Medway Council

ICT Strategy 2015 – 2020

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Table of Contents

Foreword by 3

1. Introduction 5

2. Key priorities, Core Values and ICT principles 6

3. Key ICT Strategic Themes for 2015-2020 7

4. Digital Services 7

5. Office 365 and Cloud service delivery 8

6. Agile Working 10

7. Paperless Office 12

8. Application Rationalisation 13

9. Information Management 13

10. Big Data 14

11. Shared Services 15

12. Income Generation 16

13. The ICT technology infrastructure to support the key strategic themes. 17

14. Constraints and Risks in delivering the ICT Strategy 21

15. Plan for delivering the ICT Strategy 23

16. Delivery of the Strategy 27

17. Governance of the Strategy 27

Glossary 28

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Foreword by

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1. Introduction

Medway Council is a unitary authority, providing all local government services for almost 300,000 residents. Medway is made up of the towns of Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham and more rural areas, including the Hoo Peninsula. Situated in Kent in the south-east of England, the area has plenty of green spaces, excellent facilities and easy access to the national motorway and rail networks.

The role of the ICT service in Medway Council is to support the core business functions of the Council, underpinning its front line service delivery. Through the appropriate use of technology we aim to ensure that the business processes and customer transactions are delivered in the most efficient and effective way possible, transforming services so that they can be delivered simpler, clearer, faster and more cost effectively.

Digital and on-line service delivery will be the main way we work with our customers, using technology for all parts of the customer journey, not just the initial contact. This new way of working will rely on technology to provide new models of service delivery, offering the same on-line and digital access as our customers experience in other parts of their lives.

Neil Davies, Chief Executive, Council Plan 2015-2016

However, there is a need to balance changing activities, ongoing service delivery and service excellence against capacity and funding restraints, and it is important that these pressures do not prevent us making smarter use of the technology we already have in place to achieve additional benefits, efficiencies and service improvements.

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“We continue to expand our digital offer with significant investment in ICT. We are now living in a digital age and therefore the Council must evolve by developing new ways to communicate with residents.”

2. Key priorities, Core Values and ICT principles

2.1 Medway Council Key Priorities

Medway Council has four key priorities:

Children and young people have the best start in life in Medway Adults maintain their independence and live healthy lives Safe, clean and green Medway Everyone benefitting from regeneration.

These priorities are where the council will be concentrating its resources and the ICT service will be instrumental in supporting services to deliver their specific priorities.

2.2 Core Values

Medway Council has two core values which help guide us on what are the ‘right’ and reasonable things to do. These two core values help us serve residents, business and partners. They also underpin the service that we deliver to the employees of Medway Council.

Putting our customers at the centre of everything we do Giving value for money

2.3 ICT Principles

As well as corporate priorities and core values, there are ICT principles that underpin the service delivery by Medway Council ICT Services:

Ensuring value for money for the delivery of ICT services Ensuring the availability of infrastructure and business systems throughout the

operating hours of the various council departments. Ensuring the security of data and data transactions to prevent disclosure or loss

of personal data with which we are entrusted Improving integration between systems to help automate processes. Using technology to facilitate shared service delivery between councils to

achieve financial savings or improved resilience. Exploiting new technologies as they emerge or mature, such as cloud services.

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3. Key ICT Strategic Themes for 2015-2020

3.1 In 2015, Medway Council Corporate Management Team identified nine key strategic themes for the ICT service to deliver over the course of the next five years. To meet this challenge, our programme must look forward to the future needs of the Council, our staff and our customers. These themes interweave, and each is dependent on the other, not only within ICT but also on other services within the Council.

3.2 The nine key themes are: Digital Services Office 365 and Cloud service delivery Agile Working Paperless Office Application Rationalisation Information Management Big Data Shared Services Income Generation

3.3 As well as these nine strategic themes, the ICT infrastructure continues to need to be reviewed and requires investment to support these initiatives. It is important that investment is made in a timely manner to avoid service disruption and to support the Council with technology as it moves forward. As the key themes progress, it may be that the infrastructure required changes and flexes as necessary, and so the requirements and associated costs with this five year strategy should be reviewed annually.

