IT services for schools/departments

Supporting the provision of IT facilities for schools and departments.

Departments are responsible for buying their own computers.

Optionally, they can then be setup and maintained by Information Services, as detailed below.

Staff desktop PCs

The Staff Managed Desktop service includes:
  • for new PCs: installation of Windows 7 and Office 2010 (or 2007 if you need software that is incompatible with 2010).
  • support and automatic updates for software and the operating system
  • security restrictions for general downloading.

Existing Staff Managed Desktops run Windows XP with standard software including Office 2007 (XP desktops will be supported until 2013).

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View the software available with a Windows 7 Staff Managed Desktop

Office 2010 is the default version of Office. It is very similar to Office 2007 so if you're familiar with that no further training is needed. Outlook users note that Outlook 2010 looks different and is now similar to Word 2010.

All the software currently on Student PCs will be accessible to the staff service. Software titles such as Dreamweaver - currently available to licence holders on the XP service - can also be installed provided that the license is transferred to the new or rebuilt PC.

Not all corporate software is currently supported on Windows 7 or Office 2010

Some software uses Office functionality and it may not support 2010. If your software can be used on Windows 7 but not Office 2010, a version of the service with Office 2007 is available. This situation will change over time as University systems are updated to newer compatible versions.

Check University software compatibility (pdf)

Checklist for moving to the managed desktop service

  1. Are your printers/other peripherals compatible? Yes / No
    Check device compatibility with Windows 7

  2. Is your computer less than 4 years old and owned by the University? Yes / No
    Computers more than 4 years old are not suitable for upgrading to Windows 7, the minimum specification is dual core CPU, 2GB Ram and at least 80GB hard disk.

  3. Is the software you need to use compatible with Windows 7 and Office 2010? Yes / No / I would need Office 2007
    Corporate systems compatibility with Office 2007/2010 and Windows 7 (pdf)

  4. Software: do you wish to transfer any purchased software licenses to the new PC? Have you purchased any new software for this PC? Yes / No

  5. Transfer of data: rebuilding a PC will wipe all data from the disk (all drives, C: and D:/E:/F: etc). If you have data you want to transfer or preserve you need to either:
    - manually save data currently stored on the hard disk (C:, D:, E:, F: etc) to a safe location
    - request technician assistance to do this for you and ensure that you do not lose the data.

View costs

Costs for setting up a Windows 7 Desktop (or upgrading an XP Staff Managed Desktop)

Technician time is charged at £25 per hour. The likely costs will be:

  • Build only: approximately 1 hour, charge £25
  • Build and transfer of data and settings from an XP Staff Managed desktop to new Windows 7 service: 2-3 hours depending on the amount of data to transfer.
  • Connecting printers, scanners: mainstream products should connect automatically, if not allow for an hour.
  • Rebuilds of non-staff managed desktops can take several hours as they tend to be highly customised.

Staff can minimise the costs by ensuring that they transfer all data themselves to networked file store, external drives or USB memory sticks.

Costs for ongoing maintenance
  • Annual maintenance fee: £20;
  • Hardware maintenance fee (not needed until manufacturer's warranty runs out): £47.50

Apply now

New Staff Managed Desktop requests:
Apply for a New Staff Managed Desktop Service Agreement

Staff Managed Desktop individual upgrades:
Apply to upgrade an XP Staff Managed Desktop to the Windows 7 service

Bulk Desktop requests:
If you want the new Windows 7 Staff Managed Desktop service for a number of PCs, please contact Christine Wilson to discuss your requirements.

 

Departmental student PCs

Information Services can maintain Student PCs for schools or departments, for a small annual charge. Alternatively, a tailored software build can be created, based on the disk image from the Student PC Service.