our vision for ict - whatdotheyknow

Our Visionfor ICT

Corporate Resources – ICT Service

Vision for 2009-2011

Supporting our council and enabling change

Published October 2009 2

Contents

1 Introduction & Background ...................................................................................41.1 Background and executive summary.............................................................41.2 Purpose of this document...............................................................................41.3 Timeframe......................................................................................................5

2 Strategic Context – Our Mission............................................................................62.1 Our Council’s strategic objectives .................................................................62.2 Transformational initiatives ...........................................................................72.3 Government and Other Expectations .............................................................8

3 Our vision.............................................................................................................103.1 Key principles ..............................................................................................10

4 Supporting our customers ....................................................................................134.1 Introduction..................................................................................................134.2 Recap - Where do we want to be? ...............................................................134.3 Where are we now?......................................................................................14

5 Working Effectively as One Council...................................................................185.1 Introduction..................................................................................................185.2 Recap - Where do we want to be? ...............................................................185.3 Where are we now ?.....................................................................................18

6 Making Change Happen Well..............................................................................226.1 Introduction..................................................................................................226.2 Recap - Where do we want to be? ...............................................................226.3 Where are we now?......................................................................................22

7 Where to from here? ............................................................................................257.1 Approval process .........................................................................................25


Left blank – consider an introduction by portfolio holder - CC


1 Introduction & Background

1.1 Background and executive summary

The newly formed Central Bedfordshire Council exists to deliver a range of

comprehensive services to its customers and stakeholders. The Council’s bid for

unitary status outlined a compelling business case for how the authority could bring

local government closer to communities, make policy that better reflects local

concerns and deliver better value public services.

The purpose of the Council's Information & Communications Technology (ICT)

service is to provide a range of services to Council officers/staff, members and other

stakeholders that support the Council's objectives and aspirations. ICT is expected to

play a dual role, providing both a robust and customer focused service and

supporting ICT enabled transformation of services. We also have the additional

challenge of being a new unitary authority created out of three legacy authorities and

so it is essential that we also recognise these in our overall Vision.

Our purpose is to: “Support all Council staff, members and partners to make Central

Bedfordshire better for those who live here and deliver services that are better value

for money.”

In terms of a Vision for ICT this translates as:

‘Keeping the lights on’ but providing a high level of customer service by

ensuring we are customer focused in everything we do;

Supporting our customers to work effectively as ‘One Council’ by ensuring we

have a common ICT platform and can support new and flexible ways of

working;

Making ICT enabled change and delivering real benefits through strong

governance, project management and innovation.

1.2 Purpose of this document

In order to get the most from its ICT investment, the Council recognises that it needs

a business-led ICT approach which will act as a framework for the service to operate

within over the next 2 years.

This document articulates our overall mission (why we’re here) and focuses on our

Vision (what we’re aiming to be). It then articulates in greater detail what the guiding

principles will be for our service and what this means for our stakeholders. Because

we are a new authority, this document not only outlines ICT’s ambitions, but provides

an opportunity for our stakeholders to contribute and express their views.

This document is not intended to be a detailed implementation strategy, and part of

our guiding principles purpose is (as the diagram below shows), to set an agenda for

shaping the building blocks which will enable our Vision to be achieved.


1.3 Timeframe

This vision is aimed predominantly at the medium term (a 2 year timeframe),

however we have also included some short term objectives because these are key

stepping stones to achieving our Vision.

Our Service Plan which is produced on an annual basis will assess progress against

our Vision, and determine any relevant changes required.

Architecture

Operating Model

Governance

Principles

Process

Organisation

Vision& Mission

Our Vision – Setting the agenda for our Strategy


2 Strategic Context – Our Mission

Central Bedfordshire Council is a new authority with a clear mandate from central

government to bring local government closer to where it matters.

In producing our Vision, we are mindful that the Council is only at the beginning of its

journey and that our approach for ICT has to be flexible to accommodate changing

priorities and constraints. We believe that the principles outlined in this document

provide the mechanisms to adapt to

changes without compromising our

overall direction.

We now have a new Executive in place,

and this ICT Vision provides a platform

to inform their thinking in collaboration

with our senior officers. As our new

Chief Executive joins we expect to be

measured on the progress we have

made and what we have delivered.

Although there will be inevitable

changes, it is clear that we will continue

to have a dual purpose both to provide

better services and provide better value

for money.

