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St.Helens Council

ICT Corporate Strategy 2016 – 2020

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ICT Corporate Strategy 2016-2020

Content

Context and Background. Digital by Default using intuitive on-line services design. Back Office Transformation. Automating Services Using the Cloud to our advantage Agile Working Unified Communications and Collaboration Partnership working Governance, Resourcing, and Standards St Helens Council ICT projects underway in support of the 2020 vision. Appendices.

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ICT Corporate Strategy 2016 – 2020 Context and Background. The ICT Strategy for 2016 – 2020 is one which is designed around the flexibility to adapt the delivery of ICT Services in line with the Councils 2020 vision which has at its heart the following four key themes:

Growing the Economy

Sustainable Health and Social Care

Raising Aspiration and Ambition

Being better connected From an ICT perspective, it reflects the ever changing nature of technology to build a platform which will not only allow that vision to come into being but will sustain it into the future. The strategy has been developed in a time of considerable uncertainity, and when there is a greater expectation of the ICT services being delivered by the public and Council officers alike which incorporate secure, innovative, and flexible ways of working exploiting the technological advances that they see in their everyday lives. The strategy has a number of key themes which are addressed in this summary document;

Allowing residents and businesses to interact with us digitally.

Adoption of a citizen centric model based on a “digital vision” to allow them to conduct their business with us from wherever and whenever they choose and with a device of choice.

Promoting partnership working, especially in the Social Care, Health, and Voluntary sectors, with appropriate and secure connectivity in place to allow us to digitally interact in a “seamless” way.

Adopting a flexible and secure infrastructure that can be adapted to meet the Councils changing ICT needs.

Supporting our employess and elected members to perform their duties anywhere and anytime.

Promoting productivity and efficiencies through collaboration and information sharing.

Prioritising ICT resources through proper and sound governance arrangements ensuring value for money is delivered.

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Providing a suitable ICT platform has required us to predict and forecast what ICT services will look like in the future and how the landscape is being transformed, not only at a local level but equally addressing national strategies and trends. In developing a strategy much research has gone into trying to understand what the future or “To Be” state of ICT will be from both a technology and resource perspective. It has looked at how other Councils are shaping their ICT into the future and exploring new service delivery mechanisms with multiple vendors all offering their own brand and take on what the best strategic position should be. The strategy has considered what is happening at the highest level in respect of national ICT strategies, for example the outcomes of the Greening ICT strategy and other white papers and reports which document with examples how the landscape of ICT in Government is changing across the UK. Internally produced documents and strategies including “Technology and a two tier society – The Digital Divide” produced by the Councils Customer Services section have also been reviewed and endorsed by the strategy, this document itself having drawn on national initiatives and recommendations. Creating a flexible and fit for purpose ICT environment is a complicated matter when you consider the significant and evolving arena that ICT now operates in, and that it underpins most if not all of the services that the Council provides. The summary in this document looks at the key areas in which ICT is adapting to support the Council 2020 vision and the methodologies and associated technologies that will be utilised to support that.

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Digital by Default using intuitive on-line services design. Interacting with the public or businesses is a key element of our strategy and in particular creating access to transactional services using a seamless environment. Expanding access to on-line services over multi channel devices is a challenge in its own right, and ensuring that it done in a secure fashion further increases that challenge. The creation of on-line services via the web, or using apps over mobile devices is a key element to realising this vision by allowing the pubic to consume our services across a device and environment of their choice wherever and whenever they want. This is even more relevant as the general usage of these smart devices increases across all areas of society and they become commonplace. Delivering transactional services across a common portal that works on both web and mobile will be implemented to promote the ease of access and use to both citizens, partner organisations, and businesses. Understanding how quickly things are changing in society with respect to technology is strategically very important because the landscape in terms of who has access to a device that can be easily used today will be very different as we move towards 2020 and beyond as these smart devices become ever more prolific. Transactional services and “Digital by Default” are key to any on-line strategy and using a methodology based on the eighteen points in the government prescribed digital by default service standard (See Appendix A) and alignment to Gov.UK best practice will be used to ensure we deliver the right services to our citizens. These standards are integrated into the existing ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000 IT Service Management and ISO 27001 Information Security Management standards which the Councils ICT delivery environment already operates under. The governments National ICT strategy and other strategic documentation based on research carried out by many professional bodies serve to direct our approach to ICT and ensure that we avoid re-inventing the wheel or moving away too much from nationally embraced approaches. Access to services securely using identity management via a centralised service, for example those being promoted by GDS (Gov.UK Verify service) are essential in ensuring a secure seamless platform is created between services which in turn will lead to the ability to create personalised accounts that allow us to model the local government experience on those already being provided the likes of Amazon, Facebook etc… These personal accounts and the information gathered will allow data analytics to be performed giving a truly personalised service and directing appropriate resources to those citizens.