4. Digital Services

4.1 The digital team have adopted the Digital by Default Service Standard developed by the Government Digital Service (GDS). This standard both ensures that customers’ needs are at the core of all that is done and that the services themselves are of a consistent quality. This includes creating services that are easily improved, safe, secure and fulfill evolving user needs. Once adopted, the standard will enable Medway Council to meet its stated digital transformation needs; improving the customer ‘journey’ experience; managing demand for its services and most importantly, increasing efficiency and reducing cost.

4.2 Digital and online services will be the main way we work with our customers, providing digital services that are so good that people prefer to carry out the transaction online rather than by phone, post or in person. To support Digital, there are a number of digital principles agreed that all services will adhere to:

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Digital and on-line service delivery will be the main way we work with customers

We will use digital technology for all parts of the customer journey – not just initial contact.

We will redesign our services from the user perspective, not a council view We will use telephone and face to face only where parts of a customer

journey require this We will put in place support for the less digitally able but we will design

services for the majority who are able We will use digital to transform services and provide a different offer

4.2 Community hubs are being developed, so that customers can be assisted in using technology to access the information they are looking for, to make a booking, to make a request or to make a payment, encouraging all customers to access our services electronically. Some services will not be available other than digitally, and so it is important we assist customers initially so that they can self serve in the future.

4.3 It is important to note that digital is a continuous event – it is the way the Council works now – not a specific piece of timed work.

Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple

5. Office 365 and Cloud service delivery

5.1 In the last few years, cloud based computing services have become much more prevalent. Cloud computing is a way of delivering ICT services. The difference between cloud and more traditional ICT service delivery is that the IT infrastructure (eg servers and storage) is not at Gun Wharf in the datacentre, but is elsewhere, delivered by an external provider, with the customer accessing this infrastructure via the internet. Cloud computing can reduce the time and capital costs associated with establishing new business infrastructure or applications, and provide good levels of resilience. Our strategy is to review the suitability and potential benefits of a cloud based solution whenever we are considering investing in any new infrastructure or application replacement, selecting the most appropriate and cost efficient solution.

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“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think its this veneer…that’s not what design is. Its not just what it looks like and feels like – Design is how it works.”

Cloud services can be likened to utility services. As much as is required can be consumed and paid for and usage rate varies with demand. Cloud services work on a similar basis – you flex the costs depending on what you use. This avoids some investment in storage and infrastructure, but can increase the revenue cost.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft

5.2 Current challenges and cloud benefits

Challenges faced Cloud Solution

Overall budget reduction Cloud delivers cost savings from economies of scale

Capital reduction Cloud allows revenue budgets to be utilised

Need to catch-up with modern service expectations Cloud offers access to latest services

New projects & ways of working Cloud can be trialled with no long-term contracts

Need to be more agile, flexible, not tied-in Cloud offers monthly billing

Headcount reduction means need to get the most from employees

Cloud providers do admin tasks, leaving employees to focus on added business value

5.3 Office 365 is the brand name used by Microsoft for a subscription to a group of services available from the Internet. This means they are also easily accessible by our staff when they are at other locations, out and about or working from home. Office 365 will become the standard desktop software model in use for all staff, ensuring that staff can access software and storage from any device in any location with internet access.

5.4 The Office 365 portfolio will be exploited where appropriate. Office 365 provides:

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Our industry is going through quite a wave of innovation and being powered by a phenomenon which is referred to as the cloud.

Email and calendars Online conferencing with audio and videoInstant messagingSkype connectivityFile storage and sharing Sharepoint – a corporate collaboration toolYammer, a social networking tool, already in use in the councilOffice mobile, Office Pro and Office web apps – Word, OneNote, Powerpoint, Excel The ability to download licences to up to 5 devices.