2.1 Our Council’s strategic objectives

The Council is currently developing its strategic objectives from those outlined in the

original proposal for the creation of Central Bedfordshire made to the Department of

Communities and Local Government (DCLG). ICT will need to play a key role in

delivering these objectives which include: Neighbourhood & Customer Empowerment

and Value for money in public services. ICT will in particular have a key role to play in

the latter.

2.1.1 Neighbourhood and customer empowerment

Central Bedfordshire has no predominant urban centre, but it does have strong multi-

dimensional local communities across villages, towns, parishes and neighbourhoods.

The authority will create a dynamic “place shaping” agenda to empower and address

local concerns through bringing members and services closer to their communities.

Central Bedfordshire Council will also have a key role in managing the growth of the

area and need to work with neighbouring authorities and our partners to achieve

sustainable growth. ICT will need to play a key role in providing better access to

services in a way which is more centred on the needs of the citizen.

2.1.2 Value for money and equity in public services

There has been a sound business case for creating Central Bedfordshire and it will

be a key ambition of the authority to realise the benefits of unitary local government,

particularly within Children’s, Families & Learning and Social care and Housing.. The

“ Our vision for a new Central Bedfordshire councilis based on a growing and dynamic community, withshared objectives of better local services andexcellent value for money. Residents and businessesin Central Bedfordshire will be better represented,and served more effectively by the new unitaryauthority. The new council will be able to reflect andrespond more flexibly to the urban and rural needsof our communities; to promote businessdevelopment, regeneration and growth in a way thatfits our area; andbe focussed on the needs of Central Bedfordshire.”Central Bedfordshire Unitary Proposal


Council will need to gain efficiencies through partnerships and re-engineering

processes so that they are efficient and more cost effective. Transformation will be

key to achieving this goal, and ICT enabled transformation forms a key part of our

vision and resulting strategies.

2.2 Transformational initiatives

The Business Transformation Directorate is responsible for working with Council

staff, members and other stakeholders to determine our vision for transformation.

The following emerging themes have been identified through the work already

undertaken and our understanding of the role that ICT will need to play.

2.2.1 Consolidating our ICT environment

Central Bedfordshire is three authorities joined together by a new network and core

infrastructure. We have invested significantly in a new network and virtual

environment which provides us with a strong foundation to provide secure and

reliable services, however we now need to move all applications onto this network,

primarily to remove the constraints this places on where people work.

For applications duplicated across the legacy district authorities, we have to choose a

single platform because having two systems doing the same thing is not only

inefficient, but it prevents teams from harmonising and transforming the way they

work.

For systems in the legacy County authority, we will need to disaggregate these from

Bedford Borough, not only because this restricts the ability of both authorities to

determine solutions best linked to their own objectives, but also because of data

protection rules which dictate in many cases, that we must disaggregate.

Where possible we need to seize the opportunity to transform our core applications

as we migrate to the new Central Bedfordshire network, and ICT will work closely

with the Business Transformation Directorate to achieve this objective. We cannot

delay this important process, but we cannot afford to ignore the opportunity to

achieve further benefits to offset the costs of this migration.

The advent of a move to Technology House scheduled for March 2010 will unify

accommodation, and facilitate the consolidation of our ICT environment.

2.2.2 Enabling flexibility in where and how we work

Ensuring our people are in suitable accommodation is going to be a key objective for

Central Bedfordshire. We are dispersed over multiple sites, we share offices with

Bedford Borough and we need to balance the need to have a corporate centre with

being close to our communities. Transforming our approach to property and its costs,

represents not only an opportunity for us work more effectively, but also to work more

efficiently.

For ICT, this means that the technology people use needs to support flexible and

mobile working. Our current ICT architecture does not yet fully achieve this

requirement, however we have invested in thin-client technology (Citrix) which allows


people to work practically anywhere there is a secure and reliable fast internet

connection. As we move applications into this environment we will continue to exploit

the benefits of the investment we have already made.

We must also explore complimentary flexible and mobile working technologies which

allow the different needs of users to be met, and efficiencies gained from collecting

data in the field, both to save on data entry costs, but also to empower our staff to

spend more time on higher value activities.

