and totally worth it. They sit down and go through everything: -What your school does to be protected (data managers/DPO) -Training/teasers you give to staff and how often -Policies in place -What progress you plan on making -Look at your audit data sheet You can ask any question and they will give a straight forward answer. This was something they did over a day or two. The peace of mind alone is worth it.

Have used for good ammo. This isn't about stopping them from keeping learning materials, this is about personal data which they shouldn't have. How many of them have simply innocently copied GBs of data and kept it without even questioning what it is? This is why an audit is very important.

Sounds like it is quite easy to ID staff from this list? Do you give consent? Is there a legit reason for this list? GDPR covers you and staff, not just students and parents. I believe you can ask to have your name removed from that list. We don't have such a list, we have a member of staff dealing with cover/illnesses so only that individual knows about it.

Progress not perfection and making an effort to cut the risks with staff training and awareness. Quite important factors with GDPR We force all our staff to have encrypted USBs or they can't save to them. If staff work at home on their own devices they should be passworded to prevent family members from accessing any documents. They can save through our remote access system. We can also offer advice on how to setup additional accounts on their equipment with a password. We strongly advise them not to save any documents on their home unless temporarily (plus a long list of other reminders). Encrypted USB is more secure compared to one that's not which means better GDPR compliance. And you have to remember that a typical teacher document will only include names of students and shouldn't have any sensitive information. If you keep making staff aware of such things it should cut down the risks involved. Touch wood.

1 iPad yes used for reception sign on. We've tried tablets/netbook schemes and they've all been cancelled. -damages -responsibility -everyone wants it to be a pc -apps don't replace everything we have -costs more to add no real functionality except mobile learning -we even did it so the cost was passed on to the parents and it would still cost us money -not the magic bean some have indicated -not the way forward for young people that struggle to look after their own 'my precious' phones We tried it for many years, different ideas etc etc. If some one walked in the door and said "I want the scheme back" I'd want it in that persons contract to be the leader and deal with everything we faced. Also at this time of economic questions over education... I don't think it's right to spend that kind of money.. I'd also ask what this person is trying to achieve or is it just typical 'on the whim'...... If you want to know more details about what we went through.. chuck me a DM.

Exactly. Don't do what the new guy wants just for the sake of it. Visit other schools and consider the wider implications. Do you need to buy devices for the sake of it? Is the new guy just trying to make himself look good in the eyes of SLT? (wouldn't be the first nor the last) It has been a few years since I used Googles own office Apps but they were poor comparisons Vs Office 365. There was a list of functionalities that simply didn't exist - we'd google them to find that nope.. can't do it. Wished I kept the list. Things might have changed. Test them first. Don't get multiple classrooms.. get one at most or get a few and see if students/staff can work with them in the exact same way. This is what frustrates me with education and schools.. people push for tech but don't test.. test and test.. then pick up the pieces later or you've just made a headache for teachers.. just so one person can look good in the eye of SLT? Has your school signed up to G Suite? do that right away and get using it. Hasn't this guy already done all this or is he just wanting to buy them all?

This is exactly what I was thinking. Don't get me wrong.. I really don't mind attending these meetings etc but surely the DPO would already know those answers and the ICO shouldn't need to see me. The good thing for me is I can respond exactly like this to our DPO. He would probably want me there anyway which is fine but again, he should know the answers to these questions without me.

We always install fibre when we can. It's more 'future proofing' which I am a fan of. You may think you won't ever use 10GB..... but 15 years ago I wasn't too sure we would be so dependent on 1GB in a school... If the capacity, time and money is available for 2x fibres.. do it. If you have a choice of 2x coppper or 1x fibre, then why not go 2x copper. Can I choose both? Would you one day upgrade your current kit to suit a fibre. The question isn't so simple until you look at the bigger picture and I don't think there is a right or wrong option.

They said that about Lewis when he left Mclaren.. now look... RBR are going to Honda. Mistake by Ric or perhaps the right move? We will find out next season.

Exactly. The full name isn't classified as sensitive personal data, the DOB/UPN are. If using basic personal details (full name) for using website services.. the scrutiny of such website would be low.. compared to one using DOB/UPN/Addresses etc. if you're going to replace the full name with something.. it needs to be basic personal details or less.. a made up name/number etc. We use full names in email addresses and our DPO doesn't even question this and he's had the full works of GDPR training (even our GDPR LEA auditor and advisor didn't care about the usernames/email addresses).

No such thing as being silly if you are a bit 'extra' safe with no real loss. It's all about cutting the risk of identifying individuals. Nothing stopping you from posting a first name but it does add a small risk increase of identifying that individual. Also why do you need to? And that is another point to remember 'need' We don't post photos with names. Still, if the parent/student has given full consent to post it.... and you have that logged.. fill your boots. Edit: parent can't order you to post something on the school website regardless if they like it or not. I also wouldn't take advice from a parent regarding GDPR.

We install 250GB SSDs for staff and 120GB SSDs for students. Sometimes it is multiple profiles, software storing in my docs or simply other cache bits and pieces.

We have always collected consent for photos and given the option to opt out for events, social media etc. Under GDPR obviously we have battened down the hatches and made it much easier to opt in/out. Photos are no longer uploaded to the website etc unless parents have OPT IN and obviously no details are given. In all honesty we have just stopped uploading photos.

We use Bio/PaperCut and we changed from PCounter. We're very happy with the change. It's not perfect, currently we can't limit the photocopying users can do. If you use ID/barcodes the cost will drop a lot. The biometrics are not cheap when you add each one + support costs.