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Access to partner information and delivering this through our own channels is a key element of intuitive design by being able to provide up to date information and transactional access brokered through partner sites. Incorporating the use of Open Data where appropriate will open up an ever increasing and largely untapped resource where we will integrate this largely freely available resource into our everyday applications and alongside our own data sources will provide a richer experience in information provision to our citizens. Intuitive service design will further reduce those who may be digitally excluded and this in tandem with the exploration of user journeys, self-help and other methods of interaction will further encourage the use of this channel of access, for example the use of kiosks or face to face situations assisted by mobile technology at a place of their choosing. This is a huge area of transformation and one that is tightly bound to the transformation of the back office systems and how they interact. The need to manage the data collected through these new channels and interact directly with the back end systems will be achieved by direct integration providing real time data access, removal of the need to rekey information and a streamlined approach to the way in which this information is used.

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Back Office Transformation. Digitising the back-office functions is nothing new, however the need to increase the pace at which this happens is becoming ever greater and is a core piece of the Councils ICT strategy and transformational vision in line with the overarching 2020 vision.

Automating Services.

A considerable amount of work has been done around the automation of back office systems, particularly in the area of those systems which have been developed over many years by in-house resources. This has been driven more and more over the last two years by the reduction in the Councils workforce and the need to automate the processes which were once manually delivered. It is true to say that transformational reviews have brought on board new systems be they in-house or external package based systems which have or will bring about savings and new ways of working ridding us of the manual service usage structures that have previously existed. The use of mobile technology will allow the once back office only functions to be completed out of the office and to remove the need for rekeying of data by making use of the information gathered in the field. Connectivity with our partners and other organisations is an essential part of back office transformation and automation. In the area of Health and Social Care the Council has established secure connectivity via our Public Services Network connection to the NHS N3 spine which allows us to securely access and update relevant Social Care and Health data, this approach means that the Council moving forward will have access to up to date information and be able to easily share and retrieve the data relevant to us, and supports the Councils ambition to further integrate Health and Social Care systems ans services. As with the use of mobile technology this will remove data duplication and the need to rekey information. The Councils ability to use applications that work both on and offline is a key enabler when automating systems to overcome the issue of mobile access (be that 3G, 4G or wireless access) which is not available in many areas of the town. Some examples of apps already developed or that are being developed include the following and demonstrate that our transformational strategic journey has already begun.

A responsive repairs app which uses web services to interact with an existing backend system, which has enabled real time information transfer and

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eliminated the need for back office rekeying of data. In addition this has leveraged the value of existing systems by optomising and resusing them.

A new Street and Highways maintenance system to give real time access to information and send that information back to the centre.

A Markets app allowing payments to be taken and stored in the back office environment.

A School Catering system which will allow real time ordering and stock maintenance as well as providing an innovative interface for school children to select their meals in the classroom, and to interact both for payments and review purposes with the child’s parents.

