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Parrs Wood Case Study - Download Case Study (PDF)

Background
Parrs Wood is a specialist Technology College and DfES designated Leading Edge School, catering for over 1900 students, including a thriving sixth form. Parrs Wood opened in 1967 as an 11-18 co-educational comprehensive school situated in the South Manchester suburb of Didsbury. Now it has specialist status as a Technology College and is housed in brand new buildings on an adjacent site with 1600 students in the main school, and 350 in the Sixth Form.

During the past few years Parrs Wood has become one of the most popular and over subscribed schools in Manchester. The college has a dedicated team of teaching and support staff who are committed to providing a supportive and challenging environment in which all students are encouraged to fulfil their potential.

Parrs Wood is truly comprehensive. It is a multi-cultural, multi-faith school with a wide mix of ability levels. It has an excellent local, national and international reputation. The college has a fine tradition of success in Manchester and is fully committed to the pursuit of excellence.

The problem
In 2003 Parrs Wood made the decision to bring the management and delivery of meals back in-house. With just over 80% of the 1900 students opting to take lunch at the school canteen, this presented a number of logistical problems.

To overcome this investment was made in a cashless system designed to reduce the management overhead on the canteen staff and increase meal throughput at peak times, ensuring that everyone that wanted a meal could be served in the set lunch break.

Although this initial system, based on the students having Chip and Pin cards, had some success, problems in the architecture soon arose. In particular the fact that all data was stored on the card meant that should a student lose their card, they had to fall-back to paying for their meals in cash. This effectively meant that instead of being a cashless system, canteen staff were required to handle cash as before, with all the subsequent time wasted on counting and reconciling at the end of the lunch break.

What was required was a more robust cashless system that could easily cope with problems such as lost cards.

The solution
APH Computers approached Parrs Wood Technology College and after thoroughly analysing their requirements proposed the implementation of their APH Probyte cashless management system for schools.

APH Probyte is an easy to use system that utilises computerised EPOS touch screen tills to process each transaction and control user requests. The fully customisable EPOS interface can be configured to suit an individual school's particular requirements and needs. APH Probyte can also be seamlessly integrated with any existing systems within the school and can even be operated within a wireless network. Users need no past experience of computers or extensive training to utilise the system. It's simple and intuitive screens make it simple to operate and use.

The major strength of the APH Probyte system is its resilience in being able to continue to function should problems occur. For example, should the network experience a problem during the day, APH Probyte is designed to work in offline mode ensuring that canteen operations are not inconvenienced.

APH Probyte was also able to overcome the major weakness of the previous system in that it has been developed so that all the data is held on the main system itself, as opposed to the card. This coupled with the unique ID card photo that is displayed on both the card and the EPOS system, ensures that any lost or stolen cards cannot be used fraudulently. In addition the loss of a card means a pupil can still obtain lunch without the need for cash as their photo and date of birth are always available on the system for an operator to confirm identity.

Benefits
The implementation of APH Probyte has benefited Parrs Wood Technology College in a number of areas. Firstly in the canteen itself, staff no longer have to handle cash, as the system is now completely cashless. This has led to a more orderly and efficient lunch period, with throughput increased. In addition the removal of the need to carry large amounts of cash has reduced the potential for bullying within the college.

The Management information system (MIS) built into APH Probyte produces extensive and customisable reports covering all the key processes of operation. This has enabled better management of the catering function. Information produced by the MIS can also be made available to parents, so that they can monitor exactly what their children eat.

The system also has a number of pre-set parameters that enable greater control over certain processes. For example it is possible to set an individual spending limit for each pupil, if parents require.

Finally eating preferences can be monitored and APH Probyte can be used as a means of encouraging healthy eating. The college is currently running a competition, where points are awarded to healthy eating options. The pupil with the highest points will win the prize of a mountain bike.

Future plans
The Technology College is now considering utilising the ID card of the APH Probyte system as the basis for other projects within the college, in particular with the library system.

Eugene Forbes, Financial business manager at Parrs Wood, commented:
"We have been delighted with the benefits the APH Probyte system has realised in the management of the canteen, but we know it was designed to be linked with other systems and the modules already available make this an easy process. We will be continuing to review the uses of the system and believe that it will be able to provide benefits in many other areas."