Technology (ICT) Strategy
Live from: October 2012
Live until: October 2017
Creator / Authors / Julia Coxon / Ann-Marie Johnstone
Approved by / Executive
Department / Assistant Chief Executive’s department
Service area / Central Services
Head of Service / Steve Fletcher
Director / Karen Whitmore
Date / Created / September 2012
Submitted / October 2012
Approved / December 2012
Updating Frequency / Annual
Status
/ Version 1.0Contributor(s)
/ Julia Coxon, ICT Strategy & Projects ManagerLorraine Dixon, Mouchel Head of ICT services
Steve Fletcher, Corporate Programmes Manager
Ann-Marie Johnstone, Corporate Policy Officer
John Polson, Partnership Manager
Sylvia Reynolds, Senior Resources Manager
Rachel Steel, Senior Project Officer
Mandate / Statutory/Mandatory
Legislation / Various, including Local Government Acts, Data Protection Act.
Type
/ StrategyVital Record / Yes / EIR / N/A
Rights
/ UnclassifiedPublisher
/ Middlesbrough Council, Members’ Office, PO Box 503, Town Hall, Middlesbrough, TS1 9FXCoverage / Middlesbrough Council
Language / English
Document Control
Version / Date / Revision History / Reviser1.0 / December 2012 / Final version published / Julia Coxon
Distribution List
Version / Date / Name/Service area / Action1.0 / December 2012 / Council-wide / Publish to Members’ Library and on Lotus Notes
Table of contents
Foreword
Glossary of terms
INTRODUCTION
Key Change Programme Principles
Vision
How to achieve the vision
BACKGROUND
Outcomes from the 2008 – 2011 ICT Strategy
Current position (issues)
Challenges (risks/future)
STRATEGY DELIVERY
Improving Day-To-Day Management Of ICT
Information Security
Disaster Recovery
Process & Procedure
Modernisation Of ICT Services
Application Management
IT Assets
Procurement of ICT goods and services
Horizon scanning
Cloud based service delivery opportunities
Structure of ICT Services
ICT As An Enabler Of Service Transformation
Customer access and information
New ways of working
Council intranet
Wireless networks
GOVERNANCE
Governance structure
Roles and responsibilities
Success Dependencies
Effective risk management
Structure
ICT Risks
Appendix a – ICT strategic map
Appendix B – ICT Strategic Plan (Timeline)
Foreword
Middlesbrough is changing and it is important that the Council reshapes its services so that it can continue to meet the expectations of residents, customers, businesses and visitors.
We are also facing a time of unprecedented spending cuts to the Council’s budgets. If we are to successfully minimise the impact of these cuts on our frontline services we must make greater use of the technological solutions that can deliver services that are more efficient, effective and accessible.
This ICT Strategy has been developed in partnership by representatives from across the Council and Mouchel to ensure that it provides a vision for ICT that is shared across the Council and with its stakeholders.
Deputy Mayor, David Budd
Chief Executive, Gill Rollings
Partnership Director, Chris Chapman
Glossary of terms
Applications / A piece of software that can run on your computer, phone or from a server, e.g. Lotus Notes is an application used by officers across the Council.Applications Portfolio Management Framework / This is a framework for managing software applications and assessing their business value.It is also an inventory of the software applications that are in place.
BYOD policy / Bring Your Own Device policy. Some employees would like to bring personal devices into work and use them to conduct their employer’s business. If this is unmanaged it could result in data breaches through inappropriate usage.
Change management / Business change / A process that is undertaken to ensure that staff, teams, departments and/or the whole organisation successfully moves from a current way of working to one that is necessary to ensure that change is accepted and successfully embedded.
Cloud computing / This is where applications and services are managed and maintained external to the Council rather than on a PC or within an on-site server. The use of cloud solutions is increasing . Moving services to the cloud, provides opportunities to reduce the cost of ICT, improve scalability, and increase flexibility and resilience.
Digital by Default / Government recommendation that Public services should be delivered online or by other digital means to provide higher quality and more convenient 24/7 services to users.
EDRMS / Electronic Document and Records Management System. Implementation of a systematic approach to the way records and documents are processed, stored and accessed.
Enterprise Architecture / A strategic information base that defines the purpose of a company and describes the technology and information needed to perform that purpose, along with descriptions of how the architecture of the organisation should be changed in order to respond to changes in the purpose.
G-Cloud / Government online store that will enable councils to work together to increase purchasing power and drive down the cost of cloud-based applications.
GCSX / Government Connect Secure Extranet. This is a secure private data network for the public sector.
Intranet / The intranet is the Council’s private network that will be put in place to enable information to be shared across the organisation with staff.
Information Classification System / A system that will enable information held by the Council to be assessed against a criteria to determine how sensitive the information is. Security requirements around pieces of information increase as information increases in sensitivity.
ITIL / Information Technology Information Library. Framework mapping principles and rules for best practice management of ICT service delivery.
