NEWS |
| Last updated: 08 September 2008 |  ESC Support from £1,319 to £4,950! | The annual cost for registering with ESC UK is calculated on the size of your organisation in relation to full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, and the number of named contacts you want to register.
Incidents must be logged by a registered contact, once logged the call can be passed to a more appropriate liaison.
ANNUAL SUPPORT
Band - A
Number of FTE staff: 1,500+
Number of Named Contacts: 4
Fair Use Indicator: 21*
Cost of Trial Call: £220.00 +VAT
Cost of full ESC contract: £4,950.00 +VAT
Band - B
Number of FTE staff: 500 to 1,499
Number of Named Contacts: 3
Fair Use Indicator: 18*
Cost of Trial Call: £220.00 +VAT
Cost of full ESC contract: £4,100.00 +VAT
Band - C
Number of FTE staff: 0 to 499
Number of Named Contacts: 2
Fair Use Indicator: 15*
Cost of Trial Call: £220.00 +VAT
Cost of full ESC contract: £3,250.00 +VAT
* Indicates a notional call limit, providing an indication of fair use of the ESC Service over a 12 month period
INCIDENT BASED SUPPORT
Band - D
Definition: 12 Incident Pack
Number of Named Contacts: 2
Fixed Calls: 12
Cost of Trial Call: £220.00 +VAT
Cost of full ESC contract: £2,638.00 +VAT
Calls are to be taken within a twelve month period.
Band - E
Definition: 6 Incident Pack
Number of Named Contacts: 1
Fixed Calls: 6
Cost of Trial Call: £220.00 +VAT
Cost of full ESC contract: £1,319.00 +VAT
Calls are to be taken within a twelve month period.
Additional contacts may provide larger institutions with greater flexibility and control, you are able to buy additional contacts at the cost of £660 per extra contact,
All contracts are subscribed to on an annual basis.
Non-PC users such as such as maintenance, cleaning, and catering staff etc, may be excluded from the FTE number.
NB: The ESC institutes an annual price rise effective from the 1st of January. | | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | The ESC now available via Eduserv CHEST | The ESC Services are now available via Eduserv CHEST providing the education sector with cost-effective, long-term support for Microsoft products.
The ESC not only give full coverage of all Microsoft products covered by Select and Campus agreements, the ESC also assist on products no longer supported by Microsoft on a “best endeavours” basis. The ESC was set up as a partnership between Microsoft and Nottingham Trent University with the specific remit to provide the education sector with affordable, expert & effective technical help.
The highly rated support services from the ESC are tailored to academic institutions’ needs and have over 50 institutions currently subscribing. Customer feedback is very positive, comments include “Very useful service, very education focused “, and “Support is always first class. Prompt, authoritative and helpful”. The ESC’s Customer Satisfaction ratings have not dipped below 92%.
The ESC routinely deals with calls covering a variety of Microsoft Products including Exchange, IIS, ISA, MOM, Class Server, SMS, Sharepoint and Desktop products. Some ESC customers view the service as an emergency assistance service for their IT Departments who can be called on when there are mission critical IT issues or as a back-up to their IT departments as part of a disaster recovery plan.
For further details regarding the ESC service please call 0870 012 0122 or go online at www.escuk.net
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | Customer Satisfaction at 92% | Regardless of institution size, the Education Support Centre (ESC) is able to offer affordable, expert and effective technical help to all of its customers. The ESC is an IT Support service dedicated to the Education sector. Institutions that the ESC supports vary from 35,000 to 90 students. The ESC provides a consistently high level of customer service, its customer satisfaction ratings have not dipped below 92% since it opened.
“The University of Reading signed up with ESC from its launch. Although we have general Windows systems management expertise in-house, we had tended to use consultants for specialised projects such as introducing and supporting Exchange, linking MS-SQL with IIS, etc. Our experience with consultants was varied, so we found the ESC's offering of annual support for the cost of a few days' consultancy very attractive.
