Louis Riel School Division
Louis Riel School Division Enrolls Microsoft-based Technology and Gains Network Uptime
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Company Overview
The Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) came together as an amalgamation of two school divisions in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Following the passing of the provincial government’s Public Schools Modernization Act, it was recommended that urban school divisions combine to save administrative and related costs. As a result, the St. Vital Separate School Division, made up of 22 schools, and the St. Boniface School Division, made up of 18 schools, joined together to oversee the education of more than 15,000 students within 40 schools in the Winnipeg area.
Business Challenge
“When it came to consolidating our inherited mix of IT platforms, our goal was to do it right, do it efficiently and do it as cheaply as possible. When we looked at all things considered, that was the Microsoft-based platform,” says Brad Biehn, Director of Information Systems, Louis Riel School Division.
The amalgamated school division was faced with the challenge of combining disparate policies, systems, procedures and rules developed over the past decades. To ensure smooth sailing in a sea of uncertainty, LRSD developed an IT plan that made sense both immediately and in the future. Instead of trying to replicate one another’s dated infrastructure, the school division designed a new technology strategy to fit the needs of the amalgamated organization.
“We came up with a plan that outlined how a school division should be operated in this century, and not something that was designed to work 20 years ago,” says Biehn.
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Solution
The amalgamation of two distinct school divisions with different technology systems resulted in the need to standardize desktops and servers. Prior to introducing a new IT infrastructure to the amalgamated school community, LRSD researched available technology solutions on the market to find a platform that would deliver improved and standardized resources and services to teachers, administrators and students.
LRSD decided to consolidate on the Microsoft-based platform following an evaluation that included looking at a Linux-based solution. The organization needed a system that would enable it to provide a centralized IT network, managed desktops and improved interoperability to its complex of schools and administrative offices. The new system would have to provide a stable environment to ensure that teachers could focus on teaching, rather than managing the IT infrastructure in their classrooms or computer labs.
In evaluating both Microsoft and Linux environments, LRSD found that the Microsoft-based solution provided what it needed at a reasonable cost.
“One of the things that kept us back from Linux was the fact that you sometimes have to count on the kindness of strangers when a security problem arises. The fix might be instantaneous or it might be several months down the road, and we could not afford to take a chance,” says Biehn. “With Linux we found that there were a lot of unknowns with the solution: Would this work together? Would this revision still work with the server and how much R&D would that take?”
As a result of these drawbacks, LRSD chose to implement the Microsoft-based solution. Providing staff and students with a more reliable, more stable and standardized system at a reasonable, clearly articulated cost was at the forefront of the decision.
“In the Linux world the OS is free, however we were concerned that we’d find out down the road that some random cost would come out of nowhere. With Microsoft, we knew what we were getting and at what price right off the bat,” says Biehn.
Coming Together
LRSD replaced its disparate solutions with Windows Server™ 2003. As one of the most secure and reliable server platform Microsoft has ever released, Windows Server 2003 provides a unifying layer of common services across IT, application and information worker infrastructures, helping to reduce IT complexity and increasing efficiencies.
“We had a hodgepodge of stuff before the rollout of Windows Server 2003. Some schools had networks with servers, and some did not. Those with servers were running a mix of Windows NT® 4.0 operating system and Mac OS. On the desktop, we inherited everything under the sun – almost every incarnation of Windows and Mac OS,” says Biehn.
The features of Windows Server 2003 are helping LRSD manage its systems more easily, while helping the school division save employee time and money. By deploying Windows Server 2003, LRSD has consolidated its disparate Apple and Windows-based servers onto one platform, making manageability of its 61 servers easier than before.
The ability to maintain a consistent environment was a key factor in the decision to deploy the Microsoft-based solution. Having a consistent server infrastructure is now allowing for greater integration of applications across LRSD’s IT environment.
“We knew that the integration between Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP was very slick and would really cut down our back-end work. We knew that with Microsoft software, our six school based technicians could handle our 2,700 machines without a problem,” says Biehn.
Streamlining Management to Help Reduce Support Requirements
With the need to assimilate information for almost 18,000 users, including students, staff and auxiliary staff, LRSD was impressed with the integration of Active Directory® directory service within Windows Server 2003.
Active Directory is a central component of the Windows-based platform, and helps manage the users, groups, desktops, network resources and security data that make up network environments. Active Directory also helps ease migration to and deployment of Windows Server 2003 by enabling IT staff to manage the network from a central location, and deploy applications remotely. With a large number of users across a wide area, this ability was a central factor for LRSD in choosing the Microsoft-based solution.
Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS), a component of Active Directory that performs as a tool for management and distribution of critical Windows-based patches, has also been a big help for LRSD. Having a central location for network administration and delegation of administrative authority helped LRSD easily and efficiently manage security updating to all users. The ability to quickly and reliably deploy the latest critical updates and security patches to the network’s servers and desktop computers was a key determining factor in selecting Microsoft.
