LA Confidential

The aim of this document is to raise awareness of the benefits of good asset management practice in schools. As a company that delivers powerful Computer Discovery, Inventory and Software Asset Management systems specifically for education, IT Vision endeavour to provide essential reading matter. Read on to —

• Understand how good asset management practice can save your school from potential licence breaches and most importantly save you money!
• Explore the Local Authorities (LAs) that have addressed the issue and helped their schools take a step forward in effective management of school assets

Software Asset Management (SAM) currently has the highest profile on this subject. This is because schools view this as the most complex of issues. SAM is the process of managing software with regards to licence compliance, usage and demand. A vigorous SAM system can help schools become legal and ensure future compliancy.

Schools and colleges can boost their ICT efficiencies, reduce licensing and support costs, and more skilfully manage legal risks.

Previously many schools in this document were trying to manage this task with the use of a spreadsheet, such as an Excel document. Schools seem to be under the impression that this is their only option, as commercial asset management systems are difficult to use and school resources cannot justify the costs. Education specific asset management systems however, make this task much easier, less time consuming and more cost effective. Graham Pragnell, head of education ICT, at the London Borough of Newham explained: “Clearly maintaining an accurate and up to date record was taking an ever-increasing amount of time. Fortunately we found Parago®, IT Vision's unique asset management tool.”

There are many different aspects of asset management in schools and many often miss out on the advantages of good practice. This is often caused by the correct person not being identified within a school and the local authority not believing it is their responsibility or having the resources to allocate.

Our experience of automated asset management systems with primary school implementations is that responsibility often lies with the bursar or business manager. The discovery of PC and software information is best allocated to the person who looks after the network. However, beyond this it is an administration task to find all the details behind these and general inventory information.

In a secondary school the task of collating PC information mostly falls on a network manager with the bursar/business manager working alongside to ensure the required data is detailed behind each asset. The collation of general asset data is a lengthy process often performed by an administrator. This can be dramatically reduced by the use of a bar coding solution such as ParagoMobile. In any school the matching of software licensing details to the discovered software is the biggest task. Whoever is allocated this task will need time to view historic license data from supplier invoices. Often software has been bundled with PCs but may not be free forever. It is a time consuming exercise but pays dividends in the future as schools point out later in this document.

Investing the initial time to set up an appropriate and thorough system can save schools valuable time and money and produce budgetary forecasts that provide an accurate indication of future resources.

So what are the assets that you should know about and what information should be at hand?

1. General asset inventory

Asset management no longer means carrying out ad hoc inventory audits when needed - instead it requires an ordered approach to identify and manage educational assets. It can be described as the selection, maintenance, inspection and renewal of educational physical assets such as furniture, whiteboards, science equipment and sports equipment.

2. Software Asset Management – type of licence, renewal date, number of users

With an immense increase in hand held and digital learning, a vast array of licence agreements in today's education software market exist. Many teachers are unaware of the copyright laws of software as well as the possible fines that can be incurred for the use of unlicensed software.

In order to promote legal software licensing and e-safety, this is an essential issue to address in education. Efficient software asset management also provides cost savings for schools, as software duplicates become a thing of the past.

When purchasing software, schools agree to a contract under which the school has ownership of the physical materials, such as the CD-Rom and manuals. The information on the purchased software is then designed to be lawfully installed on the school's computer. Further copying of the software then commits breach of copyright and results in illegal installation. For example, if a teacher copies the software onto their personal laptop for use at home, they may unintentionally fall foul of today's licensing laws.

John Yates, ICT strategy manager of Middlesbrough LA explained: “We were keen to encourage our schools to have an effective inventory management system in place. It was important that the system we chose addressed the issues faced by schools, and in particular - software licence management. Parago has proved to be very popular with our schools with one school IT manager now providing a training course on user skills to others.”

Parago's automated process of finding out what is on our PCs is simplicity itself as Alex Duncan of Green Lane Primary School in Middlesbrough enthused: “Time saving and accuracy of information are the two main benefits of software asset management. When I first saw how much software was on our PCs I was very surprised! I now know what needs licensing, what type of licence it is and when it needs renewing. I can also judge whether titles are needed on certain PCs so that will save our school money in the future.

The alert section tells me that day if software has been added to any PC, and there is a lot to be said for having the peace of mind knowing the school is legal. The auditing of our PCs for installed software was a massive task before Parago; it would have been a full time job to do it properly. Now it is self managing!”

Software can be audited quickly through on-screen reports

Collating asset inventory information is a mammoth task, particularly when it comes to computer and software information. There are few primary schools in the UK with less than 30 computers, with many owning approximately 100, when teacher laptops are added into the equation. This is equivalent to the number owned by a medium sized business and whereas the average company has its own IT force, a primary school often manages with a part time ICT co-ordinator and a once a week visit from the technician.

