Keeping your ICT technology up to date and where to start.
A regular challenge that many school leaders struggle to deal with is maintaining a reliable estate of ICT equipment in school. Let me start with a common scenario that we come across many times with new schools who need advice on how to update their assets; Many years ago the school had a healthy budget and purchased lots of the latest technology at that time. New WiFi, Desktop PC’s, Laptops for staff and pupils, iPads and new interactive screens / whiteboards. They added extra resources such as a visualizer in each classroom along with new speakers across the whole school. Whilst this sounds amazing and for the next few years everyone who visits the school is impressed with such a great collection of ICT equipment, the big mistake that had been made was the mindset of ‘that’s great, we’ve got all this new kit, we don’t need to worry about anything for a long time now, we can spend our money on other things’
The next chapter of this story, let’s fast forward around 7 years. All the computers and iPads are struggling to keep up and have become problematic and don’t support the latest operating system or apps. The WiFi has also reached the end of its life with no more up to date firmware available which causes issues with all devices in school. To summarise, all the equipment has reached the end of its life and there hasn’t been any strategic plan in place to replace the various resources at each stage of the life. All devices need to be allocated a realistic expectation of usable life and added to a strategic financial plan of at least 7 years to show when everything is due to be replaced along with the impact on the school if they are not.
Where do we start?
The best place to start is to form a small working party made up of key decision makers as well as your IT provider to help identify everything that needs to be addressed. I have always found the perfect members of this group are the Headteacher, Business Manager, Computing Lead, IT Manager / IT Provider and ideally a representative from the Governing body. This collective group has all the information required to help develop a sustainable ICT strategic plan.
This new journey is going to take at least 3 to 5 years to bring together an ongoing replenishment programme. The first practical task that needs to be done is to assess the condition of all ICT equipment assets. Is there an up to date asset register in place that has the purchase dates in place? If not, your IT provider will need to assist you in identifying the exact status, condition and any potential life left in any of the assets. Once this initial exercise has been completed, the next task is to put together a schedule of replacement document, initially over the next 1-2 years. As much as possible try to re-use existing hardware by way of upgrading to gain more life without high expense of new equipment. A few great examples that we have regularly done for schools are:
Windows Laptops (option 1), most of the time the reason these devices struggle to keep up is due to lack of memory and older spinning hard drives. Windows 10 is still supported up to 2025, the optimum specification that improves Windows 10 performance is to have 8gb RAM and at least a 256gb Solid State Drive. This transforms the boot up time and overall user experience. The cost per device to do this can be as low as around £30-40 +VAT and can be easily carried out by your IT Support provider as part of the time you already pay for. This exercise alone will mean that you don’t need to factor changing these devices until 2025-26 when Windows 10 support ends.
Windows Laptops (option 2), another option, and a more favourable option for many is to convert these older laptops for free to Google ChromeOS Flex and use them with Google Accounts. On top of this, if the school doesn’t already have a Google Workspace Fundamentals Account in place, this can be easily set up for free by your IT Support Provider as part of the time you already pay for. The only additional cost involved with this is if you choose to add Google Management to them at an RRP of £30+VAT. Support providers such as myself can provide these licences with at least a 10% discount depending on numbers of devices. The final part of this exercise and one that is an absolutely great option offered by Google, when any of the Flex devices fail or you choose to replace then with a new Chromebook instead. The licences you already purchased can be removed and re-used for up to 12 months on a new Chromebook. This year we have had several schools who have up to 3 years extra use of old computers that were over 10 years old converted to flex. They have disposed of these and replaced them with Chromebooks with the same licence re-used. This means the Google licences have the potential to have up to at least 7 years of use.
The obvious consideration with any of the above re-use of older devices is that they must still be functional. We find that any with damaged screens, keyboards or trackpads etc are taken out of this exercise. We have used the RAM removed from these machines to upgrade others.
The next steps are to build a prioritised list of items that need to be addressed and add the replacement costs to the ongoing strategic budget plan. Vision and planning is a major part of this process. Seriously look at changing what you do, don’t keep doing what you’ve always done otherwise you get what you always get! Look at the ways that you can use technology across the whole school to help everyone to work smarter, reduce tasks, collaborate on tasks and reduce printing too.
I have written many different articles over the last 12 months, each one contributing to helping you to create a strategic ICT plan. There are key areas to consider as part of this process. Everything from refurbished devices through to asset management & getting better value from your IT Support in school.
Nigel Milligan
IT Director.
