Ditto

One thing to consider is that the issue may not be a single policy that is to blame for the problem, it could be a combination of more than one. Still, it is worth trying the approach first, and see if anything comes to light.

"a/b testing" the technically correct name for split testing or sometimes known as bucket testing

https://www.excelforum.com/excel-formulas-and-functions/1203384-sumproduct-w-offset-to-create-a-rolling-average-for-filtered-cells.html - this thread discussion demonstrates the challenge - there are better explanations out on interweb, but I don't have them to hand.

I can't recall if rows filtered out are regarded as hidden, but I think it must do. But the approach still ends up with a complex formula - for example a simple COUNTIFS with a few conditions against a table, is relatively simple. But if you filter values on the table, it just does the calculation on the whole table, so you end up with the complex SUMPRODUCT, SUBTOTAL, OFFSET, MIN and ROW stuff. If there were a parallel set of functions that just worked on the filtered data, that would be great. So, COUNTIFS has a parallel FCOUNTIFS etc. for a number of other functions. For those interest in the joys of SUBTOTAL - see https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/subtotal-function-7b027003-f060-4ade-9040-e478765b9939

Yes, drinking too much! Probably, Carl's Berg

It's probably just a typo, but both the OP and last suggestion has "AI 875" in the first ROW() function. You'll need to remove that space. But as suggested, an anonymised sheet would be good to see if there are more concise solution. I have had to grapple with SUMPRODUCT, SUBTOTAL, OFFSET and more recently. Unlike pivot table data, which works well with filtered data, getting other functions to work with filtered datasets can be a right pain. MS should come up with a better function that can work on filtered datasets with less faff!

You quote "transparency" and "ethics" to me. I suggest you re-read the reply to your OP and address that. That'll be my last comment in this thread. I'll leave to other edugeekers to share their views as they see fit.

Agreed. Nothing has suggested illegal practice and history suggests that would be challenged in the courts if this was the case. It does come across as sour-grapes. They'd be better focussing on the frequent reporting of poor performance than shooting at a major competitor with biased facts.

I did read all their disclosures and agree it would be more reassuring to have a completely independent review. How did you apply a weighting and do you mind publishing your results. I also would have been interested in the data where there were less than 100 responses to get an insight on Advanced Learning, IRIS Ed:gen, iSAMS, Juniper Horizons, Pupil Asset, and SchoolPod. 100 seemed too high given only just over 1000 respondents in total.

Was it a 10 to 11 upgrade or a fresh install of W11. If the former, I'd be inclined to go for a completely fresh install and then see if the issue remains.

There's so many threads this could have been entered in, but I've gone 'General'. Those of you registered to ANME may have seen this already - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7222221093401448448/ It's an opportunity to add to the insight of the IT in Edu landscape - one survey is technical, a second non-technical.

Something from one of our Google Workspace Innovators?

Flipping 'eck. A good few near misses too by the looks of it!

Broadly relevant to this thread. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c77x44zplkyo - Instagram changing default privacy settings for 'teen' accounts. Doesn't overcome age lying though...

Could you let me have the names of those companies - it could be of interest to me.

I would potentially be interested in a remote school data manager role. In terms of advertising, I'd go down the normal channels of TES/job, eteach and of course here on Edugeek. Also, LinkedIn is a good option too. Some of those sites allow job searches to filter on remote roles, so you will have some like me specifically looking for such positions. You'd be quite leading edge in doing so, as I don't ever think I have seen one advertised before. I agree with @PotNoodleTech, the role does suit mostly remote working if the school culture engages with remote meetings. Another advantage of offering remote, is you are recruiting from a much large cohort than restricting yourselves to local commuters. Good luck with the search.

Thanks @pete, I appreciate the further perspectives. Indeed your comments about Haidt reflect my comment that "I don't agree with everything in the book". I suspect our CEO is aware of some of the other inputs, but I will forward your links to ensure he has a chance to read them. Your comment with regards not asking children and young people directly is particularly important I believe. I'm pleased to say that the charity I work with in relation emotional well-being and mental health are very proactive in engaging with CYPs. We have a 'User voice' whether those involved are directly consulted with the work we do. Indeed, just last year we went through a costly company re-branding exercise, and the children and young people were directly consulted before it all went live. Having read the article Candice L. Odgers article, the same underlying question remains - what is behind the explosion in demand in the need for mental health support for children and yound people. I will post some key data facts shortly. Out charity, and that includes my opinions too, do not think it comes down to social media and smart phones. With the CYP (and families) we support, there are many varied and complex stories and circumstances behind them. A couple of personal comments on things that have struck me, and feedback from staff. One colleague also works as a playground assistant. The school as a trailed a 'no phone' playground on Friday's. What the colleague observed was audio-feedback - she commented that the 'sound' of the playground changed. What was happening is the pupils were engaging much more face to face. After a while, the children themselves asked for the scheme to be extended. So, on that minimal data point, I think there is reason to look at phone use in schools. Personally I would prefer to see an approach that isn't DfE driven banning. I spent 9 years as a governor at a school that banned anything that created challenge e.g. gaming cards, pocket toys, scented water drinks - almost without fail, the strategy was to ban! We didn't see eye-to-eye on that particular approach. To other things I have picked up. Where action is taken that results in better sleep patterns, the results are clearly noticeable - that I think is true for as in all stages of life. Finally, it is very clear to me to socio-economic situation does relate to CYPs outcome. The cost of living crisis in my view is a really important consideration. Finally, my charity is mostly supporting Surrey based CYPs. The term 'double depravation' is increasingly being used to reflect the fact the gap between the "have's" and "have not's" is widening. There is in very small geographical areas, extreme wealth and high levels of depravation, and that contrast is ever more visible.

