ICT STRATEGY
ICT Strategy
Version: Draft 2.0
Release date: TBC
ICT Services
1Introduction
2SUMMARY
3Vision
4the national context
5Technological DRIVERS
6CURRENTplANNED TechnologY
7Strategic Objectives
8ICT ARCHITECTURE
9TARGET FUTURE POSITION - BENEFITS
10GOVERNANCE OF ICT STRATEGY
11TRAINING, SKILLS AND EXPERTISE
APPENDIX 1 – REFERENCE/SOURCE DOCUMENTS
APPENDIX 2 – GLOSSARY
1Introduction
This document presents the Highland Council’s Strategy for Information and Communication Technology. The strategy sets in context the significant investment in the ICT Transformation Programme and how this supports the delivery of the Councils Services as well as the wider ambitions and Priorities of the Council and its partners.
The ICT Strategy reflects the National and Local Governmental ICT Strategies, key legislative and other strategically significant changes in the ICT sector, as well as the changing business needs of the Council.
2SUMMARY
As part of the target operating model, the ICT Transformation Programme is scheduled to run until 2019 and will deliver a completeDesktop Refresh,both hardware and software which includes a significant shift towards modern cloud based applications, a refresh of the entire Local Area Network in all Council buildings including schools, a new telephony solution across all schools and corporate offices with unified communications being deployed across the majority of corporate sites, a new fully Managed Print Service and the consolidation and virtualisation of servers in a secure data centre. These initiatives should ensure thatICT Infrastructure is well-placed to meet the needs of the Council.
The feedback gleaned from reviews with Highland Council Services has shown that ICT needs to become more agileandflexible to support business changes in a financially-challenging and rapidly-changing environment. At the same time there is a desire to increase skill levels to enable staff to manage our information more effectively, to make better use of video and tele-conferencing, to improve collaboration across Services and with partners, to increasecitizens’ self-service access to information and services and to obtain improved support from line of business systems suppliers.
The maturing technologies of Cloud Computing, Mobile Applications(‘mobile apps’) and the possibilities offered by collaborating through the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN)will offer opportunities to address these issues. Further use of Cloud computing on Governmentalor private networks promise speedier setup times and a flexible pricing model.Indeedthe Wipro Data Centre could be considered as a form of “private cloud”, and many of the Council’s existing ICT suppliers already offertheirown cloud-based services. In addition to this, there are national (UK and Scotland-wide) procurement frameworks to help drive costs down through the use of draw-down contracts for fixed and mobile telephony, and related opportunities to examine the benefits of a unified approach to communications technologies Mobile applications will provide support for remote, mobile and flexible working for Council staff,as well as mobile access and self-service facilities for the public, supporting the increasing demand for ‘channel shift’ in the provision and access to services which is already well underway as part of the Councils Digital Services ambition.
3Vision
Highland Council ICT Services has a published Mission Statement which is as follows:
"To be the ICT Centre of Excellence enabling Business Change and Transformation across the Council and to Lead on the Strategic Deployment of ICT through the Delivery of Professional, Efficient and Customer-focused ICT Services"
This statement informs our Vision for ICT Services and the strategic framework which will be used to implement this Vision:
- Our technology will be flexible, resilient and fit for purpose, enabling improved public services through the exploitation of the Council’s investment in technology;
- Our data will be secure, accurate, available and become a trusted source of information to be used and adapted for decision-making by Citizens, Councillors and Employees;
- Our processes will continually improve to enable the Council to become more efficient and reduce costs;
- We will develop our skills in the management and exploitation of the technologythat the Council has invested in, and share our knowledge amongst Council Employees and the wider Highland community.
In essence, ourVision is to use ICT to continuously improve service delivery and to support and enable initiatives which make Council services more accessible, more convenient, more operationally efficient and cost-effective. The principle of ‘fit for purpose’ has been introduced to ensure that future ICT investments are cost-effective; prioritising off-the-shelf, core functionality which is ‘good enough’ rather than expensive customisation based on an idealised solution.
4the national context
4.1National Vision and Outcomes
This Strategy has been developed with regard to the work being undertaken by the Local Government Digital Office which is working in partnership with Scotland’s local authorities helping to drive digital transformation across the country - delivering a digital first approach that enables councils to provide better services to their citizens across main themes, Digital Leadership, Digital Foundation & Digital Services
- The Highland Council ICT Strategy has also been informed by the Scottish Government’s national Digital Public Services Strategy and Action Plan: “Scotland's Digital Future: Delivery of Public Services”.
