By Tim Ferguson, 11 January 2007 17:45
NEWS
Several schools are looking to reduce costs and improve the working life of school administrators by using a new web-based information management system.
Four local authorities - in Kirklees (Huddersfield), Poole (Dorset), and Richmond-upon-Thames and Haringey in London - are currently rolling out RM's Integris G2 system, which includes an account management package developed by financial software company Coda.
Along with the finance capabilities, Integris G2 manages information relating to pupil attendance and performance as well as student and teacher timetables.
Around 330 schools hope to be using the system by the end of September this year.
The Ministry of Defence has also signed up to use G2 in its schools - which cater for the children of service workers located abroad, a total of around 12,000 pupils.
silicon.com Public Sector
Get the latest public sector news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the PS newsletter today!
An RM spokesman told silicon.com the new system is designed to lessen the burden of the school administrator.
While competing info management systems have to be installed on computers at the school site - meaning school administrators have to deal with regular and costly maintenance - Integris G2 is web-based so administrators access it online via a browser. The data is stored on a central server run by RM.
RM predicts that by using the Integris G2 system, primary schools could save around £1,500 per year. Given that an average primary school in the UK has an annual ICT budget of around £10,700, this would be significant.
G2 could also help local authorities comply with the government's 'Every Child Matters' scheme to promote the sharing of information around various children's services, such as health and social work.
Comments
There is 1 comment. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
As an experienced teacher I have to add that this is more time consuming than any paper register as most of the time it doesn't work. When putting in data it will suddenly decide to freeze you out and not allow you in for a whole hour. Failing that it might decide that you don't exist as a user which then means your password needs to be reset. Time Consuming. Utter waste of time.