rm cloud rm education’s

RM Cloud
U se
a rr
ow s
Conclusion Page 26
How does the cloud benefit the whole school? The Teacher’s perspective The Business Manager’s perspective Primary School savings Secondary School savings
Page 18
19 21 22 24
How do I start my move to the cloud? Step 1: Choose your identify management platform Step 2: Choose your cloud platform Step 3: Choosing your first services to move to the cloud Step 4: Migrate to the cloud platform Step 5: Embed into your school Step 6: Review
Page 10
11 12 13 17 17 17
What does cloud computing mean? Infrastructure as a Service Software as Service The importance of change management The pre-requisites of cloud computing
Page 7
Introduction Page 3
Overview Why does moving to the cloud benefit schools? What is RM Education’s vision of a cloud school?
Page 5
6 6
RM Education’s guide to cloud computing Contents
To find out how much you could save by moving to the Cloud call 0800 046 9798
3
4
Introduction
The following document is a top level document that aims to help schools understanding how they can utilise cloud computing and the associated technologies. It outlines the benefits for teachers, pupils, the senior management team and the financial benefits of the cloud.
Every school is unique and most cloud based platforms and software can be tailored to the bespoke requirements of the school, there are however some fundamentals that are recommended for every school network and cloud deployment. These solutions designs are laid out in this document to help schools understand how they might work within your own school environment.
School networks have always served the basic computing requirements for schools such as storing files, printing, managing software, e-mail etc.
When schools first starting using technology and computers in the curriculum, a standard Microsoft server based network was the only solution to manage all those new elements, some schools have seen those networks expand dramatically and now have multiple servers running many different applications. As technology usage has increased so have file sizes and the quantity of files - leading to an ever expanding storage requirement within the school.
Other schools still use their servers in the same way that they were introduced 10-15 years ago - for simple tasks such as saving their files, printing their files and getting access to the software on the network.
In the last decade technology has changed significantly, perhaps not so much with the core functionality of a server, but in terms of the broadband speeds that a lot of schools now have access to and the number of software providers that now offer their solutions via a web based interface.
The devices available have also changed massively, low cost devices are now available that when paired with cloud computing can enable a pupil to access more resources than has ever been possible before. The nature of when and where students access these resources has now changed.
If a school is willing to look at changing the way that they approach technology then there are massive benefits to be had from cloud computing, through this whitepaper we aim to outline what that will look like for a school and how they can go about realising these benefits.
5
What is RM Education’s vision of a cloud school?
6
6
6
Overview
Why does moving to the cloud benefit schools? There is a lot of discussion around schools moving to the cloud and the recent guidance paper from the DfE here outlines the importance of schools utilising cloud computing services. This document aims to simplify the products, services and methods that a school can use to make the most of cloud computing to:
• Deliver effective use of technology for teaching • Provide a platform for pupils to use to enhance learning • Save teachers time by improving workflows and processes • Save the school money by replacing legacy systems with more
cost effective cloud based systems.
What is RM Education’s vision of a cloud school? Our vision is to deliver a better technology experience for the whole school through the use of cloud technology. RM’s model allows pupils and teachers to consume technology in the same way that they do when they are at home. This means that the school will primarily work in a cloud first and mobile first environment.
Through the introduction of cloud technology, large steps can be made to reduce the spend on technology that has no real impact on what happens in the classroom and instead investment is made where it matters most.
When you partner with RM Education we will ensure we deliver:
• An improved experience for your pupils • Time saving improvements for your teachers • Monetary savings to improve your budget • Time saving improvements for your office staff • A sustainable ICT strategy for the senior leadership team • Complete and comprehensive support every step of the way
7
Infrastructure as a Service
8
8
8
9
8
What does Cloud computing mean?
Infrastructure as a Service This is where the school moves their services from hardware within the school to a hosted environment, such as Microsoft Azure. The school are still responsible for maintenance of the software and the operating systems but they are no longer responsible for the upkeep of the hardware. This can have some financial benefits as you don’t have to replace expensive hardware and you also have the ability to turn those servers in the cloud off when you aren’t using them, in the holidays for example.
This type of service is sold on a pay as you go service, so you pay for what you use and no more. This type of move to cloud computing however has little or no impact in the classroom, it doesn’t change the way that the users access the technology or change the way they work.
We advise schools to first look at which services and software they can move to something called “Software as a Service” before they start to look at Infrastructure as a service as it can be complicated and in some cases completely unnecessary. More information on this is below.
The second term that is used when discussing cloud computing is:
The simple answer is that moving to the cloud means moving services and applications that you would normally run on a piece of hardware within the school, onto someone else’s hardware. There are two commonly used terms when describing cloud services.