We have found their expertise to be comprehensive, their service responsive and professional. My very discriminating systems staff rate the ESC very highly and this is demonstrated by the way in which they now readily turn to ESC and adopt the approaches suggested."
Director of IT Services. The University of Reading
The ESC provides support on all Microsoft Software and routinely deals with calls covering products including ISA Server, Exchange, IIS, MOM, Class Server, SMS and Sharepoint. Some ESC customers view the service as an emergency assistance service for their IT Departments who can be called on when there are mission critical IT issues or as a back-up to their IT departments as part of a disaster recovery plan.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | Microsoft Support dedicated to Education | With over 71 customers across the UK and Ireland the ESC provides a dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector. Here is a selection of some of our customers.
The ESC supports the whole education sector Universities; Colleges; Research Councils; Schools and Specialist colleges.
IT engineers at the ESC are able to call on Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
The Education Support Centre was established expressly to provide the education sector throughout the UK with affordable, expert, effective frontline technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies.
Every minute your staff spend dealing with I.T. issues outside of their core job role has a direct effect. Our ESC support engineers minimise that time, save you money and improve the skill set available to you. The ESC is a support partner of Microsoft, allowing ESC engineers to escalate your problem to the highest level should the situation require it. We support all products currently within the Microsoft support cycle as well as some additional products on a best efforts basis.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please contact us on t: 0870 012 0122 or email us at e: info@escuk.net.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | EduCoMS: new online community for IT professionals | EduCoMS (www.educoms.net) is a brand new community site for IT professionals in the higher and further education sectors using Microsoft technologies.
Featuring document libraries, forums, wiki pages and news on a wide range of Microsoft products, EduCoMS is run by and for the HE and FE IT community.
The site was built by Eduserv, the not-for-profit IT services group, in partnership with Microsoft, UCISA and ourselves, using Sharepoint 2007. Eduserv will continue to curate and support the site as the community grows.
The site needs your input to become the useful and lively community resource that we hope it will become, so sign up now and start contributing.
To kick things off, during this launch phase every new post is being rewarded with National Book Vouchers which can be used in a wide range of book shops. There’ll be:
£25 for a new document library post
£10 for a wiki page or news item
£5 for every new forum post
Visit the About page at EduCoMS.net for full details of how to enter.
For more information about EduCoMS, please contact Lisa Price (lisa.price@eduserv.org.uk), Online Communications Manager at Eduserv.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | Try before you buy! Lewisham College took up the ESC’s trial offer with a domain controller issue. After the issue was resolved they took out a full contract with the ESC to provide them with support and advice on Microsoft products. | Lewisham College took up the ESC’s trial offer with a domain controller issue. After the issue was resolved they took out a full contract with the ESC to provide them with support and advice on Microsoft products.
The ESC, based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
Lewisham College is a large inner-city further education college in south east London serving a diverse and multi-cultural population. They aim to ensure that all members of their community are provided with every opportunity to succeed. They provide an innovative range of services that enable them to be 'more than a College, offering more than a qualification'.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems, and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers at the ESC are able to call on Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | A warm welcome to Lancaster and Morecambe College – the ESC’s newest customer. | Lancaster and Morecambe College has selected the ESC (Education Support Centre) to provide affordable and effective expert frontline technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies.
Lancaster and Morecambe College offers a range of high-quality, diverse and relevant education and training opportunities via a wide range of both full and part-time courses. The college is a Centre of Vocational Excellence in Catering and Hospitality and a recipient of the Charter Mark for Customer Service.
The ESC, based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems, and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers at the ESC are able to call on Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | Frontline Technical Expertise at North West Institute | North West Institute of Further & Higher Education Institute (NWIFHE) has selected the Education Support Centre (ESC) to provide them with affordable and effective expert frontline technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies.
NWIFHE trialled the ESC service initially, before taking out a full-time contract.
The ESC, based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems, and for IT support and advice.