Using the Cloud to our advantage. The adoption of cloud based services will assist this digitisation process and has proved successful in other Council’s – examples of best practice are emerging but it is still early days. The adoption of cloud to the areas which it has a best fit is the important factor here and extensive research has been undertaken to assess our “readiness” for cloud adoption and to steer this towards the most relevant areas. Cloud can be deployed in a number of “as a service(aaS)” models, and includes IaaS (Infrastructure), PaaS (Platform), Saas(Software) , AaaS(Application), any of which can be utilised by the Council dependant on specific need and circumstance. Whilst it is relatively straightforward to identify systems and services that could operate out of the cloud it does notnecessarily follow that they would best be placed there at least initially, dependency mapping is the real key to determining what is logically a good candidate for cloud around existing systems and this process is being performed by the Council as part of this strategic alignment. The strategy aims to deliver fit for purpose and best fit systems and these may be cloud, on-premise, or hybrid, each being assessed on its own merits. Early candidates for cloud adoption include Microsoft Office linked with the Councils introduction of SharePoint to replace the outdated Electronic Records and Document Management system that are currently being used and to make these easily accessible under the agile platforms we are now introducing for example tablet and smart phone devices, as well as the existing traditional desktop. The assessment and dependency mapping once complete will give a true picture of what is likely to be a hybrid solution and the start of St. Helens Council’s cloud journey and that is strategically significant to the Council because it makes the ICT flexible and adaptable. Looking at other areas of good practice and considering Government as Platform, the use of cloud and the modular integration of services provided by the cloud could bring the Council some strategic key advantages.

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Allowing us to bolt together different services from cloud based providers including ourselves we can start to move away from total service provision from one vendor and realise the savings that this can bring as well as the optimised components that these individual modules can offer. Cloud utilisation is happening already with our in-house development team creating our first cloud based apps in Microsoft Azure. Building on an e-citizen portal these new cloud apps will be a key factor in all future developments where the appropriateness of cloud must be considered. The Public Services Network (PSN) considerations will ensure we satisfy the criteria of where our data can reside in the cloud with respect to CESG requirements, as well as secure linkages (API’s) to our on premise data. Cost modelling which is being utilised as part of this assessment and will determine suitability from that perspective on top of the actual ability to deploy cloud services. Irrespective of what aspects of cloud are strategically deployed, the Council will have a significant on premise presence in terms of infrastructure which includes both compute and storage. The on premise infrastructure will be;

Reliable

Secure

Accredited

Virtualised

Adaptable

Agile working. Agile working strategically supports the Councils 2020 Vision transformation plan.

Changing workforce demands and the need to improve workspace utilisation will mean equipping the modern worker with a higher degree of technology and enabling more services to be delivered at point of need, unconstrained by the office environment. Whilst this may increase initial deployment costs the benefit of having greater mobility within the workforce will pay dividends elsewhere in terms of productivity gains and a lowering of accommodation costs. A dispersed and flexible workforce will significantly impact organisational culture, changing behaviours and expectations in relation to communication, collaboration, distance management and trust.

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Meeting these demands will require greater insight into job functions and work-styles to deploy a tailored but consistent and effective technology solution that is highly resilient. This will result in fewer fixed workstations and more tablet, laptop, or smart phone devices being deployed, breaking the link between employee and workspace. In fact where people sit will be irrelevant. Speed of deployment will be essential and will be met through an extended portfolio of devices and applications. Increasing the number of portable devices in circulation will change the way ICT support is provided and make effective mobile device management critical in order to keep devices and data safe and secure. The Council has implemented InTunes on under SCCM to achieve this. Intuitive mobile solutions that are bandwidth light and device operating system agnostic, will allow more options for using technology in customer situations and for previously isolated tasks to be joined up and delivered by peripatetic multi skilled workers, working across organisational boundaries in a shared spirit of collaboration.