Software as a Service (SaaS) This is where you move your services from hardware within your school to a fully managed and web based environment. The school are only responsible for the configuration and deployment of the services, they do not have to worry about maintaining the software, updates or patching. This can have major financial benefits as
you don’t have to replace expensive hardware, you don’t have to spend time updating the software and there are lots of free SaaS applications that can be used, such as Office 365 and Google’s G Suite for Education.
This type of service is normally sold on an annual subscription, this means you will always have the latest software updates and you don’t have to worry about large capital expenditure - you can manage your budget more easily.
Many of these services and software have been designed specifically for education and therefore can have a major impact on the way that lessons are delivered and the way technology is used both within the classroom and outside - as one of the major benefits of this kind of technology is the anywhere, anytime access that it provides.
The importance of change management Moving your systems and software to cloud computing does require a change in approach to IT, but this is a change that your users are probably already practicing in their lives outside of school - using apps on their smartphones, online software on their home computers and devices and being able to access their documents and software from any internet connected device in the world.
By moving to the cloud schools will benefit from:
• Cheaper devices and the ability to put more technology in the hands of students
• Less expensive hardware and technology hidden away in server rooms
• Less time and support needed to deploy devices and software • Software that is always up to date with the latest features • Simple technology that is intuitive and easy for teachers to use • IT that just works, less disruption to classes and more engaged
pupils
9
The pre-requisites of cloud computing To make the most of cloud computing there are some prerequisites that the school must have in place to make a successful transition to the cloud:
Choose an accredited partner
It is important to choose a partner that can ensure your cloud platform is deployed well, is secure and embedded within the school. An accredited partner will have the certifications and knowledge to ensure that your data is secure and that your platform is embedded through the school to maximise the benefits. The partner will ensure that the deployment matches the needs and requirements of the school with the right technology.
Accredited partner
Change management
Training
Change management
Make sure you have a robust plan and buy in from key stakeholders, starting with the strategy and vision for the school. Your partner should help you to achieve this, starting with understanding where you are now and where you want to be in the future. A long term strategy will be created to ensure any changes you make are working towards achieving your vision for the school. Within the plan there will be some short term changes that can have immediate impact as well as some longer term changes that may be more technically difficult or require a greater degree of culture change within the school.
Strong broadband connection
Having a strong broadband connection is vital for cloud services, you need to ensure that your bandwidth is sufficient for the type of services you are using. This can often be a big concern for schools but some cloud services use a lot less bandwidth than you may think, if the all the processing power is in the cloud then in most cases you are merely transferring a visual representation back to the device in the school – the more you can move to the cloud, the less data is being transferred to the school and therefore the impact on your broadband connection is less.
Your chosen partner will be able to help you how much bandwidth you need, alongside other considerations such as backup connectivity for redundancy and appropriate filtering for your school.
Strong wired and wireless infrastructure
This is often overlooked when schools are considering a move to cloud services. Whilst having a good broadband connection is vital, this will make very little difference if the infrastructure that carries the internet connection to the end user’s device is insufficient. Your chosen partner will be able to help you audit your existing infrastructure and make suggestions as to how it could be improved or whether it is already sufficient for the school’s requirements.
Training
To fully embed the new services and change the culture within the school, training is absolutely essential. Good training will ensure that the teachers and staff within the school are confident in using the technology and learn how to use it to increase their productivity as well as engage their learners.
Your chosen partner should work with you to ensure you have continuous CPD for your staff, the very nature of cloud computing means that things can change very quickly and the breadth of applications and functionality is vast. Creating a long term training and on boarding plan for new staff is very important to ensure it is fully embedded within the school.
10
How do I start my move to the cloud? Step 1: Choose your identify management platform
Step 2: Choose your cloud platform
Step 3: Choosing your first services to move to the cloud
Step 4: Migrate to the cloud platform
Step 5: Embed into your school
Step 6: Review
11
Step 1: Choose your identity management platform
If the school adopts multiple cloud solutions, with different passwords and usernames for each one then things can start to become disruptive for pupils and teachers - which username is it for which application? And then which password did I use for that username?
Not only that but the user identity ensures that the user can access the right applications, the right data, the right devices and the correct level of filtering that the school set out for that individual student. These things can all be set at something like a year group level or down to each individual pupil if required.
Choosing the right identity management platform is the first step on your cloud computing journey, this allows you to provision your users into your chosen cloud platform and applications.
There are many different identity management platforms in the market, some of them are free but these tend to be tied to one provider or one company’s services. This can restrict your choice of cloud services in the future so careful consideration should be made before adopting a free identity management platform.
Why is identity so important?
In the context of cloud computing, identity management is one of the fundamental areas to get right in the early stages.
