So, what can IT departments like Acero’s do differently to make asset management a little more manageable?
“We use SCCM for almost everything,” says Sam Hernandez, software and systems manager at Arlington (Texas) Independent School District.
Microsoft’s System Center Configuration Manager is designed for large-scale, enterprise-level applications, which makes it perfect for this district of 75 schools, more than 60,000 students and at least 155,000 devices.
Hernandez’s team recently switched to SCCM to reduce the hands-on work required every time an incoming support call hit the help desk.
Where before the team relied on the campus technology manager at each school to install new software, update operating systems or push out new patches, “end users can now log in and do it themselves without creating a ticket, and we can distribute anything with one click,” he says. “It lets us manage endpoints from a single console.”
MORE FROM EDTECH: Read what K–12 administrators should think about when integrating new technology.
Improved Ticketing System Offers K–12 IT Peace of Mind
At Henry County (Ga.) Schools, Technology Operations Director Chris Davis would be less concerned about efficiency if the district were smaller. But Davis and his team of about 110 people are responsible for 52 schools, 43,000 students and 3,500 teachers, who collectively use more than 60,000 devices. “We have a lot we have to handle,” he says. “Everyone stays really busy.”
The district’s one-to-one program assigns Chromebooks to students in grades three and up, and iPad devices to the district’s youngest learners. When the initiative launched in 2017, the district reworked its ticketing system to reduce the burden on field technicians, Davis says.
“The way we had it previously, anytime a teacher had an issue, they’d have to go through either one of those technicians or another designated person who would put their ticket in for them, and then that ticket would be serviced by the technician or sent off for repair as a warranty issue,” Davis says.