The Requirement
Columbia Market Nursery’s current Windows server and desktop environment were coming to the end of life, and the hardware could no longer be repaired when a hardware failure occurred. Due to this risk, Columbia Market Nursery leadership were looking to move to an effective, long-term serverless environment in which they have the ability to grow with effective elasticity and possess the ability to store their data in the cloud in order to remove the necessity for physical components on site, decreasing any potential risk of hardware failure.
Any solution also needed to be based on a cloud platform that managed local Windows PC devices and all staff to have a single username and password to access resources. It was also really important that the end user experience with the new solution would be the same or better than it currently is using the Windows 7 environment.
The Solution
Levett Consultancy delivered a hybrid serverless environment consisting of G Suite for Education and Microsoft EMS with Azure Active Directory cloud platforms. G Suite for Education would provide the dedicated education productivity tools and unlimited storage for Columbia Market School resources i.e. photos and videos. Whilst Microsoft EMS and Azure Active Directory would provide the management of Window 10 Education devices and ensure all staff would have a common identity across both platforms.
Once Levett Consultancy professional services team configured the hybrid cloud environment. The team needed to ensure all legacy data was available and ready to use on day one, this was achieved by undertaking a data migration using dedicated custom migration tools. The end result was all Columbia Market Nursery resources were moved from incumbent on-premise Windows server to Google Drive and Google Shared Drives ready to use.
In addition, Levett Consultancy provided training to members of staff with intent to create a smooth transition and provide positive outcomes of using Google and Microsoft cloud features and services.
The Outcome
Although Columbia Market was apprehensive at first in regards to moving to a serverless environment, the school was aware this was the right move to future proof the school. As such; the school’s necessary transition to a serverless environment, as advised by Levett Consultancy, has resulted in a surge in computer device usage between staff and students alike.
Members of staff are now more engaged with the IT on site and making the most of using the Google services and Microsoft devices.
”I am very happy with the project as it was undertaken, it was quick and easy. I was initially scared about not having a server on site but following a transitional period, we do not notice any significant difference on our users when comparing what we have in place now. Anything that we had struggled to grasp following the initial project had been resolved quickly by either our on-site technician or remotely by the support team quickly and consistently.
I am glad that we took Levett Consultancy’s advice and made the transition to the cloud.”
Hannah Iles (Office Manager)