RM provide an identity management solution called RM Unify. This platform takes the relevant information from the school’s MIS system and provides a single identity for the users. This identity can then be used to sign in to any number of web based applications including Office 365, G Suite for Education and many more education specific software titles.
RM’s solution to identity management
One username, one password, that can be used on any Windows device or Chromebook.
Users can also access all of their web based software from the RM Unify Launchpad on any internet enabled device. This Launchpad acts as the landing page for the users, signposting them to the online services they need to access.
RM Unify uses your MIS data as the single version of the truth for your users’ identity, it uses the data within your MIS to provision your cloud services as well as your local Active Directory if required.
It also gives you centralised control of all your users, allowing you for example to lock out all the services from a user if you need to, all with one click.
It will also allow you to create your groups within G Suite for Education or Office 365, saving you time and ensuring the data is consistent with your MIS.
Lastly, inevitably users within a school come and go and deprovisioning user is as important as onboarding them, RM Unify allows you to do this quickly and easily.
12
Step 2: Choose your cloud platform There are a number of ways that you can quickly get started with cloud computing, indeed many schools will already have some form that they are using now.
The main choice to make is which platform to use, both Microsoft’s Office 365 and Google’s G Suite for Education are free and are the best way to start your cloud journey but it is essential to make the right choice for your school.
Both platforms have similar feature sets and are constantly developing and releasing new features, both platforms can easily be integrated with your existing on-site technology.
Try not to compare feature sets, what one platform has today - the other will have tomorrow. The choice to make is more around the culture of the school or the culture you want to breed through change.
The decision you make on your platform will also impact on the type of devices that are most suitable; Google’s Chromebooks are most suited to the G Suite for Education platform for example.
Office 365 is likely to be very similar to the ecosystem that your users live in today, this means less change is required and less training needed. It does however make it difficult to shift your users to a cloud first initiative as typically we see users revert back to their old ways of working if they still have access to it. This can mean that a shift to cloud computing can take much longer and the savings that can be made will take longer to achieve.
On the contrary G Suite for Education is a fundamental change to the way that your users work, you go to sleep one night in your old ecosystem and you wake up the next day in the Google ecosystem. This large change requires change management and training to ensure a successful deployment and to ensure it is embedded. It also means that the savings that can be made through cloud computing can be realised straight away.
We like to describe it as a choice between moving seats or moving house….. Moving seats only gets you so far but is a lot less work upfront, moving house gives you a whole new experience but requires a lot of change and work in the first instance.
What if I already have Office 365 or G Suite for Education?
Is your platform properly deployed and embedded?
If you have created a tenancy already but your users aren’t using it fully or simply use it just for e-mail then your platform hasn’t been deployed. There are a number of things to check when deploying these kinds of platform and although they might be free, they are enterprise class network solutions that require proper deployment. One of the most common fears about using the cloud is around the security of data, this doesn’t have to be a concern as long as the platform is deployed properly from the start. We recommend a cloud deployment audit before rolling out to the whole school to ensure your data and your users will be safe in the cloud environment, this is particularly important if your platform was not created by an accredited engineer or partner.
Has your platform been deployed but isn’t embedded?
If your platform has been deployed or checked by a certified Office 365 / G Suite deployment specialist or a G Suite deployment specialist then you know you have got your system set up so that it is safe and secure for users whilst also enabling to make the full use of the technology.
If the school aren’t using the platform to its full potential then this is often due to a lack of training for the users or the need to change working practices hasn’t been driven across the school from the senior management team. Any new cloud platform will need both training and change management to be effective and embedded. Only when you have a properly deployed platform, user training and change management will you see the benefits of the platform as well as the cost savings - running exactly the same system that you had before alongside the cloud platform will only realise a small proportion of what is possible.
ID management: £4,983
Critical systems: £13,668 on your MIS over 3 years - primary / £31,768 on your MIS over 3 years - secondary
Email solutions (change to productivity suite): £30,000 saving on printing costs over 3 years
File storage: As an individual academy, Westerings have saved in the region of £30,000 just by not replacing their computers and servers in the ICT suites
Classroom applications: Not only is it cheaper, but they can help improve teaching and students’ learning experience.
Network management: £10,000 over three years
13
Step 3: Choosing your first services to move to the cloud Once you have chosen your platform, your next step is to decide which services can be moved to the cloud. Your partner will help you with this by analysing what you have now and prioritising the services that can be moved with the maximum return in terms of monetary savings, time savings and impact in the classroom.
Every school is different and so there is no one answer to which services should be moved first but below we have outlined the type of services that a school may consider based on the impact they can have. We have specifically chosen those services that have a Software as a Service solution for education as we believe this is where the most money can be saved whilst also increasing the productivity of the school.
