Women's Refuge

Summary

Women’s Refuge provides refuge accommodation and resettlement support for women and children affected by domestic violence.

Women’s Refuge lacked in-house ICT expertise and was looking for advice and guidance in their day to day operations and their ICT planning.

About two years previously the organisation had gained funding that enabled them to acquire 15 new PCs and several printers. However, since these had been acquired and installed there had been no funding for maintenance and this had not been considered by the organisation. As a result a number of PCs were no longer in use but remained around the office. There were also network issues meaning that to share files these had to be emailed to colleagues. In addition, as a women’s refuge, when ad hoc maintenance funds were available, they required that only female ICT engineers came on site and these had proved very hard to locate.

What happened?

The regional ICT champion carried out an ICT health check for the organisation based on health checks available on the ICT Hub website. Findings were documented and presented to the organisation for use in securing future funding and for reporting to board members.

A successful funding bid was made and a project has now commenced which will offer ICT management support and technical support and guidance to this organisation.

What difference has ICT made?

The improvement to the organisation’s ICT infrastructure has enabled staff to work more effectively and this has had a positive impact on service delivery. The input from the regional ICT champion has given the organisation the tools to think more strategically about its ICT use and maintenance.

What was learnt?

Good ICT planning and budgeting is required for organisations to maintain their ICT infrastructure.

Find out more 

Regional Champion

Sue Fry - West Midlands Regional Champion (Community First in Herefordshire & Worcestershire)

Knowledgebase

 

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