5.5 An ‘in principle’ decision has been made to adopt Office 365 in the cloud. We will continue to investigate new technologies as they develop and adopt them on their merits for Medway Council. For all new requirements, we will always consider mobile working and cloud computing as opportunities, continuing with a hybrid approach to ensure that we continue to provide the most efficient and cost effective service.

6. Agile Working

6.1 Over the past eighteen months, ICT have implemented a number of technologies to support agile working, enabling staff to relocate offices, vacate buildings, and work more flexibly. Hot desk locations have been developed to support the 7:10 people per desk ratio, and staff can work from other locations and from home. A ‘Use Your Own Device’ policy is also in place, supporting those members of staff who would prefer to use their personal device such as a smartphone or iPAD to deliver council services. Technologies already deployed to support agile working are:

Citrix technology has been introduced to deliver a virtualised desktop across Wyse thin client terminals where possible, with 70% of the Council desktop now using thin client. This is a much more efficient way of working, and already, proven energy savings have been realised.

Telephone extension mobility introduced across all services, enabling staff to sit at any desk and still receive their telephone calls..

Agile-remote using Citrix Receiver has been introduced to enable all staff to access the council ‘desktop’ and business applications from any device, from any location and at any time.

Agile-Net (wi-fi) is installed in a number of council buildings to enable staff to access council systems without having to connect to a network point.

Smartphones, personal devices and iPADS enabled with GOOD mobile device management technology, can be used, whilst ensuring that council data remains protected.

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Neil Davies, Chief Executive, Council Plan 2015-2016

6.2 There is much more to agile working than providing access to systems from a multitude of locations. Voice, conferencing, presence, instant messaging and collaboration requirements must also be considered and the migration to Office 365 will support news ways of communicating between staff, partners and our customers.

6.3 Thin client technology is the standard desktop solution across the Council and has improved the working environment for many of our staff, providing the same IT environment from wherever they work. However, there are still some services remaining where thin client technology has not yet been implemented, mainly due to the legacy software they use and/or the complexity of their applications. In some of these cases it will be more cost effective for a small number of staff to remain on desktop PCs until they change their application. However, where possible to do so, thin clients will be installed.

6.4 Wireless Networks are in place in some, but not all council buildings. This service will be required in more council buildings, so that staff can access systems and services from other locations, and these should be extended to all Council sites where possible to do so.

6.5 Mobile broadband availability also needs to be considered where this is required, particularly in the more rural areas of the Medway area.

6.6 Medway Council already enable staff to use their own device, and technology provided to enable staff to access emails, calendar and contacts, as well as files securely, using GOOD mobile device management technology. This can be installed on any device and activated for connection to the council systems. This use of personal devices should be encouraged which would reduce hardware costs for the council, although investment is required for GOOD licensing to be installed.

7. Paperless Office

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Within the council we have introduced Thin Client – a computer system to allow staff to hot deskand use any computer within the main council building, and eventually in other council buildingstoo. This is all part of enabling staff to work flexibly, as well as from home if business requires.This is all part of the Agile Working scheme which will enable smarter working. As part of thescheme we are introducing new key meeting areas for staff and a reorganisation where someteams are placed within the main Gun Wharf building. This will ensure smoother communicationbetween teams that work most closely together.

7.1 As a council, many of our processes are still paper based and so are inefficient and prone to failure, repeatedly gathering data already available elsewhere, and tracking progress of paper based systems is almost impossible for all but the most simple processes. Paper based processes do not support agile and flexible working practices because they are slow to change and communicate, and they rely on physical locations. We also spend a significant amount of time locating documents and empirical knowledge suggests that staff can spend up to 30% of their time looking for information or reproducing information that already exists, equating to an average cost of £9000 per member of staff per year (based on an average salary of £30,000 per year).

Paul Bah, CIO.com

7.2 Various initiatives are taking place across the council, with staff and with Members, to reduce the use of paper by implementing applications such as modern.gov, where council meeting papers can be accessed electronically, and investigating products which make accessing meeting papers much easier, encouraging colleagues to use less paper.