E-mail
On-site solution – Likely to be Microsoft Exchange server based
Cloud solution – Office 365 Mail or Gmail as part of G Suite for Education.
Impact in the classroom – Low impact in the classroom, requires little change management due to similar consumer e-mail systems being popular. Improves ability to access e-mail from any device and through Mobile Apps without complicated setup.
Level of expertise required to move – Initial migration should be carried out with specialist software and ideally by a specialist engineer to ensure a successful migration. Whilst these e-mail solutions are out of the box solutions for education, setting up mail transport rules and security settings is very important.
Level of expertise to maintain – With no hardware to maintain or Operating system to keep updated and patch, E-mail “as a service” is far cheaper to maintain and support than the on-premise solution
Cost savings – As Office 365 and Gmail are both free platforms, the cost savings are high as you will no longer need to purchase the hardware to host your exchange server and less time is required to maintain the cloud platform.
Conclusion – There is no reason for schools to be maintaining their own exchange server any longer, with free e-mail platforms available specifically for education this should be the first service to move to the cloud if the school has not already done so.
File Storage
On-site solution – Likely to be Microsoft server based file storage.
Cloud solution – Office 365 (OneDrive) and G Suite (Google Drive) offer free file storage for education users as well as solutions for shared areas such as Microsoft SharePoint and Google Sites. If the school would prefer a traditional file storage solution then you could also store data on cloud based servers in Microsoft Azure for example, although there is a greater cost associated with this type of storage.
Impact in the classroom – High, using tools such as OneDrive and Google Drive, true collaboration becomes possible. Multiple users can work on one document, feedback can be given in realtime and users will always have the most up to date version of the document.
Level of expertise required to move – Initial migration should be carried out with specialist software and ideally by a specialist engineer to ensure a successful migration. This is essential to ensure the security of your data, once configured correctly your data will remain safe and can only be accessed by the users authorised to access it.
Level of expertise to maintain – With no hardware to maintain or operating system to keep updated and patch, these cloud solutions require little maintenance after initial deployment as long as they are deployed properly.
Cost savings – As Office 365 and G Suite are both free platforms, the cost savings are high as you will no longer need to purchase the hardware to host your exchange server and less time is required to maintain the cloud platform. Office 365 offer 1TB of free space per user whilst Google Drive is unlimited.
Conclusion – Whilst the change to cloud based file storage requires a change in mindset and working practice by the users, the impact on teaching and learning is high and can save the school a lot of money if they replace some of their current on premise file servers with cloud based storage.
There is also the opportunity to save teachers and staff a lot of time if they use the tools in the most efficient way, this may require training initially to ensure they make the most of the tools but the return on that investment could be huge.
14
Network/Device Management
On-site solution – This is likely to be Microsoft Server based network management tools to manage traditional Microsoft domain joined machines. There are a number of different solutions with cost varying from free to thousands of pounds.
Cloud solution – As schools start to change the type of devices they are purchasing, the type of software to manage these devices changes as well. Google provide an admin console that allows full management of Chromebooks and Android devices and Microsoft provide cloud based applications such as Microsoft Intune to manage various operating systems including Windows 10. There are also a number of 3rd party Mobile Device Management applications that are cloud hosted and allow you to manage a variety of devices from one internet based console.
Impact in the classroom – Low, the management of the devices themselves are likely to have little impact on the pupils or teachers unless the newer types of devices are currently not being managed in anyway. If they are not being managed then this can mean that the devices become filled with applications and data could be stored locally on the devices instead of within your chosen cloud platform.
Level of Expertise required to move – We would recommend that the initial deployment of any major network or device management software is carried out by an expert partner.
Level of expertise to maintain – Once these cloud based applications are initially setup, on boarding devices is relatively simple and can take significantly less time than a standard deployment of full domain joined Windows computers.
Cost savings – The cloud based management systems tend to be priced on a per device per year basis or a one off licence per device. There may not be a big difference in licence cost but there is a substantial saving in the total cost of ownership in terms of provisioning and maintaining the devices.
Conclusion – The type of device and network management that a school needs is very much based on the type of devices they have. It is recommended that a school should where possible keep to a minimum the number of different operating systems used to reduce the cost of maintaining and managing those devices.
As cloud based devices such as Chromebooks become more prevalent in schools, the requirement for large deployments of server based network management software reduces. Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 10 is also becoming easier to manage by cloud based management systems without the need to join them to traditional networks for management.
Classroom Applications
On-site solution – Likely to be locally deployed programs that are allocated on to each device in the school and may require a server to host and store databases or files relating to that program
Cloud solution – Most software applications now have a web- based alternative to the locally installed software. This software doesn’t need deploying to each workstation, doesn’t require additional servers and doesn’t need to be updated when new versions are available.