That is a fantastic analogy and so spot on. And the social media companies and spending vast amounts of money on developing addictive products via algorithms that probably exceed what the tobacco industry spent on advertising.

There maybe more research out there that has been considered than you might imagine. There's more to this topic than the sensible use of phones in the school environment - there's a major part to do with emotional wellbeing and mental health too. The CEO at our charity recently completed a sabbatical where he studied the reasons we are seeing ever increasing numbers of children and young people requesting mental health support. Social media (so not purely mobile phones) does come up a lot as a topic of concern. I will see if I can find time to pull together some summary points, including research and data facts to add to this conversation. In the meantime, if anyone really wants to get in to a deeper understanding, our CEO would highly recommend reading the book titled "The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness" authored by Jonathan Haidt. It clearly goes a lot further than just the topic raised by the OP, but there are overlaps and perhaps gives insights in to why the education sector is reviewing current practices. I don't agree with everything in the book, but it is insightful. Can be got via the jungle people at https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Jonathan+Haidt&i=audible&ref=dp_byline_sr_audible_1 On a personal note, my son's (year 11) school has gone for "out of sight" all day, whereas last term it was true only during classroom time. Elder son in Y13 has full access and use. With the younger son, it is a nuisance for coordinating lifts/bus home. There is only 1 bus at school closure, and on the occasions when I can't make pick up, or he signs up late for an after school event, it's much harder to deal with that. We're lucky as he has a laptop for school work as a special provision - and of course WhatsApp PC app works just fine! But not so cool for everyone else. The fact that that year group has gone from OK, to not OK, obviously causes grumbles, and it appears enforcement isn't really happening yet. I believe mobile phone usage in schools is going to take a lot of journalist inches over the next few years.

I've used Power BI desktop. My laptop has 8.00GB and an i5-8265U @ base 1.6GHz (turbo up to 3.9). I can use PBI desktop successfully, but when the laptop is loaded with other stuff (Word, Excel, lots of Browser windows) it can become extremely slow. I would agree with at least 16GB and as much processing power as possible. I'd also suggest you fully understand the licensing arrangement. For example, is your data lead going to develop reports/dashboards purely for individual use, or is the expectation to share reports and data for others to consume?

Thanks for all the advice. I will raise the concept of using Papercut or Printix - they real big issue will be SLT won't want to pay for any more license fees. Whilst the SLT have to be super cautious, because we a a charity where as much as possible funding needs to go to front line work, they do constantly fail to see expenditure as an investment and seem to forget a whole host of inefficiencies waste people's time and that's a cost. I think I have partially administered Papercut in the past, but I don't have an IT role, but seem to be constantly challenging the IT provider based on my Edu-experience. Some time ago, the charity moved from traditional office server approach to 100% cloud (M365). Overall I think that's a good thing as they have never local IT expertise. So whilst we have a internet supply, Sonicwall TZ270, routers, switches, APs and WiFi, we have no local server. One of the issues with our IT provider is the contract supports 4 site visits per year, so it doesn't work well for this sort of issue, or proves costly to call them out. Ultimately I think they are going to come out and be asked to work with Xerox to get things up and running properly. In terms of XDA, there is still a lack of clarity in terms of what is in place currently. I still believe the implementer (I'll be upfront, the line manager) hasn't understood it being on a Windows device. As all staff have laptops, even the boardroom device is a laptop, so I'm not in favour of any of these being used. My suggestion is we have a virtual device. Our IT provider will prefer to use Azure Cloud services, which I have no problem with, but once again SLT won't like the expense. In truth, a cloud based server might be of wider use - I think our accounts team might still have local databases for accounts software (Sage I believe - although that might be changing - not really my area)! To answer the question "How are you deploying these new devices?". Well I guess the answer is badly! Classic case of people without the right skills trying to do it as cheap as possible and an IT provider who sold themselves as 'Your IT department' but not really filling that role - and anything out side of remote MS related work leads to massively high quotes for additional work. when I step back and review the request, we basically have 2 or 3 printers at our head office. Two wanted replacing and auto-ordering to be implemented. Weeks later, it's still not the case and colleagues are understandably venting their frustrations - fortunately not in my direction. The only other thing I will add, is I presume print drivers are being pushed to all managed laptops - I'd guess via Intune. Certainly the new printers show up for me (remote worker) and I didn't install them. I'll update as things progress. The issue has been escalated to the customer service manager, but in truth the charity has brought many of the issues on itself.

