Common ICT Capability

Government ServicesManaging the Data Flood

Agenda

A bit about me

Common Capabilities - Opinion

The Future (is now) – The coming Data Flood

How Common Capabilities can support that direction

Questions

Isis Group

Small company that is focussed on transformational change of business and ICT

Primary work is currently moving government agencies (mostly) to take up Cloud (in various forms), through Common Capabilities (mostly), and implementing Service Management to support those new technologies

A bit about me:

Twenty Five years in the industry

Freelance writing and blogging for about the same (various publications, currently National Business Review and CIO.com amongst others)

Author of two books “How to migrate your ICT services to Cloud” and “Wellington as a Smart City”

Have worked with and researched Common Capability for some time, these are my personal views and opinion

Common Capabilities Fit in a world of Government Services

Designed to encourage government agencies to share services, save money, and support better Public Service

Generally managed by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and consist of sixteen individual services

Not to be confused with All of Government services

Is a mixture of products, services, directives, and can be confusing

Some are “mandated” some are not

Some are very well constructed and some are not

Common Capability ListCapability Capability

Common Web Platform Large Account Reseller

Common Web Services Microsoft Licensing Framework

Confirmation Service Office Productivity as a Service (OPaaS)

Desktop as a Service (DaaS) One.Govt

Enterprise Content Management RealMe Login

ICT Security and Related Services Panel

RealMe Verified Account Service

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) SEEMail

IT Managed Services (ITMS) Shared Workspace

Common Capability - Grouping

Licensing: Microsoft, Large Account Reseller

Telecommunications: One.Govt

Security: ICT Security Panel, RealMe, SEEMail

Cloud: Infrastructure, Desktop, and Office Productivity

Web Tools: Common Web Platform and Common Web Services

Information Management: Enterprise Content Management

Open Data: Confirmation Service

Licensing

Allows government to save money through bulk purchasing by joining contracts such as Microsoft agreement

Positive: Saves money and time

Caution: None

Mandated: No

Telecommunications

One.Govt is a service that can take care of network services along with related capabilities

Delivered by: Dimension Data (single provider)

Positive: One stop shop for telecommunications

Negative: Cost and likely to be replaced (TaaS RFI) so future uncertain

Mandated: Yes (but shouldn’t be)

Security

A cluster of services that support increased security

Delivered by: multiple providers

Positive: Less of a need for RFP process

Negative: None

Mandated: Yes

Cloud: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Provides a virtualised environment along with disc storage that is similar to Cloud

Delivered by: IBM, Datacom, and Revera (Gen-I)

Positive: Cost (usually), provides foundation for wider Cloud adoption, flexibility, risk avoidance, pay for what you use

Negative: Cost compared to international (soon to be national) IaaS, short life (will be replaced by other Cloud services), not quite as flexible as international IaaS

Mandated: Yes

Cloud: Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Delivers a virtual desktop based on your current organisation that can be accessed anywhere, anytime, securely, on any device, and includes wrapper services such as Service Desk

Delivered by: Datacom, Dimension Data, Fujistu, Telecom (Revera & Gen-I)

Positive: Allows for Mobile Worker and BYOD, pay for what you use, very cost competitive (even against international services)

Negative: None

Mandated: No

Cloud: Office Productivity (OPaaS)

Is effectively Microsoft 365 for government including email, calendaring, and some other services

Delivered by: Datacom

Positive: Subsequent phases might deliver something of value

Negative: Too late, very difficult to deploy (integration), has been pipped at the post by Desktop as a Service

Mandated: No

Web Tools: Common Web Platform and Common Web Services

Provides a set of web platform and other web services

Delivered by: SilverStripe (platform), other services by multiple parties

Positive: Provides a comprehensive set of services for web

Negative: Single provider

Mandated: No

Information Management: Enterprise Content Management

Enterprise content management service

Delivered by: Intergen, OpenText, TEAM Informatics

Positive: Three enterprise class ECMS to choose from

Negative: Did not include the one ECMS that is already implemented in a third of government, is very new (some teething issues)

Mandated: No

Open Data: Confirmation Service

Confirms customer identity data against passports, births and citizenship databases as well as a deaths check

Delivered by: Data Access Platform

Positive: Better identity management

Negative: None

Mandated: No

Guidance on Choosing Common Capabilities

It is absolutely critical that you document and agree your requirements prior to engaging with Common Capabilities

Sector strategy

Business strategy

ICT strategy

Functional Requirements

Non-functional Requirements

Mandate to use

Talk to others who are in the process of deploying or have deployed for lessons learned

Integration and Service Management are critical

Establish Governance and Risk & Assurance Early (see DIA guidelines)

Summary: General Opinion on Common Capabilities

Positive

Encourages agencies to work together collaboratively

Encourages agencies to keep technology up to date with appropriate investment

Some services (DaaS) are excellent

Negative

Mandates work negatively, we don’t like to be told what to do

The “product” approach is risky versus a guidance approach

The misconception that Common Capability can cater for everything (it can for 15% - 20%)

Some services are redundant already, or if not, will be soon

The Future: The Data Flood is coming

Driver - Big Data

Big data is a blanket term for any collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand data management tools or traditional data processing applications. – Wikipedia

As we move to more of an online world (smart phones), the amount of data we capture increases exponentially

Our customers want to interact with us on a digital platform, not a face to face platform (it’s too slow)

The requirement then is that we collect increasing amounts of data that must be turned into real-time information that is accessible anytime, anywhere, on any device

Driver - Open Data

Open Government Information and Data Work Programme (DIA):

make non-personal government-held data and information more widely available and discoverable, easily usable and compliant with open government data principles within the NZ legal context; and

facilitate agencies’ release of the non-personal government-held data and information that people, communities, and businesses want to use and re-use.