Impact in the classroom – High, as the cloud based applications are web based, they can be accessed from almost any internet enabled device both within the classroom or even at home. This also means that the devices have less local applications installed and therefore have a higher performance with devices less likely to suffer from slow logon times or application issues.
Level of expertise required to move – The ability to migrate any existing data and history will vary depending on the supplier of the software. Moving applications is as simple as provisioning the cloud based software with your users and if you are using an Identity Management platform then you can you can control which users have access and who sees it on their homepage.
Level of expertise to maintain – With no hardware to maintain or local software to keep updated and patch, these cloud solutions require little maintenance after initial deployment as long you use an identity management platform.
Cost savings – Most cloud based software is offered as an annual subscription, this can be substantially cheaper and more economical than purchasing expensive perpetual software although clearly this varies with each software provider. There are often free alternatives to paid for software, for example G Suite offers a free productivity suite that is comparable to the paid for Microsoft Office software.
Conclusion – A school should carry out an audit on the software that is used across the school and consider the alternatives for each one. There may be applications where there are no suitable cloud based alternatives or none that provide a cost efficient alternative and therefore the school should think carefully before replacing those local applications. This is often more applicable to secondary schools that may have specialist software.
15
Critical Systems – MIS, Finance, Access Control etc.
On-site solution – There are many different solutions for your critical systems, currently the majority run on servers on site but cloud based services are becoming more popular. The majority of UK schools run on premise servers for their MIS, Finance systems and other critical services such as Access Control and CCTV
Cloud solution – The biggest growth area is in cloud based MIS systems as these negate the need for hardware on-site and all the maintenance associated with that hardware. They also enable teachers and staff to get easy secure access to their MIS from any browser enabled device without the need for any complicated and expensive remote access solutions such as a VPN. New features are added to the software straight away without needing to update any local software, reducing the risk to the school of updating local systems at key times. There are also now many cloud based finance software packages that are simple and easy to use and again negate the need for servers on site running the software.
There are very few cloud hosted access control and CCTV services and at this time it is not recommended to move those services. These services are best suited to being on site due to the nature of the services, the bandwidth and the need to be able to access them without internet connectivity.
Impact in the classroom – Low, the majority of these systems are used by back office staff in the main and therefore these have little direct impact in the classroom. There are positive aspects for the teacher in that they can access systems such as the MIS from any device in the classroom.
Level of expertise required to move – We would recommend that the migration of any critical system is carried out by a specialist engineer or partner.
Level of expertise to maintain – Once these cloud based applications are initially setup, using the systems is relatively simple and can take significantly less time than a standard deployment of on premise software.
Cost Savings – The cloud based systems tend to be priced on an annual licence basis and based on the size of the school. This can be substantially cheaper than the traditional on premise licence model which is often a more expensive annual licence as well as having the overhead of purchasing and maintaining a server to run it.
Conclusion – The first types of critical services that a school should consider moving to the cloud are their MIS and finance software, this has the potential to give the school substantial cost savings. Other critical services should be carefully considered before moving to the cloud as not all are suitable in that environment.
Identity Management
On-site solution – Traditionally identity management has been managed by a Microsoft Server and Active Directory. There are many ways to manage your identity in the cloud and ensure this is synchronised with your on premise Active Directory. This often requires additional servers on site to provide the functionality and ensure the data is secure.
Cloud solution – A cloud based identity management system takes your data from your MIS and ensure consistency of your data across all your systems including you Active Directory. It negates the need for any additional hardware on site and works across multiple platforms, giving you choice and flexibility.
Impact in the classroom – High, a good cloud based identity management system will allow your users to sign on to a device with one username and password and then have seamless access to any cloud based applications that you have given them access to. It can also link to personalised web filtering that allow you filter a user’s internet content based on their year group, age or individual user’s identity.
Level of expertise required to move – These are relatively simple to install, a partner can help to support this software if required. Once users are setup in different cloud services it can be more onerous to put them into a single identity management solution therefore we recommend putting an identity management system in place first.
Level of expertise to maintain – Once these systems are setup, it is very simple to add applications that you want your users to have access to and adding users is automatic as soon as they are entered into the school’s MIS.
Cost savings – If the school are currently using a hardware based identity management system then the savings can be substantial, no hardware is required and there is no complexity of the initial installation or maintenance of those servers. A small annual fee is normally payable for a cloud based identity management system.
Conclusion – If the school currently uses a hardware based identity management system then they should consider moving to a cloud based one to reduce the overall cost of ownership and allow the school more flexibility, it also provides the school with a really easy way to provision and maintain their users.
