Schools and school management bodies in Ireland need IT that holds sensitive data about children and staff securely, works for a small office team and does not depend on one person. ERS IT Solutions has supported the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents almost 400 voluntary secondary schools, with managed IT and a secure Garda vetting portal. We have been trading since 1983 from Blanchardstown, Dublin 15.
What IT support and data protection do schools and school management bodies need?
They need reliable managed IT with monitoring and regular reviews, secure handling of personal data about pupils, parents and staff, multi-factor authentication on every account, tested backups, and software that removes paper from processes like vetting. They also need clear roles, so each person sees only the records they need.
Why education data needs extra care
- Children's data. Schools hold records on minors, often including health and family details, so access must be tightly limited.
- Statutory vetting. Under Department of Education Circular 0031/2016, statutory Garda vetting requirements came into effect from 29 April 2016, with criminal offences for failure to comply.
- Small teams. A management body or school office rarely has its own IT staff, so the IT provider has to plan ahead, not just fix things.
A secure Garda vetting portal: JMB
Garda vetting for people working in JMB's schools ran on paper forms, in-person ID checks and repeated re-keying of sensitive data into different systems.
ERS designed and built the JMB vetting portal, a secure web application with three roles: applicants, intermediary users acting for affiliate schools, and JMB administrators. Every role uses multi-factor authentication and sees only what it needs.
- In-person ID checks stay, but data is then captured once, digitally, through validated forms.
- Under-age applicants get a different workflow based on date of birth, including parent or guardian consent.
- Intermediaries lose access to a form once they submit it, which cuts data exposure.
- JMB staff batch-process applications and produce one-time exports in the Garda Vetting JSON format.
The case study's own summary: "What was once a paper-heavy, error-prone workflow involving repeated data entry is now a streamlined digital process", in "a secure and auditable environment for handling highly sensitive personal data".
Managed IT for a school management body: JMB
JMB was founded in 1972. Before ERS, its IT performed poorly despite heavy investment, the previous provider's fixes had all failed, and there was little or no forward planning.
An ERS architect review found the existing server "unfit for purpose". In summer 2015 ERS deployed a new virtualised server under the ERS x360 Managed Services Framework, with agent monitoring, monthly health-check reports and quarterly IT review meetings. Read the JMB managed services case study.
That model, monitoring plus regular reports plus a review meeting each quarter, is how ERS runs managed IT services today, with an average call response of 15 minutes.
Document management for teachers' representatives: TUI
The Teachers' Union of Ireland organises teachers and lecturers in post-primary, further and higher education, with over 14,500 members in 62 branches. ERS moved TUI to Office 365 with a SharePoint intranet: version control, permissions down to individual documents, full-text search and a secure area for sharing with outside bodies, replacing unreliable VPN access. Read the TUI case study, or see our page for trade unions and membership bodies.
Irish-medium education: COGG
ERS's software development work also includes An Tairseach for COGG (An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta), the body set up under the Education Act 1998 to support Gaeltacht schools and Gaelscoileanna.
What ERS would do for a school or management body
- Audit access. Who can see pupil, staff and vetting records, and is MFA on every account?
- Check backups and recovery. Test a restore, and agree how long the office can be without its systems. See backup and disaster recovery.
- Secure Microsoft 365. Conditional access, admin account controls and Microsoft 365 monitoring.
- Train staff to recognise phishing with user awareness training.
- Remove paper processes that move personal data by hand, with a secure portal like JMB's.
- Work towards Cyber Essentials. ERS is Cyber Essentials certified, and many of our SME and public sector clients look to us to guide them through their own certification.