North West Institute is one of the fastest growing colleges in Northern Ireland. Headquartered at Strand Road in Derry City, it has approximately 20,000 students undertaking study in a range of full-time and part-time programmes.
IT engineers at the ESC are able to call upon Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | Getting Down to Business: The London Business School has selected the ESC to provide them with affordable and effective expert frontline technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies. | The ESC, based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems, and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers at the ESC are able to call upon Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please
call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | For all potential problems that your IT department might face the ESC is here to help. | The summer is over and all the upgrades have been done, the academic year has started and you’ve made it past Clearing, Registrations, new student enrolments and Timetabling.
For IT departments across the education sector the hard work has just begun, there are a multitude of issues that need to be addressed.
Security for all those ‘un-cleared’ bits of software that appear on pc’s.
Load-testing, to ensure that the Email system is up to all the project work that will be sent in minutes before the deadline.
Print servers are working at the ‘critical’ time just before 2.00 pm (hand-in deadline).
Network connections to ensure that all lecture notes and AV systems are accessible with clear instructions for all end-users.
For all potential problems that your IT department might face the ESC is here to help.
If you’d like more information about how the ESC can help you please look call us on 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | Another satisfied customer: Waltham Forest College took up the offer of the ESC single call trial and were so impressed, they took out a full-time contract. | When Waltham Forest College called the Education Support Centre (ESC) with a critical systems failure, their call was diagnosed and dealt with rapidly and efficiently. The college were so confident that the ESC would provide them with reliable and effective support that they took out a full-time contract.
The ESC will provide Waltham Forest College with affordable and effective expert frontline technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies.
The centre, based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems, and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers at the ESC are able to call upon Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | Quality control: Worthing College have selected the ESC to provide them technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies. | Worthing College has a strong reputation for providing quality courses and support for its students. They have selected the Education Support Centre (ESC) to provide them with affordable and effective expert frontline technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies.
Worthing College has joined the ESC, bringing the total number of clients to 47.
The centre, based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems, and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers at the ESC are able to call upon Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | Hitting the right note - The Royal Academy of Music has joined the chorus of institutions that are looking to the ESC for IT support. | The Royal Academy of Music has joined the Education Support Centre (ESC), bringing the total number of clients to 38. The Academy is the ESC’s sixth customer from the London area.
The ESC will provide the Royal Academy of Music with affordable and effective expert frontline technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies.
The centre, based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems, and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers at the ESC are able to call upon Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | All the fours: forty-four! Cardonald College in Glasgow brings the ESC customer total to 44. | Cardonald College joined the Education Support Centre (ESC) this month, bringing the ESC members to 44 in total. The college is the ESC’s fifth Scottish customer.
The ESC will provide Cardonald with affordable, expert, effective frontline technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies.
The Education Support Centre (ESC), based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers at the centre are able to call upon Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please call 0870 012 0122 | | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | The answer to the question of the meaning of Life? 42! The ESC’s client total now equals 42 with the addition of The National University of Ireland Galway. | The National University of Ireland Galway joined the Education Support Centre (ESC) this month, bringing the customer numbers to 42 in total. The university is the ESC’s third customer from the Republic of Ireland.
The ESC will provide The National University of Ireland Galway with affordable, expert, effective frontline technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies.
The Education Support Centre (ESC), based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers at the centre are able to call upon Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | The 39th Step - The ESC's new contract with the Robert Gordon University brings its total number of Customers to 39. | The Education Support Centre (ESC) – a non-profit-making service based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft – has won a new contract with The Robert Gordon University, bringing its total number of customers to thirty-nine.
The ESC will provide The Robert Gordon University with affordable, expert, effective frontline technical help and advice on Microsoft technologies.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers and technical support staff at the centre are able to call upon Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services please call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | Canterbury Christ Church University Joins the Education Support Centre. | Canterbury Christ Church University has become the latest institution to select the ESC as its support provider for Microsoft products.
