4-page Case Study - Posted 3/21/2008
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Small School Districts Gain Big Buying Power With School Agreement for Consortium
To train students to achieve technology proficiency, Rhode Island Public Schools must acquire the latest software. In response, smaller school districts in the state formed the Rhode Island Society of Technology Educators (RISTE) and, with the help of TechTeam Government Solutions, set up a School Agreement with Microsoft to qualify for volume prices on software licenses. Through that agreement, RISTE members get a volume price on software licenses and the flexibility of annual payments. They achieve additional value with Microsoft® Core Client Access Licenses (CALs) and Enterprise CAL Suites which offer access to multiple products through a single license. As a result, RISTE members have simplified license management, reduced licensing costs, gained faster access to new technologies, improved collaboration and accessibility, and gained more value for their software dollar.
Situation
Rhode Island, like most states, is working hard to improve the academic performance of its K-12 students in response to the No Child Left Behind Act. Those efforts are starting to pay off. Recent results of the 2007 New England Common Assessment Program show improved test scores for elementary- and middle-school students in Rhode Island for the second straight year.
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With the Microsoft School Agreement and CAL Suites specifically, managing Microsoft licenses is a lot simpler and more affordable. We get access to all of these Microsoft products at a great price. |
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Linda Savastano
President of RISTE and Technology Director, Middletown Public Schools |
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As the state develops new initiatives and programs to support student achievement, individual school districts must find ways to stretch unpredictable funding to meet those goals. For example, all school districts must submit a technology plan to the Rhode Island Department of Education explaining how they will help students achieve technology proficiency by grade 8. To make it easier to acquire the latest software to achieve that proficiency, a group of small and medium-sized school districts and private schools formed the Rhode Island Society of Technology Educators (RISTE) consortium in 2002.
During the 2007–8 school year, RISTE included 50 Rhode Island public K-12 school districts and private schools. Its elected executive board meets monthly to discuss business matters, educational practices, and technology. Its full membership, consisting primarily of technology directors of member schools and school districts, meets three or four times a year to discuss the latest developments in technology.
Combining Districts for Increased Access and Purchasing Power
Microsoft® Certified Partner TechTeam Government Solutions and RISTE worked with Microsoft to set up one of the first Microsoft School Agreements for a consortium of school districts and private schools. The goal of this agreement was to expand the use of technology in Rhode Island’s K-12 schools. As a result, RISTE-member districts who sign the Microsoft School Agreement gain increased access to Microsoft resources and training as well as a better volume price on software licenses than they could achieve separately. RISTE submits a bid on behalf of the participating districts, which locks in a price. Then the districts can choose which of the products they want to purchase.
“Microsoft recognizes our group of districts as a single entity, so it provides us with resources and training that we probably wouldn’t get as small standalone districts,” says Linda Savastano, President of RISTE and Technology Director at Middletown Public Schools.
“RISTE works with Microsoft during the course of the year to present Lunch and Learn meetings to talk about licensing as well as new technologies,” says Bob Brigham, Vice President Northeast Operations for TechTeam Government Solutions. “Those meetings give technology directors the opportunity to pose their questions directly to Microsoft.”
Meeting Web Accessibility and Security Requirements
In addition to budgetary concerns, Rhode Island school districts needed to ensure that their technology systems were accessible to everyone. An amendment to the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that Web sites provide “equal or equivalent access to everyone,” including those with disabilities. “In order for our Web sites to be accessible to those with visual or hearing impairments, there can’t be a lot of code in the background because then a text reader will read the code as well as the content, making it difficult for users to understand,” says Savastano. “Also, Web sites that have flashing images can sometimes trigger seizures so we need to keep that element out of our Web sites.”
Many of the districts’ intranets were based on built-in Macintosh functionality which supported only Macintosh users, or open-source software which didn’t necessarily integrate with desktop applications. The school districts needed a more dynamic intranet solution to provide access to users on both platforms. And they needed to safeguard their Web sites from malicious content and help protect confidential data. Most of the districts used Symantec for server and desktop antivirus software, but they also wanted a way to prevent internal information from being accessed and distributed to unauthorized users.
By spring 2007, 80 percent of the RISTE member school districts ran the Windows® XP operating system with Service Pack 2, while a minority ran the Macintosh platform or had a mixture of both. Those running on Windows also used Microsoft Office Professional 2007. On the back end, the districts ran Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and SQL Server® 2005 database software on the Windows Server® 2003 operating system. They used the Microsoft Visual Studio® development system, both for development and for programming classes.
The number of servers ranged from five in the smallest RISTE-member districts to more than 40 in the largest districts. The number of desktops per district ranged from 500 to 1,700. In the 2007–8 school year, School Agreement renewals for RISTE members increased by 24 percent to cover approximately 18,000 desktops and 170 servers. To support that growth, RISTE continued to look for new ways for its members to increase their access to technology while minimizing cost increases.
Solution
The Microsoft School Agreement gives RISTE-member districts the flexibility to acquire licenses building by building or for the entire district. RISTE members pay for licenses annually and have a renewal date that corresponds with their budget year. “Our Microsoft School Agreement is good for three years, but we renew it as a district every year. So we can join every year, change our order every year, and pay annually,” says Lee Rabbitt, Secretary of RISTE and Technology Director for the North Kingstown school district.