“Knowing that everything that’s tied to the Active Directory could be pointed to Microsoft Software Update Services was also a key decision maker for us,” says Biehn.
The Changing Face of the Classroom Desktop
Prior to the amalgamation, LRSD’s two separate school districts were running a combination of Mac Operating System 8, Mac Operating System 9, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and a few Windows NT 4.0 and Windows XP on their desktops. Managing applications on legacy platforms was quite a chore for LRSD’s IT department. The need for one standardized system was crucial in order to ease the technology user experience of students, teachers and IT administrators.
LRSD selected a solution that would create a common, user-friendly ground across the board. Windows XP was chosen as a means to standardize the experience for the entire school district, and as a way to ease systems management for the organization’s IT administrators. The previous array of desktop operating systems proved to be a logistical nightmare for the IT department, and LRSD looked to Windows XP as a means to help alleviate this problem.
“Now we’re running 2,700 systems using Windows XP and the positive feedback from students, teachers and our IT department is incredible,” says Biehn.
Business Benefits
The Louis Riel School District has experienced numerous benefits as a result of its IT overhaul. Not only is the organization saving on staffing costs by eliminating the need for varying IT specialists, the district is also delivering an improved and standardized computing experience to all of its users.
Commonality
Teachers and students alike have noted extreme satisfaction with the fact that the systems are interoperable and consistent. As a result, they can share information, lesson plans and resources more easily through the integrated technology. Teachers in particular have noted that application interoperability is a huge benefit.
“Having a vanilla IT environment makes it easier for our teachers, because when a teacher develops a lesson or a unit now, they can share it with other colleagues in the whole division when they have the exact same desktop and the exact same operating system,” says Biehn.
In addition to the positive feedback experienced by the school community, the decision to standardize on the Microsoft-based platform was made partially to help better-prepare students for life after high school.
“Another reason to modernize on Microsoft-based technology was because we wanted to help ensure that our students are prepared for the future. Many of our students go right into the work world. We now know that they’re coming out trained on the most modern operating system with a fairly sound background in the most modern desktop suite. We know they’re well-served wherever they go,” says Biehn.
Helping Reduce Support Time
Helping reduce the strain on the IT department was another prime benefit for LRSD in adopting a consolidated Microsoft-based platform. The school board needed a system that could enable the IT department to easily deploy updates accurately and effectively from a central location. In the education environment, many students need machines each and every hour. The school board knew it could not afford any downtime whatsoever.
“We have six technicians to handle 2,700 machines, and we cover about 113 square kilometres spread over 43 buildings. In the past, managing systems was a very difficult task for us,” says Biehn. “Now we’re like the Lone Ranger – we may have to start delivering silver bullets after we fix a machine, because we’ve had users say ‘No one was here fixing the computer so I thought it was still broken,’ when in fact it was fixed minutes after the request came in. With the standardized Microsoft-based platform, we hope to experience 99 per cent uptime on the machines. Our teachers and students will find that pretty amazing.”
With the new streamlined process for updating or patching systems remotely, LRDS is thoroughly pleased with the Microsoft-based platform. Being closer to a pure IT environment has enabled the school division to manage systems better while ensuring consistency across the board.
Cost Savings
The Louis Riel School District has seen significant savings not only on the IT administration side, but also in the time saved by teachers by helping to make them more productive. Moreover, with the savings Microsoft offers to the education sector, LRSD was able to stretch its IT budget to meet its needs.
Future
“The way we see it, computers now are like telephones. Students go to the lab and they expect all the machines to be working, like they expect a dial tone when they pick up a telephone receiver. We’re happy to say that we’re on that track now,” says Biehn.
LRSD has a bright future ahead as an amalgamated school division with a consolidated IT platform. The organization is very satisfied with its adoption of Microsoft-based technology, and future considerations include taking at look at Windows SharePoint® team services as well as the latest version of Class Server. With the Microsoft-based solution, Louis Riel School District offers a top-notch example of the benefits of standardized technology in the classroom.
Microsoft Windows Server System
Microsoft® Windows Server System is a comprehensive, integrated, and interoperable server infrastructure that helps reduce the complexity and costs of building, deploying, connecting, and operating agile business solutions. Windows Server System helps customers create new value for their business through the strategic use of their IT assets. With the Windows Server operating system as its foundation, Windows Server System delivers dependable infrastructure for data management and analysis; enterprise integration; customer, partner, and employee portals; business process automation; communications and collaboration; and core IT operations including security, deployment, and systems management.
For more information about Windows Server System, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com
For more information about Louis Riel School Division, call 204-257-7827 or visit the Web site at: www.rielsd.org