The ESC, based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
Canterbury Christ Church University are the largest centre of higher education in Kent for the public services – notably teacher training, policing, health and social care.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems, and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers at the ESC are able to call on Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | The ESC would like to welcome its newest customer, the Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown | The ESC would like to welcome its newest customer the Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown. The institute is the ESCs seventh Irish Customer.
The ESC, based at Nottingham Trent University and supported by Microsoft, provides the UK’s only dedicated Microsoft IT support service for the education sector from within the education sector.
The Institute of Technology in Blanchardstown is responsible for the provision of high quality programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level and for ensuring excellence in teaching and learning.
The ESC is expanding its client base around the UK and Ireland, and now has a number of universities, FE colleges and technical institutes depending on it for solutions to technical problems, and for IT support and advice.
IT engineers at the ESC are able to call on Microsoft experts around the world, making this an effective service based on up-to-the-minute knowledge and expertise.
For more information about the ESC and its services, please call 0870 012 0122.
| | | | Last updated: 19 August 2008 | | CASE STUDY 7: Royal Academy of Music - Supported by the ESC | "The staff at the ESC always show a very genuine interest in the call and a hunger to help solve the problem . . . A very prompt response to the opening of the call and to all of by subsequent communication. Very impressed indeed"
The Royal Academy of Music is a specialist music college based in Central London, home to around 600 students. The Academy teaches in a variety of musically related fields, from composing to conducting and is part of the University of London. It is the UK's most senior conservatoire and has been in existence since 1822.
In late 2004, identifying the need to update their systems to improve performance and stability, the institution underwent a major technology overhaul, supported by the Education Support Centre (ESC). The Information Systems infrastructure at the Academy had evolved over the years in an informal way which had resulted in a patchwork of systems, many of which could not be supported by the internal IT teams. This, alongside disaster recovery concerns, prompted the institution to review their IS systems with the aim of centralising and standardising their facilities. Around this time a new IS manager was brought on board to manage the process. In addition to improving the current environment, the new IS manager was tasked with improving the e-learning facilities in the institution to fit in with the new way in which students wanted to learn and staff to teach.
In 2004 the Academy began a massive technology refresh programme, beginning the process of moving their desktops to a common platform, the aim of this was to allow the internal support teams to more efficiently support their user base. They also planned to have a series of common applications, such as Microsoft Office 2003. One of the overarching aims of the process was to allow better access to e-learning facilities for the students. Behind everything that the Academy were doing were the ESC, providing support when it was needed.
The Royal Academy of Music has now been a customer of the ESC for over a year. In that time they have raised a variety of issues with our engineers ranging from informational 'how to' requests to critical support with server issues. The Royal Academy of Music IS team supports just over 900 users.
One example case raised by the Academy was a question regarding allowing access to a specific application. They wanted a group of users to have access to the specific application from CMS Server. The application turned out to be a third party application. After research, the ESC engineer handling the call contacted the third party organisation and established the requirements for user privileges needed to run the application.
In another incident, staff at the Academy were reporting errors with the SMS Management Points. The engineers at the Academy had tried removing and recreating the management points however this did not correct this issue. After brief analysis by the ESC, a known issue with SMS was identified as the cause, for which their was a hotfix available. The ESC obtained the hotfix on behalf of the Academy, which they subsequently installed, correcting the issue.
Institutions like the Academy who are pushing the boundaries of their technology often contact the ESC with challenging cases to help them improve their environment, or do something innovative with their software which most users do not do.
The Academy has now moved completely to a Microsoft environment. They have a common desktop for their users and has seen a large reduction in the number of failures they experience. Behind everything they do are the ESC, always ready to help.
Support from the ESC provides your institution with access to a reactive support team who can assist you in rapidly bringing your environment on-line again in the event of failure.
Proactive assistance from the ESC helps prevent failures from occurring in the first place and helps you configure and use your software to get the most from it. Many customers use support from the ESC as a risk management measure, when budgeting their IT provision. What ever your requirement and support need, the ESC is here to help.
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