Efficient and accurate data reporting is now a reality for the WA Department of Education, as Kinetic IT’s automated solution transforms mandatory ICT device audits—saving time and delivering real-time insights for schools statewide.
Quick stats
- We saved 10,000+ staff hours per audit by automating manual inventory.
- By tracking 340,000+ devices in real-time, including 80,000 personal devices, our ICT Digital Census offers complete visibility across the Department’s network.
- The 24-hour data refresh offers near-instant accuracy, reducing audit times from three months to days
THE CONTEXT
A commitment to equitable, data-driven education.
As one of the largest education networks globally, the WA Department of Education oversees the learning of 320,000 students across approximately 800 schools, with a mission to provide high-quality, equitable education. The Department conducts an annual ICT asset management census to capture critical data on devices and technology usage across its schools. This census is key to understanding technology distribution, addressing resource gaps, and guiding ICT investment across diverse geographic and socio-economic regions, including remote and rural areas.
Historically, this census required extensive manual effort, impacting educators’ time and yielding inconsistent data that limited the Department’s ability to plan and respond effectively. To address these challenges, the Department partnered with Kinetic IT to design an automated census solution that could efficiently deliver real-time, accurate insights into the ICT assets supporting WA’s education system.
THE CHALLENGE
Reducing time and increasing accuracy in ICT data collection.
The annual ICT asset management census required manual inventory counting across all schools—a process that typically spanned three months, consumed thousands of educator hours, and produced varied data quality. With a network stretching across a vast geographic area, including hard-to-reach rural locations, obtaining consistent and timely ICT asset data was crucial to support decision-making for equitable technology access.
Seeking an efficient, automated alternative, the Department engaged Kinetic IT, its strategic ICT partner, to transform the census process. The solution needed to handle large-scale data securely, manage connectivity challenges in remote regions, and align with the Department’s privacy and compliance standards.
“A challenge we faced was the volume of data we had to process and store. Using the AWS Cloud, we combined several AWS services to provide the Department with the compliance, compute power, security, and storage needed for their cloud-based audit system.”
— Wayne Berriman, Group Executive at Kinetic IT
THE SOLUTION
Automating ICT asset management with cloud-enabled precision.
Kinetic IT, in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), implemented an automated ICT asset management census to transform the Department’s traditional, labour-intensive audit into a streamlined digital process.Device tracking for automated, live inventory.
The solution enables continuous, real-time tracking of every device—including computers, laptops, tablets, and personal devices—whenever they connect to the school network. This automated tracking eliminates all manual data entry, providing the Department with a comprehensive, up-to-date view of over 340,000 ICT assets, including 80,000 previously untracked personal devices used within school networks.Building a scalable, secure data lake with Amazon S3.
Kinetic IT deployed a high-capacity data lake on Amazon S3, designed to securely capture, anonymise, and store data from 800+ sites multiple times an hour. This scalable infrastructure ensures the Department’s extensive ICT asset management and data requirements are met, with Kinetic IT’s proprietary algorithms encrypting data in transit and at rest for compliance with stringent privacy standards. The data lake supports efficient, secure long-term storage, ready for rapid processing and retrieval.On-demand analytics with AWS Lambda and Amazon Athena.
To provide instant access to actionable data, Kinetic IT integrated AWS Lambda and Amazon Athena, allowing the Department to perform real-time, serverless analysis without the expense and complexity of traditional databases. This serverless approach enables the Department to run near-instant queries, producing critical insights within 24 hours—a dramatic improvement over the prior manual timeline of months.Real-time reporting and visualisation with Amazon Aurora.
The data is aggregated and securely stored in Amazon Aurora, supporting detailed, real-time reporting and visualisation. With instant access to ICT asset data, the Department can produce comprehensive reports and visual insights that drive strategic ICT planning and resource allocation across all schools, especially in underserved areas.Optimised data storage and cost efficiency.
The AWS-powered solution reduces data storage needs to under 8TB per year, driving down costs while maintaining data availability with a 99.99% uptime. Designed to integrate with the Department’s existing systems, Kinetic IT’s scalable, resilient solution allows the Department to retain full visibility of ICT assets and ensures compliance with all security standards, providing a solid foundation for future growth.“With this visibility, we are now able to have a virtually real-time understanding of the types of technology in use in schools across the state.” — Glenn Veen, Director ICT Governance & Planning
THE OUTCOMES
Empowering critical decisions with accurate, real-time ICT insights.
The ICT Digital Census solution transformed the WA Department of Education’s ICT asset management, delivering measurable improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and decision-making:- 10,000+ Hours of Staff Time Saved: Automation has redirected valuable educator time from manual inventory tasks back to the classroom.
- 340,000+ Devices Tracked in Real-Time: The Department now has comprehensive visibility into over 340,000 devices, including 80,000 previously untracked personal devices, supporting more accurate and responsive asset management.
- Reduced Data Turnaround Time: Automated updates provide near-instant data accuracy, allowing the Department to complete audit reports within five days, a significant reduction from the previous three-month process.
- Data-Driven Resource Allocation: With a detailed understanding of technology distribution across schools, the Department can strategically plan ICT investments, ensuring equitable access, particularly for underserved schools.
“The benefits from automating the audit process were immediate. Device counts can be refreshed within 24 hours, allowing us to provide an audit to the Western Australian government in days instead of three months. Our staff can now allocate more of their time to teaching and student engagement.” — Glenn Veen, Director ICT Governance & Planning
THE NEXT PHASE
Future-proofing ICT asset management for WA Schools.
The successful implementation of the ICT Digital Census has provided the WA Department of Education with a powerful, scalable platform for ongoing ICT asset management. With the ability to track and manage assets across WA’s extensive school network, the Department is well-positioned to ensure equitable, data-driven access to technology that supports WA’s students, teachers, and school communities as technology needs evolve.“With the automated census process allowing us a real-time view into the range of ICT devices used by our students and staff, we are able to provide schools with more time for teaching and learning with reduced administration overheads.” — Glenn Veen, Director ICT Governance & Planning
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