Datasouth Business Solutions

Social services agency engages Datasouth to roll out network to regional branches

Presbyterian Support (Upper South Island), a long term Datasouth client is benefiting from the decision to extend its network reach out to its regional branches. In 2004 Presbyterian Support engaged Datasouth to review their current network operations at head office and investigate the benefits of deploying centralised information technology resources into the regions.

The Corporate Statement

Presbyterian Support ( Upper South Island) is a Christian social service agency working for a just society. Presbyterian Support is a true social service - seeking to make our communities better places. Its services focus on supporting older people, youth, children and families. Funding for Presbyterian Support's work comes from a number of sources: Government contracts, fee income, grants and donations, legacies and investment income.

The Project

The initial phase of the project was to identify the business requirements and associated benefits that the deployment of Presbyterian Support’s IT resources into the regional branches would offer to the agency. At the time of this review, Presbyterian Support operated a local area network in the Christchurch offices, with the regional offices operating disparate standalone environments.

The review identified that Presbyterian Support would benefit in a number of business and technology areas from the deployment of a wide area network. These benefits included the provision for centrally managed data repositories and data protection, an integrated antivirus solution, the ability to centrally deploy required applications to users no matter their physical location, and the ability to provide controlled content via a centralised email and internet gateway. These individual benefits as a whole would provide users throughout the organisation with tools that would foster a greater sense of community via improved communication and collaboration.

On completion of the review Datasouth was commissioned by Presbyterian Support to develop a design for the proposed wide area network and an upgrade of the core network to support the deployment of the centralised IT resources into the regional branches.

The deployment of the approved design was undertaken in several phases in early 2005. The first was the upgrade of the existing core network to a Windows 2003 platform and the deployment of thin client architecture within the network core. On completion of the core upgrade and subsequent testing, a pilot for the new wide area network was launched. After a period of testing and following approval from Presbyterian Support, the network infrastructure was rolled out to the remaining branches.

The Deliverables

Following the deployment of the new wide area network, Presbyterian Support is able to conduct business as a group within the region rather than individual offices. Support requirements for the IT resources in the regional offices has decreased, with support where required being provided centrally by the agency resulting in reduced cost of ownership.

The regional branches are benefiting from having real-time access to centralised resources, allowing them to provide an increased level of support to their clients within the community.