Significant sums have been delegated to schools in the form of e-Learning Credits for curriculum software. Unsurprisingly many schools may have lost track of what is, or is not, now licensed. This can include subscriptions, site licenses, or free software. Unless you have an automated system, manual auditing every computer is the reality for schools. Once a school has invested the time to find the information, keeping it up to date is also a regular time-consuming exercise that many schools can ill-afford.

Software vendors such as Microsoft have long wished for schools to have an affordable automated system to manage their software assets as Steve Beswick, Microsoft UK education director, comments: “Managing and tracking software assets within an educational institution is becoming time consuming and expensive, especially as the complexity of IT systems increase. Until now the sector has lacked a fully web based software asset management system, designed in conjunction with educational users, that monitors computers via the internet. Schools can save considerable time and money by having an automated license management system and Parago appears to offer a very easy to use solution that can simplify asset management, saving time and money in the process.”

Is this a necessity? YES!

A school has the same responsibilities as a business when it comes to software licence compliance and a head teacher and board of governors are as liable as company directors. The requirement to know exactly what is on a computer even stretches to teachers and students laptops owned by the school, whatever agreement may be in place.

Andy Jackson, children, young people and families directorate of Birmingham LA explained: “Schools have a Duty of Care to know what software is on every school owned computer. Expecting a school to carry out a regular manual audit on every PC, especially on student and teacher laptops is unrealistic. Parago was a cost effective solution to our problem under our Computers for Pupils (CfP)/ User Home Access (UHA) initiative.”

Stephen Lucey, executive director of Becta explained to IT Vision: “Your particular concerns of licence issues with regards to CfP are well made. As the device is actually owned by the school the licence issues are the responsibility of the school. Your concerns have been taken on board, and as a result the Local Authority guidance, in respect of CfP, is currently being updated to reflect this and a number of other areas of interest including topics such as Internet safety.”

Mick Clune, ICT systems manager of the International School and Community College (ISCC) in Birmingham added: “To organise and manage our assets is such a simple job now as we have trust in our Parago management solution. Ensuring high-quality licence administration will aid the school to maintain the legal use of software and also lead to superior budgeting of software and licences. The software asset management solution also helps us achieve our school vision - ‘unlock potential, raise achievement’.”

3. Computer management

Frequently the replacement of computers requires a significant proportion of a school's capital or resources funding. Schools should have a system in place that enables them to forecast future annual costs - for example the ability to report on lease or warranty expiry. In addition when purchasing new software schools need to know which computers will not meet the required minimum specification. An automated system enables you to be able to report on these and much more detail ensuring more accurate forecasts.

4. PAT testing – electrical testing data history

Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) is the process by which electrical appliances are routinely checked to see whether they are safe. When teachers and students work with electrical appliances, health and safety regulations state that the appliance must be safe. Testing should be carried out at regular intervals to ensure continual safety; the interval between tests depending on both the type of appliance and the environment it is used in. Educational establishments are required to record this data; which when performed with Parago, is a very quick and simple task to complete.

5. Budget forecasts

Each school that utilises an automated asset management system can ensure accurate asset forecasts, make better long-term decisions and use budgets more efficiently and strategically, to secure a better future for their school.

The LA experience

Cornwall, Wandsworth and Wigan LAs have all been trying to encourage good practice in their schools through the use of the Parago system. Uta Wagemakers, Integrated Management System (IMS) advisor to schools within Cornwall LA explained: “We are encouraging our schools to use asset management software to help them efficiently manage their inventory and stay compliant with software licensing laws. Parago has been adopted well by a number of our schools as it provides an easy to use cost effective solution.”

Gary Hipple, head of children services ICT, London Borough of Wandsworth also explained: “The London Borough of Wandsworth wanted to recommend an easy to use asset management system to schools that provided them with a detailed view of all their assets, whether this be a PC or a chair. Schools need to be able to produce accurate three year budget forecasts and the reporting facility within Parago will be of great help to them.”

However, Geoff Hughes, ICT manager for curriculum services, of Wigan LA detailed the urgent need for funding from Becta: “We have been using Parago within the Professional Development Centre for over a year. It is an excellent product for all aspects of asset management and ICT budget forecasting. We definitely believe Parago would be of benefit to our schools and would like to see funding allocated from Becta in the very near future.”

