Appendix A
IT VALUE FOR MONEY REPORT
¾¾¾¾¾¾
A report produced for the Value for Money Steering Group
April 2010
IT Value for Money Report
A report produced for the Value for Money Steering Group
April 2010
Contents
Section / Description / Page
1 / Introduction / 1
2 / The Pace of Technology / 2
3 / Recharges for IT Services / 5
4 / Where the money is spent
· Hardware Assets
· Software Assets
· Services / 6
5 / Value for Money Improvements / 10
6 / How do we compare / 12
7 / Conclusions / 15
Recommendations / 16
Appendices
1 / Software Application Summary / 17
2 / Press item on Ealing Council’s IT system failure / 19
3 / Rother Business Case Template / 20
1. Introduction
This report is produced for the Value for Money Steering Group. The Group aims to ensure we deliver services at the right cost and of the right quality by the most effective, economic and efficient means.
Information technology (IT) at Rother does not exist for it’s own sake – development and procurement is undertaken in conjunction with Services and is subject to approved business cases.
IT underpins the function of every service we provide. Without it the Council would be unable to provide the level of customer service that our residents expect, our costs would escalate and our reputation would deteriorate. It is fundamental to the achievement of each of the Council’s 4 key aims. Equally, it is important that investment in IT is made today so that tomorrow’s councillors are not questioning why key assets of the Authority were not maintained and kept up-to-date.
This report begins by outlining the ever-increasing pace of change in technology, how our customer expectations have grown over a relatively recent period and looks to future technology developments in the Government’s ICT Strategy. The recharge for IT Services is analysed and categories of spend described along with earlier value for money improvements. Future service improvements are brought together in the Rother Business Improvement Strategy. The report examines Rother’s IT expenditure over a number of years and how it compares with other local authorities. Finally, a range of conclusions and recommendations are presented.
2. The Pace of TechnologyThe pace of technological change continues to accelerate – it is a major influence on expectations of IT service delivery. Consider the following:
20th Century and before - Paper and pen were used for centuries until the typewriter and telephone became indispensible office tools for most of 20th century.
From 1970’s - Mainframe computing
A 1991 Rother committee report discussed a mainframe upgrade to a 32MB memory model with two 500Mb disc units to provide more data storage for Council Tax records. Twenty years later a digital camera and a USB key have as much memory and storage capacity. In Rother we wrote our own online computer systems; our last mainframe was not fully decommissioned until January 2007.
From late 1980’s/early 90s - Desktop PCs and server based computing
The move towards personal computers during the 90’s was accompanied by the purchase of systems to suit a variety of service needs although major systems such as Council Tax and Finance continued to be developed in-house until 2005.
21st Century - Internet and broadband
The invention and adoption of the internet coupled with increasing broadband capability has been responsible for a step change and a rapid acceleration in the pace of technology.
Rother has had a web presence for less than 10 years but we now expect all our information to be available via the web and services to be delivered online so our customers can self-serve. The Rother District has had 99% broadband coverage for about 4 years but many of us already regard broadband as simply a utility like electricity and use our computers regularly at home. Government has pledged 2Mbps broadband service to all homes by 2012.
Monthly internet activity in the UK (2009) shows how the internet is already firmly rooted in our daily lives:
§ Google§ 38 million searches / § E-bay
§ 21 million visits / § Amazon
§ 16 million visits
The use of mobile phones has had a major impact on our communications over past 10 years – demonstrated by the following graph showing the rapid increase in mobile phone use for sending text messages.
Similarly, the advent of social media is leading to a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. Social media uses the internet and web-based technology to allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. 1½ million pieces of content are shared on Facebook – daily.
As an organisation, the public expect us to deal with increasingly fast and sophisticated means of communication as a matter of course. Whereas, until relatively recently, we communicated mainly via letter or telephone we now have to operate over more channels of communication including e-mail, web-forms and social-media. Ignoring these will mean we could easily fail to capture the public mood or views on key issues.
