Co-Sourcing model enables College to use Plan-Net’s professionals within their support team

Co-Sourcing model enables College to use Plan-Net’s professionals within their support team, providing flexibility and expertise to manage peaks and troughs -

06 September 2004: Epping Forest College has chosen IT skills and services company, Plan-Net, as its Co-Sourcing partner for a full Windows XP migration project, as part of a total order valued at 170,000. As part of the Co-Sourcing agreement, Plan-Net will design, manage and implement a new Windows XP network, whilst also providing ongoing helpdesk support for the College.

By working with Plan-Net on a Co-Sourcing basis, Epping Forest College is able to use Plan-Net’s professionals within their support team, under the management of the College. Under the terms of this agreement there are no costs associated with recruitment, appraisals or payroll as this is all handled by Plan-Net and, uniquely, the College has the ability to scale support staffing levels up or down in line with business requirements.

Epping Forest College has to migrate its IT systems to the Windows XP operating platform, as the Microsoft support cycle has been withdrawn for the College’s existing servers and desktops. In order to create a more robust and secure system by using the latest Microsoft technologies, Plan-Net is responsible for designing the new network, installing four new servers, replacing 500 existing desktops and upgrading 300 others to Windows XP.

Tim Rawe, IT Manager of Epping Forest College, explains, The Windows XP migration temporarily increases demands on our helpdesk staff, but as our long-term helpdesk needs are unknown, we were reluctant to increase the number of permanent support staff. Plan-Net’s Co-Sourcing model enables us to buy in their skills and is an excellent alternative - it gives us the flexibility to adjust staffing levels to our business requirements.

Tim Rawe continues, We are very impressed with the quality of Plan-Net’s consultants currently working full time on our site - they have a very positive influence on our helpdesk culture, are always willing to help out on tasks that fall outside their job description, and have a strong sense to share their knowledge with our permanent staff.

Epping Forest College, located between Debden and Loughton, offers full-time further education courses to 16-18 year olds, as well as part-time courses to all members of the community. The College has approximately 1900 full-time and 4500 part-time students.

600 of the College’s 1000 desktops are directly student facing and prior to the Windows XP migration, all needed regular rebuilding due to student and staff adaptations. With Plan-Net’s new network design, desktop and applications settings cannot be altered by users, which already has significantly reduced the amount of effort required for desktop maintenance.

Commenting on the working relationship with Plan-Net, Tim Rawe says, During the tender process, Plan-Net demonstrated their technical competence very well and we were drawn to them from the start. Plan-Net eventually came out the strongest because of the combination of their expertise, impressive network of hardware and service suppliers, price, and transparent offering.

Tim Rawe concludes, In three years time, Epping Forest College will move to a new building, and it is important to us that our IT network and infrastructure is in perfect order prior to that. In order to continuously move our network forward, Plan-Net will remain involved in all development aspects - they have the expertise and are able to provide the high level of service we expect.