2.2.3 Enabling better ways of working

Part of our role is ‘keeping the lights on’ but the other part is supporting the

implementation of technologies which transform the way we work. Our Vision is that

we will support our customers in identifying the role that ICT has in their service area

throughout the different stages of a project. Working collaboratively, we will help to

filter out the non-viable options and provide the right expertise to enable projects with

a sound business case to succeed. The likely areas where we will focus now and in

the longer term include:

Helping to transform some elements of existing applications as they are

moved to the new network, whilst balancing the need to make migration

happen;

Transforming customer contact – exploring the benefits of Customer

Relationship Management and other technologies to move elements of

services into the contact centre realising financial and service quality benefits;

Building on our existing SAP infrastructure so that it becomes a ‘Cornerstone’

of our ICT capability- this doesn’t mean it will do everything, but we need to

exploit the investment we have already made.

Implementing corporate solutions such as Electronic Document & Records

Management Software (EDRMS) which will help people work more

effectively, securely and have consequences for improving business

processes and customer improvements.

2.3 Government and Other Expectations

2.3.1 Partnership Working Such as Total Place

Backed by £5 million funding the 'Total Place' initiative

will map flows of public spending in local areas and

make links between services to identify where public

money can be spent more effectively. This initiative

forms part of Bichard's work on the Operational

Efficiency Programme looking at the scope for

efficiency savings in the public sector. Central

Bedfordshire is one of the pilot areas, and this serves

as an example of how ICT will need to work effectively

with partners.

Dr Martin Read’s examination of backoffice operations and IT has focusedon the need to improve the collectionand integration of managementinformation into departmentalprocesses, and to introducebenchmarking and performancereviews. His work on IT has aimedparticularly at better governance of IT-enabled projects, and greaterstandardisation andsimplification of IT across the publicsector.

Operational EfficiencyProgramme 2009


2.3.2 From eGovernment to tGovernment

The eGovernment objective was that all of public services in England should be

capable of being delivered electronically by 31 December 2005, originally a target set

for 2008. From December 2001 to April 2006 local authorities were required to

publish an IEG Statement on their degree of e-enablement (electronic enablement).

The measures include BVPI 157 and a series of Priority Outcomes.

A number of central government initiatives and white papers since 2006 have re-

emphasised the important role ICT can play in transforming local government

services. More recently, the Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) report

published in April 2009 presented its findings on the challenges of improving value

for money across the public sector. Although it is recognised that the eGovernment

agenda moved local government forward significantly, it also led to a culture of ’box

ticking’. The OEP report signifies how the Transformational Government agenda is

shifting to a focus on both cost and quality. This includes:

Better use of information and ICT enablement of business processes;

Benchmarking and assessments against other public sector bodies;

Delivery and governance of ICT projects;

Greater standardisation and simplification of ICT systems;

Developing the internal ICT capability within the public sector and continuing

to ’professionalise’ the ICT function

Central Bedfordshire supports these ambitions and our Vision will outline how we

intend to meet these expectations.

2.3.3 Leading practice

ICT is a fast moving area. Technological changes constantly ’disrupt’ our vision,

offering new possibilities, but also requiring skills and capabilities to constantly adapt.

The profession itself is also maturing, and leading practice in ICT management,

process and governance is still in its relative infancy. Some of the key elements of

leading practice we will draw upon however are:

A series of guidelines entitled the ‘National e-Services Delivery Standards’

(NeSDS), sponsored by the Department for Communities and Local

Government (DCLG). These are designed to indicate ‘best practice’ in the

delivery of various local government service areas including ICT and are now

managed by the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM).

SOCITM also publish a number of KPIs which offer the potential for

authorities to benchmark themselves against each other. Where relevant we

will identify which of these KPIs we believe are applicable to our vision.

ITIL provides a framework for implementing customer focused ICT

management (i.e. service management). Although not a standard in itself it

can support our Vision by providing guiding principles and a library of

resources to deliver better and potentially lower cost ICT services.


3 Our vision

We have outlined that our overall mission as a Council is to bring local government

closer to our communities, and provide better value public services. For ICT, our

Vision supports this by adopting three key themes:

Keeping the lights on but ensuring we are customer focused in everything we

do;

Supporting our customers to work effectively as ‘One Council’;

Making ICT enabled change deliver real benefits.

In this section we outline this Vision in more detail, and in the remainder of this

document, we will explore where we are now, and what we’re going to have to do to

achieve our Vision.

