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What Our Customers Say
Comments and feedback from our customers:
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Thank you to all those schools who completed our survey. This survey looked at five key areas of our service delivery: -
- Customer Care
- Delivery
- Logistics
- Training
- Website
Key points arising were that you thought we were good at customer care issues and delivery of our service; locations for training and meetings were favourably received in the main but some of you preferred city centre locations, whilst others liked us to be out in their neighbourhoods; training itself was well thought of in the main, with follow-up courses drawing a neither agree/disagree response; the website was used to review latest news items by many but not all, whereas it was not used much for actual booking of courses.
For a summary of, and access to the full results and comments please see the downloadable document at the foot of this page.
As many of you are aware, last year we introduced a new call management process, using HEAT software to better enable us to keep track of problems and deliver solutions more effectively. The system has provided useful data on common problems as well as keeping a record of calls made that affect individual schools, and we have provided below an analysis of the relative frequency of different call types received.
These results show that the most frequently received call-type relates to FMS6 enquiries and that many different call types are dealt with - as can be seen by 16.3% representing 'other' calls individually accounting for less than 4% of the total number of calls. For a summary of the results, please see the downloadable document at the foot of this page.
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"Our interview was carried out in a very professional manner with any enquiries being dealt with either straight away or if additional information needed, it was gathered and sent to us within 24 hours."
“Very good – enabled us as a busy school to focus on the task without all our interruptions. Would do this again next year.”
“Great to get my head around this out of school – trainer helpful, responsive and knowledgeable. Many thanks!”
“Time away from school to work with admin was very useful. Also having 'help at hand'!”
“A very useful session. That gets the financial year off to an accurate start. Could not do this in school due to interruptions.”
“I have only been in post as Headteacher for two weeks so knew very little. Mark was really helpful and made the whole process very easy. Thank you.”
"She is most knowledgeable and obliging and is a pleasure to work alongside. She is unbelievably efficient and knowledgeable about every aspect of finance in school."
(Chair of Governors of a Primary School, speaking about a bursar, March 2006)
(Chair of Governors of a Primary School, speaking about a bursar, March 2006)
"... how pleased I am with our new school bursar. He has worked extremely hard, ... is most approachable and has worked closely with the school to reach an acceptable budget which I can now take to Governors."
(Headteacher of a Primary School)
(Headteacher of a Primary School)
"She talked about the excellent support provided to the school by the leaf bursar service."
“Good course – links with system already in place. This helps to keep inventory up to date.”
“Excellent course, learnt a lot in a short period of time.”
"Very good instructions and handouts."
"Excellent course. Really enjoyed it. Can't wait to put it into practice!!"
"Very good course, very useful software for school. Once its done it's very easy to upkeep"
An interesting and useful course. It would be beneficial to liaise more closely with DMBC officials to learn more about the services provided, and the processes in order to improve greater transparency between the schools and the LEA when looking at capital projects.
(A Doncaster school on “Getting BEST VALUE From Your Purchasing” course)
“I was prepared for a dull day, long day of figures and formulae, but you succeeded in keeping my interest! Well done and thanks for so much practical, sound advice!”
“Fantastic – thank you – it was very informative and great to know “help is our there”!”
“An excellent course for new Headteachers – I learnt a great deal.”
“As a new deputy, it was useful to get to know the system for budget management, even though my role does not necessarily demand that I use it.”
Most Useful Element:
"First talk on procurement; Need to find out more about contracts; available through SCC."
"As a relatively new employee - good to learn who does what and why. Really enjoyed Lorraine's briefing - humour made it very lively and easy to take in."
"Sharing views / ideas re Procurement Advice and DCSF EPC."
"DCSF Presentation on "Open" Procurement system. Opportunity to network with other schools."
"Link between DCSF OPEN and Local Procurement Activity."
General Comments and Action Points:
"Better knowledge of where to go for knowledge e.g. contracts etc. Aiming to be more efficient. Apply for e-procurement card."
"Would be interested in more information re contract legalities as it comes through."
"Will contact procurement to find out about contracts e.g.: stationery - didn't know there was one!"
"E Purchasing Card - surely schools should have been sent 'the pack' rather than have to ask for it. We could still make the decision as to whether to use it."
"I found Lorraine Purcell's talk very useful with regards to where I can find information relating to 'Best Value'."
"Certainly got me thinking about the whole issue of procurement".
"Learnt more about families of schools and how they can work effectively together."
"Purchase card information - we will investigate Market place for schools."
“Received many ideas for funding sources and tips in writing bids to implementation share with other school. The presentation on the FMSiS gave an early warning to aid preparation for assessment against the Standard.”
“Since I only work part-time, communication for me in school is not comprehensive. I rely on Financial Services to keep me updated and conferences such as this.”
