Lismore CSO Oliver v5 Project completed 6 months ahead of schedule

Softlink and the Lismore Catholic Schools Office (CSO) announced the project to transform knowledge management across the Diocese’s schools had been completed on budget and ahead of schedule. The final school was completed last week.

The project to upgrade schools in the diocese from Alice and other programs to Softlink’s Oliver, consisted of pre-implementation planning, central and school level consultation, system production and testing, data conversions and training across the Diocese’s primary and secondary schools. Softlink also provided auxiliary technology and support services.

At the completion of this project, almost 70% of non-government NSW schools and ACT schools will have installed a Softlink knowledge, content and library management solution for the delivery and discovery of educational learning resources and assets.

Softlink’s Chief Operating Officer Nathan Godfrey said collaborative project management and focused execution had delivered the project six months ahead of schedule. This was a major improvement project requiring cooperation from different officers in both Softlink and at the CSO.

Nathan said Softlink’s unique school experience of more than 5000 conversions, proven migration methodologies and automated processes had ensured that the project achieved an early result.

“Lismore CSO is well placed to continue to support teachers with effective management systems,” Nathan said. “The Diocese required a scalable web-based solution to provide 21st century learning options. This includes inquiry learning, support for the Australian Curriculum and access to contemporary resources.”

“The upgrade to Oliver v5 highlights the Diocese’s ongoing commitment to literacy and learning,” he said.

Lismore CSO Assistant Director Education Services, Dr Paul Thornton, said he was pleased with the project’s progress and was keen to capitalise on the benefits that Oliver would provide.

“Oliver will enable Lismore CSO to share resources across diocesan schools, manage the numerous resource formats (both physical and digital), integrate information services and subscriptions, improve student and teacher engagement with library resources, streamline inter-library lending and improve library productivity and efficiency.”

Paul would like to thank Tony Winter, the project manager at the CSO, the ICT team in the Lismore CSO office, the school based ‘super users’ who trained staff and all librarians for their personal efforts and goodwill in a time of change.

“This project has been a major undertaking for the Diocese. Softlink’s experience in managing large scale implementation projects, across primary and secondary schools, as well as throughout regional NSW has ensured a successful outcome and smooth transition,” he said.

Click on the links below to learn how a central library solution can help your department:

• Reduce IT infrastructure costs across the school network
• Integrate with department-wide systems
• Provide a consistent library experience
• Deliver affordable, equitable access to a broad range of resources
• Improve literacy and academic achievement department-wide