7.3 The use of Sharepoint within Office 365 will support the paperless office, enabling collaboration electronically and much more effectively. It will also support version control, ensuring that multiple versions and copies of documents are reduced.

7.4 To support the paperless office, any future data to be generated or provided should be in electronic format, both internally and where possible, when dealing with customers, the latter being delivered within the digital programme.

7.5 The corporate electronic document storage tool is IDOX, and should be used to store documents – scanning where necessary to do so, and then destroying paper copies, rather than saving ‘just in case’.

7.6 In 2015 a benchmarking exercise was carried out within the ICT service by the Society of IT Managers (SOCITM). Medway Council was identified as having the highest ration of staff per Multi-Functional Device (MFD), which was the most efficient use of printing across the benchmarking family, comprised of county, metropolitan, unitary and London boroughs. Where appropriate, MFDs will continue

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Successfully reducing the use of paper isn't a one-time event. It's a series of continuous efforts to move away from paper and establish a culture that frowns on waste.

to be used as the primary printing device across the Medway Council estate, using the Council’s corporate MFD contract to ensure efficiencies.

7.7 Individual printers will only be used in exceptional circumstances, such as, but not exclusively, where there is a need for specialized printers, for a small workforce where an MFD would be uneconomic, or to accommodate individual needs due to a disability.

7.8 Larger printing requirements should be directed to the Council’s corporate reprographics team where printing can be more economically provided.

8. Application Rationalisation

8.1 Both the thin client and digital programmes have exposed areas of the council where legacy applications exist, and these need to be replaced or upgraded to support changes required by the new technology, and to enable digital services for our customers. To ensure compatibility, business applications must be web browser based and accessed by a standard web browser on all devices, and be accessible using citrix thin client technology.

8.2 Medway Council has almost 100 business applications. To put this in context, other councils within the Kent Connects partnership for example, have identified significantly more per organization. However, there is still a need to reduce the number of applications in use, exploiting a lower number of applications to perform a greater number of council functions and in turn lowering support costs. Every requirement for a new application will be rigorous challenged both by Members and by ICT to see whether there is an alternative option or an application already in use within the council which would meet the needs of the service. Duplicate applications will be reduced where possible, such as asset management and bookings, and whilst a number of application budgets have been centralized within ICT, further work will be carried out so that all budgets for business applications are centralized. This will provide ICT with a full picture of the applications and associated funding, and the opportunity to achieve economies of scale.

9. Information Management

9.1 Information is a vital resource and although technology has increased our ability to harvest, process and store information, arguably our ability to manage and control it has failed to keep pace. There is also the missed opportunity to exploit information, and whether we intend to share services, work flexibly, enable customer self-serve or engage our citizens, reliable information will be essential to ensure success in these areas.

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9.2 There are a number of directives such as Government Connects and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS), and a variety of legislation such as the Freedom of Information Act, the Data Protection Act, and a host of others, to ensure that when we do store or share information, we do so securely and in the correct manner to protect our workforce and our customers.

9.3 Before moving to Office 365 it is important that data storage is reviewed. Whilst Office 365 provides increased storage capacity, both structured and unstructured data still needs to be managed, or else the council could incur costs should storage limits be exceeded. Controls need to be introduced where needed to ensure the data owner is known, and data storage reviewed every six months, notifying those not using data within that period, prompting users to manage their data more effectively.

9.4 Security and the movement of information is important and it is essential to consider this when implementing any cloud solution to ensure data remains safe.

9.5 We will maintain a rigour of deleting or archiving redundant information to reduce the cost of our infrastructure, and we will require investment to introduce storage monitoring tools, so that we can manage corporate demands and take a more proactive approach to storage management. A Policy is to be established and approved which enables ICT to regularly delete unstructured data which has not been accessed over an agreed period of time.

