ScoMIS Strategic ICT Roadshows 2010 – Free for School Leaders - March 16, 2010
We are hosting ScoMIS Strategic ICT Roadshows in April 2010 for school leaders to explore ways in which ScoMIS can support schools in both administrative and curriculum areas to maximise impact on teaching and learning.
Schools will be able to send up to 3 delegates. To attend one of these sessions, for which there is no charge, please book a place as soon as possible. Contact the Service Desk on 01392 385300 or email scomis@devon.gov.uk
Tuesday 27th April – Moorland Links Hotel, Yelverton
9.30am to 12.30pm – Secondary Schools
Wednesday 28th April – Moorland Links Hotel, Yelverton
9.30am to 12.30pm – Primary & Special Schools
Thursday 29th April – Tiverton Hotel
9.30am to 12.30pm – Secondary Schools
Friday 30th April – Tiverton Hotel
9.30am to 12.30pm – Primary & Special Schools
To book a free place please contact the Service Desk on 01392 385300 or email scomis@devon.gov.uk
Update for all Schools – Norton Web Security Products preventing access to Devon School Websites - March 4, 2010
Users of Norton Internet Security products may experience problems accessing Devon school websites
Due to a ‘false positive’ by an automated Norton threat analysis computer, all sites ending in .devon.sch.uk have been blocked to users of the above software. The problem has been resolved with Norton, but changes to their system take 24-48hrs to go worldwide. Therefore, anyone using Norton web security products to get to a .devon.sch.uk site will be blocked until the change is finalised – for example, staff accessing school webmail from home or parents trying to access a Devon School website.
Anti-Virus software licensing 2010-11 - March 2, 2010
Please read the information below carefully and complete the online form as to whether anti-virus licences from ScoMIS are required or not.
Anti-virus licences for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay schools expire on March 31st 2010. As with last year there is no longer an automatic entitlement to anti-virus software for subscribers to contract A and B of the ScoMIS Service Level Agreement. ScoMIS will still be offering anti-virus software for schools but only for schools who wish to buy into the service.
Please complete the online form indicating if your school would like to buy into the anti-virus service, also how many licences will be required. Schools making their own arrangements to purchase anti-virus software elsewhere, will also need to complete the on-line form. This will prevent licence update reminders being sent. Details of the anti-virus software is available on the ScoMIS website at http://www.scomis.org/go/antivirus
ScoMIS highly recommend schools carry out a full inventory in both the curriculum and administration areas to enable the correct purchase of licences to cover each PC and laptop within the school (including any home use PC).
Schools who choose not to purchase anti-virus licences from ScoMIS will need to source their own anti-virus licences and remove the anti-virus software supplied by ScoMIS from all their PCs by the 31st March 2010.
For further information please contact the ScoMIS Service Desk on 01392 385300.
ScoMIS Laptop Encryption - February 26, 2010
ScoMIS sent an email to all schools before half term introducing the new ScoMIS Laptop Encryption Service which explained how we had been able to create an affordable, centrally supported and managed solution for laptop encryption.
Any laptop protected by the service is safe and secure in the event that it is lost or stolen. The data would be unreadable by any third party whilst still offering the ability to recover access due a lost password through a short call to our service desk. We have also developed a simple and straight forward installation routine to enable a pain free roll out across your school.
We also explained that the low cost had been achieved by building a solution to utilise the buying power of schools across Devon and that Devon County Council had made available some funding to reduce this cost further for your school. Using our online calculator you can work out the total cost and funding available for your school before placing your order.
Action Required
You need to respond using our online order form to either:
- Accept your funding and indicate the number of laptops you want to protect
- Indicate that you will be using an alternative solution to ensure that all teacher and administration laptops are encrypted with a solution adhering to BECTA best practice guidelines

This return needs to be made by March 12th 2010
ScoMIS Telephone Outage Update. - February 22, 2010
The problems ScoMIS were experiencing with the telephone system have now been resolved. Internal and external communications have returned to normal.
ScoMIS Telephone Outage - February 22, 2010
A fault has occurred on the Devon County Council Telephone exchange that has caused a loss of service to the telephones at ScoMIS. Any customers trying to contact the ScoMIS Service Desk on 01392 385300 will recieve a ring tone followed by the Service Desk voicemail Service.
Our telphony contractors are currently on site and attempting to resolve the issue.
Should you have any urgent issues please email us on ScoMIS@devon.gov.uk.
Further updates will be posted on the website as they occur.
Message from SWGfL – SWGfL Web Server Maintenance Work Tuesday 23rd February 18:00 - February 16, 2010
RM have identified a need to undertake some minor maintenance work on the SWGfL Web Server to ensure the reliability of the managed backup service that they provide to us.
This maintenance work will require a reboot of the web server, scheduled for 18:00 on Tuesday, 23rd February, which will result in the following SWGfL-hosted web sites being unavailable for a few minutes:
www.swgfl.org.uk
www.gotoourplace.com
www.360esafe.org.uk
training.swgfl.org.uk
www.swiggle.org.uk
All SWGfL-hosted learning resources at content.swgfl.org.uk
Please note that this work only affects the server that hosts the above sites; school sites will not be affected by this work.
Kind regards,
Richard Boyd
Lead Web Developer
ICT Procurement – End of Financial Year 2009-10 - February 8, 2010
Orders must be received by ScoMIS no later than Friday 12 February 2010 to enable delivery, installation and invoicing of schools ICT procurement for the 2009-10 financial year.
Please note that no further orders for IT hardware or software will be processed for the 2009-10 financial year after Friday 12 February 2010 deadline.
Please call the ScoMIS Service Desk on 01392 385300 if you require further information.
Message from SWGFL Managed Service Manager - January 6, 2010
Service Outage – SWGfL Mail – a slight change of plan
We are nearing the final stages of a 12 month
ScoMIS Service Desk Closing at 17:00pm on Tuesday 5th January due to Weather Conditions - January 6, 2010
The ScoMIS Service Desk will be closed at 17:00hrs today due to the adverse weather conditions. We will endeavour to open at the normal time of 08:00hrs tomorrow although the forecast of heavy snow could cause some disruptions and delay the opening time slightly. Should you need to contact us then please either leave a message on our voicemail or email us at ScoMIS@devon.gov.uk.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.