For our scenario, which isn't school, it's a charity, we probably have up to 40 staff in head office that would need to print, I don't think we'd need to complicate our life with more software. I'm sure there are solutions for our issues but it's not current clear where they will come from. A bit worrying though that you couldn't get a Xerox printer to print

- just in case anyone out there has input. Our outsourced IT support say the printers are local TCP/IP port installed. They say there is no dependency on the laptop 'beyond function for consumable' - I don't really get that. The IT support indicate they agree with my reservations about using a boardroom laptop for XDA - of which further info to follow. The implementer colleague mentioned before is feeling the heat. Staff and SLT are expressing frustration, both for the colour issue and the fact old printers are stilling showing up. Besides, the implementer had to barter hard to get SLT to invest a chunk of cash to install these devices. Implementer has ask outsourced IT support to confirm XDA has been installed and saying 'so the second printer is now communicating to Xerox for replacement cartridges'. ?I've checked, XDA is for installation on a Windows device. The colour problem solution of installing of installing PCL6 hasn't had an impact, but personally I don't know if end users are selecting that option. Other issues are being reported. Implementing one medium sized MFD and one small Xerox printer - well, I wouldn't expected it to be so troublesome.

Unfortunately, once again my company has embarked on a path where the implementer's of a solution are lacking the right mix if skills and experience. On top of which, our outsourced IT provider are once again showing they are really a MS support/admin group, not the 'Your IT department' as sold to us! Anyhoo - we recently purchased 2 new printers, a Xerox Versalink C7120 and Versalink C415. The initial install of the C415 by our outsourced IT chap seemed not to go as well as hoped and was got up and running by a colleague with limited IT background, but by taking the approach of reading the installation instructions and contacting Xerox support, who appear to be very accessible and helpful. I don't currently have all the details, but I believe we have the scheme where toner usage is monitored and auto-ordered. The larger C7120 also appears to now be running, but I don't yet know by who or what steps were taken. However, it is being reported that the C7120 is not connected to 'page plan'. I presume it means the C415 is?! Additionally, it is being reported that the C7120 is not printing colour correctly - a lot of money was spent in the last year on rebranding and understandably printing corporate colours realistically is really important to some staff. Xerox support have proposed installing XDA to help resolve the issue. The message I have been given by the 'implementer' mentioned above said Xerox proposed 'Installing the same on both printers. I'm assuming XDA is a Windows installation, not a Printer installation - am I correct? The proposal to resolve the colour problem, is to install printer driver PCL6. I presume this would be rolled out to all our devices (laptops). When I view printer options now, I can see I can select either C7120 Color MFP V4 PS or C7120 Color MFP PCL6. So far, no advice to end users has been circulated to this will confuse many. I would also point out we are a serverless head office - but our outsourced IT chap is suggesting a laptop that resides in our Boardroom for presentations (and that has it's own issues) could be used for the XDA installation as a host. I'm against that, but I'm not aware that Xerox provide a cloud based solution. I rather have an AWS of GCP install that the IT provider exclusively runs - I would expect a very small device is all that is needed. I'd value your thoughts, observations or suggestions on the matter in hand. Apologies for the vagueness of some details, feel free to ask if you have any questions and I'll try to get them answered.

I agree it's a minefield! My work overlaps with Health and Social Care regulations and many other bits of legislation and it gets a lot more challenging. It's why after joining my charity, I got them to recruit and external DPO very quickly. Small charities are not required by law to have a DPO. We are now at least a medium sized charity, besides small or large, there is still a need to be compliant. Our outsourced DPO has proved invaluable on several occasions. One of the points of the reprimand is the school did not consult with their DPO and it's something I recommend to all schools. Some schools do give the role to someone internal but I think that's not best practice. In fact I remember a job interview in the last years when I asked about the DPO, it was the deputy head. When I suggested that there could be a conflict of interest and was not best practice, I don't think it went down well. I didn't get an offer but clearly was the most qualified for the role. Probably for the best, as if my line manager can not take constructive, it's unlikely to work out well.