In larger organisations, there are many tasks to manage, and Vocational Education Centre JEDU is no exception. The IT team’s time can easily be consumed by day-to-day operations such as managing workstations and devices. However, JEDU has managed to streamline recurring tasks with the online store and Power Automate, implemented with the assistance of Tietokeskus consultants.
“Most of our time goes into workstation management”
JEDU provides education services across seven locations in Northern Ostrobothnia. The cluster includes around 3,000 students and 320 staff members. Their IT needs are managed by a ten-person team.
According to CIO Arto Veikkola, JEDU’s IT team currently focuses mainly on day-to-day operations, such as managing workstations and devices.
“Most of our time goes into workstation management. We have many computer classrooms, and every staff member has their own computer. Our day-to-day work involves renewing devices and ensuring that everything stays in working order.”
Despite this, the IT team has ambitions for development initiatives. Arto explains that their goal is to streamline processes and ensure that IT supports education as effectively as possible.
At this point, support from partners allows the IT team to focus on their core responsibilities.
Tietokeskus’ online store simplifies ordering individual devices
Public procurement can sometimes be complex, but JEDU has found a good solution: larger device batches are ordered through joint municipal procurement agreements, while smaller orders are conveniently made via the online store.
“We have a Hansel framework agreement, which makes pricing straightforward. This allows us to purchase efficiently once the tenders are in place,” Arto explains.
Larger IT classroom purchases, as well as orders for the Nivala campus, are handled by in-house ICT specialist Jani Silvola.
“For larger tenders, I have solicited quotes from different suppliers within the framework agreements, consolidating our purchases and getting the best offers.”
Smaller purchases were previously done by phone or email, but this year Tietokeskus’ online store has made the process easier: Jani no longer has to wait for the supplier’s response; orders go directly into the shopping cart.
“Once a fixed price is agreed for a device, it can be ordered from the webshop with just a couple of clicks.”
“It’s convenient because if we’ve tendered a product, we can continue purchasing it from the online store at the same price,” Jani summarises.
“I’m satisfied with all the purchases made. At least to me, it feels like the prices have been fair, and we wouldn’t make the purchase otherwise – if the offers weren’t competitive.”
A dedicated sales contact helps choose the right products for JEDU
Selecting devices is one of the most laborious tasks in organisational procurement. Technology moves so fast that finding the best option independently can be exhausting.
Jani points out that one clear advantage of Tietokeskus’ online store is having a dedicated specialist assigned to JEDU, who can be consulted at any time.
“I admit I don’t have time to study all sorts of devices. That’s why I rely on our sales contact’s expertise. If we need a device, the salesperson finds the suitable one for us – I don’t just pick something at random.”
Jani cites a recent larger order of headphones as an example.
“There are so many price points and qualities, it would be hard to choose. For headphones, there are dozens, maybe hundreds of manufacturers, each with multiple models, so finding a good one is quite difficult,” Jani explains.
He quickly received a fitting recommendation from account manager Juha Vesala, allowing the order to be placed efficiently.
The online store also includes a chat feature for additional guidance in choosing suitable products.
Quick-start with Power Automate through a one-day training session
In addition to device orders, JEDU has turned to Tietokeskus consultants to automate everyday routines using Microsoft Power Automate, requiring expert guidance.
“Tietokeskus’ basic training gave us a great start. We only needed a one-day session to get going. The trainer was excellent at incorporating our examples so we could progress quickly,” Arto explains.
Thanks to the training, JEDU’s IT team can now independently create new automated workflows. Power Automate is particularly useful for streamlining processes, as M365 offers many possibilities: once the first workflow is built, new ones can largely be copied from it.
Arto says Power Automate has been a major help, making processes more efficient and freeing time for long-awaited development tasks.
“We really put in a lot of work this autumn. Power Automate saves time on basic tasks and allows us to focus on more complex development projects.”
“We had standard tasks with different practices across locations. Now we have automated processes that guide work consistently across all units.”
For example, the new employee onboarding process is nearly fully automated:
“When a new person joins, all relevant parties receive a notification. Managers approve system access rights, facilities staff are notified to prepare keys or access, and IT receives a support ticket to set up accounts for the new employee.”
Arto is also keeping an eye on additional features of Power Automate, which JEDU may implement in the future with guidance from Tietokeskus.
“We’ve found that taking the one-day training every now and then is worthwhile. With some guidance, you don’t have to start from scratch, and we progress faster.”