There are 3 main outcomes and 2 supporting outcomes:
- Digital Public Services – more on line. This outcome is about as many services as possible being on line i.e. ‘digital by default’. The development of new digital services will be customer-driven, as our external and internal customers increasingly expect to access Council and other public services on line, at any time of the day and from any device. New services should be simple, standardised and if possible, automated, allowing for self-service where appropriate.
- Reduced costs – ICT is a cost to Councils, but it is also an enabler of cost reductions in services. There are a number of potential areas for cost reduction available to Councils, through the re-use or sharing of infrastructure and services,as well as the benefits provided by aggregated procurement. In addition, ICT can help automate transactional services and reduce the overall cost of service provision.
- Better public services enabled by ICT – Both the National and Local Government ICT Strategieshighlight the importance of prevention, partnership at a local “place” level, improved performance management and people development as the 4 pillars of improved public services. ICT has a role in enabling each of these, for example by improving data-sharing across public sector organisations, better and more focused services can be provided to the most vulnerable in our society.
The 2 supporting outcomes are:
- Lower carbon footprint – ICT developments would be expected to make a contribution to reducing carbon emissions.
- Digital enabled economy – The digital infrastructure work to provide digital access for the public across Scotland (Broadband for Scotland) is focused on developing the economy of Scotland, rather than the transformation of public servicesper se. However, there are a number of important touch points between the 2 strategies that require to be mapped and the benefits realised. For example, improved high-speed public broadband will allow more citizens access to digital public services especially in remote areas. At the same time, the Council will also aim to deliver services and manage its data in a way that supports businesses, provides new business opportunities and contributes to economic growth.
4.2Core Principles
Three core principles that are fundamental to achieving these outcomes have been adopted at the national level. These are closely related to the guiding principles set out in the National and Local Government ICT Strategies, and are: collaborate, redesign and innovate.
- Collaborate, share and re-use assets: Local public service organisations should join up their service delivery strategies, support them with collaboratively developed, ICT-enabled delivery processes, jointly commission ICT infrastructure and services, pool budgets, share staff, and measure, capture and share the resultant benefits and savings.
- Redesign services to simplify, standardise and automate: Services should be re-designed and ICT-enabled, using open and reusable standards to meet aspirations for ‘anytime, anywhere, any device’ access. Services, whether internal or external, should be ‘digital by default’.
- Innovate to empower citizens and communities: Social and digital inclusion should be built by shifting ownership and use of information and technology towards the service user. Service users, SMEs and the technology sector should be engaged in service design and delivery, and resources, information and skills in the community will be used to build local systems and services. A central premise will be to act quickly and not be afraid to take controlled risks.
4.3Legislative Considerations
The Scottish Government issued an Open Data Strategy in 2015 that sets out the expectations of public sector organisations in relation to open data. This encourages the proactive release of data and allowing re-use of this through open data licences.
The following acts provide legislative duties in relation to the release of data and making this available as open data:
•The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015
•Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
•Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
•Data Protection Act 1998
•INSPIRE (Scotland) Regulations 2009
The council is working as part of the Smart Cities Programme to promote open data and increase the amount of council data that is made available for re-use. Open data is set out further is section 5.5 and a strategic objective is set out in Section 7 to reflect this ambition.
5Technological DRIVERS
There are four significant changes in technology and the way services are delivered that are likely to impact on the way the Council uses technology for its administration and delivery of services to the public. These are: Cloud Computing, Mobile Applications, the exploitation of the Public Services Network [in Scotland referred to as the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN)] and Big/Open Data.
5.1Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing and storage capacity as a service by a 3rd party to the purchasing organisation over a network. The name is derived from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure utilised. Implemented appropriately,
Cloud computing can generate significant benefits in terms of cost-reduction, increased flexibility and scalability of solutions, as well as improving organisational agility.
Cloud services offer the council the opportunity to provide development and test environments only when required as opposed to having always on and discrete infrastructure within our data centre, thus saving costs.
Further to this, many of the Council’s other suppliers are developing Cloud services, some of which are being made available through the UK Government’s G-Cloud initiative, which provides a public-sector procurement framework for cloud services. The key features of this approach to the procurement and supply of ICT are reduced timescales/costs to implement and the variable running costs which are not fixed but which fluctuate with demand. When demand decreases, so do costs, unlike non-cloud systems which have fixed costs which don’t reduce with reduced demand. This model does have implications for procurement as there is likely to be less dependence on a single supplier and the need to engage more with the suppliers of systems rather than infrastructure. Cloud services do also put more dependence on resilient and secure external network connections.