The Future - Government ICT Strategy
With the strapline "Smarter, cheaper, greener" the Government ICT Strategy, published in January 2010, states "the UK public sector has built an ICT infrastructure that in many instances duplicates solutions across different areas of government".
The Government ICT Strategy will ensure that this infrastructure now goes through a process of standardisation and simplification, to create a common infrastructure designed to enable local delivery suited to local needs. The proposals include:
· a Government Application Store to act as an online portal, allowing the public sector to share and reuse software. A number of applications common to all public-sector bodies will be delivered via the internet;
· a Public Sector Network to deliver a single telecoms infrastructure for the whole public sector;
· government proposes operations from 10-12 data-centres rather than the hundreds currently in use; and
· public sector bodies will use a standard desktop design with common services.
These proposals follow on from the creation of the secure cross-government communications link (Gov Connect) we implemented at Rother last year.
The following page illustrates the pace of technology through a timeline:
IT Value for Money 26 HoT April 2010
Timeline illustrating the Pace of Technology
1900 / 1910 / 1920 / 1930 / 1940 / 1950 / 1960 / 1970 / 1980 / 19902000 / 2010 / 2020 / 2030 / 2040 / 2050 / 2060 / 2070 / 2080 / 2090
IT Value for Money 26 HoT April 2010
3. Recharges for IT ServicesThe Rother IT Division aims to pro-actively support Rother Services, Councillors and partners in the effective and efficient use of technology to deliver the key aims and priorities of the Council.
IT Service costs are fully re-allocated across all Services and negotiated through Service Level Agreements.
Over 70% costs are attributed to 4 Services – Planning, Finance, Corporate Services and Amenities.
2009/10 IT Recharges by Service
Recharges are subdivided into a number of categories:
(i) Annual charge for installed equipment and network costs
(ii) Licence charges for applications software and contribution to corporate software charges
(iii) Recharges for IT support
2009/10 IT Recharges by Category
4. Where the money is spent
· Hardware Assets
In 2009 over 1100 pieces of equipment were supported. Our hardware assets may be summarised as follows:
Equipment Supported – 2009PC / 295 / Laser Printer / 30
Terminal (Thin Client) / 23 / Inkjet Printer / 20
Laptop / 90 / Multi-Function Device / 56
PDA / 25 / Camera / 78
Server / 53 / Scanner / 25
TFT Monitor / 310 / Mobile Phones / 95
Laptop Docking Station / 25
Equipment is replaced on a rolling programme as follows:
· 3 years - Servers
· 4 years - PCs and laptops
· 5 Years – Printers and other equipment e.g. cameras
The importance of a managed refresh of technology equipment is emphasised in a report by the National Audit Office. The report indicates that best commercial practice is to dispose of equipment on a 3 year cycle as this provides savings with regard to maintenance costs, increased staff productivity and the potential for resale. The Technology Service is proposing to sell selected items of equipment but, currently, have no plans to reduce the current refresh cycle time. A regular refresh of equipment allows the opportunity to take advantage of installing more energy efficient equipment and making savings on power consumption.
Installed Equipment Recharges by Service
Service Level Agreements for equipment include contributions for maintenance and a replacement fund.
70% of equipment costs are attributed to 4 Services – Planning, Corporate Services, Finance, and Amenities
2009/10 Installed Equipment Recharges by Service
· Software Assets
A local authority comprises many service areas; consequently alongside the standard office applications for e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, databases and internet access a wide range of specialised software applications are used. Historically, Services have selected the best application for their individual requirements.
Over 80% of software costs are attributed to 4 Services – Finance, Planning, Amenities and Corporate Services.
2009/10 Software Recharges by Service
The current range of systems in use is summarised in Appendix 1 (excluding minor software applications). It should be noted that for any individual software application a number of separate modules may be in use. For example, Strand Election Management currently comprises four modules:
· Strand Election Management
· Strand Telephone Registration
· Strand User Group
· Strand Selchek Postal Vote Scanning
The range of systems and suppliers means that management is complex and linkage between systems costly to achieve.
