Millais School is an all girls Secondary School in Horsham that has 1500 pupils. Millais has an excellent reputation not least from their investment in technology which has resulted in 500 desktops and laptops. However, keeping up to date records on an Access database was becoming inefficient and the computer records were not detailed enough. In addition, to manually ensure the school was software license compliant would have been a full time job for one person and it goes without saying that an ICT audit was a daunting prospect. With E-safety rules and an FMSiS audit looming it was time to take action.

"When choosing any software solution for a school it is always important that the developers have spent time investigating our specialist needs" comments Hilary McDougal, School Network Manager. "Our two main needs were computer tracking and software license management and with teachers taking laptops home this was not going to be easy. E-safety rules state that it is the schools responsibility to know what software is being installed on our computers and so it was important that any system kept us informed of any changes whether in use at the school or the home. Seeing as laptops at home are not connected to our school we needed a system that was not reliant on retrieving data via our network. On top of all this we needed a system that was user friendly and within our budget.

Just when it seemed we were going to have to modify our requirements we attended a West Sussex Technician’s Forum where they were asking for volunteer schools to pilot Parago, a web hosted system developed for schools. A look at the Parago website was enough to convince us we needed a more in-depth presentation which Parago Software (the developers) were offering online. It was clear that Parago Software had a lot of input from schools and a 45 minute demonstration was enough to convince us Parago was the solution to all our issues. 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, a bar coding system that tracks all other assets from a kettle to projector meant we could have everything in one database and this was the icing on the cake.

It took our technicians just a few hours to deploy Parago. Adding the administration detail to these assets took a little longer but once it had been done it was worth the time taken. Having invested time and money in this process the fact that these details are held in an offsite secure data hosting centre gives us peace of mind that whatever disaster may take place at the school our data will be safe. After a few days we noticed a few computers had not been picked up and reported the problem. We received a visit from the Parago Software support team who helped us resolve the problem and their support through any issue has been unquestionable. It is clear that Parago Software want their customers to be happy and this is reflected in their continuing developments as well as their customer support.

All the staff that use Parago at Millais School are supportive of the system but the real test came at the FMSiS audit. It is very important that Millais reaches the standards expected of the school and proper inventory management is part of that required standard. I am pleased to say that Millais met the inventory management requirements and the auditor commented very favorably on Parago.

When faced with buying any management tool for a school we all want the same, value for money and to know that other schools recommend the system. Parago gets our vote on both counts!"

Rudgwick Primary School are proof that companies can develop software for small and large users. With 171 pupils and 55 computers this forward thinking school is set in a pretty village near Horsham. Despite being a tenth of the size of its neighboring school Millais, hardware and software asset management is just as large a task when you have no onsite technicians and fewer administration staff.

June Jones, Business Manager comments..." Like Millais we had the details of our assets in a spreadsheet and carried out an annual audit. The audit included attempting to compare installed software on each PC against licenses. This was an endless task and not a cost effective use of my time. Additionally I was aware that the audit would be out of date the moment I had finished and was not an accurate representation weeks or months later. E-Safety regulations require the school to be aware of software installed on all PC’s and it is every schools nightmare to be found to have inappropriate titles on a computer that a child has access to. With Parago I am informed every 24 hours if there has been any changes to PC specifications in or out of the school. To me this has highlighted how vulnerable we were before we had Parago and the plight that other schools face.

When buying software most of us feel reassured when products are recommended by other schools. 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. That is not to say that Parago is in any way basic. The detail of PC specification including installed software is amazing but it is presented in an easy to read format. Equally the detail that can be added behind each asset is extremely comprehensive and this level of detail becomes invaluable for reports.

With any management system there is an element of time needed in setting up and input of the initial data but it has been worth the effort. The attraction of investing time in Parago is not just the cost saving in the future with automated audits, it is peace of mind too. A key part of Parago is that you need no additional hardware to support the system and all our account details are held offsite in a secure hosting centre. When you have put a lot of time setting up a system the last thing you want is to loose data so this gives us peace of mind. What is also reassuring is that Parago Software have been with us every step of the way. Their support has been excellent and the improvements that are constantly being added to the system show they care and listen to their customers.

Rudgwick has also had visits from Ofsted and our local authority for FMSiS, both who complimented the detail of our inventory within the Parago system and the fact that the data was being held off site. This kind of recognition backs up our belief that subscribing to Parago was the right choice and represents excellent value for money."