Technical Requirements for SchoolBase®

SERVER

SchoolBase® requires a server with Microsoft SQL 2005 (or later) installed. The basic edition is sufficient as schools do not have the number of users to utilise the Enterprise edition. In some of our schools, that server is shared across many functions. In others they have set up a dedicated server for the purpose of running SchoolBase®. The choice is yours. The system is truly client/server with a thin client and a thick server thus the better the server the better performance you will achieve.

The operating system for the server needs to be one that supports MS SQL 2005. We would recommend Windows Server 2003 (or later) with a minimum of 4GB of memory.

Hard disk capacity is seldom an issue. A school with 1300 pupils (including photographs of all pupils), 1000 prospective pupils and 3000 archived pupils has seen their SQL data grow to about 150MB. The log files can be bigger dependent upon activities. If the server has 4GB of disk space this will be more than sufficient.

Since the data will be business critical we would urge schools to consider backup procedures. We are happy to configure MS SQL to automate backup procedures. Ideally these automated backups will be to another machine. That machine does not need to be of any particular specification but we would recommend a minimum of 3GB of disk space.

Client Machines

Our ideal operating system will be Windows XP Pro or later (fully tested in Vista and Windows 7). Assuming the machine meets the technical specification for this, it will be quite sufficient for SchoolBase. No other software is necessary as we will provide all such. However, SchoolBase integrates totally into MS Office. Thus to make best use of the product we would urge schools to be using Office 2007 or later. Office 2003 is NO LONGER SUPPORTED FROM SEPTEMBER 2011. All machines need the .Net framework. Currently we support version 3.5 SP1 or newer

All machines must be able to be connected with the server.

Email and Text Facilities

SchoolBase® has integrated Text and Email support that will work across any platform and is increasingly the communication method of choice.

Off Site access – on line

We will establish a secure VPN link such that SchoolBase® Online is accessible to Staff, Parents and Pupils. The only software required is a browser and the software is platform independent.