The adoption of an agile and lean workforce is something that most if not all Councils are striving towards. Agile will drive the move from paper to digital by enabling access to electronic versions of paper based documents and forms to the mobile workforce. The Councils adoption of Microsoft SharePoint at both desktop and application level will ensure that relevant documentation is available to whoever needs it and wherever it is required, in built workflow will ensure proper routing of documents and realise its own efficiencies. The delivery of essential training by e-learning methodologies will mean that all officers are appropriately trained and in line with flexible working can consume this training whenever and wherever they wish. The deployment of smart devices to employees will mean that they are able to work from anywhere including from home and will be a key driver to the rationalisation of buildings utilisation and smart working. Whilst the Council evaluated virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) a number of years ago, the deployment of tablets and smartphones is in essence enabling agile working by default without the need for us to invest in expensive on or off premise infrastructures. The use of these devices and adaptability in system design mean that we will provide apps that not only work in a responsive state (as per a general public access model) but will work in a true off line state to accommodate the use of these devices in the numerous areas around the borough in which true connectivity cannot be achieved.

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The Council is replacing its fleet of Multi-Function Devices (MFD’s) and this will see a more rationalised fleet deployment to mirror the current and perceived decline in print. The decline in print from these devices will see improved integration with other back office functions, for example they will assist in the scanning process and automated document routing into SharePoint repositories which can be securely accessed by all. This will ensure the Council as a significant advantage in the way it manages its documents both in terms of classification and retention. By adopting an agile approach the Council can not only realise significant efficiencies but it also has the potential to make significant savings through a buildings rationalisation programme which only the adoption of agile working can achieve. An effective buildings management strategy can only be fully realised once agile working is factored into the equation. By giving officers access to smart devices we can transform the back office completely and in many cases officers will be able to work from home or in a true mobile state which will allow the work space required to be reduced and reduce accommodation costs. The Council is deploying Windows 10 tablets which allow officers to use these both at their desktop and on a mobile basis. These tablets essentially blend the traditional desktop with the ability to deploy applications that work in the most appropriate way for the individual consuming them. The deployment of tablet devices with or without a smartphone is aligning the organisations requirements to individuals and is part of a wider profiling project that is being undertaken around unified communications.

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Unified Communications and Collaboration. In general and at a more tactical level, officers will need to become comfortable in using different devices with modern designs, interfaces, and adaptable to change. Outside of face-to-face and verbal approaches e-mail is currently the communication tool of choice within the Council. Over 128,500 internal emails, and 1,000 Sametime messages are sent every week across the Council. Teams and services will adopt an “internal multi-channel” approach using other tools to share and develop ideas and relying less on storing documents on closed network drives. As the channel shift surrounding the use of mobile technologies and devices will present realistic mechanisms for the delivery of these initiatives, functionality already included within our licensing agreements will be reviewed and if appropriate, deployed. The review of telephony services and infrastructure will also take into consideration the functional requirements for the delivery of these initiatives. Offerings outside of traditional handsets will enable staff to break free from the desk by offering a “one device” approach for contact. This functionality extends the same corporate communication features staff enjoy on desktops to mobile phones and tablets. Staff can be as effective on the go as when they are in the office. Leveraging the corporate network and Wi-Fi in addition to mobile plans to deliver communications functions and working in an agile fashion. The Councils ambitions to further integrate Health and Social Care systems, will be well supported by this new way of working. Office Productivity Software The length of this strategy and aligned with the Councils 2020 vision will see newer versions of Microsoft Office deployed within the organisation. Upon the renewal of our Enterprise Subscription agreement in December 2016, the concept of consuming these products from the cloud as well as on premise will be a real achievable prompting the introduction of an office 365 environment. Other functionality and integration within the Office productivity suite will be considered to sustain a more agile workforce. The use of presence software which is provided by our Domino platform as “Sametime”, will be integrated to allow us to deploy it across our mobile platform and to build into any applications whether they be in-house or externally supplied and consumed through smart devices. Allowing collaboration such as instant messaging, meetings, conferencing, and video streaming will drive forward a shift in the way that the Council interacts across its