Online channels / The range of solutions used to enable electronic access to services via the internet e.g. online library service and the various forms that residents can complete via the Council’s website.
Open Data / The principle that data should be freely available to all for reuse and analysis through an accessible format.
PRINCE2 / Projects IN Controlled Environments. This is a process-based method that can be applied to ensure projects are managed effectively.
PSN / Public Sector Network which will replace GCSX in 2012.
TOGAF / The Open Group Architecture Framework - a detailed method and a set of supporting tools for developing an enterprise architecture. It may be used freely by any organisation wishing to develop an enterprise architecture.
Unified Communications / A software solution that can integrate and connect landlines, mobiles, email, sms and instant messaging,
Virtualisation (of servers) / Server virtualisation is the masking of server resources, including the number and identity of individual physical servers, processors, and operating systems, from server users.
VoIP / Voice over Internet Protocol. A network to enable telecommunications and data networks to operate over the internet, rather than traditional telecommunications networks.
WAN / AWide Area Network(WAN) is a data network that connects remote Council sites to the central ICT network.
INTRODUCTION
1.This Strategy sets out how ICT services will be developed and delivered in future within Middlesbrough Council. The purpose of the Strategy is to communicate the Council’s vision of ICT that meets the needs of its stakeholders; identify a programme of work to support the transformation agenda whilst making improvements to the effectiveness of the IT provision across the Partnership.
2.The Strategy sets out the:
- Council’s key change programme principles
- vision for ICT services
- outcomes from the 2008 – 2011 ICT Strategy
- current issues and future challenges
- actions to deliver the strategy
- governance arrangements for delivery of the Strategy
- factors that will influence the extent to which this Strategy will be a success
- programme of delivery.
3.The Strategy will be reviewed annually as it is a live document that will shape future ICT services and as such must be kept up to date. This will provide an opportunity to build upon initial actions, adding in additional milestones required to drive the strategy forward.
4.Identification of the current position, future challenges and the Strategy to achieve the vision has been informed by a number of pieces of work and their findings have been embedded within this Strategy. This includes the ICT improvement plan and a report commissioned from SSG consultants to examine ICT delivery.
Key Change Programme Principles
5.The development of this Strategy has been shaped by the Change Programme’s principles:
- Transformation – supporting the transformation agenda, which aims to make all services leaner and more innovative
- Customer – supporting work to build services around internal and external customer needs
- HR – supporting employees to deliver effectively
- Equity and fairness – supporting work to protect the vulnerable and ensure fairness
- Sustainability – supporting the Council’s aim of minimising the environmental impact of services.
6.These principles align with the Council’s visioning documents that have been developed to transform services to ensure they continue to meet local needs and the Government’s ICT Strategy principles – ‘Smarter, Greener, Cheaper’.
Vision
7.ICT will support the transformation of Council services and achievement of strategic objectives by delivering flexible systems and infrastructure, which maximise the use of technological developments and commercial opportunities. This will be delivered by a responsive and effective service.
How to achieve the vision
8.A number of actions need to be taken to ensure the vision is achieved. These actions are driven by the issues set out within the challenge section of the Strategy and the key principles that underpin the direction of the Strategy. Delivery of the vision can be broadly split into the following workstreams:
- Improvements to day to day management of services
- Modernisation of ICT services
- ICT as an enabler of service transformation.
9.The Strategy Delivery section of this document highlights the issues to be addressed within each workstream and documents the actions that need to be undertaken. A map showing the dependencies between the strategic priorities and actions in included in Appendix A – ICT Strategy Map.
BACKGROUND
Outcomes from the 2008 – 2011 ICT Strategy
10.The ICT Strategy from 2008 to 2011 focused on improvements to infrastructure and improvements to governance. Despite the capital funding pressures the Council has been able to make investment to create a strong platform from which to grow. It has also been able to delivery a number of significant systems investments. The main deliverables in the period since 2008 have been:
- building a secure centre for storage of the Council’s data
- virtualisation of servers – over 90% of the servers in the Council’s fleet are now virtualised, providing resilience and flexibility and also reducing energy consumption
- achievement of GCSx Code of Connection compliance – allowing access to the Government’s secure communications network to enable data sharing with central government
- implementation of Wide Area Network – connecting over 80 sites across the town to the Council’s ICT network
- upgrading the Council’s internet access, while reducing the cost of the provision
- establishing a mobile working programme – deploying mobile solutions through over 20 projects, to a wide range of staff
- implementation of the Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) management approach to ICT programmes and projects
- centralisation of the ICT Capital Budget projects
- Voice over Internet Protocol telephony implemented across all Council sites.
11.These achievements were delivered in partnership with the Council’s strategic partner Mouchel.
Current position (issues)
12.A series of budget reductions has impacted on the finances required to deliver some of the large scale projects designed to improve ICT services.
13.The focus for the Council’s investments in recent years has been on (i) essential maintenance of the ICT infrastructure, and (ii) areas where tangible savings and benefits could be realised. Delivery of a more ambitious programme of investment comparable to a best practice local authority has not been financially possible.