Data must be shared be default where it can be (privacy)

That data must be robust and always available

The requirement is then for us to make available (non-attributable) data anytime, anywhere, in a robust fashion for other’s to consume

Driver - Smart (sensing) Cities

Globally, residents are demanding Smart Cities driven by information that is extracted from the Flood of Data

The Internet of Things describes the new environment that will collect data and relay back information to residents

Local government is at the heart of this movement and must adapt to this new model or face irrelevance as it is built around them

It is not for local government to buy, build, or create these services, it is for local government to make data and information available to feed them while extracting value for future planning

Miramar Hackathon example

It’s here now

Smart (sensing) Cities - Examples

Sensors everywhere; personal smartphones, cars, buses, cameras, road side counters, water systems, air quality, sewage systems, weather, bicycles, taxis, and more

Real-time public transport (and taxi) information including arrival time, congestion, number of people on the service, and other information

Traffic management and analysis in order to decrease congestion and ease flows (Artificial Intelligence already operating in this area overseas)

Free wireless

Fault logging (and things like pothole management)

Artificial Intelligence controlled irrigation

Digital collaboration in all things controlled by the city including redefining the consultation process between local bodies and residents

Recap: What we know so far

We have access to a number of Common Capabilities that may or may not suit our purposes

We have a Flood of data coming at us today that will only increase as sensors

We have requirements from Government to make that data open where we can for others to reuse

Citizens demand increased information from us and digital interaction

The Challenge

Local government is responsible for managing the data and resulting information to meet these requirements.

The Data Flood pours into local body at an increasing rate however, not all data needs to be kept. The value of data in this context is largely determined by time. The vast proportion only has value for minutes, if hours.

That data has to be processed into information, not necessarily by local government, and made available to the organisation (longer) and the world (shorter).

We must engage the ICT community to build the applications based on data and information we make available.

This requires a very strong strategy, discussion amongst local bodies, and then a plan to deliver.

Common Capabilities: Managing the Data Flood

We know that not all Common Capabilities will provide for all of our requirements, however, most will either:

Help us manage the Data Flood

Help us Open Data

Help us as an organisation

If we revisit the Common Capabilities with those in mind, we see a different view

Licensing

Allows government to save money through bulk purchasing by joining contracts such as Microsoft agreement

This is about saving money, so is positive for the organisation itself, however as a strategy adds little value

Telecommunications

One.Govt is a service that can take care of network services along with related capabilities

As the amount of data increases the network becomes more critical and more specialised

When we want our residents in interact with us digitally, we must ensure that the network is a very resilient, very supportable, very highly available services because otherwise we will lose their confidence and spend a large amount of money supporting it

As we move more to Mobile Worker, the network becomes increasingly important

Security

A cluster of services that support increased security

Warning: Do not mistake security for privacy

Privacy is the set of requirements that the business has for data and information

Security is the set of tools that meet those requirements that are generally delivered by ICT

The Security Common Capability provides access to a very wide group of professionals who can help you

Cloud: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Provides a virtualised environment along with disc storage that is similar to Cloud

As the growth of data is exponential, more and more storage is required

The IaaS service (whether Common Capability or delivered by a global Cloud Provider, i.e. Amazon) allows for you to grow that storage rapidly and pay for what you consume

The IaaS service allows for different tiers of storage at different costs. For example, information that must be delivered in real-time is stored on more expensive disc where archival data can be stored on slower disc

The IaaS can be made public so anyone can access the data (think DropBox on steroids)

Note: Datacom and Revera are in the process of bringing Amazon archival disc into their product set

Cloud: Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Delivers a virtual desktop based on your current organisation that can be accessed anywhere, anytime, securely, on any device, and includes wrapper services such as Service Desk

Allows you to unlock Mobile Worker and also BYOD

Allows you to give secure access to external customers

Provides the foundation, potentially, for Application Virtualisation (your own App Store)

Cloud: Office Productivity (OPaaS)

Is effectively Microsoft 365 for government including email, calendaring, and some other services

Has been effectively replaced by Desktop as a Service

Keep a watching brief, other services are planned in the future

Web Tools: Common Web Platform and Common Web Services

Provides a set of web platform and other web services

Has clear value in an increasingly online world

Information Management: Enterprise Content Management

Enterprise content management service

Potentially ok for internal use, however, noting that data is becoming more open, you should check to see how services can scale. I.e. Can they deal with several thousand residents logging in to use it and what would that cost?

Consider other Software as a Service (SaaS) ECM’s for external use

Open Data: Confirmation Service

Confirms customer identity data against passports, births and citizenship databases as well as a deaths check

Will have applications in the area of identity

Final Thoughts & Advice

The Data Flood is coming and local government will be at the forefront of it

Residents demand data be made open

Common Capabilities can be utilised as tools to support your wider strategy to manage this, however you will require supplemental tools to assist

Ignore the “mandate” – Either the service is of value to you, or it is not

Talk to others

Spend time with DIA to understand the service available

Setup the following email alerts on Google News:

Smart City

Internet of Things

Questions

You can find me at:

ian@isisgroup.co.nz

www.isisgroup.co.nz

www.whatisitwellington.com

Twitter @ianapperley