Two special needs schools make up Lincoln Saints Federation, which is based in the heart of the city. The Federation has been using our school compliance management software, Every Compliance By IRIS, to support its operations since 2017. Today, the schools also use Every HR By IRIS to streamline their human resources activities.
We sat down with Ashley Moat, Deputy Head of Operations at the Federation, to get the full picture of how Every By IRIS is positively impacting its day-to-day running.
Lincoln Saints Federation and Every By IRIS: Where it started
It’s been seven years since Lincoln Saints Federation got started with Every Compliance. Our modular system is built to scale with a school as its needs grow and evolve. The Federation chose to implement the Asset Management module first, using it to record and track all information relating to assets across its two school sites.
The Asset Management module is in use across all our sites, and we use the Every Compliance mobile app to complete annual asset audits.
Over the last seven years, the Federation has grown its use of Every Compliance. They’ve added nearly every module we offer to create a digital system that meets their estates and compliance needs, including:
- Business Management
- Risk Management
- Documents and Policies
- Incident Reporting
- Asset Management
- Condition Management
- Project Management
Confident policy and document management
One of the core tasks Ashley relies on Every Compliance for is document and policy management. The Federation employs nearly 350 staff, so it needs a robust way to communicate important changes to documents and policies with them.
Ashley gave us an example of the Documents and Policy module in action:
- Governors review policies on Every Compliance.
- Policies are published live for staff to read and record.
- We use the live link to publish updated and new policies to our websites.
Simple and effective!
Digital school compliance management
As a cloud-based system, users can log into Every Compliance and complete school compliance tasks from anywhere, at any time. That’s from reviewing an updated policy to pulling information about an underperforming contract.
The Covid-19 pandemic was the prime example of how advantageous it was for Lincoln Saints Federation to have all compliance activities recorded and accessed in one, digital tool. Ashley explained the Federation’s unique use of the ‘Issues Helpdesk’ within Every Compliance. Generally, our users log and raise requests for various site and compliance tasks in it – for instance, a leaky roof. Lincoln Saints Federation, however, also uses it to support orders of resources.
We have successfully created a procedure for school orders using the Issues Helpdesk in Every Compliance. Staff can submit a resource order to their Pathway Lead who can approve, decline, and/or comment on it. This is then passed to our Head of Operations who codes the order before it goes to Finance.
During Covid-19, our administration team were based at home. So, we used the Helpdesk to support a paper-heavy audit task. We used the tickets (post-order) to track delivery of resources and communicate the process of the order to staff.
We kept this process even after we were able to return to the sites, as it tracks and audits the whole order process. All school resource orders are now completed using the Issues Helpdesk.
We like your thinking, Ashley!
Complete site and compliance management
So, how else has the Federation improved compliance management across its sites since scaling its use of Every Compliance? Well, all schools and MATs with our compliance management software have the ‘Business Management’ module as standard. It’s the bread and butter of compliance reporting that helps schools achieve consistency across multiple sites.
Every Compliance allows us to track everything in one place. It benefits our Federation in so many areas – it saves time and cost, and is simple for staff to use.
Showing the scope of the system, Ashley shared how the Federation uses it for a range of compliance activities, like:
- Premises servicing
- Licence checks on staff driving minibuses
- DSE Assessments
- Weekly caretaker tasks
- Cyber security termly checks and audits
But that’s not all! In September 2024, the Federation started putting Every Compliance to use for incident reporting and to log adult first aid slips. Ashley explained the reasoning why: “We already had a system in place for student first aid and wanted a digital tool for adults, like employees and visitors.”
The future of Every Compliance at Lincoln Saints Federation
Looking ahead, we were keen to find what’s in store for the Federation in the coming years. Including, of course, its plans for Every Compliance!
As maintained schools, Lincoln Saints Federation’s condition surveys are carried out via the local County Council. But Ashley hopes the schools will soon be uploading these surveys to the Condition Management module in Every Compliance. That’ll mean they can have a federated overview of the conditions of all buildings, helping to prioritise funding and urgency of future projects – an area they’re already using Every Compliance to support.
We use the Project Management module to monitor all projects we have going on. For example, we’re using it to track outcomes from a recent GDPR audit. We have also been running some classroom refurbs, so we've used this module to track progress and log quotes and risk assessments from contractors.
Support every step of the way
We know as well as you that school compliance management involves a fair amount of strain and pressure. And that’s why schools and MATs rely on Every Compliance, the tool that simplifies its complexities and eases some of the burden. But a forward-thinking tool is only as good as the support it comes with and is on offer during its entire use.
All Every Compliance users can use Live Chat within the system to access help instantly – something Ashley finds very rewarding. “We find Every By IRIS’s support close to perfect. The live chat function makes it so easy to get in touch. Usually, support is completed within a few minutes on the chat.”
Simpler school compliance management
Every Compliance was born out of passion to make the working days of those running core processes in our schools and MATs simpler. After our conversation with Ashley, it’s to say that passion is being felt at Lincoln Saints Federation, and we’re looking forward to hearing what the schools achieve next.
Thank you, Ashley, for taking the time to share your experience of Every Compliance with us!
To understand how your school or trust would benefit, call or email our friendly team.