3.1 Key principles

ICT principles are shared basic beliefs concerning the management and use of ICT

which will direct the actions of Central Bedfordshire Council. The ICT principles which

guide our Vision will be translated into a set of capabilities, processes, policies and

ultimately, technologies. Actions and decisions taken by ICT will be consistent with

these principles and any exceptions will need to be directed through the appropriate

governing body. Adopting these principles will allow us to:

Provide cost effective and efficient service through adoption of leading

practice;

Raise the performance of ICT across the Council;

Increase the speed and quality by which ICT delivers;

Provide services that are centred around our internal customers’ needs;

Converge to standards.

3.1.1 Keeping the lights on & supporting our customers

At the core of our philosophy is that we are a function primarily here to support our

internal customers. ICT should be ‘business-led’ and we will put our customers at the

heart of everything we do. We won’t just be a service provider however, we also

need to become a strategic partner. We will support the initiation of technology

changes and strive to use the best demonstrated practices wherever possible. Our

key principles under this theme are:

We will build on the foundations of our new technology platform to provide a

secure and resilient ICT service;

We will work in partnership with our customers (our staff and members) to

meet their requirements;


We will adopt leading practice to develop a customer focused service

management capability – with a single point of contact model that is driven by

the Service Desk;

We will manage ICT performance using standard KPIs based on industry and

other leading practice;

We will ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems and

information are commensurate with their criticality and/or potential business

risk.

3.1.2 Working effectively as one Council

Although we are one Council in name, we are still three Councils in terms of our

technology. We have invested in a new network and data centre technology which

provides a sound basis to provide a joined up technology solution to our staff

wherever they may physically reside. We now need to migrate the legacy Council

applications on to this new network - but we must do this in a coordinated way which

balances the huge demand for change with the overall cost and benefits.

We will develop an enterprise architecture that joins up what the business

wants with what is technically possible;

We will explore the possibility of working with partners to get better value for

the extensive migration work required and provide additional temporary

capacity;

We will reduce complexity by rationalising ICT assets and converging towards

agreed standards – however we will balance this with customer need;

We will develop a vision for technologies that can support better ways of

working, particularly those that increase flexibility and mobility.

3.1.3 Making ICT enabled change deliver real benefits

ICT is a key component of transformation – and it is our role to unlock the door to ICT

enabled transformation in delivering better and more cost effective services. Our

Vision for transformation is not just focused on better technology, it’s also about

better governance of ICT projects. We need to be able to filter out initiatives that

won’t meet the Council’s needs and be bold enough to stop doing things which won’t

add value. We also need to be able to nurture good ideas, and make critical projects

a success, both in terms of what they deliver and what they cost.

We will take accountability and ownership of ICT initiatives and clearly define

our role in ICT projects;

We will make ICT investments using a standard methodology governed by

strategic impact, return, risk and architecture and we will help prioritise ICT

investment to ensure key business requirements can be delivered;


We will maximise the value we can achieve from our existing information and

technology assets and we will focus investment on a small number of

strategic vendors, e.g. SAP to avoid reinventing the wheel;


4 Supporting our customers

4.1 Introduction

As stated previously, at the core of our philosophy is that we are a function primarily

here to support our internal customers. In Creating Central Bedfordshire, the Council

had to implement new infrastructure in a very short timescale and we recognise that

our internal customers did not always feel at the heart of what ICT was doing. Going

forward, we are a corporate ICT department, and that means balancing the needs of

individual users with a corporate ICT vision that has to be focused on the overall cost

and value of providing ICT across the Council. In many ways, we need to think of

ourselves as ‘buyers’ and ‘sellers’ of ICT services.

The diagram below illustrates our role, an ‘intelligent client’ managing relationships

with our suppliers on behalf of our internal customers. However, we will also be

applying the same rigour to the services we provide ourselves by establishing

internal service levels and controls.

4.2 Recap - Where do we want to be?

As stated in Section 4 – our Vision for ‘Supporting Our Customers; is:

We will build on the foundations of our new technology platform to provide a

secure and resilient ICT service;

We will work in partnership with our customers (our staff and members) to

meet their requirements;

We will adopt leading practice to develop a customer focused service

management capability – with a single point of contact model that is driven by

the Service Desk;

ServiceProviders/Partners

The Council

Admin Finance

IT Strategy & Architecture

Service Delivery,Infrastructure &

Applications

Supplier Management

Core Management

Corporate ICT Service

Service ManagementDirectorateFocused IT –AssuranceFunction

BusinessRelationshipManagement

Project ManagementOffice

STRATEGY

DEMAND

SUPPLY

DEMAND

SUPPLY

DEMAND

STRATEGY

INF

RA

ST

RU

CT

UR

E

AP

PLIC

AT

ION

DE

V&

MA

INT

SUPPLY

Corporate Resources

Business Transformation

Children, Families &Learning

Social Care, Health &Housing

SustainableCommunities


We will manage ICT performance using standard KPIs based on industry and

other leading practice;

We will ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems and

information are commensurate with their criticality and/or potential business

risk.