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“Our School Agreement with Microsoft is good for three years, but we renew it as a district every year. So we can join every year, change our order every year, and pay annually.” |
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Lee Rabbitt
Secretary of RISTE and Technology Director, North Kingstown School District |
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The group contracts with TechTeam to manage the licensing agreement. TechTeam collects all the purchase orders from the school districts, then aggregates them, and submits the total to the distributor to get a volume discount. The districts add up the total number of workstations and pay in advance for the next school year.
Software Assurance Maximizes Value
RISTE members also take advantage of Software Assurance benefits within the Microsoft School Agreement, which include:
- Access to all software versions—upgrades and downgrades—so members can implement the latest software as soon as it’s available but also maintain previous versions on hardware that isn’t ready for the upgrade.
- Home Use Program, which gives teachers the rights to install the current Windows operating system and the latest release of Office on their home computers.
- A TechNet subscription for members’ technology departments.
- E-Learning courses for Applications, Systems, and Servers.
RISTE-member districts access and manage their Software Assurance benefits on the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center (formerly MVLS) Web site. “The Volume Licensing Service Center [VLSC] Web site makes it convenient to take advantage of Software Assurance benefits,” says Savastano. “We go there to check our license count, download software, get license key codes, and access E-Learning resources.”
Demand for New Capabilities Builds Demand for Enterprise CAL Suite
In previous years, the RISTE School Agree-ment covered virtually all Microsoft server and desktop products, including the Microsoft Core Client Access License (CAL) Suite. The Core CAL Suite provides a single CAL that covers Windows Server 2003 R2, Exchange Server 2007 Standard, Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 Standard, and a Configuration Management License for Microsoft Systems Management Server. Although the Core CAL covered all of the basic needs for RISTE members, as districts learned more about the capabilities of additional enterprise server products through the Lunch and Learn events, many began to consider upgrading to those products, which were not covered by the Core CAL Suite.
For example, many of the districts began to look at moving to Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise to create districtwide document management portals and course management systems that would support both Windows-based and Macintosh users. Many districts also were looking to upgrade to Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise to simplify compliance with policies governing messaging content storage, retention, and security. Several districts also were considering deploying Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 to implement unified communications and voice over IP (VoIP) solutions. “VoIP has the ability to easily integrate voice and data, so many districts are going to VoIP to increase capacity and reduce costs,” says Rabbitt.
Several RISTE-member districts were also interested in deploying Windows Rights Management Services to better enforce security policies and protect digital content from unauthorized access and use. In addition, some RISTE members were planning to deploy Microsoft Forefront™ Security Suite to provide workstation and server security during the 2008–9 school year.
In response to those plans, Pratik Chanda, the Microsoft Account Manager for RISTE, suggested that the organization add the Microsoft Enterprise CAL Suite to its School Agreement for the 2007–8 school year. The Enterprise CAL Suite “step-up” option adds CALs for seven Microsoft server products to the four Core CAL Suite offerings under a single license. The Enterprise CAL adds CALs for Enterprise versions of Exchange Server 2007, Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Office Communications Server 2007, as well as for Office Communications Server 2007 Standard, Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services, and Forefront. Seeing the value of this option both in cost savings and simplified license management, RISTE enthusiastically added it to its School Agreement.
Under the School Agreement, RISTE-member school districts select the licensing solutions that best meet their needs. Approximately 18 school districts acquired Core CALs for the 2007–8 school year, to cover 11,783 computers. Six school districts, representing slightly more than 3,000 computers, acquired the Enterprise CAL step-up option which gives them CALs for 11 software products (including the Core CAL Suite) under a single license for less than the cost of acquiring the products separately.
In addition, each RISTE-member school district gets an MSDN Academic Alliance High School Program membership as part of the School Agreement. This membership entitles each school in the district to install Microsoft Visual Studio tools on every instructional computer in the school and to check out the software to students. As a result teachers and students have access to the latest Web and application development tools to prepare students for college and/or the work force.
SharePoint Server Supports Districtwide Collaboration
Most of the districts that acquired the Enterprise CAL Suite did so to gain access rights to Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise. The Middletown Public Schools district, under the direction of Savastano, was one of the first districts to implement Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise. The district was primarily looking for a document management solution. “We were very good at using our local network to store our documents, but we weren’t as good at making those documents accessible,” says Savastano. “With Office SharePoint Server 2007, we are able to make documents such as strategic development plans, technology training guides, and district wide templates readily available to all the teachers and other employees throughout the district through a single portal.”
The Middletown district also uses SharePoint Server 2007 as a course management system. In one instance, it is used to support peer-to-peer editing of students’ work. “We set up SharePoint-based course sites where students in our journalism class can collaborate on the newspaper design and content,” says Savastano. “They submit articles to those sites and go there to edit each other’s work. We’re able to distribute permissions to update documents easily without requiring a new password.”
