Unit IV: Application of ICT in Educational Management

a. What do you understand by maintenance of resources in an institution? Elaborate with

an instance.

The word maintenance does not always mean to repair. What maintenance really means is to
follow up with the regular or methodological processes to keep the equipment up to date and in
working condition. It does not only mean repairing a piece of equipment when it is broken.

The priority of effort and time should be on maintenance rather than repair. School facilities
maintenance affects the physical, educational, and financial foundation of the school organization
and should, therefore, be a focus of both its day-to-day operations and long-range management
priorities. Maintenance of assets is done by the organizations to keep their performance optimized
to make the minimum failure as a result which can further lead to an effective performance from
the assets.

A number of factors contribute to the “maintenance gap”. They include insufficient funds, poor
management of funds, and estate management and provision that do not match educational needs.
Poor maintenance increases running costs, such as for energy and cleaning. Energy expenditure,
for example, can amount to more than one third of premises–related expenditure; reducing energy
consumption can help not only to save money but also to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and
other forms of pollution. Other consequences of poor maintenance are:
- deterioration of parts of the building;
- an unsafe and unhealthy environment;
- a lower quality of teaching and learning;
- a lower quality of living;
- vandalism.
There are educational, social and environmental advantages of good maintenance:
- educationally – the condition of the environment indicates society’s support for education;
- socially – it sets an example to pupils, that the environment in which we live should be cared
for;
- environmentally – good maintenance promotes the aims of education
Aspect of maintenance Responsibility
day-to day-maintenance school/authority
programmed maintenance of elements according to their
different servicing and life cycles and environmental Service package providers
standards
periodic improvements to the building fabric to meet school/authority
new health and safety requirements, improve energy
efficiency, reduce fire risks, develop the environmental
quality, etc.
emergency and unforeseen actions to repair damage school/authority
(storm, flood, theft, arson, outside vandalism, etc.)

improvements to meet changing educational and social school/authority

needs (e.g. in regard to technological developments)

https://maintenancemanagerhq.com/facility-maintenance/
Steps towards keeping schools in good and up-to-date condition include:
1. Have accurate information about the condition of the facilities and the scale of funds needed.
Keep the condition of the building stock and resources under regular review.
2. Define priorities for expenditure (funding).
3. Ensure financing by convincing authorities (key people)
4. Establish resource and funding allocation mechanism.
5. Stick to planned maintenance schedules.
6. Act promptly to repair damage.
7. Give responsibility for the condition of the facilities to people who are close to the facilities
concerned.
8. Involve the users in the management.

b. What latest software is used across the globe for record keeping?

Microsoft SharePoint is a leader in the document management and collaboration space, and for
good reason. Its comprehensive slate of features includes the ability to establish content hubs or
organize archives by teams. It allows you to create custom metadata fields across all files stored
in the system, making it easy to tailor the way you organize your documents to your business's
needs. It is especially convenient for businesses that already use other Microsoft products, such as
Office 365.

SharePoint offers a flexible and scalable platform to organize and manage your documents and to
collaborate on creation and editing. However, it is a sprawling system with a bit of a learning
curve, so expect your team to require training and some time to become familiar with the system.

October 2020: Microsoft has introduced SharePoint Syntex, its first product from Project Cortex
that uses artificial intelligence to go through your company's data and gather insights that can be
automated into processes. Microsoft describes Syntex as a "trainable AI" that processes three
main types of content: digital images, structured or semi-structured forms, and unstructured
documents.

Features

Microsoft SharePoint includes a lot of features that are not core to document management
software. While many of these features are useful, we reviewed the document management
features of SharePoint more extensively than the rest of the platform. These are the key document
management tools available in SharePoint.
Sites

Sites are a unique feature in SharePoint. Every site you create has an independent document
library, helping you to keep unrelated files separate. Sites come in two varieties: team sites and
communication sites. Team sites are primarily used for co-authoring and traditional document
management. Communication sites are geared toward collaboration on a presentation to the larger
team.

Sites can be configured to each team's needs, allowing customizability of everything from the
metadata fields required for files to the actual design of the site. This flexibility allows all teams
in your business to maintain an independent workflow that works best for them.

Co-Authoring

A useful tool in SharePoint is the ability to co-author documents. This allows you to edit
documents alongside your team members in real time, while providing clear visibility into who is
active in the document and what they are editing.

Check-in and Checkout

SharePoint features a check-in and checkout feature for when co-authoring is not ideal. A
checked-out document cannot be edited simultaneously until the user who checked it out decides
to check it back in with their revisions. This is useful when important changes need to be made or
the document needs to be reviewed as is without any other users dropping in to make edits.

Versioning

The versioning tool (sometimes called version control) tracks both minor and major changes to
documents and keeps an archive of older versions. This feature allows you to see how a document
has changed over its lifetime and, if necessary, revert to previous versions of the document.

Audit Log

The audit log in SharePoint keeps tabs on the actions users take in the system and when they
performed those actions. This is especially important when you use the co-authoring tool to track
changes to shared documents – and it's essential for businesses in highly regulated industries,
which often need to present an audit log to a government agency to certify their compliance with
data security requirements.

File Sync

Through OneDrive, SharePoint files can be synced between local hard drives and the cloud. This
allows offline users to make edits to their local copies, which will be uploaded to the shared cloud
version of the document the next time they have internet access. To automatically sync files, you
simply need to save a document (or drag and drop it) to a designated synced folder; SharePoint
will do the rest.

User Permission Settings

Naturally, it is important to prevent unauthorized users from deleting, editing or even viewing
certain documents. Administrators can set user permissions down to the individual in SharePoint.
These permissions determine which sites a user can access, which documents they can view,
which documents they can edit and more.
Team Policies

SharePoint goes a step beyond user permissions with its ability for you to set policies governing
your documents. For instance, you can require certain tags on documents that include sensitive
elements, such as ongoing legal action, protected client information or financial details.

SharePoint offers every feature we looked for in document management software, plus a wide
range of tools to help businesses stay organized and hold teams accountable. It comes at a
reasonable price tag, especially the pricing tier that includes access to all the other major Office
365 products, such as Microsoft Word and Excel.

When it comes to co-authoring (also known as simultaneous editing or collaboration), SharePoint

is extremely easy to use. You simply open the online version of the document you wish to edit
and you will be able to revise the content, even as other members of your team do the same. This
capability makes it easy to manage shared documents and offers clear transparency into who is
making what changes and when.

SharePoint packs a lot into one platform, making it highly effective for teams that can integrate it
with their existing workflows. It might take some time to thoroughly learn the ins and outs of the
system, but if you plan on scaling up with Microsoft SharePoint, it will be time well spent.

https://mopinion.com/top-20-best-project-management-software-an-overview/