We will deliver training on all key applications to the staff groups involved.

4.3 Where are we now?

4.3.1 We are starting to build on the foundations of our new technology platform toprovide a secure and resilient ICT service

We have invested in a high speed network which must now replace all of the

legacy networks. Achieving this will be dependent on migrating applications, a

significant exercise which involves further work to produce an implementation

plan.

We have invested in a high capacity virtual environment which means we can

deliver ICT services at a lower cost, it is more resilient and also reduces our

carbon footprint. We now need to migrate the legacy applications to reduce

our existing server and storage estate.

Although we have a new ‘data centre environment’, we need to move out of

Borough Hall and into Technology House this will provide a resilient service

with a low carbon footprint. In order to measure the full energy consumption

we will need to measure both device and cooling costs.

Our infrastructure will comply with the Government Connect Code of

Connection and we need to complete a number of activities that allow this to

be achieved by September 2009 with minimal negative impact to users.

4.3.2 We will work in partnership with our customers (our staff and members) tomeet their requirements;

To effectively work in partnership with our customers, we need to develop a

capability than can consult, support and challenge. It is our intention to recruit

a team of Business Relationship Managers (BRMs) who will work closely with

directorates to support their requirements. A project management capability

has been factored into the Business Management Unit, this capability spans

ICT & Property.

We will introduce a governance process that enables user requirements to be

managed. This will include an appropriate gateway process that ensures

projects have the right criteria to succeed with appropriate support from ICT.

ICT has underway the development of a detailed Service Plan, this breaks

down to project level the work that will undertaken in the coming months. A


process of liaison and agreement with the business needs to take place to

ensure our focus matches the priorities of the business.

4.3.3 We will adopt leading practice to develop a customer focused servicemanagement capability – with a single point of contact model that is drivenby the Service Desk;

Whilst we have a single point of contact ICT phone number and email

address, behind the scenes we require an internal transformation to ensure

that incidents and service requests are managed smoothly and efficiently. We

need to baseline our key service management processes, understand what

our target model needs to look like and put a plan in place to reach an

acceptable standard. In particular we should be focusing on:

o Incident Management: Ensuring that when a fault occurs we can

understand its impact, prioritise it and keep the user informed about its

resolution;

o Problem Management: By collating the right information we need to

become more proactive and resolve the root causes of incidents,

reducing the need to call the Service Desk in the first place;

o Asset Management: We need to have a clear understanding of our

assets, not just for financial management but as a way of supporting

fault resolution and maintenance;

o Change Management: We need to become better at understanding

the impact changes will have, releasing software in a controlled

manner and planning around user’s requirements through effective

communication.

We have invested in a Service Desk management tool (Touchpaper) which

will support our service management ambitions. However, we need to

develop our team’s skills in the tool, and service management more generally

so that they are more aware of how it can support better ways of working and

how it can improve the service management processes outlined above;

We also need to make better use of the corporate intranet for providing

information and self-service capabilities;

We need to strengthen communication with users and will undertake an

annual user survey;

We need to balance a need to provide a streamlined and efficient Service

Desk with the need for support where it is most needed. Whilst our thin-client

environment will enable us to offer remote support more easily, we also need

to maintain a local presence on each of our key sites.


4.3.4 We will manage ICT performance using standard KPIs based on industry andother leading practice;

Our Service Desk tool and telephony equipment are capable of providing

succinct management information that we need to share with our

stakeholders about our performance. This will also help to show

demonstrable progress.

We need to aim to be in the upper quartile of the SOCITM benchmarks,

however we should ensure that we use these in a meaningful and challenging

way. In particular

o KPI 1: User satisfaction

o KPI 2: Resolution of reported incidents

o KPI 4: Acquisition costs of workstation

o KPI 5: Cost per connection to voice network

o KPI 6: Cost per connection to data network

o KPI 7: Support costs per workstation

o KPI 8: Workstations supported per support specialist

Other non-local government benchmarks provide a useful reference point,

however we need to undertake further work to determine what targets we

should be aiming for. High targets can mean high cost and we should agree

on ambitious targets but also ones which we can afford.

o First time fix rate (i.e. number of incidents resolved at the first point of

contact)

o Call abandonment rate

o Response time for a Priority 1 issue

4.3.5 We will ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems andinformation are commensurate with their criticality and/or potential businessrisk.