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workforce and break down the formalised barriers associated with face to face or other cumbersome collaborative approaches. Collaborative / Partnership Working / Shared Working Initiatives The ability to work more effectively with our partners and third parties across the public, private and voluntary sector is an essential goal for the Council. At the same time national initiatives and legislation are driving the requirement for integrated information systems and data across the public sector, with the current economic challenges also necessitating more efficient use of property and technology assets. From a technology point of view successful partnership working is underpinned by an ability to transfer seamless, secure and reliable information between organisations in order to fully integrate services. Whilst information governance will be key, the technical challenges to deliver integration are not insignificant. Data must remain secure across public and private networks and data centres. Further expansion of the connectivity available to us across the PSN will allow us to share and access information securely and to implement a joined up environment. St.Helens Council is part of the Liverpool City Region (LCR) and it is vital that the ICT services we deliver are capable of not only integrating with other bodies in this region but are capable of doing this seamlessly and securely. The ICT strategy ensures that we are capable of operating within the Liverpool City Region(LCR) and that we can offer a range of services that other Councils may wish to consume from us as well as allowing us to share their respective services. This also offers the opportunity of revenue generation by selling our in-house developed systems and services across a range of platforms. The adoption and use of open standards will allow service interchange and data integration to take place.

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Governance, Project Management , and Standards. Governance A multi-tiered governance structure has been implemented to oversee ICT projects of significance. This structure uses automated processes to identify at the outset of projects the effort involved to deliver it and the beneficial outcomes so that proper approval can be given for anything to proceed. An ICT Programme Board(ICTPB) exists to evaluate projects and to approve these in line with the Councils ICT strategy, this group consists of officers at a Senior level. The ICT programme Board in turn reports to an Information Management Group(IMG) on issues affecting or relating to ICT and data management. Business Relationship Management and Annual Customer Surveys have been integrated into the fabric of ICT because it is essential that we understand what our customers think of the service we deliver. ITIL best practice as been adopted over many years because we want to have in place a high standard of ICT Service Management and Delivery.

Project Management. Projects will be managed through a combined MSP (Managing Successful Programmes) and PRINCE2 environent which allows tracking and monitoring to occur and appropriate interventions to be made. Small scale ICT projects will be managed under a tailored version of PRINCE2 because these projects whilst not requiring the indepth processes of MSP/PRINCE2 still require a structure to allow them to be concluded successfully.

Standards. The Councils ICT operates and will contuinue to operate under anumber of standards. ISO/IEC 20000:2011 – ICT Service Management Standard. Held for over 11 years, this is core to the efficient and managed delivery of ICT services. ITIL best practice has been re-enforced and is externally audited to ensure a consistent approacj whilst incorporating a continual service improvement cycle. ISO 27001 – ICT Security Standard. The Councils data centres are certified under ISO 27001, this ensures a safe and secure environment for our data and services and because our partners require it assures them that we take data security seriously and allow us to offer services out of secure data centres which is vital for future income generation.

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PSN Code of Connection – Allows us to connect securely with other public sector bodies and via appropriate additional certifications to interconnect with the N3 spine. IGT – Information Governance Toolkit – Achieved to allow secure connectivity through the PSN to the N3 environment. PCI – Payment Card Industry Standard.

The combination of the the above allows us to effectively utilise our resources and provide efficient service delivery across all aspects of ICT because we operate under a proper framework of structures that bring things together.

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St Helens Council ICT projects underway in support of the 2020 vision.