14.A reduced budget has also had an impact on the renewal and updating of staff PCs/laptops and software which have been maintained for longer than originally anticipated.
15.There are currently too many applications in use across the Council with many being adapted, at a significant cost to make them fit with the Council’s current practices. The Council need to make savings by reviewing these applications to reduce the number in use and minimise the number of expensive alterations.
16.Customers are increasing their use of online service options. The Council must ensure that all services will be digital by default where possible / appropriate in line with the Customer Strategy.
17.ICT governance at senior management level is unclear. There is a need to embed stronger collective governance by establishing a framework within which future spending decisions on ICT will be made.
18.The past relationship between the Council and Mouchel on ICT issues was to a certain extent a contractual relationship and opportunities to deliver innovative, quick solutions have been limited by contract constraints. If the ambitions of this Strategy are to be delivered there is a need to reshape and redefine the relationship to increase the ability of teams on both sides to deliver this Strategy.
19.Although departmental ICT strategies have been developed with the intention of understanding the future requirements of departments over and above the corporate programmes, there is still an issue with the amount of ad hoc demand for project support that is received throughout the year. A structured approach to project prioritisation will need to be embedded within the governance framework.
20.The Council needs to ensure that ICT investment aligns with the future shape of the Council after transformation. Departments need to play a full role in the assessment of future projects, including identification of requirements, benefits, steps that would need to be taken to realise them and the delivery of robust change management.
21.IT utilise a project management tool, based on PRINCE2 best practice to manage the IT programme. If ownership and management of projects is to be strengthened within departments then a tool to enable staff to monitor and track their projects will need to be rolled out across the authority.
Challenges (risks/future)
22.The Council’s partnership with Mouchel will continue to 2016; this means that delivery of this Strategy will continue to be in partnership with Mouchel ICT and transition at the end of the contract to any new arrangement will occur within the lifetime of this Strategy.
23.The past relationship between the Council and Mouchel on ICT issues was to a certain extent a contractual relationship and opportunities to deliver innovative, quick solutions have been limited. If the ambitions of this Strategy are to be delivered there is a need to resolve this and also to increase the ability of teams on both sides to deliver the strategy by ensuring the necessary skills are in place.
24.Going forward ICT will play an important role in the delivery of many of the Change Programme projects. For example, where a shared service is created, appropriate technologies need to be in place to underpin the new service and enable it to work effectively, linking into its partner organisations.
25.The need to share more services and work with partners more effectively will increase the focus on data protection and information security.
26.The Council must be well placed going forward to be able to respond and access advances in technologies to ensure its services can respond to national developments including:
27.The Public Services Network (PSN) – a national information and communications platform that will create additional opportunities for collaborative working and information sharing
28.Creation of the G-cloud – a government provided store that councils could buy applications from and potentially achieve savings on IT applications used to deliver/support council services
29.The move to cloud-based infrastructure services, which is the next logical technological advance from virtualisation.
STRATEGY DELIVERY
The following sections document the actions that need to be taken forward to deliver the Strategy. Appendix B provides a timeline of the overall ICT strategic programme.
Improving Day-To-Day Management Of ICT
Information Security
30.There have been a number of data protection breaches nationally that have attracted large fines and adverse press because sensitive information about individuals has not been properly stored. ICT services have a role to play in supporting information security solutions that ensure safeguards are in place to provide appropriate protection while at the same time enabling information sharing. Appropriate policies, procedures, training and communications must be in place to ensure security solutions are implemented and maintained effectively.
Actions
31.The Information Management team will implement an Information Management Strategy to include an information classification system to support improved records management and inform the future direction of email solutions. This will ensure that the Council is in a position to use and share sensitive information with partners in line with statutory requirements. Steps will be taken to map policies that relate to information security to ensure appropriate ownership is taken.
32.Work in partnership with Mouchel ICT to continue to ensure appropriate services are Public Sector Network (PSN) compliant. Procure a PSN compliant WAN in line with the Government’s agenda to ensure secure communications for data sharing.
Disaster Recovery
33.Previous investment in disaster recovery has improved the resilience of the service; however, further investment is required if the provision is to match the Council’s current requirements.
Action
34.Disaster recovery strategy identified and agreed by CMT.
Process & Procedure
35.There is a need to review and improve the processes that are used to deliver ICT services to ensure that they are as efficient as possible, while complying with best practice.
Actions
36.Work collaboratively with Mouchel ICT services to review priority processes for day-to-day delivery issues to identify efficiencies.
37.Mouchel ICT services ensure all critical service processes continue to align with the industry standard ITIL best practice.
Modernisation Of ICT Services
38.ICT services must ensure that service delivery is strategic, rather than reactionary and aligns with organisational needs. As part of that, ICT services must set a clear strategic direction for ICT and ensure compliance with that direction. Compliance with this Strategy will address this issue.