It is unlikely that at this stage a school would be able to remove all their hardware based identity such as Active Directory as a lot of applications tend to require this to function but this should be reviewed on a case by case basis, the less server hardware and applications that are on site then the less that Active Directory is relied on. Smaller primary schools that have a cloud based MIS may be the first types of schools that no longer require server hardware on-site.
16
What about the rest of my servers?
Your partner will help you to look at each of your servers and recommend a cloud based alternative. You may also wish to consider moving some of the services running on your servers to a hosted server environment such as Microsoft Azure. Careful consideration should be taken before doing this as some services may not be suited to this environment but your partner can help you ascertain which services could be moved and the potential cost savings of doing so. As you only pay for what you use in these environments, a properly deployed server in the cloud could save you thousands of pounds.
17
Step 4: Migrate to the cloud platform Once you have decided which services you are going to move to the cloud and in which order, your partner will work with you to migrate your services at a time that is most convenient to you and when it has the least disruptive impact on your users. One of the benefits of the cloud is that a lot of the work can be done to set up the environments completely separately from your current provision and then migrated as and when you are ready.
Step 5: Embed into your school As part of your strategic plan, you should work with your partner to ensure that once you have migrated to the new services, these are embedded in the school so that you can maximise the potential savings on time and money. This may involve specific ongoing training or support from your partner.
Step 6: Review It is really important to review your changes, have you seen the benefits that you expected? What more could be done to increase adoption of the technologies and what is next on your journey? Your partner will have worked with a large number of schools and will be able to offer you the benefit of their experience in making the most of the technology and give you suggestions as to how to improve things further.
18
The Teacher’s perspective - how might the cloud save you time and engage your learners
The Business Manager’s perspective - how might the cloud save you money?
How much money could a primary school save by moving to the cloud?
How much money could a secondary school save by moving to the cloud?
19
21
22
24
Pg. 18
19
How does the cloud benefit the whole school?
The Teacher’s perspective – how might the cloud save you time and engage your learners?
The benefits of moving to the cloud can have a positive impact on every aspect of school life, below we outline the benefits to specific groups of people within the school.
One of the biggest benefits of the cloud to teachers is that sharing resources and information becomes second nature. Using G Suite for Education or Office 365 you can share documents with pupils and teachers, working on them collaboratively and giving real time feedback.
How can the cloud allow me to easily share and explore resources 24/7?
G Suite for Education and Office 365 can be accessed from any internet browser or via specific apps on most mobile devices, this means that pupils can work from anywhere. They can research independently or using resources that the teacher has created with apps such as Google Classroom or Microsoft Classroom. Assignments and resources can be shared from these apps that can be accessed from home, allowing you to introduce the concept of flipped learning.
How might cloud computing allow pupils to explore independent research and practice flipped learning?
Cloud computing offers different ways for you to assess your pupils with little effort and an easy way to capture and review the data.
You can give feedback in real time on work that the pupils are doing and you can also use Forms within G Suite for Education and Office 365 that allow you to set quizzes with automatic marking and feedback to the pupils. The data from these quizzes is automatically stored for you.
How might cloud computing allow me to formatively assess and record results?
By working on documents in the cloud you can allow multiple people to work on the same document, increasing collaboration and reducing the time to produce documents. Schools have lots of documents that have to be updated frequently, having those documents in the cloud allows you to update those in real time and ensure that everyone always has access to the most recent document versions.
You also get a full audit of what changed, who changed it and when it was changed.
How might cloud computing allow pupils and teachers to manage document collaboration and group work?
20
Once the whole school is using your new platform you will start to see immediate improvements in your productivity. Staff briefings and updates can be done online, meaning you only have to check a bulletin board or site to see what updates you need to know about – traditionally these may have been meetings that take up your valuable time. By using the advanced features in online calendars you can easily schedule your time and resources to save you from hunting around for things at the last minute, only to find that someone else is using them.
How does cloud computing keep me informed and save me time outside of the classroom?
There are education specific features that allow teachers to be more efficient when assigning work to their pupils and marking homework. Both G Suite for Education and Office 365 have Classroom Apps that allow you to set assignments to your pupils and include any resources that they may wish to use.
This ensures that there are no excuses from pupils that they didn’t know what their homework was or when it was due in, every assignment sits in their workflow and allows them to see when it is due to be handed in.
Once handed in, the teacher can review the work and give feedback at any time. This reduces the peaks of workloads on the teacher as they can mark it as soon as it is handed in and not have to wait until they have collected all the books on a single day. They don’t even have to worry about taking all those books home!
How does cloud computing manage workflows and assignment setting?
21
The Business Manager’s perspective – how might the cloud save you money?
Below we have given some examples of the potential savings that schools could make by moving to cloud computing.
Can cloud computing replace expensive servers, save on printing, reduce spend on devices and IT support costs?