The Council must balance the levels of controls and mitigations it places

around ICT with the impact this has on ways of working and cost. Our

governance process needs to be able to take business-led decisions around

the areas of security and resilience with colleagues across the Council.

Whilst we are in the process of completing our compliance with Government

Connect, we are aiming to meet some challenging timescales.. We will strive


to make security decisions in full consultation with users, identifying potential

options and ultimately agreeing our approach with the Council’s senior team.

We need to ensure that our infrastructure is resilient and address some of the

weaknesses in our current environment. In some cases we may need to

invest more, but we also need to weigh up the potential benefits with the full

cost of implementing more resilient technologies. We will continue to update

our approach to disaster recovery and business continuity in collaboration

with colleagues.

4.3.6 We will ensure that our customers are fully trained in existing and futureapplications.

Staff currently have access to training courses on key applications such as

o Swift & for Social care

o SAP

o All Microsoft Office (except Access)

o Tridion

Training courses are delivered at four different locations across the County.


5 Working Effectively as One Council

5.1 Introduction

ICT is a key enabler to being able to work effectively, and it now pervades so much

of what we do as an authority that we need to ensure that as a basic principle, we

can ‘keep the lights on’ with minimum disruption. In creating Central Bedfordshire, we

began a complex task of bringing together three different infrastructures and now we

have to conclude this unification programme. Creating a common ICT platform is not

in itself transformational, so we also need to ensure that as we make changes we are

also striving to look at how technology enabled business processes can improve the

way we work.


As stated in Section 4 – our Vision for ‘Working Effectively as One Council’ is:

We will develop an enterprise architecture that joins up what the business

wants with what is technically possible;

We will explore the possibility of working with partners to get better value for

the extensive migration work required and provide additional temporary

capacity;

We will reduce complexity by rationalising ICT assets and converging towards

agreed standards – however we will balance this with customer requirements;

We will develop a vision for technologies that can support better ways of

working, particularly those that increase flexibility and mobility.

5.3 Where are we now ?

5.3.1 We are in the process of developing an enterprise architecture that joins upwhat the business wants with what is technically possible

Enterprise architecture is a

concept that aims to ensure that

information systems are joined up

to business processes. The

benefits of doing so are that

ultimately, ICT assets are used in

the most effective way to support

what the Council does.

We need to develop a clearer

picture of our legacy environments

to map out the technology, key

interfaces and the relationship with

Business

Information

Data

Applications

Technical Infrastructure

Drives

Prescribes

Supported by

Supported by

Busin

essdrive

n

Tech

nology

drive

n

Enterprise Architecture


business processes and business functionality.

Undertaking such an exercise will be key to determining a technical ICT vision

which can inform the work that the Business Transformation team are

undertaking. By better understanding key dependencies, we can plan more

effectively and we will also be able to play a more productive role in

supporting system enhancements and managing user requirements.

5.3.2 We are working with current staff and additional external resources, wherenecessary, to get better value for the extensive migration work required andprovide additional temporary capacity;

We have a significant programme of work to undertake in addition to

providing a day to day service. Migrating applications on to the Central

Bedfordshire network will require planning, specific technical expertise and

also an understanding of the impact changes will have on users.

We need to explore the possibility of working with partners to strengthen our

core team, recognising that additional skills and capacity will be needed from

time to time on a temporary and project basis.

We also need to consider whether we need external support to undertake the

complex migration work. Alternatively, we should be considering whether we

could use external support to backfill our own team, which would reduce the

risk of us losing knowledge internally.

In the immediate future, we also need to decide how we document our

existing architecture and the role that external support could play. Only by

having an accurate picture of our current environment can we really plan how

to transform it.

We will continue to review the shared service arrangements we have with

Bedford Borough Council to ensure that these meet our ambitions, reflect

where we are on our journey and that they provide good value for money.

5.3.3 We will reduce complexity by rationalising ICT assets and converge towardsagreed standards – however we will balance this with customer need;

We have already embarked on a vision for rationalising our assets through

virtualising our server estate and implementing Citrix. These two types of

virtualisation enable us to have less servers and simpler, lower-cost desktops.

