In previous correspondence I have given you information about the Education Department’s plans to move us to towards the requi

Bryan Slater

Director of Education

Distribution

To all Headteachers and school staff

The attached document is provided for your information:

INFORMATION	Title	The e-Courier
	Summary of contents	To inform Headteachers and school staff of the e-Courier, its purpose and advantages. Help on sending details of internet based documents to colleagues.
	Associated documents	None
	Date	15 February 2002
	Effective from	15 February 2002
	LEA Contact	Alan Smith	(	01603 224455
	E-mail address	alan.smith.edu@Norfolk.gov.uk
	Norfolk Self Review reference	1. How high are standards? 4. How good are curricular and other opportunities?
	Document reference	MI 42/02

This Management Information sheet may be found on EsiNet at the following address:

http://www.esinet.norfolk.gov.uk/cadmin/misheet/default.asp

In previous correspondence I have given you information about the Education Department’s plans to move us to towards the requirements of e-Government. I am pleased to tell you of another major development that we hope you find useful.

You can now access an electronic version of mail sent to you by the courier. (This excludes correspondence specifically addressed to you or other staff at your school). The service is called the e-Courier and you can find it by clicking on this logo on EsiNet. from the EsiNet homepage at www.esinet.norfolk.gov.uk

To test the ICT infrastructure 50 schools have had access to this service over the last half term. The reaction has been extremely positive. (The password protection to the service has now been removed)

Why change?

The e-Courier:

Is faster – it will be available to you from noon on Friday; you do not have to wait until the following Monday or Tuesday.

Is more informative – it carries information additional to that in the current courier service.

Is a reduction of bureaucracy – the information is codified to help you decide what is important to you.

Is more helpful – you can search back editions of the e-Courier to find items on topics of your choosing. This will reduce your need to file, cross-reference and maintain files.

Facilitates communications within your school – everything will be available to everyone with Internet access within school. Documents can’t get stuck on someone’s desk! To make communications even more accessible we are currently working to make the e-Courier securely available to all school staff on any Internet connected computer.

Will make use of sound and video technologies

Joins up services – instead of just reminding you of job that needs to be done the e-Courier can help you to get it done.

Printing costs

This development it is not about passing printing costs on to you. It is expected that you will not want to print most of the documents sent to you. In many cases it is better not to print them - you can then use the search facilities and hyperlinks to make more cost-effective use of the documents. Previous editions of the e-Courier will be kept and are searchable as an electronic archive.

You may feel you need to print a document so that you can pass it on to a colleague – does the colleague have e-mail and/or internet access (this is the case in all schools)? If yes, why not send them an electronic copy. A ‘How to’ sheet is included with this document.

Because of the way you work (or the way others work) you may want to print some of the items – this is your choice. In exceptional circumstances we may recognise that to have a printed version will be helpful, if so we will ensure a supply is available on request, or send you one.

Making the best of this new service is likely to need a change to the way you work. Please share these positive experiences with us via EsiNeT so that we can pass on good practice to others.

How to tell others about Internet based documents

There are two main ways of telling someone about a document you have found on the Internet, which includes the e-Courier. The best way is to send a hyperlink by e-mail.

If this is not possible you can save a copy of the document and then e-mail it as an attachment. The main disadvantage of this approach is that your colleague will not have access to the original and so will not be aware of any subsequent updates or related documents and context. Also, if the web page includes graphics or other non-text based elements, they could be lost.

The explanations below assume that you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (or above) software.
Sending a hyperlink by e-mail

With the page open click on File, Send, Link by e-mail.
This will create an e-mail for you to send with the necessary hyperlink already inserted. Complete the e-mail and send it.

Warning:

If you send someone a hyperlink to a document held in a restricted site e.g. the EsiNeT:Schools area, the person using the hyperlink must already be logged into that area before trying the hyperlink. In other words, they have to show they have the right to access the document.

Sending a document as an attachment

The disadvantages of using this approach are discussed above (click here).

Open the document; click on File, Save As. Use the dialogue box to navigate to where you want to save the document. Then click Save.

If the original document has any graphics or other non-text elements, these will be saved in a separate folder related to the original document. Unfortunately a folder cannot be attached to an e-mail!

Set up your e-mail in the usual way and attach the saved document file as normal.