Cloud computing tends to be purchased “as a service”, this means that ICT spend is transacted more on lower annual subscriptions and less on large capital spend every 3-5 years. This gives you visibility of your ICT spend every year without worrying about peaks in capital expenditure that may be lurking in the next few years.
As well as the devices being cheaper to use these types of services, the school might also start to consider 1:1 devices through parental purchase schemes. These schemes are completely managed by a 3rd party so the school doesn’t have to worry about collecting payments or setting up the scheme – everything is taken care for you.
By restricting the type of devices that the parents can purchase on the scheme you can ensure that the costs of managing the devices on your school network does not increase and you don’t get the concerns of some pupils having better devices than others. You may wish to use grants or Pupil Premium money for those pupils whose parents can’t afford to purchase the device themselves.
How might the transition to the cloud impact the way that ICT is financed?
Whilst cloud computing has the potential to save schools a substantial amount of money, investment may be required initially to ensure the school have a suitable internet connection and infrastructure. Deployment and training costs must also be considered. Your partner can work with you to ensure that your Total Cost of Ownership is reduced and your cloud solution is deployed in line with your budget expectations.
Will we see a cost saving straight away?
22
How much money could a primary school save by moving to the cloud?
A primary school typically replaces their server that manages their Active Directory and file storage every 4 years. As file storage is free in G Suite for Education and Office 365, substantial savings could be made.
Cost of a new server, backup and installation: £5,000 (One off cost) Cost of maintaining servers and backup: £498 (Over 3 years) Cost of IT labour to manage servers: £500 (Over 3 years) Cost of licences: £440 Total electricity costs: £330 (over 3 years)
Total cost over 3 years: £6,768
Moving file storage and identity management to the cloud:
Below are some examples of savings that could be made by moving to the cloud, as every school is different these savings will vary from school to school.
File storage: Free RM Unify identity management service: £1,785 (over 3 years)
Total cost of cloud option over 3 years: £1,785
Saving of £4,983 over the 3 years
Cost of file storage and identity management in the cloud:
There may be some upfront costs to move your existing files to the cloud services and to train your staff. We would suggest you allow £2,000 to cover these areas.
A primary school will normally have a locally installed productivity suite as well as local applications that they may use in lessons. As G Suite for Education and Office 365 are free, money can be saved by switching to the web based productivity suites. By using these suites you can also save on printing costs. It also allows you to purchase lower spec devices to access these online applications.
Average cost of locally licenced productivity suite: £1,500 (over 3 years) Average cost of printing: £12,000 (over 3 years) Cost of IT labour to deploy applications: £400 (Over 3 years) Total cost of 50 mid-spec laptops: £15,000
Cost of productivity and cloud first devices:
Cost of cloud based productivity suite: Free Cost of printing: £4,000 (over 3 years) Cost of IT labour to deploy applications £200 (over 3 years) Total cost of 50 cloud first devices: £9,000
There may be some upfront costs to move deploy your productivity suite in the correct way. We would suggest you allow up to £3,000 for a full deployment of the platform.
Clearly you may choose to reinvest some of the savings to give pupils access to more devices or particular software packages. You may also want to consider additional training for your staff to ensure that the savings are made through reductions on printing etc.
Moving to a cloud based productivity suite and cloud based classroom applications
23
A primary school typically replaces their server that hosts their on premise MIS system every 4 years. They also have to pay an annual licence cost for the software which can be significantly more expensive than cloud based MIS software.
Cost of a new server, backup and installation: £5,000 (One off cost) Cost of maintaining servers and backup: £498 (Over 3 years) Cost of IT labour to manage servers: £500 (Over 3 years) Cost of server licences: £440 Total electricity costs: £330 (over 3 years) Average cost of MIS on premise licence: £13,500 (Over 3 years)
Cost of MIS in the cloud: RM Integris: £6,600 (over 3 years)
There may be some upfront costs to move your existing data to the cloud based MIS and to train your staff. We would suggest you allow £1,000 to cover these areas.
Moving your school MIS to the cloud
24
How much money could a secondary school save by moving to the cloud? Below are some examples of savings that could be made by moving to the cloud, as every school is different these savings will vary from school to school.
A secondary school typically replaces their server that manages their Active Directory and file storage every 4 years. As file storage is free in G Suite for Education and Office 365, substantial savings could be made. It is unlikely in a secondary school that you would be able to entirely remove all servers and not have an Active Directory, this is because a number of critical systems will rely on that Active Directory for authentication and identity.
The below savings focus on the ability to remove a number of servers on site and use the free cloud based file storage. It assumes that 5TB of storage can be moved.
