Chessington, 26 March 2013 – UK-headquartered Service Management company Sunrise Software today announced that Newham Partnership Working (NPW) has selected its Sostenuto ITSM (IT Service Management) software to manage IT support for over 90 schools. NPW has rolled out the new Sostenuto Service Desk solution over a period of twelve months, starting with ten pilot schools. All service and support requests are logged online via the schools’ learning platform. The new process has streamlined call logging for users and how school technicians plan their work. It also enables both the schools and NPW to measure and review Service Level Agreements.
Formed in July 2012, NPW took over the running of four key school services from the London Borough of Newham – Education ICT, Schools HR, Governor Services and School Support Services. The NPW Education ICT team supports a variety of users, including headteachers, school business managers, teachers and teaching assistants. All of whom use different IT systems, from Management Information and data systems to teaching ICT and using whiteboards in the classroom.
As well as desktops installed in schools across the Borough, Year 5 and 6 pupils in 30 Newham schools were provided with a laptop for classroom and home learning as part of an 8 year PFI project with RM. More recently many of the schools are looking at and investing in iPads and other mobile devices for teaching and learning.
Clare Watson, Service Delivery Manager at Newham Partnership Working commented; “Increasingly technology is an essential part of the educational environment and we recognise that advice and support are a vital part of the service that we provide to our schools. One of the key drivers for us choosing Sostenuto was that it enabled us to provide an easier way for our users to log calls as well as for us to manage our service delivery more efficiently.”
“Our success also comes down to the engagement that we had with our users at the beginning and explaining how the system was going to work, so that they knew what they were getting and were ready to meet the challenges of implementing new technology and new ways of working.”
Using Sostenuto ITSM, all requests are logged centrally and then redistributed to technicians assigned to the schools. Rules built into the Sostenuto system ensure that this happens seamlessly. In total there are 27 school based technicians who are fully supported by three centrally based technical officers, as well as RM’s technical support engineers for high level support
As a result of using Sostenuto, new Service Level Agreements have enabled the ICT desk to provide details of service delivered to individual schools over set periods, covering requests handled, fixes and technician time. The support team is also able to look at the report and advise headteachers on which equipment needs upgrading or training that may be required.
Geoff Rees, Sales Director of Sunrise Software, concluded: “Over the last few years there has been a substantial amount of investment in ICT for use in schools. As the range of technologies commonly used widens, so does the demand for ICT support. Sostenuto has been developed to enable Service Desks to manage support requests in a seamless, efficient way. Automating processes and capturing Service Desk data, frees support teams to focus on what they do best, rather than administration, resulting in improved service for end users. Newham Partnership Working’s deployment of Sostenuto demonstrates applied best practice that delivers benefits for both end users and the Service Desk team.”
For more information on Sunrise Software, its products, services and customers, please visit www.sunrisesoftware.com
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NOTES TO EDITORS
About Newham Partnership Working
Newham Partnership Working (NPW) is a mutual organisation providing a legal entity to run and commission services to its school members and beyond. Formed in July 2012, NPW took over the running of four key services from the London Borough of Newham – Education ICT, Schools HR, Governor Services and School Support Services.
The NPW Education ICT Team (formerly ITASS) has over 17 years’ experience providing advice and technical support for Schools Curriculum and Administration networks and staff. Its aim is to provide high-quality ICT support services to all subscribing schools.
For more information, please visit: www.npw.uk.com