9.6 Systems need to be in place to ensure that the right information is delivered to the right people in the right format at the right time – every time.

10. Big Data

10.1 Big data is a broad term for data sets so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. The benefits of analysing these datasets is that value from data can be extracted which can then lead to more confident decision making, and better decisions can mean greater operational efficiency, cost reduction and reduced risk.

10.2 Work has already been carried out by a third party, analysing parking data, and it is likely that any further analysis of other data would require third party input, primarily because they have the tools and knowledge to provide the outcomes more readily than the council.

10.3 Social media could be exploited further, to extract analytics and target specific areas. Wi-fi could also be used to analyse footfall to attract more commercial interest in the Medway area.

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11. Shared Services

11.1 Medway Council is part of the Kent Connects partnership, a technology partnership comprised of Kent County Council, Medway Council, and the district councils across Kent, together with Kent Fire Brigade and Kent Police, working together to deliver key joint technology projects, such as the regional datacentres, a shared public sector network and shared services.

11.2 Medway Council is also part of the SE7 partnership – a partnership of County and Unitary authorities across the SE region. There are a number of strands to this partnership, one of which is ICT, and it is anticipated that some economies of scale can be realized by sharing the use of technology more effectively.

11.3 System and software roadmaps should be maintained to help prioritise the allocation of resources and to identify when major upgrades or system replacements may be required. Vendors are commercially driven to frequently upgrade their products and to create a market by retiring older versions. Although individually we can have little influence on the product roadmaps, by collaborating with other public sector organisations, or through user forums, we can collectively bargain to ensure upgrades are less frequent, more affordable and beneficial to us as customers.

11.4 SOCITM Benchmarking confirmed that Medway Council ICT service is extremely cost effective, with the lowest investment per member of staff, and the second lowest ICT budget as a percentage of the council budget. However, there may be scope to reduce costs and/or increase resilience of this service by working collaboratively with another public sector service in a shared service arrangement.

11.5 Significant work is taking place within the Kent Connects partnership, considering shared service delivery. This should be adopted where this will deliver significant cost savings, improve resilience or cost avoidance.

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11.6 As well as considering shared services across Kent and the broader South East region, work is also taking place with other councils to see what opportunities are available for sharing or even providing services which would lead to efficiencies for both parties.

11.7 Not only is work being carried out between ICT services, but work is also being carried out to join services other than ICT. Currently, work is taking place with a district to provide a shared audit and fraud team, and this requires technology to be flexible so that staff can work from either site, and can also access systems provided by both councils.

12. Income Generation

12.1 The prime opportunity for external income is the large datacentre located at Gun Wharf which is used to host IT infrastructure for partners within the Kent Connects partnership. Recent discussions with partners have clarified that over the next three to five years there will be a shift by councils to more cloud based services which will not require space in the datacentre at Gun Wharf, which will in turn, reduce income.

12.2 There is still some limited capacity in the datacentre, but any additional space would require additional capital investment. However, unless confirmed demand and subsequent income is achieved to cover and exceed the investment required, it would not be advisable for Medway Council to invest in developing additional capacity in the datacentre.

12.3 Exploiting the use of the datacentre with a strategic partner will be explored. By exploiting the use of the datacentre with the private sector, the ICT service would have an opportunity to take a more commercial approach to service delivery, with the private sector providing the capital investment and taking ownership of associated risks for achieving income.

12.4 The majority of the remaining external income comes by reputation and partnership working. Opportunities with health services and schools will continue to be explored where viable, but new businesses, such as care homes and SMEs in the private sector, have not been aggressively pursued. More marketing could be carried out, rather than relying on opportunities being presented through reputation and trust, to generate more business opportunities.

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13. The ICT technology infrastructure to support the key strategic themes.

13.1 Medway ICT Services is a centralized ICT service responsible for ICT service delivery across all Medway Council sites. Services are provided from the data centre located at Gun Wharf, Chatham, and resilient services from the Tunnel site at Frindsbury.