Cost of a new server/storage, backup and installation: £11,400 (One off cost) Cost of maintaining servers and backup: £2,000 (Over 3 years) Cost of IT labour to manage servers: £500 (Over 3 years) Cost of licences: £880 Total electricity costs: £330 (over 3 years)
Moving file storage and identity management to the cloud
File storage: Free RM Unify Identity Management service: £2,685 (over 3 years)
There may be some upfront costs to move your existing files to the cloud services and to train your staff. We would suggest you allow £4,000 to cover these areas. The total amount of savings will depend on how much data can be moved to the cloud and the number of servers or storage disks that this allows you to remove from your current on premise network.
Cost of file storage and identity management in the cloud
A secondary school will normally have a locally installed productivity suite as well as local applications that they may use in lessons. As G Suite for Education and Office 365 are free, money can be saved by switching to the web based productivity suites. By using these suites you can also save on printing costs. It also allows you to purchase lower spec devices to access these online applications.
Average cost of locally licenced productivity suite: £6,000 (over 3 years) Average cost of printing: £60,000 (over 3 years) Cost of IT labour to deploy applications: £1,000 (Over 3 years) Total cost of 250 mid-spec laptops: £78,250
Moving to a cloud based productivity suite and cloud based classroom applications
Cost of cloud based productivity suite: Free Cost of printing: £30,000 (over 3 years) Cost of IT labour to deploy applications £500 (over 3 years) Total cost of 250 cloud first devices: £45,000
There may be some upfront costs to move deploy your productivity suite in the correct way. We would suggest you allow up to £10,000 for a full deployment of the platform.
Clearly you may choose to reinvest some of the savings to give pupils access to more devices or particular software packages. You may also want to consider additional training for your staff to ensure that the savings are made through reductions on printing etc.
Cost of productivity and cloud first devices:
25
Some server workloads may be cheaper to run in a large data centre instead of servers that are on site. It is important to analyse your server workloads before making this move to ensure that you will see a cost saving from making this move. A partner will be able to run some software on your servers to help predict the costs of running them in somewhere such as Microsoft Azure. The below scenario assumes you could move 3 of your remaining servers to the Microsoft Azure platform:
Cost of a new server, backup and installation: £14,000 (One off cost) Cost of storage: £2,280 (one-off cost) Cost of maintaining servers and backup: £2,120 (Over 3 years) Cost of IT labour to manage servers: £1,767 (Over 3 years) Cost of server licences: £800 Total electricity costs: £1,000 (over 3 years)
Cost of hosting these servers in Microsoft Azure:
Azure virtual machine cost: £11,331 (over 3 years)
Azure networking costs: £7 (over 3 years) Azure storage costs: £1,012 (over 3 years) IT labour costs: £1,000 (over 3 years)
There may be some upfront costs to move your existing workloads to the cloud, we would recommend allowing £600 per server to do this.
It is worth noting that the savings could be higher if the Azure based machines can be turned off at certain times or in school holidays.
Moving some of your server workloads into Infrastructure as a Service
A secondary school typically replaces their server that hosts their on premise MIS system every 4 years. They also have to pay an annual licence cost for the software which can be significantly more expensive than cloud based MIS software.
Cost of a new server, backup and installation: £6,000 (One off cost) Cost of maintaining servers and backup: £498 (Over 3 years) Cost of IT labour to manage servers: £500 (Over 3 years) Cost of server licences: £440 Total electricity costs: £330 (over 3 years) Average cost of MIS on premise licence: £45,000 (Over 3 years)
Cost of MIS in the cloud:
RM Integris: £21,000 (over 3 years)
There may be some upfront costs to move your existing data to the cloud based MIS and to train your staff. We would suggest you allow £3,000 to cover these areas.
Moving your school MIS to the cloud
26
27
Conclusion
As outlined in this document, there are many different factors to consider when moving your services to the cloud but one things is absolutely clear – the benefits of doing so can be huge.
These benefits can be significant costs savings, significant time savings but most importantly it allows your teachers and pupils to engage, learn and work in the way that they are used to. Technology is part of the fabric of today’s society and to neglect the need to develop the skills required in this modern world would be wrong. What a school chooses to do with the cost and time savings is very much down to each individual school, it can allow them to put more technology in the hands of pupils and allow them to work in a smarter way or they can reinvest the money in additional teaching or support staff.
The time has come to stop spending money on technology that is hidden away in things that don’t improve the outcomes of the pupils and ensure that it is spent in ways that benefit the whole school.
Whether your choice is driven by necessity to reduce IT spend or by a desire to increase collaboration and save your teachers time – RM are here as your expert partner to help you every step of the way.
140 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4SB
Call us on 0800 046 9798 or email [email protected]
Find out more

rm cloud rm education’s

Documents