We need to continue to rationalise the number of operating systems we

support, and based on where we are now, a Windows based PC and Server

estate is the most viable option. We need to continue to support migration of

applications which do not meet this requirement, such as those running Unix

or desktops/laptops running Mac OS for example.


Whilst we want to rationalise end user computing devices (PCs, Laptops,

Mobile Devices etc.) we do recognise that different devices will be needed for

different user types. Our governance process will be key to actioning such

exceptions in a controlled manner.

As we have invested in thin-client technology (Citrix), we need to realise the

full potential this can provide in efficiency terms. Once applications are

migrated to the Central Bedfordshire network, we can replace standards PCs

with thin-client terminals that are cheaper to purchase, maintain and have a

lower carbon footprint. We do need to produce a business case for this

exercise as the price of a standard PC has fallen significantly in recent years,

eroding some of the benefits the thin client terminals once had.

A particular area which we need to continue to rationalise is our application

architecture. As an authority made up of three legacy authorities, we

inevitably have some duplications. In developing an enterprise architecture

we will gain a clearer picture of what options are available to us, and how we

can rationalise our applications (see figure below).

5.3.4 We will develop a vision for technologies that can support better ways ofworking, particularly those that increase flexibility and mobility.

We are currently developing our property vision and must have ICT that can

support changing requirements. Our thin client environment will increase our

flexibility and enable our staff and members to be loosely coupled to their

physical location.

Our thin client environment will also support remote working and enable our

staff to work at home where appropriate. If managed effectively, this can

provide additional lifestyle benefits to staff.

We need to be able to make better use of mobile technologies where there

are clear business benefits. Being able to enter data in the field minimises

duplication in work activities and can reduce travel time back to the office. We

will therefore be producing a flexible and mobile working strategy.

We have some key gaps in our architecture which if addressed could provide

additional benefits (see diagram below). We will however expect that a

business case be developed to argue the case for the following:

o Electronic Document & Records Management (EDRMS): Some

document management systems exist within the legacy authorities,

however a corporate EDRMS System for Central Bedfordshire could

reduce storage costs, make documents easier to access to

stakeholders and if integrated with a workflow system, better enable

business processes.


o Customer Relationship Management (CRM): A well integrated CRM

system can significantly improve customer service, and be an enabler

of transformation.

o Middleware: Middleware is a technology which facilitates the

integration of different systems, primarily with the goal of improving

functionality. A type of middleware technology would play a key role in

integrating a CRM system with other systems. For example, if we

wanted to update an address in the customer services centre, we

could do this once, and cascade it to our other systems.

o There is no coordinated approach to data management within Central

Bedfordshire and the authority will need to determine its information

needs, both from reporting and functionality perspectives. A ‘Business

Intelligence’ capability would require significant investment but could

bring benefits in by joining up information, streamlining processes and

providing a more customer focused authority.

Our Target Architecture and key gaps, duplications and shared systems

Internet/Intranet

Customer RelationshipManagement

Mobile Devices Phone

Enterprise Content Management

Web ContentManagement

BI/ManagementReporting

Electronic Document/ Records

ManagementEmail and Messaging

Middleware / Systems Integration / Service Orientation

Legacy Systems Line of BusinessSystems

Finance/ERP Third Party SystemsNational

Projects/Systems

Revenues & Benefits (in progress) Public Protection / Licensing / Trading Standards Planning/GIS (in progress) Electoral / Legal

Social CareEducationSmall applicationsAccess Databases

Key duplicated systems Key shared systems (to be split)


6 Making Change Happen Well

6.1 Introduction

Our Vision is that ICT is seen as being more than just a support service. In

conjunction with our stakeholders, and a programme of Business Transformation, we

will play a significant role in transforming the Council. As ICT professionals we have

significant potential to support the various stages of software delivery, and exploit the

benefits technology can bring through innovation. Whilst an ICT department will

never be responsible for all aspects of ICT related change, we need to ensure we

have the right skills and capabilities to support a programme of transformation in

Central Bedfordshire.


