nintinet

NintiNet is a school intranet application I began developing in 2000. Since then it has been used daily by several hundred teachers in 10 Northern Territory primary and secondary schools.

NintiNet replaces traditional internal communication processes still used in many schools (such as paper-based and whiteboard-based systems) with an easy to use web-based system accessible via any web browser from any computer. This means that NintiNet is available to the school community at school, at home and anywhere else on the planet with internet access, all day every day. NintiNet can eliminate totally the time, costs and inefficiencies involved in collecting data, typing, printing, collating and distributing paper bulletins, newsletters, calendars and phone lists within schools (only to have them out-of-date the following day!).

All access to NintiNet is via a secure HTTPS connection providing industry standard 128-bit encryption of all data transferred to and from the server. No part of the application is publicly accessible apart from the initial login page. All access is controlled by a robust multi-level authentication system which allows different levels of access to different user types (teachers, students, families/carers). NintiNet has been developed following current industry best practice for web application security.

NintiNet is provided as a web service, not a software product. This means that the service is set up ready for your immediate use on our web servers. Following payment of one all-inclusive yearly fee, members of your school community can simply log on and start using the system immediately. NintiNet is typically up and running within 2 hours. Schools do not need to be at all concerned with what type of computers they have, with software purchases, licenses, version numbers or installation, with data backups, or with any of the expenses and hassles of web hosting. NintiNet is easy, it just works!.

features

NintiNet provides a small set of clearly defined communication functions that operate in an efficient, reliable and secure manner. Seven years of continuous use by hundreds of staff in schools across Australia have seen the system honed down to just those functions that school teachers really find useful. NintiNet is not bloated with little-used features that crowd the interface, confuse and intimidate users, slow performance and consume bandwidth. Features include:

• A daily Bulletin Board. The bulletin board provides one central, easily accessible location in which to post the many messages that must be distributed daily within a busy school. Users add and manage their own postings, freeing admin staff from having to double handle information. Information is instantly accessible by all staff using any web browser on any computer ... no more reams of wasted paper! Users add and edit information using their web browser. All messages posted over the course of a year are available in the bulletin board archive.
• A yearly Calendar based on the Australian 4 term school year. The calendar is divided into 4 terms of 10 or 11 weeks. Users add and edit items using a simple, intuitive web browser interface.
• A school Directory of email addresses and phone numbers. Find anyone in the school quickly and easily. Do away with out-of-date A4 paper contact lists forever. The directory is easy to maintain and always up to date. Simply click on a name in the list provided to bring up an instant email messaging window.
• An instant Email Messaging System. Reply to bulletin board and calendar postings and send email messages quickly and easily using NintiNet's instant email messaging system. The system is not a replacement for your normal email system, but complements it. It is intended for rapid internal communication only, and does not, for example, save all sent messages for later retrieval. However, for the sake of accurate records, copies of all emails sent using the system are forwarded on to the user's normal email account.
• Custom Online Reporting System. This is an optional add-on module that requires additional custom development for each school, as each school has different reporting requirements. Price on application.
• Multilevel Access. Access to the intranet system and the resources it contains can be controlled in a fine-grained manner that differentiates between students, families/carers, five different types of school staff (teachers, specialist teachers, senior teachers, principals, non-teaching staff), and intranet administrators.
• 24/7 free support.

Talk to me about a NintiNet solution for your school.

NOTE: I am considering changes to NintiNet sometime in 2008, possibly involving its integration into either Drupal or eZ Publish.