Notebooks for Staff in Schools Program (NSSP)

Notebook Eligibility

For schools to be eligible for the Notebooks for School Staff Program (the program) they must be listed in the department’s Entity Register as: Open.

School staff eligibility is based upon the following criteria:

• Staff must be working in a Victorian government school.
• Staff must be registered on eduPay (including all part-time and full-time staff).
• Staff must be employed under an eligible job code.

Fixed term teachers, principals and education support (ES) staff who meet the eligibility criteria:

• may be allocated a notebook for the duration of their employment contract at the discretion of their school
• must return the notebook to the School Notebook Coordinator (SNC) prior to their departure from the school.

NSSP Lifecycle Rounds

The program undertakes 2 delivery tranches per school year, during Term 1 and Term 3. End-of-life notebooks are collected during Term 2 and Term 4.

Below is a list of all the current tranches and there start and end dates.  There is usually a sticker on the back of your laptop to show which tranch the unit is in.

Warranty Claims

All program-provisioned notebooks are covered under a 48-month warranty, provided by the notebook supplier. The warranty covers:

• keyboard/speakers/microphone/webcam/track pad
• defective display
• defective hard drive
• battery and charging failure
• non-software errors during start up and interfaces or ports not operating.

Warranty Claims Processed by Staff

Schools must log a warranty claim with the supplier as soon as an issue is found. Suppliers can be contacted on the numbers below:

• Acer – 1300 308 056
• Apple – 1300 301 596

Warranty services are provided onsite with an expected resolution within 3 business days.

Schools experiencing any issues with a warranty can contact the department’s notebook program team to escalate to the supplier.

Warranty Claims Processed by School Technicians

If you prefer, you can get your school technicians to log the job during the school terms (technicians prefer you log the job if it's during a term break as the staff may need the laptop during the break).  If processed at school by the technician, this is the process:

1. If the laptop is not in working order, the technician will check to see if a matching spare is available in the NSSP pool and remove the drive from the non-working computer to a working one so the staff member can not be without a laptop during the repair process.  If the laptop is still in working order, staff can continue using it until the Acer technician is on-site and requires the laptop. (Technicians are usually notified 1-2 hours before the Acer technicians arrive on-site, technicians will try and let you know ASAP so you can prepare your classes accordingly)
2. The technician will then email Acer support all the relevant details required to process a repair claim.  (Device details, faults, troubleshooting steps, etc)
3. If the warranty claim is accepted by Acer, we usually get a call and parts are ordered for the repair and an Acer technician assigned the job to be scheduled.
4. When the technician has the parts, they will contact us and we will make sure the laptop is labelled with the history of the machine (unit service log and details of staff assignment) and left at the front office for the repairs to be done.
5.  Once the Acer tech has completed repairs the front office lets us know of the completion of the repair and, if needed, we then schedule the drive to be swapped back from the temporary replacement unit to the repaired unit.

Insurance Claims

All program-provisioned notebooks are insured for their 48-month life cycle. Below are the parameters of the insurance provided.

Geography

Australia-wide

Protection duration

48 months

Inclusions

• Accidental damage
• Accidental loss
• Theft
• Fire
• Flood

Number of claims per 48-month life-cycle

2

Maximum aggregate of claims (Acer program only)

$2,500 over the 48-month life-cycle

Please note: program-provisioned notebook are not permitted to be taken outside of Australia. Any damage or loss incurred overseas will not be covered and the school is required to cover the cost of the repair or replacement of the notebook.

Notebook protection claims

Schools must log a protection claim as soon as the loss or damage is known. Please contact the notebook program team if the date is later than 2 weeks from the loss or theft. The program’s protection process differs based on the model experiencing damage or loss, as below:

• Acer notebooks – please refer to Acer notebook – notebook protection claim submission guidance
• Apple notebooks – please refer to VCE Apple notebook – notebook protection claim submission guidance or contact the notebook program team at notebook@education.vic.gov.au

Notebook protection exclusions

Protection for your Acer or VCE Apple notebook excludes physical loss, destruction of or damage to the notebook caused by:

• insects and vermin, atmosphere, wear and tear, design error, warrantable defects
• spontaneous combustion
• fraudulent or dishonest act
• theft from unlocked motor vehicle
• theft without forced entry
• theft/disappearance of notebook after being left unattended in a public place.

If these apply, your claim will mostly likely be denied and your school will be required to replace or repair the notebook.

Extra costs for schools

Provided that claims remain within the protection parameters, there is a zero protection excess.

However, schools are liable for the following costs:

• any procedural costs not covered by the existing protection policy, for example, police reports
• repair or replacement of a notebook if the claim is outside the protection parameters.

Accessories

Except where a notebook has been lost or stolen, accessories are not covered by protection. That means that if an accessory, such as a charger, is lost or damaged, the school will need to repair or replace it.