13.2 The stability of the ICT infrastructure is very robust, with services operational for 99.95% of the time, and with an out-of-hours support service providing cover 24 hours a day for 365 days a year, to subscribing services. Every day over 5 petebytes (1 petabyte = 1000 terabytes) of data is transported around the authority, including 50 tbytes of data downloaded each day from the Internet. More than 1 million emails are relayed to and from the Internet, and 4500 internal extensions connected to around 150,000 external calls per week. Over 2 terabytes of data are held, over 20,000 spam (junk email) messages are rejected on a daily basis, an average of 700 service calls dealt with per month, and approximately 100 different applications and services supported.

13.3 Medway Council ICT Services currently support 209 sites – 79 corporate sites, 85 schools and 45 urban traffic management control sites.

13.4 The infrastructure is effective and efficient, ensuring high availability yet consuming significantly less energy than traditional physical servers, although for some legacy applications, physical servers are still required. Thin client technology has significantly reduced the energy used across Gun Wharf and more work is being carried out to investigate energy management further, using appropriate tools to reduce energy costs even further across the Council.

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13.5 The Wide Area network will be replaced over the next 12 months, to an Multi Protocol Label Switching(MPLS) PSN network. This will ensure a resilient network with improved quality of service, which will facilitate sharing services with others. An improved Broadband service is provided to schools on the Hoo peninsula, vastly improving internet services for their pupils and staff. Medway Council also has a link to the Kent Public Services Network (KPSN), JA.NET the education network, and N3, the health network.

13.6 The ICT Service Desk manages an average of 700 calls per month. These calls may be staff reporting an incident or a request for change. Currently two different software applications are in place to manage change – and to manage incidents (business as usual) and so work is currently being carried out to select a suitable replacement which will ensure that a modern and efficient solution is in place, reducing the applications down to one, and will also enable our customers to self-serve, providing a much more effective and efficient service for them.

13.7 It is important that investment is identified for the ICT infrastructure. Some of the equipment in place is old and no longer supported under warranty. To ensure efficiency, equipment is replaced when it fails rather than replace over a set period of time, to reduce costs, but this is no longer viable, as there is a significant amount of equipment which cannot be placed under warranty now, and so cannot effectively be swapped out. Not only is equipment ageing, but the server replacement fund is depleted, having been stretched from an initial period of five years, to almost nine years. This fund ensures corporate servers are invested in and commissioned for new services or replaced. The introduction of Office 365 will reduce some storage requirements, and improved data management should further support this, but there is still some capital investment that is required over the next five years. As we move towards Office 365, the costs below required as an investment may reduce. They are also list prices and will also reduce following stringent negotations.

13.8 ICT 5 year capital investment plan

Equipment 2015-16 (£) 2016-17 (£) 2017-18 (£) 2018-19 (£) 2019-20 (£)

Storage 91,833 0 17,990 74,990 0Back-up 38,187 0 12,517 25,174 12,517Network 194,721 224,005 173,752 66,594 0Servers 110,313 94,613 22,724 40,902 9,089Total 435,054 318,618 226,983 207,660 21,606

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13.9 ICT Architectural principles

To ensure technology projects are delivered in line with corporate requirements and the Digital programme, more robust prioritisation of the delivery programme will be applied. To support governance, a set of key architectural principles has been approved and all ICT developments and changes will be assessed against these principles. Adherence to these principles is required before any product or system is purchased, developed, installed or maintained.

Common use applicationsDevelopment of applications used across Medway Council is preferred over the development of similar or duplicated applications, driving rationalisation of the ICT estate.

Maximise existing and future investmentThe technical architecture should be chosen to control cost of ownership and support business needs; this includes reuse of existing applications, infrastructure and skills/capabilities within Medway Council and its partners (where this does not impose unacceptable limitations on transformation).

Control technical diversityTechnological diversity is controlled across Medway Council reducing the variety of skills and infrastructure in use

Buy rather than buildPursue a strategy of using (configuring) fit-for-purpose packaged software rather than bespoke development of applications.

