The following initiatives all require schools to have an up to date record of their ICT and software; a task impossible to manage from a file or spreadsheet.

Financial Management Standard in Schools (FMSiS)

FMSiS, an initiative released by the DCSF in 2006, is intended to help schools to evaluate the quality of their financial management. It was also designed to aid the training of teaching staff to become better financial managers.

The standards state that school assets must be recorded in an inventory or asset register. It states that head teachers must regularly check and record all items of school property, their location and that the insurance cover is appropriate.

Parago has been highly commended during FMSiS visits to schools Read more… West Sussex case study.

Computers for Pupils (CfP)

CfP, an initiative launched by Becta in 2006, is aimed at improving the education and life skills for disadvantaged secondary children by providing them with a computer in their own home.

As a mandatory requirement, Becta stated that all devices are to be recorded and held in an asset management database.

Parago monitors PCs via the internet informing the administrator when there are changes to the hardware specification or added/deleted software.

Click here… to read how Parago tracks computers out of school, via the internet.

User Home Access (UHA)

The User Home Access initiative will place 1000's of laptop devices into student homes. If these PCs are connected to your school network it is advisable to know what software is installed on them. Parago makes this easy, tracking devices via your network and the internet.

Building Schools for the Future (BSF)

BSF, the biggest single government investment in education, was launched by the DCSF to rebuild or renew every secondary school in England over a 10-15 year period.

A mandatory requirement of the initiative is that all Local Education Partners (LEP) must track all ICT and non-ICT assets and their location within schools. Partnerships for Schools (PfS), the non-departmental public body set up to deliver BSF, suggests that payment mechanism Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) indicates that all moves and changes of school assets should be logged within five days on the asset register. PfS has also requested that an annual asset register should also be available.

Authorities such as Westminster, Tower Hamlets and Birmingham are deploying Parago across their secondary schools to collate accurate data on their ICT estate. Parago is also supplied by BSF suppliers Civica, Redstone and Northgate.

"Parago is also the ideal solution to address all the following government schemes"

ICT Mark

The ICT Mark accreditation scheme recognises UK schools that have achieved a good standard in the use of technology. It recognises whole school improvement and allows parents to see that the school is using technology effectively. The certification also recognises a school’s commitment to self-review and evaluation.

Further information about the ICT Mark can be found at: http://www.becta.org.uk/schools/ictmark

Framework for ICT Technical Support

In 2003 the Framework for ICT Technical Support (FITS) was launched as an advisory service to improve the quality of technical support provision in schools. Schools can ensure effective technology, control the use of their ICT, save money and time, and most importantly support learning and teaching. Well managed ICT processes improve ICT service availability within a school, which means that the staff and pupils can rely on their ICT to work when they need it.

More information can be found at www.becta.org.uk

SAM Guidlines

Software licences in schools

What is a software licence?

A software licence or end user licence agreement (EULA) contains a formal statement of the copyright regulations regarding a particular software product or a CD-ROM. This is generally supplied with the product's packaging or appears on screen during the installation process. It tells you how the product may be used and on how many computers. Installing and using software on more computers than the EULA allows is illegal as it breaches licensing regulations

You need to read these licensing regulations as you could be open to prosecution if you breach their conditions. Also, if the intended use does not meet your needs, you should contact the publisher to request permission to use it in the way you want to. For example, if you need to expand the number of machines running any previously purchased programs then you will need to review your existing licence.

Purchasing suitable licences

Before you buy software, you should be clear how you intend to use it. For example:

How many computers will the software run on?

The school must have the correct licence for the number of machines it plans to run the program on. A ‘concurrent’ licence is worth investigating if the software is going to be used in a number of locations around the school. This type of licence allows software to be installed across an organisation but only accessed by a certain number of users at any one time.

Will it be used on computers outside the school?

Some licences only allow programs to be used on those computers owned by the school, whereas others may be more flexible and allow teachers and pupils to use the software on their home computers.

How will pupils and teachers use the software?

They might need permission to use a program flexibly, for example, to print out multiple copies of a particular application for classroom use.

Management of licences

An accurate and suitable software licence management procedure is important to any institution. Good licence administration is essential for:

• ensuring the software you are using is legal (Using unlicensed software is illegal – if you do this your organisation becomes liable to prosecution)
• controlling your software costs
• helping you ascertain the best ongoing licensing options.

Consider a managed service

Depending on the size of your institution and your available resources, you may wish to manage this internally or, alternatively, contract out the whole process. Becta can help you with technical support.

What you need to do

There are four steps needed to manage your software licensing:

1. Conduct a software inventory.
2. Match installed software with licences held.
3. Review your software requirements with reference to your development plan.
4. Keep your inventory up to date.

Conduct a software inventory

A crucial part of software management is regular auditing of the software on all your computers (including servers) to ensure you are fully aware of all the software you have installed. This is the first step to ensuring all your software is legally licensed.

Check your licences

Having determined your software requirements this must be compared with the licences held and any deficit rectified. It is important you consider carefully the licence options available to ensure you buy the most cost effective option.

Review requirements

It is also valuable to consider your software requirements. In doing this you will probably find you have software installed that you no longer require. If you have annually licensed software installed that is no longer required, uninstalling and cancelling the licence will save you money. Software requirements should be considered with reference to your development plan. Our self-review framework offers you a route for assessing and improving your school's use of ICT.

Regular inventory updates

Once you have a complete inventory of software and licences it is important to keep it up to date. This will assist you in:

• managing your software assets
• establishing upgrade requirements
• ensuring all installed software is legal
• identifying areas in which you could save by buying volume licences
• easier budget planning.

One way to do this is to establish procedures to ensure that all installed software has a licence, and that details of all software and licences are recorded for audit purposes.

The Configuration Management process in the Framework for ICT Technical Support (FITS) covers the management of ICT assets including software and can help you complete this task.