As stated in Section 4 – our Vision for ‘Making Change Happen Well’ is:

We will take accountability and ownership of ICT initiatives and clearly define

our role in ICT projects;

We will make ICT investments using a standard methodology governed by

strategic impact, return, risk and architecture and we will help prioritise ICT

investment to ensure key business requirements can be delivered;

We will maximise the value we can achieve from our existing information and

technology assets and we will focus investment on a small number of

strategic vendors, e.g. SAP and avoid reinventing the wheel;

We will buy integrated packaged solutions, rather than build them– where

necessary we will integrate them more effectively.

6.3 Where are we now?

6.3.1 We will take accountability and ownership of ICT initiatives and clearly defineour role in ICT projects;

We have played a key role in creating Central Bedfordshire and we need to

build on our experience to support a continuing and ambitious ongoing ICT

programme. Balancing a ‘supportive’ role with a ‘leading’ one is a challenge,

and we recognise that we need to clarify our roles and responsibilities in

relation to projects. Our governance process will provide a clear view to the

Council on our role, what our customers can expect from us and what we

expect from them;

6.3.2 We will make ICT investments using a standard methodology governed byDirectorate User Groups, strategic impact, return, risk and architecture andwe will help prioritise ICT investment to ensure key business requirementscan be delivered;


In creating Central Bedfordshire we often had to take the lead on strategic

investment decisions, particularly in relation to our core infrastructure. As a

corporate department, we now have to work in partnership with our

stakeholders to prioritise ICT investments. We will ensure that our ICT

budgets are transparent and can be clearly understood. This will enable our

customers to see where the budget is being spent and help clarify where

additional investment may be required

In consultation with stakeholders, we will implement a governance process

that ‘makes change happen well’. We need to be able to ensure that projects

have all of the right ingredients to succeed, particularly by recognising that

creating the right environment requires bringing together stakeholders from

different directorates and organisations. A separate Terms of Reference for

ICT governance will be published.

ICT GOVERNANCE MODEL

Prioritised ICT Project

CorporateObjective

ICT Governance Steering GroupCurrent ICT Work

Programme

Filtered and Prioritised Business Case

Directorate Steering Groups

Requirements

Strategic objectivesand other

requirements (e.g.Statutory)

Comment [RM1]: CC to re-dodiagram

Comment [RM2]: CFLsteering group note to beadded/good practice etc


In conjunction with the Business Transformation team, we will determine the

details of the ICT governance process and how we provide a joined up

service to stakeholders. In particular we will:

o Provide insights on how technology can better support business

processes and ways of working;

o Along with colleagues from procurement, support any project in its

early stages to ensure it is technically feasible and meets our

architectural vision;

o Provide ICT project delivery expertise

6.3.3 We will maximise the value we can achieve from our existing information andtechnology assets and we will focus investment on a small number of strategicvendors, e.g. SAP and avoid reinventing the wheel;

To ensure we get value for money from our ICT investments, we will strive to

exploit our existing assets before we buy a new solution. Many of our

applications have functionality that we do not currently use and we should

look to explore what they can do first, whilst also looking at alternatives;

Having invested significantly in SAP, we must now look to extend the

functionality that it can provide. Employee and Manager self service for

example will bring particular benefits to HR transactions and restore some of

the functionality that was present in the District authorities. SAP should

become what Gartner call a ‘cornerstone’ of our future application architecture

– this is not a one size fits all approach, but a focus on using a technology

platform to its maximum potential.

We also need to recognise that we have enormous potential to use our

information assets more effectively. Many authorities have transformed their

architectures to give a joined up view of their customers – this offers the

potential to provide a much better service and reduce duplication in the way in

which we interact. We will work with colleagues to develop an Information

Strategy, which will clearly articulate an approach for capturing, integrating,

processing, delivery, and presentation of information in a clean, consistent,

and timely manner.


7 Where to from here?

In this document we have outlined an ambitious programme for ICT both within the

Central Bedfordshire ICT department and across the authority. Our approach is

grounded in reality and whilst it provides targets which will stretch us, we are

confident that combining pragmatism and ambition will mean ICT can make a

significant contribution to meeting the aims of Central Bedfordshire.

This Vision is clearly a starting point on our journey and like our recognition that

successful ICT delivery is a collaborative effort, we must now work with our

colleagues, customers and partners to develop more detailed strategies and

implementation plans. Complementary strategies we need to deliver include:

Flexible and Mobile Working Strategy

Information Management Strategy

Technology Strategy

Sourcing Strategy

7.1 Approval process

This document was presented to CMT on September 2009, and will be presented to

the Executive meeting for final sign off.

our vision for ict - whatdotheyknow

Documents