Becta provide limited advice to schools. However, they do state: “Our advice to schools is that they have a stringent acceptable use policy that should contain policy with regards to downloading software onto a device owned by the school.” FAST believe the advice is limited and difficult to find on the Becta website. John Lovelock CEO of FAST stated: “Software is often not treated as a true asset in any organisation because in most cases it is written off in the first twelve months after purchase, as it is not owned, only the right to use it. I would therefore strongly urge all organisations to implement a Software Asset Management (SAM) program to gain the most benefit from their software in the first place and also ensure they are compliant with the law.”

It is clear that the levels of success differ amongst LAs in getting their schools to prioritise this issue. A number of LAs such as Cheshire have taken the steps to ensure Parago is implemented and utilised efficiently in schools by training the authority's technicians and hosting user courses. Amanda Curtis, ICT strategy manager of Cheshire LA stated: “Having seen Parago from its development stage we decided on a pilot in all our primary schools in autumn 2006. Schools responded very well and are now subscribing direct. I believe the success of Parago can be attributed to the fact that it addresses the issues schools face in all aspects of asset management.”

Paul Hiscox, schools ICT officer, of Bristol LA commented: “As Schools ICT officer to several schools in Bristol I wanted to ease the burden on their need to manage assets whilst staying within the software licensing laws. Being a fully web based system Parago enables me to support my schools wherever I am. I recommend Parago to all the schools within the authority and its popularity is growing.”

Making asset management part of the authority service level agreement was the answer for Hammersmith and Fulham. Katherine Douglas, City Learning Centre (CLC) director explained: “Kingwood CLC provides a technical support service to schools in Hammersmith and Fulham through an annual service level agreement. This year we have incorporated Parago into the Service Level Agreements (SLA) to help schools keep track of ICT assets and software (including compliance and e-safety), and as a diagnostic tool to enable speedy resolution of technical issues.”

The recent Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, with the aim of rebuilding or renewing nearly every secondary school in England over a 10 to 15 year period, beginning in 2005-06, has encouraged the London Boroughs of Westminster and Tower Hamlets to provide an up to date view of secondary schools ICT estate for tendering suppliers. Anthony Moore, ICT development officer of Westminster explained: “It was vital for our authority to be able to supply a clear picture of each schools ICT for bidders within the BSF programme. We needed a cost effective system that was easy to implement and would provide the LA and the schools with this information. I had seen Parago when it was being developed for education and was impressed by the way the system was addressing these issues facing our sector.”

Schools with foresight

Many schools are benefiting from having forward thinking business and network managers. They have had the foresight or previous experience to know that an initial investment can reap huge benefits.

Hillary McDougal, network manager of Millais Secondary School stated: “The ability of Parago to track every PC in or out of school even if they were not connected to our network and inform us of software being added or deleted on a daily basis met our requirements exactly. This combined with the recent introduction of ParagoMobile, meant we could have everything in one database and this was the icing on the cake.”

June Jones, business manager of Rudgwick Primary School in West Sussex explained: “Parago was recommended by our local authority and the company website was full of testimonials from schools across the country. The visual icons make it easy and pleasurable to use. The detail of PC specification including installed software is amazing and is presented in an easy to read format. Equally the detail that can be added behind each asset is extremely comprehensive. As a school business manager, the reports in Parago are invaluable. Previously I used spreadsheets and I was unable to produce forecasts with such accuracy and simplicity.”

Two further schools that have reaped the benefits of Software Asset Management implementation include the Arnewood School in Hampshire and the Marist Catholic Primary School, Surrey. Nigel Pressnell, deputy head teacher of The Arnewood School enthused: “We have been very impressed with Parago and the clear potential it offers schools to strategically plan their ICT development in a coherent and timely manner. The easy to navigate interface disguises the underlying complexity of an application that is not only effective as an asset management tool, but also as an expert system guiding school leaders towards sensible purchasing decisions. The key benefit of online asset management: it takes the burden of auditing away from staff and allows them to do what they do best — teach.”

Carolyn Beddow, school bursar of the Marist Catholic Primary School, concluded: “Time is a precious commodity in our school, and using manual records to collate out software asset details was proving highly time-consuming. This had to be addressed immediately. We also realised how vulnerable we were, if anything were to happen to the records. This drawn out task was conducted by our ICT technician and Bursar, however as time went on, we soon appreciated that we needed a more proficient and up-to-date system. The very moment we conducted the audit, it would be out of date so an action plan was in desperate need! Our two key needs were resource planning and software asset management, so we had to turn to IT Vision to help us plan for the future. Parago is proving to be an extremely cost effective, time saving and an impressive investment, allowing us to have peace of mind regarding our licensed software and other assets. It was a great choice!”

We thank you for taking the time to read this document.
Thank you to all schools, Local Authorities and companies for their contributions.

Each LA will receive a copy of LA Confidential on DVD when purchasing Parago. Initiative financed by IT Vision