Running like clockwork: IT support in education

A large majority of TOPdesks over 3000 clients operates within the education sector. This includes both the educational licenses set aside for students who learn to use TOPdesk and the IT departments that support the students and employees at these institutions. The experiences of four educational institutions have shown that providing support for both these groups can be rather challenging at times.

TEXT: NIENKE DE WILDE

IT service providers in education support two rather different client groups. On the one hand, there are the students, a dynamic group of young people who embrace new technologies and media with open arms. The other group comprises the teachers and supporting departments who profit in particular from a so stable as possible infrastructure, to ensure that industry critical processes and applications remain reliable. The IT departments task is to provide optimal support for both target groups.

Running like clockwork

The professionalization of IT service is becoming increasingly

important in the education sector. At the commencement of 2007, the Central IT Service at ROC West Brabant, a vocational college in the south of the Netherlands, privatized. IT-workz, once a spin-off of this organization, has since grown into an organization with 75 employees. Back office manager at IT-workz, Cees Siemons, explains how the Central IT Service was already looking to join new developments. ROC West Brabant was, for instance, the first ROC to implement Microsoft SharePoint. After the implementation, other institutions contacted us with questions about the approach we had taken thats when we came up with the idea to become independent.

With 27,000 students, 2500 employees and 55 branches, ROC West Brabant is one of the largest ROCs in the Netherlands. In order for such a large IT environment to remain stable and manageable, it is essential to streamline processes, particularly with regard to automating office procedures, as Cees explains. ROC employees expect continuity in their working environment, as well as the reliability of everything running like clockwork. In order to achieve a stable IT environment, it is vital to register all the equipment that is intended for use. ROCs often work across many different locations; therefore, it can be difficult to build up a

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IT IS VITAL TO REGISTER ALL THE EQUIPMENT THAT IS INTENTED FOR USE.

clear-cut CMDB. Christel Wurtz is configuration manager at ROC da Vinci in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, a college with 18 locations. In order to ensure that this large organizations configuration management is kept manageable, she decided to offer all IT orders from one central location. The idea behind this was to ensure that registering and marking of new objects was as efficient as possible.

universities and new educational methods such as e-learning are being experimented with on a large scale. IT-workz takes this a step further; for instance, by integrating virtual reality into the curriculum and working on the development of educational games and e-fitness. Providing support for students generates many opportunities for IT departments, but its not all fun and games. At the end of March, Maurice Delbessine and Tim Strouven from Stichting Voortgezet Onderwijs Parkstad Limburg (SVOPL) began setting up Configuration management in TOPdesk. The managers at the various schools wanted to place labels on the equipment; however, they had learned from experience that students tend to pick at stickers on computers and monitors. Thus in order to distinguish between each piece of equipment, they needed a more permanent way of marking them. There are various solutions for this available on the market, such as securing metal plates containing the object data or by chemically etching a template.

make videos during their work experience period. They can reserve cameras at the service desk, which they can collect and return to the multimedia centre. Over the years, IT-workz has changed the way it uses TOPdesk, as Cees explains. We used to use TOPdesk on a much more operational basis; nowadays, many more decisions are made based on the actual data in TOPdesk. Management reports are now delivered to the management, we can now keep track of the time taken for each operator and clients can gain insight into their calls in the Self Service Desk. They are also planning to undertake a number of other matters with TOPdesk such as conducting a client satisfaction survey and implementing TOPdesk for facilities support.

Virtual reality in the curriculum

For IT-workz, IT support in education is not simply about providing and maintaining a stable IT environment; integrating the possibilities of IT in education is just as important. Nowadays, students communicate in numerous different ways: Facebook, Twitter, MSN and texting are just a few of these. It is vital that institutions continue to follow these developments in order to ensure that the education they provide is geared to the students experiences and environment. The IT department plays a central role in this. Smart boards are being implemented throughout schools, colleges and

The attraction of education

Providing support for both employees and students at educational institutions creates a number of challenges for an IT department. Every user group has different wishes and requirements and the two extremes come together in education. Yet everyone we spoke to agrees on one thing: these two extremes are what make providing IT support in education so enjoyable.

Professionalization with TOPdesk

At the Hogeschool IPABO, an institution for the training of primary school teachers, reserving and lending cameras is one of the most important forms of IT support for students. The IT department uses Reservations management in TOPdesk to manage this. A great deal of the study time of the 1400 students at IPABO is spent doing work experience at primary schools. As part of their evaluation, the students have to

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