How it works
Our founder has built and tested a procurement-routing workflow in a school: requests classified, sent to the right approver and recorded as they happen. For other processes, we begin by mapping your policy and the decisions people need to make, then design and test the workflow around them.
Practical AI training for school staff
Training starts with tasks your staff want to do more efficiently. We agree the tools and examples with your school, then work through practical uses, how to check outputs and what information can be used safely.
Where workflow automation could help
01
Offsite trips and visits
Risk assessment, parental consent, staffing ratios, transport, medical information, insurance, financial approval: collected in sequence and routed to whoever must see each part. The teacher answers questions about the trip. The workflow routes the request according to your school’s agreed requirements.
02
Providers, coaches and contractors
Documentation requested at the point the arrangement is made. Certifications and insurance recorded against the provider, expiry dates flagged in advance, nothing confirmed until what is required is on file. Your school decides who reviews credentials and approves the arrangement.
03
External visitors
Guest speaker declarations, visitor documentation, contractor site access: collected at intake, recorded, routed.
04
Service agreements and renewals
Agreements and certificates tracked against dates rather than against somebody’s memory.
05
The knowledge engine
A searchable assistant for your school’s approved handbooks and policies could help staff find guidance with a link to its source. We would agree the tools, data access and hosting with your ICT team before building.
06
Procurement and spend approval
Requests routed by category and value to the right approver, with approvals and timestamps recorded. We agree purchase-order checks, budget information and exception handling with your finance team. The procurement example below shows how this can work.
Procurement in depth
1 The exposure paper cannot see
A purchase order raised after the invoice arrived. The paperwork that gets through that is assembled after the purchase, with dates adjusted so the sequence looks right. The exposure is not late paperwork. It is paperwork that arrives late and appears to have arrived on time.
Schools operating under the EDB Code of Practice must formulate procurement policies with reference to the ICAC Best Practice Checklist on Governance and Internal Control in Schools, and maintain an internal control system covering conflict of interest. A paper trail that can be reordered after the fact delivers neither.
2 What the system does instead
Requests route themselves.
The request is submitted once. The workflow uses its category and value to route it according to your school’s approval policy. Where agreed systems provide the information, the request can include the relevant budget position.
Approval routes set by your school
We configure approval routes to reflect your school’s delegated authority and conflict-of-interest policy, including escalation when a requester would otherwise approve their own purchase.
Purchase orders linked to approvals
The workflow can record approvals before a purchase order is raised and flag purchases submitted afterwards. Your finance team decides how exceptions and reimbursement requests are handled under the school’s policy.
A record, not a reconstruction.
Every step is timestamped as it happens, with records retained according to your school’s agreed retention policy.
How it is built
We aim to use the systems your school already has where suitable. Before building, we agree any new tools or licences, hosting, ICT involvement, security controls and ongoing support. We document the configuration and can train your staff to maintain it or provide continuing support.