The Windsor Forest Colleges Group has been an IPS Ltd customer for many years. They have used a range of our systems, including; i-Card, i-Till and i-Access.
Group Director of Information and Business Systems for the group, Roberts Disbury-Mockett said, “We have a strong relationship with IPS Ltd and provide feedback to them on their products which they take into consideration when they come to develop their systems, we then reap the benefits with FREE system upgrades.
I have personally attended their Customer User Groups which are tailored for to customers to provide their opinions and IPS Ltd invite guest speakers who have an FE background to speak on behalf of the attendees. Out of all the systems, my preference is the i-Card system because of its flexibility. The opportunities with it mean that it is not just a standard card-based system. It is web-based and works with network printers, meaning that it is easy to use, and we can send prints directly to the nearest printer.
It also facilitates bulk printing, which we use during our enrolments, helping to reduce processing times. This year we were able to print off between 800 to 1000 ID Cards per day, sorting both by course and alphabetical by surname. All we need to do is monitor it and top-up the cards when needed, meaning that a staff member could continue to do their day-to-day work at the same time.
The reports that we receive from i-Till are also extremely beneficial, we see an overview revenue figure and an individual report for our online shop, external catering company and a college catering department.
IPS Ltd can easily integrate into FE systems and we provide them with an SQL link table, then they can use it in a variety ways, including automating student bursary payments. This means we can ensure students who are eligible for bursaries can purchase food while on the College premises and they are topped straight onto the student’s ID Cards. Not only does this automation reduce staff workloads, it also supports our equality and diversity policy, because all our students use their ID Cards to pay for purchases, but there is also no way of identifying any difference.
From a student perspective, it’s all about getting into college. Some of our sites have turnstiles and a student can scan their ID Cards against them to allow them access. We can easily get students through them in no time at all and at the same time the system is able to check if students are not withdrawn or the course date hasn’t expired, meaning that we can keep our students safe and we know who is onsite.
Overall, the simplistic systems are easy to use, the IPS Ltd staff are friendly and the support we received is second to none.”
Roberts Disbury-Mockett
Group Director, Information and Business System Technology