Savastano’s district is also working on a Web site based on Office SharePoint Server to replace a standalone Web site that was used by teachers for online communications with students and parents on details such as assignments, due dates, and course resources. The district plans to roll out the new site in spring 2008. “Because Office SharePoint Server 2007 is integrated with the Windows Server operating system, teachers only have to enter a single password, and they won’t have to learn HTML to add content,” says Savastano.
Benefits
Through its Microsoft School Agreement, RISTE is able to make volume pricing for software licenses available to small and medium-sized school districts. The features within this agreement as well as the Core CAL and Enterprise CAL Suites simplify license management, provide access to new technologies faster, improve collaboration and accessibility, and offer more capabilities for each software dollar.
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We used to have to buy special software to support accessibility, but with all of those features integrated into Windows XP, we don’t need to spend the extra money. |
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Linda Savastano
President of RISTE and Technology Director, Middletown Public Schools |
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Simplified License Management
Instead of having to find money to add Microsoft software licenses throughout the year, RISTE members know exactly what the cost per PC will be so they can accurately budget for it. Under the RISTE Microsoft School Agreement, each district gets the same volume price per product license, regardless of how many licenses they need for their district. They also have the flexibility to add or subtract licenses throughout the year and, at the end of the year, pay for only those they use.
“In the past, I think a lot of our members were nervous about how they were going to afford licensing and how they were going to maintain compliance,” says Savastano. “With the Microsoft School Agreement and CAL Suites specifically, managing Microsoft licenses is a lot simpler and more affordable. We get access to all of these Microsoft products at a great price and pay only a onetime cost each year.”
More Capabilities for the Same Money
By joining RISTE, small schools in Rhode Island are able to get software licensing prices similar to what larger schools get. “In my district, we’re able to purchase things that we would not be able to afford if we were purchasing them for our 800 computers alone,” says Savastano. “One nice savings we realized last year was that the use of the Visual Studio tools for our high school computer lab was included with the School Agreement. We were buying it separately, so that saves us about $1,200 annually.”
The Enterprise CAL further stretches the districts’ software budgets, giving them additional capabilities within the same budget. Using Office SharePoint Server 2007 for its new Web site for teachers will save the Middletown school district more than U.S.$5,000 on the cost of its previous standalone system. Moving to Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise and Office Communications Server 2007 will help districts implement unified communications solutions, including VoIP, and audio, video, and Web conferencing from within the same user interface, while minimizing hardware and training costs.
Faster Access to New Technologies
With the addition of the Enterprise CAL Suite, many RISTE members have been able to move more quickly to new technologies. The Enterprise CAL Suite includes access to a total of 11 products at a significant savings compared to the combined price of all of those products if acquired separately. As a result, many school districts can justify acquiring the Enterprise CAL Suite, even if they only plan to use the Core CAL and one or two other products in the Enterprise CAL suite. Once they have the Enterprise CAL, many deploy additional products in the suite, and since they’ve already paid for the suite, there are no additional licensing costs.
In addition, through the Microsoft School Agreement, RISTE-member schools can set up test labs in a nonproduction environment to try out Microsoft software before acquiring it. “Under the agreement a school can install a product in a lab and let the kids work with it for awhile before deciding whether or not they want to use it,” says Brigham.
Improved Collaboration
“The collaboration tools in Office SharePoint Server have really expanded the use of technology in our district,” says Savastano. “Teachers use it to exchange ideas with colleagues at other schools; students use it to collaborate on coursework; and the IT people use it to share best practices and get help for specific problems.”
The School Agreement also makes it easy and affordable for all schools within a district to move to the same version of software at the same time. As a result, it is much easier for all groups within a district to communicate and collaborate more effectively.
Increased Accessibility
Because public schools receive federal money, they must ensure that Web content and Web applications are accessible to all students. “One big benefit of using Microsoft software is that it has a lot of accessibility features built in,” says Savastano. For example, Web designers can create Web sites with SharePoint Server 2007 that have minimal code in the background so they can be easily accessed by user agent software such as text readers. In addition, the Windows XP and Windows Vista® operating systems include utilities that magnify screen content, present narrations of what is displayed on the screen, support using a pointing device or joystick, and offer several mouse and keyboard options to support the needs of various disabilities.
“We used to have to buy special software to support accessibility, but with all of those features integrated into Windows XP, we don’t need to spend the extra money,” says Savastano. “We’re a small district, but we have 500 special-needs students so that saves us about $1,000 annually.”
Microsoft Volume Licensing
Microsoft® Volume Licensing offers customized programs that are designed to meet the needs of your business. Tailored for companies of different sizes and purchasing preferences, these Volume Licensing programs provide simple, flexible, and affordable solutions that can help you manage your licenses with ease. Whether you have five or thousands of desktop PCs, Microsoft Volume Licensing has the right program for you.
To acquire the latest Microsoft technology at a significant cost savings through Microsoft Volume Licensing, contact your Microsoft Partner or local reseller.
To learn more about Microsoft Volume Licensing, visit:
www.microsoft.com/licensing
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 TechTeam Government Solutions products and services, call (401) 683–5701 ext 15 or visit the Web site at:
www.techteam.com
For more information about Rhode Island Society of Technology Educators products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.ri-iste.org
