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Questions and Answers about ICT Support and Maintenance
Q. Do I need ICT support and maintenance?
Yes! Everything eventually goes wrong if not maintained properly. You need to have a plan in place for when your equipment does fail. Most ICT equipment has a warranty, which may protect you in the first year (or up to 3 years), but it will not cover everything that can go wrong with the computer or network.
Q. Can't my ICT coordinator look after the support and maintenance of the equipment?
If your ICT coordinator has the skills and the time required, then he or she could possibly do it. However, you should realise that ICT support and maintenance is a profession in its own right and requires a high level of skill and knowledge. If the phone, plumbing or electrical systems in the school had problems, would you expect a teacher to fix them? Why, then, would you expect a teacher to be able to fix a computer or network, which is far more complicated? Remember, ICT coordinators have knowledge and skills in using computers in classrooms, not in fixing them – there is a huge difference in knowledge and skills required!
Q. Am I adequately covered for support and maintenance?
To check, simply ask yourself the following typical questions:
- If my server suddenly stopped working so that my whole network is unusable, what would I do and who would I contact?
- If I became aware that all my computers were getting problems (possibly due to a virus attack) and becoming unusable, what would I do and who would I contact?
- I have just bought 5 new computers and need to put new software on them and add them to the network, who would do this?
- Pupils are gaining access to teachers' work on the network, how do I stop this?
- I have a new teacher in the school who needs a username and password, who can set this up?
If you cannot answer all of these questions then you are in need of support and maintenance. If you want advice about support and maintenance contracts and options open to you, please contact me sooner rather than later, before your network crashes!
Q. Can't I just phone you at the CSA if something goes wrong, after all isn't that what you are there for?
We are here to help and advise schools in all areas of ICT and to organize CSA-wide ICT projects. We are not here to mend and repair networks and computers. You should think of us as advisers and project managers, not a support helpdesk. We do not have our own in-house support and maintenance engineers, which is why the Viglen contract was negotiated. The Viglen contract was put in place to give you an easy option to cover all the scenarios in the previous question and more. If you choose not to use Viglen, then you should ensure you have the correct cover, or at least an adequate plan, for what to do in such cases as those above.
Q. But the Viglen contract is expensive.
The Viglen contract is not expensive compared to other similar schemes, in fact it is very good value due to the overall size of the contract.
You should realize that ICT support is a very specialised area and requires well-qualified and knowledgeable professionals. There is currently a shortage of suitably qualified people and so salaries are high in the industry. These costs naturally come through to the customer in the form of higher prices.
Too many people in schools still see ICT technicians and support as on par with other support roles in schools such as caretakers, clerks and teaching assistants. With the specialist and professional nature of ICT support this fallacy needs addressing quickly and adequate funds need to be made available to pay for the right quantity and quality of support.
Q. If I don't want to take the Viglen contract, are there any other options?
It is very important to note that if you have not taken up the support and maintenance contract with Viglen then you must have your own provisions in place. This could take the form of
- Employing your own support technicians
- Getting support from a local secondary school
- Having your own support contract with a third party company
- Paying ad-hoc for support on a call-out charge basis
- A combination of the above
To reiterate, if you want advice about support and maintenance contracts and options open to you, please contact me sooner rather than later.
Q. What about SIMS support?
For any problems with the SIMS software you should contact the SIMS Help Desk on 01234 832043 in the first instance. If the problem is with the SIMS software they should fix it. If it turns out to be a problem with the administration computer or server, however, you will have to organize a fix through your own support service. What you should remember is that SIMS is just software that runs on the computer and you need to have support for the SIMS software AND the computer.
Q. Do I need to put all my computers under maintenance?
We suggest that you should cover your server and administration computers, as these are critical to the running of the school. In most cases the financial arguments go against putting your curriculum computers on contract. It would usually work out cheaper over a year to call out an engineer when you have a problem than to have all the computers on a contract for a year.
However, it is important for you to budget for maintenance of any computers not on contract. A suggested amount would be £50 per computer held in reserve for maintenance. In the event that you have a problem this money could be used for repair or replacement. It could also be used for such essential items as new backup tapes and antivirus software licences. In the event that you do not use the money for maintenance then you can spend it towards the end of the year on something else.
Q. Are there any other expenses that I need to think about?
Yes. Don't forget to allow for a consumables budget. Consumables are things such as ink cartridges and toners for printers, paper and floppy disks. Printing in schools can be very expensive, especially when using inkjet printers and printing lots of colour pages. We suggest allowing a budget of up to £50 per computer for those computers where a lot of colour inkjet printing takes place. This could be reduced for laser printers or where less printing occurs. Again money from this budget could be spent elsewhere towards the end of the year if not used. After a while you will be able to make better estimates of these costs in your school and adjust your budget as necessary.
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