In a similar way to equipment, software applications have to be maintained to reflect changing legislation and user requirements. Annual licence fees permit use of the software but upgrades incur an additional charge as well as the need for supplier expertise and user time for testing. Upgrades have to be applied within specified timeframes to ensure continued supplier support for their product.
· Services
IT Services deliver an extensive level of services to users across the Council. These may be summarized in the following table:
Customer and Service Support SectionCustomer Service
Ø Service Desk
Ø Frontline User Support
Ø Technical Support
o Applications
o Hardware
Ø User Communications
Ø Desktop replacement programme
Ø Mobile/Remote User Support e.g. Cllrs
Ø Multi-function device support
Ø Mobile phone management
Ø Council Chamber equipment / Infrastructure Support
Ø Networks
o County, Wired, Wireless
Ø Broadband provision
Ø Platforms / Servers
Ø Storage Management
Ø Security
o Back-up/Server Images
o Penetration Testing
o Anti-virus, Mailsweeper
o Web Monitoring
o Code of Connection
Ø Telephony
Ø Mobile Communications
Ø Communication Channels
Ø E-mails/internet access
Operations and Admin. Support
Ø Asset management/end-user equipment
Ø Supplier/Contract Management
Ø Procurement
Ø IT Continuity Management
Ø Budgetary Control
Ø Record keeping
Ø Service Level Agreements
Ø Licensing Compliance
Ø Operations
o Central Equipment
o Printing
o Scheduling
Business Development and Application Support Section
Business Development
Ø Business Analysis
Ø Business Process Improvement
Ø Project Management
Ø Transformational Government
Ø Research & Development
Ø Partnership Working / Application Support
Ø GIS Management
Ø Information/Knowledge Management
Ø Application Integration
Ø Office Products
Ø DIP & Workflow
Ø Authentication
Ø Web Content Management
Ø Web Services
Ø Major systems support
o Ocella
o Uniform
o Academy
o Agresso
o Strand
o IBS
o DTE
Corporate Data Management
Ø Citizen Index
Ø Local Land & Property Gazetteer
Ø Street Naming & Numbering
Ø Systems Integration & Support
o Clearcore
o Infoshare
o SharePoint
There are many elements of service delivery that are not obvious or visible to end-users but which play a part in the delivery of an effective service. Examples include:
· Network Infrastructure - We operate a network with data stored on central server computers which users access from their PCs or other devices. These connections require management. For example, users are assigned access rights according to their location and position in our organisational structure. From the computer and communications rooms at the Town Hall we connect to the county network and remote sites e.g. Beeching Road and Battle CHP as well as across the Town Hall site. To enable this our infrastructure includes transmission media such as cables, telephone lines, laser and wireless links and also equipment to connect network segments (switches) and forward information (routers). Management and monitoring of this is an important service function.
· Security – we have a wide range of security measures in place to protect the Rother network and Council data. This includes automatic checks on e-mails to trap viruses but alongside this significant staff time is spent on manual checks to make sure users only receive relevant e-mails so that time and storage space is not wasted on “spam” e-mails. Perpetrators of malicious software commonly use e-mail with infected attachments or links to illegitimate websites to attack organisations. The consequences of a virus attack on the Council could amount to many days without network or telephone connections. In May 2009, LB Ealing shutdown three times following a virus attack and re-infection; there were major cost implications to the Council (see Appendix 2). The stringent requirements for connection to the Government Secure Extranet have recently had a significant impact on our security management and monitoring.
· IT Continuity Management – measures to prevent loss of IT Services and to ensure the service can be recovered quickly in the event of a disaster.
· Licence management – ensuring we have valid licences for the use of all software and where software is not being used that the licences are re-deployed. Microsoft have a team dedicated to auditing customers to ensure compliance with their licensing agreements. Many organisations, including local authorities, have been found to be under licensed with considerable financial consequences.
· Research and development – staff keep up-to-date with technology developments so that new products can be introduced at Rother where beneficial. An example is an innovative authentication solution for which we are a pilot site; this product has recently been awarded full Government security approval.