To: Headteacher
All Schools
Dear Headteacher
NATIONAL
GRID FOR LEARNING (NGFL) PHASE 5 PROGRESS
As part of our continued commitment to
keep schools fully informed of progress within major projects we have developed
a web site that schools are invited to visit to appraise themselves of their
position within the NGfL Phase 5 project.
To remind you, the purpose of NGfL 5 is
to ensure that all schools in Norfolk will reach the 2002 targets of pupil:PC
ratios, as laid down by the DfES of 11:1 in the Primary sector and 7:1 in the
Secondary and Special school sector.
Full instructions on how to access this
site are detailed below, in summary it will show for your school:
1. A brief
high-level status report showing the milestone processes (copy attached).
2. The result of
the engineering survey, ie what PCs were found, what upgrades are required and
what additional PC’s are required.
3. Action taken
to ensure any extra cabling and/or electrical requirements are met.
4. What has been
subsequently discussed and agreed with ICT Solutions Procurement team
referencing orders, dates etc.
5. Arrangements
and dates for installation and/or upgrade of PCs, servers and printers.
6. An indication
of the training requirements. As yet no
dates have been arranged but within the next two weeks the ICT Solutions Help
Desk will be contacting schools to make arrangements.
The web site also allows you to make
comments on this process and indeed any other comments on ICT in general are
most welcome so please use this facility.
You will receive a reply within five working days giving advice and/or
any action we propose to take.
Continued/…..
The web site will continue to be
developed with the following additional features:
1. LAN drawing showing positions of existing and
additional network points.
2. Copies of all orders placed by ICT Solutions
on behalf of the school.
3. Specification of PC’s/Laptops/File servers and software titles belonging to the school.
4. Specification of printers and other
network devices.
To access the site you will need to
visit the ICT Solutions website -http://ictsolutions.norfolk.gov.uk
– and go to the index and click on ‘NGfL’. The user name and password are the
same as for your email account ‘head@school.norfolk.sch.uk. Your ICT
co-ordinator can similarly access the site by using their user name and
password for the ‘ictc@’ account.
If you have any concerns regarding
these processes you can contact Mike Cooke on 0845 303 3003 or email mike.cooke.edu@norfolk.gov.uk
Yours sincerely
Director of Education
Process
1
The initial visit by Stella Mead or
Mike Cooke whereby the overall NGfL vision is explained. Ideas on networking, location of data
points, PC, server and printer requirements are also discussed. Two reports are produced, one that feeds
into Process 2 summarising the PC and printer provision and one that feeds into
Process 3 giving network and electrical requirements.
Process
2
With the report from Process 1 an
engineer from ICT Solutions visits the school to assess the existing PCs and
file server and makes recommendations on their suitability and any upgrades
required.
Process
3
With the report from Process 1 the
cabling contractor will make arrangements with the school to undertake a site
survey from which a quotation for the work required is produced. Once the quotation is accepted and an order
placed, the contractor will again contact the school to arrange installation
dates. It is important to note that
this process can be lengthy where on many occasions requotes to reduce costs
have to be asked for.
The Process is not complete until the
network has been installed as it is often essential before Process 5 can be
implemented.
Process
4
From Process 2 the engineers
recommendations are converted into quotations from PC suppliers. Before orders are placed schools are asked
to confirm that what is being asked for is correct.
Process
5
Following completion of both Process 3
& 4 an installation of PCs, etc is arranged with the school. This will involve the PCs, etc being
delivered to the school a few days beforehand.
This Process can take up to five days on site depending on the number of
PCs to install. Any upgrades or
reimaging of existing PCs will also take place at this time.
Process
6
The final Process is training. This is arranged from the ICT Solutions
Helpdesk and for the Norfolk Toolbox solution consists of one or one and a half
days on site. For the RM solution it
will involve two days in Oxfordshire and whilst the training is allowed for,
travel and overnight accommodation unfortunately cannot be funded from this
project.