Cloud computing offers further benefits of business continuity by not having all applications and services in a central place. The Council will endeavor to provide a secure solution to allow access to all HC service cloud computing solutions through a dedicated and resilient platform; .Centrally Managed Mobile Applications
5.2Centrally Managed Mobile Applications
The council will deploy a secure managed environment to deliver mobile applications to the council staff and members. This may also in future potentially include the ability for staff and members to use their own personal smartphones (Bring Your Own Device – BYOD) securely for business purposes As smartphones and tablets continue to develop within the consumer market and the mobile communications companies expand their coverage of 3G and 4G networks, the Council’s existing suppliers are developing mobile apps for the systems that we use, including mobile phone applications (‘apps’) for the public to provide them with access to Council services.
The industry trend is also towards a convergence between conventional computing and the development of consumer-led apps, and towards device-independent methods of accessing ICT-based services. The choice of device is based on the type of use and environment rather than being dictated by the choice of application. Compared to conventional PC software, apps tend to be cheaper to develop, easier to use and more flexible to adapt to changed requirements but they do have limitations in terms of functionality. “Mobile apps” should not be seen as restricted just to “mobile devices” as there could be great benefits in expanding their use where possible to conventional PCs, such as those currently available for Windows 10.
5.3Public Services Network
The Public Services Network (PSN) is a UK Government initiative intended to create a secure system of networks to enable the delivery of public services from any place by any provider. The intention is that the PSN will generate savings by removing duplicate network connections, simplifying procurement processes, increasing the uptake of mobile working and lead to greater use of shared services. The PSN framework covers central government departments, non-departmental public bodies, the NHS, local authorities and voluntary sector charities.
In Scotland, the Scottish Wide Area Network (formerly known as the Scottish Public Services Network or SPSN, now known as SWAN) isthesecure private network for public sector organisations in Scotland. The Pathfinder North Partnership consisting of six local authorities across the north of Scotland in which the Council is the lead authority is a vanguard member of SWAN and has played a key role in its creation and subsequent implementation. SWANhas, and continues to replaceexisting network contractsto create a single network, and through the introduction of uniform standards andgateways to other networks, reduce duplication of procurement and operational effort,thus driving down the costs of network services. Exploitation of this network and associated value added services will enable the Council to remove the reliance, and cost-base, associated with implementing dedicated network connections to each public sector partner.
5.4 Cyber Security
In order that the Council is a cyber resilient organization, confident in our capacity to protect Council and citizen data which underpins the delivery of our services to the public, we will continuously evaluate cyber resiliency to defend against Threats (Criminal, State-sponsored and terrorism related, Opportunistic) and Vulnerabilities/Weaknesses (Cloud adoption, IOT, legacy applications and infrastructure).
The Council will promote security by design, this will include vulnerability scanning, protective monitoring, auditing, incident response plans, penetration testing. We will follow the key objectives of the UK Government National Cyber Security Strategy which is to DEFEND Council data and systems, DETER by having the right protection in place and DEVELOP a Cyber Security plan to overcome future threats and challenges.
With easy access to cloud computing, cyber security becomes a much wider area of risk for the Council. Utilising cloud computing, Corporate and citizen data is stored in disparate 3rd party commercial organisations infrastructure and whilst this provides the potential for better value for money solutions, there are many standards around security and information management that need assured prior to the procurement of any new solution. ICT Services will support respective business service ICT requirements through a robust governance process and engagement with council services prior to procurement to ensure potential solutions meet the required security and information management standards, thus reducing potential cloud computing vulnerabilities.
5.5 Big & Open Data
The Council will also adhere to Government compliance and initiatives by participating in PSN and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation and DWP code of connection. The ICT Services security team will actively promote Cyber Awareness within the Council.
The information underpinning public services is an essential asset in the battle for better efficiency. Without question, more robust information and, more importantly, the insight, analysis and answers, are key to deciding the best use of diminishing resources across the public sector. The Council collects and stores significant volumes of different datasets relating to the delivery of its services, but currently only utilises a subset of this data when managing existing services or designing new or improved services. These numerous datasets could be combined in different permutations, but the complex interrelationships between the data, and often the sheer volume of data makes obtaining useful information from this ‘big data’ a difficult process. New data analytics tools and skills are required in order to support improved business decision-making which can be made through the exploitation of big data. Big data must also be underpinned by the important considerations of privacy, data quality and security. This new approach should allow Services to make better use of the Council’s existing data - and on-going data-collection - to help improve the way the Council designs, manages and delivers its services to the public.