Infrastructure review

A review of the current compute and storage infrastructure. This project is a fundamental review of our service delivery platform which is currently deployed on premise almost in its entirety. Evaluation of cloud solutions has been conducted with an assessment readiness and dependency mapping forming the basis of a five year plan to migrate to cloud – this “Infratsructure and Cloud Strategy” is discussed in detail in a further document. In terms of cloud have looked at Microsoft Azure, IBM Softlayer and Bluemix, and other solutions. In respect of on premise solutions we have consulted with a number of suppliers and we are ready to go to tender for the elements that we determine will need to stay on premise as we implement our cloud journey. These will largely be based on a virtual environment with a review of the current hyper-visor included in the assessment. A key element of this review will include our two data centres and the potential closure of one of these facilities by cloud adoption coupled with a reduced footprint associated with any on premise elements allowing us to better utilise existing satellite computing facilities within the Council. Local Area Network (LAN) The current infrastructure has been in place for seven years, is no longer fit for purpose and is approaching “end of life”. The new implementation will seamlessly interconnect with the existing core network infrastructure to provide a more robust environment with increased performance, resiliency and capacity. It has been designed to integrate fully with the existing PSN (public services network) / WAN (wide area network) infrastructure to provide a consistent platform across all corporate networks and makes use of in-built PSN network failover resiliency to further protect connectivity to the key locations. In addition, future growth together with expected take-up of services e.g. expanded VOIP telephony and wireless services, have been built into the design principles. A tender has been drawn up based on moving this upgrade project forward. Wide Area Network (WAN) Purchased under the PSN connectivity framework, the rollout of the VirginMedia PSN compliant IPVPN WAN is scheduled for completion this summer. This service covers 117 sites.

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Internet Connectivity We now have 1gb resilient links in place at each of our two computing facilities. Telephony and UC. Options have been looked at in terms of upgrading the incumbent Avaya system and services, including product demonstrations with internal stakeholders. A tender is in progress to progress this project. Work has started on reviewing and renewing analogue, ISDN, broadband and mobile phone contracts. Multi-Function Device Fleet. We have researched options around fleet rationalisation and deployment and we are out to tender for the replacement fleet. This tender takes on board the review of the new fleet in respect of decline in print, rise of potential scanning, and the introduction of agile working.

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Appendix A. Digital Service Design Standard.

The Service Standard ensures digital teams build high quality government services.

A transactional service must meet each criterion to pass the Government Digital Service assessment.

Assisted digital support is an integral part of any service, helping users who can't complete the service on their own.

This design standard will compliment the IT Service Management standard ISO/IEC 20000 which the Councils IT section has held for over ten years.

The criteria

Understand user needs. Research to develop a deep knowledge of who the service users are and what that means for the design of the service.

Put a plan in place for ongoing user research and usability testing to continuously seek feedback from users to improve the service.

Put in place a sustainable multidisciplinary team that can design, build and operate the service, led by a suitably skilled and senior service manager with decision-making responsibility.

Build the service using the agile, iterative and user-centered methods set out in the manual.

Build a service that can be iterated and improved on a frequent basis and make sure that you have the capacity, resources and technical flexibility to do so.

Evaluate what tools and systems will be used to build, host, operate and measure the service, and how to procure them.

Evaluate what user data and information the digital service will be providing or storing, and address the security level, legal responsibilities, privacy issues and risks associated with the service (consulting with experts where appropriate).

Make all new source code open and reusable, and publish it under appropriate licenses (or provide a convincing explanation as to why this cannot be done for specific subsets of the source code).

Use open standards and common government platforms where available.

Be able to test the end-to-end service in an environment identical to that of the live version, including on all common browsers and devices, and using dummy accounts and a representative sample of users.

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Make a plan for the event of the digital service being taken temporarily offline.

Create a service that is simple and intuitive enough that users succeed first time.

Build a service consistent with the user experience of the rest of GOV.UK including using the design patterns and style guide.

Encourage all users to use the digital service (with assisted digital support if required), alongside an appropriate plan to phase out non-digital channels/services.

Use tools for analysis that collect performance data. Use this data to analyse the success of the service and to translate this into features and tasks for the next phase of development.

Identify performance indicators for the service, including the 4 mandatory key performance indicators (KPIs) defined in the manual. Establish a benchmark for each metric and make a plan to enable improvements.

Report performance data on the Performance Platform.

Test the service from beginning to end with the minister responsible for it.