Top Girls’ School gets a
Grade A Result from its new Telephone System

When The Abbey School finally had enough of the problems of inefficient messaging, cumbersome and costly system administration and expensive inter-site telephone calls, they set themselves a homework assignment – to find a new telephone system.  Now they’re giving top marks to Opus Business Systems and their Aastra IntelliGate solution.

Founded in 1887, The Abbey School in Reading is an independent day school for girls aged 3 to 18 years.  With high academic expectations and excellent examination results, the school offers a broad education and works hard encouraging pupils to achieve their full potential in a creative and supportive environment. 

The school is spread across three sites – the Junior school and Nursery are situated close together and the Senior school occupies a site some ½ mile away.  Whilst some of the school’s buildings are relatively new, others date back over 100 years and others to the 60’s and 70’s. 

Old system failing teaching and caretaking staff alike

Communications, especially between sites, had always been a challenge.  The three sites used two separate telephone systems with separate lines.  A call made between the Senior school and Junior or Nursery schools in effect became an external call, with all the associated costs. 

Both the 80-strong teaching staff and the large caretaking team had requirements, which were not being met by the old system.  Teachers needed a more efficient form of message management than the old-fashioned ‘pigeonhole’ system familiar to schools throughout the country.  When a message was taken for a teacher at the main reception, somebody had to write it down on a piece of paper and walk half way across the school to deposit it in the teacher’s pigeon hole. 

The caretaking team operating throughout the sites were often difficult to contact.  The ‘walkie-talkie’ system in use was not always effective and the ‘broadcast’ nature of walkie-talkie messages was not always ideal in the school environment.  Working as they do in varied circumstances – indoors and outside, maintaining premises and grounds, sometimes up scaffolding or down manholes – a robust solution was called for.

System administration presented another problem.  Changes in staff from time to time necessitated the system being re-programmed.  This task could not be handled by the school itself, and this meant paying the call-out cost for an engineer each time a name change or extension move was needed.

The cost and inflexibility of the old system was impacting effectiveness to an unacceptable level, and The Abbey School came to the decision they needed to re-think their telecommunications.

Making the grade – objectives the new system had to fulfil

In going to market for their new PABX system, Bursar Peter Kerruish had certain criteria:
Single solution for all three sites: Cordless working across all systems and sites, providing comprehensive networking functionality, simple and efficient call handling and improved operator facilities.

Full range of telephony facilities to support efficient working: Including Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), Unified Messaging/Voicemail and screen-based display for message notification, direct dialling (DDI), Calling Line Identity (CLI), and group working efficiencies (such as group pick-up, overflow, call divert).

Robustness and ease of use: Handsets to be easy to use, yet robust enough to meet the demands of the caretakers’ working environment.

System flexibility: Simplified system administration enabling self-management of changes, and the ability to meet changing and future requirements. Cabling flexibility: The new system needed to be able to function on both traditional CW1308 and Category 5e Structured Cable, as a mix of cabling existed across the various buildings and a complete re-cabling in Cat 5 was considered cost-prohibitive.

Says Kerruish, “We badly needed to update our telephony system for the 21st century, to take advantage of the latest functionality, without the costs and disruption of re-cabling across our three sites. Opus offered us the most cost-effective solution and it fulfilled every one of our requirements.”

Connecting up the sites

The solution proposed by Opus Business Systems connected all three sites using the existing mixed cabling infrastructure, by means of Aastra IntelliGate 2065 and 2025/45 telephone systems and a total of 108 handsets.

A variety of handset types were included, with each individual or office gaining the set of facilities and features most appropriate for their environment.  Mobile workers such as the IT department and the caretaking team use DECT phones, with the caretakers getting the robust, splash-proof and shock-resistant Office 155 Pro handsets ideally suited to the demands of their working environment.  Crucially, the DECT phones automatically log on to the local system as mobile workers move between sites.

Opus provided a technology solution for the old pigeonhole system by utilising Voice over IP (VoIP) and Unified Messaging (UM) to present teachers’ voicemail boxes on flat screen monitors in the main common room.  Now, each teacher can tell at a glance by the colour of their voicemail box, whether they have messages and return calls to handle, putting an end to the tiresome task of walking messages around the school.

Seamless implementation process

The system was installed during the school summer holidays.  “Implementation went very smoothly,” observes Kerruish, “Our caretaking team worked closely with the Opus project manager to ensure their team had the access they needed throughout the various buildings.”  Training took place once the teachers had returned at the end of the long break.
Opus has been providing remote support for system changes but with the arrival of their IT manager, The Abbey School was equipped with AIMS, the Aastra IntelliGate system management software, and now they manage their own minor changes.

Solution Benefits

The solution provided by Opus Business Systems was the most attractive in terms of cost, but it’s not all about the purchase price.  Says Kerruish of the support provided by their supplier, “Opus Business Systems proposed an excellent solution, advised us well, implemented the new system efficiently, and continue to offer all the support we need, going forward,”.  Operationally speaking too, The Abbey School has gained many benefits from their new Aastra IntelliGate system:

Cost savings:  No external call charges for calling between sites; no call-out charges for minor system changes.

Time savings:  No more need to walk teachers’ messages around the school.

Flexibility: The ability to manage calls efficiently using the up-to-date telephony facilities such as Direct Dialling In (DDI), Calling Line Identity (CLI) and group working.

The best equipment for the task:  Those extra-robust splash-proof and shock-resistant Office 155 Pro handsets used by the caretakers have already proved their worth.  When one accidentally fell a few feet down into a manhole, its fall was broken by a pool of water (slightly more than a ‘splash’).  Strictly speaking, one might expect it to have been fit only for the dustbin after such treatment.  “However,” observes Kerruish, “the phone was recovered and left to dry off on a shelf, and now it’s fully operational and back in service again, saving us the cost of a replacement.”

Concludes the Bursar, “We’re delighted with our investment in the Aastra IntelliGate System.  We’re already saving time and money, and have learned quickly how to make the new telephony features work for us. It represents an excellent solution for a busy school such as The Abbey.”

 

Abbey School Case Study