“Plenty of ideas to discuss with the Headteacher. Help/with FMSiS was much appreciated/guidance.”
“The workshop on Financial Management Standard by David Miller was very informative and raised awareness of what is required by schools.”
“The keynote speaker “Bob Jennings” was very interesting and gave food for thought. Nice to network with other people from other schools. Thanks for an interesting day to the team.”
“Bob Jennings – very good; very informative and very encouraging.”
“I liked guidance on how to change my thinking on applying for external funding 'Bid Writing'.”
“The talk made a bit more sense of the FMSiS and introduced me to being able to tap into charitable funding. I didn’t know what was available.”
“Thank you: very valuable to have interaction with other schools.”
“Bob Jennings was great, lots of ideas to take back!”
“Bob Jennings – speaker – very inspirational. Networking with other school admin staff.”
“Bob Jennings was very interesting and useful and the talk on ‘FMSiS External Assessment’ was also very useful.”
“Useful tips on obtaining external funding. Good information on FMSiS and useful tips from colleagues in other schools.”
“Nice to have “me-time” away from the office to share experiences with other school staff. Thank you for a well organised event.”
“Excellent – good opportunity to meet and discuss procedures with staff from other schools.”
“Good information from FMSiS workshop.”
“A great help on ways to approach bid writing for external funding and on focus. Picked up some great tips and tools (hopefully!).”
“This is the first Money Talks Conference I have attended and I will definitely come back next year. Sorry I missed the others. THANK YOU.”
"I've found both conferences very useful & informative - a good reminder of the 'Bigger Picture' ... looking forward to next year's."
"Everything (was most informative/enjoyable) - the setting was very friendly (tables etc. instead of lines of chairs), speakers were very good... I learnt a lot today, that I'm sure my head is keeping from me."
"All speakers have been relevant and focused on admin work within schools. Enjoyed the 'deficit budget' workshop - it was reassuring to know we have taken all the correct procedures."
"I attended the Money Talks conference last year and really found it useful and informative, this year has been just as good. It's nice for people doing the same jobs to get together."
"Most informative/enjoyable? - Info re External Assessment, the DfES and Tour of Useful Websites .... a very worthwhile day!"
"Thanks - enjoyable day. Enjoyed networking - which is always helpful and not often possible."
"The Conference was excellent. The time and effort which had gone into the day obviously 'paid off' as everyone I spoke to had very positive comments to make!
“All courses provided by Financial Services, which I have attended have proved to be excellent. It would not be possible to allocate time in school to learn how to do the tasks required by Central and Local Government.”
"Possibly the most worthwhile training workshop I can recall!!."
"Really useful opportunity to have the chance to use the training immediately with hands-on advice available. Thank you."
"This will be very useful - much better than the previous Excel worksheet."
"Software is simpler and looks as though it should be user friendly."
"Looks like an excellent package - it should definitely make our jobs easier. Marvellous!"
"New spreadsheet is excellent and easy to use."
"Thank you for the information to help me to report to governors."
"Very well presented and very very good, this will give me a better understanding in my work. Thank you very much."
"Reassurance that 'we are on the right track' and not alone. Time away from 'the front' most appreciated."
"Clear explanations and good support. Similar support with 3-year budget - dates a.s.a.p. please".
"Good opportunity for Head & Admin to discuss finances & staff issues in a learning environment."
“Found this very helpful and quite enlighting and gave me a better insight into managing the School Fund, very well presented by Trainers.”
“Mark is an exceptional trainer, as are the colleagues working with him. After finding the third day very difficult to grasp – he took time out to go through things with me again. Many thanks Mark.”
“Brilliant training and excellent advice given to me to help in my new role. Thank you very much.”
“Feel I have learned a huge amount – didn’t know much beforehand! Many thanks.”
“Mark was very patient when I was the only one who didn’t seem to get it straight away. Thanks Mark.”
"Enjoy course very much, very informative, gained a great deal of Knowledge."
"Very informative and enjoyable!!!!"
"Excellent course content - VFM."
"I thought the training course was very well delivered and presented. Very enjoyable (as far as finance goes anyway!)"
"Enjoyed the course, the guest speakers were excellent (as were the trainers!) and the information given relevant and important to the job".
"The projected 3-year budget & pupil numbers will prove very useful in setting budget detailsl"
"Having only been in the role for 4 weeks, the course has been very worthwhile and helped clear the 'fog' ".
"The training was excellent in all aspects. I really enjoyed meeting all of the leaf team and the other schools in my position."
"Excellent – well looked after by all staff. Made to feel very welcome by all staff. Well organised/prepared and delivered – Nice easy pace."
(A clerk from Barnsley Primary School - SIMS FMS6 New User training course)
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