Information management & securityInformation is protected from unauthorised use and disclosure (leakage) according to corporate policies and standards, access and changes to data are recorded.

Data and systems are shared and accessibleUsers have appropriate and controlled access to the data necessary to perform their duties when and where it is needed; therefore, data is shared across Medway Council functions and service areas and access is provided with consideration to varying needs of both customers and employees.

Master data is managedUsers have appropriate and controlled access to consistent data allowing a single version of the truth across the Council. Data is defined consistently throughout the Council and the definitions are understandable to all users.

ComplianceThe architecture is designed in a way to comply with relevant legislation, regulation, and security policies. This will not preclude business improvement initiatives that would result in changes in corporate policy.

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OwnershipIT is responsible for designing and implementing the architecture used to enable the business processes. The business owns the processes and data and must have designated owners. This will be under the appropriate enterprise governance framework.

Flexible and mobile workingDeliver solutions with the capability for Council members and partners to access systems securely and remotely.

Self ServiceSupporting and promoting the use of web access and self service administration.

Interoperability and StandardsThe architecture will be designed to comply with the Council’s standards for interoperability and technology. Where relevant, compliance with Council-wide and industry standards and best practice will be adopted.

13.10 ICT Standards

There are a number of standards, which should be adhered to, providing the stability needed to undertake day-to day work and also to ensure robust developments are achievable within a consistent and efficient framework. Adherence to these standards is required before any product or system is purchased, developed, installed or maintained.

All Medway Council ICT purchases (including digital cameras, video cameras and dictation devices) must be made through ICT Services.

Two network switch operating systems are supported – Cisco and Extreme Three operating systems vendors are supported – Sun, Microsoft and RedHat. Two database types are supported - Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle. Microsoft is the standard Office system. Projects are managed using the Medway methodology based on PRINCE2 or using an

Agile methodology. Adherence to PSN, PCIDSS and other regulatory requirements to be maintained. ICT assets, both hardware and software licences, are managed and redeployed

corporately. New applications will be accessible via web browser or citrix thin client technology. The standard desktop is a Wyse thin client.

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14. Constraints and Risks in delivering the ICT Strategy

Constraint/Risk Details Impact

Securing funding Securing additional funding will be a key challenge given the current economic landscape

Projects will be cancelled or will be inadequately supported post go live and could potentially fail to deliver the benefits.

Significant change Many initiatives taking place across the council

Staff may be unable to tolerate the scale and scope of change required across so many initiatives leading to project failure of the inability to realise the benefits.

Key resources will be spread thinly and unable to deliver projects on time.

Technical complexity Many of the projects may be technically challenging, introducing new technologies unfamiliar to the ICT team

Projects may over run and introduce additional costs due to expertise required, or training to be delivered

Partnership working Projects may require working with partners to deliver outcomes

Partners have their own priorities and agendas, and there will always be an element of risk if there is a dependency on partners.

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15. Plan for delivering the ICT StrategyTheme 2015 - 2016 2016 – 2017 2017 - 2018 2018 – 2019 2019 – 2020 Digital ServicesOffice 365 and Cloud Office 365 – Exchange Office 365 – File

Storage/Sharepoint presence, instant messaging and conferencing

Office 365 – Skype for Business

Promote the use of IDOX for internal storage and collaboration until Sharepoint is established..

Agile Working Complete thin client implementation

Install wireless for staff in council buildings

Review mobile broadband in rural areas and consider options for improving if appropriate

Complete public wi-fi concession and promote

Promote use of personal devicesPresence, instant messaging and conferencing

Skype for Business – consider use to support agile working

Review Cisco phone system following use of Skype for Business

Review potential of SIP trunking to support Agile Working – taking telephone number anywhere

Paperless Office Encourage use of modern.gov for committees and use of tablets in meetings.

Promote the use of Sharepoint and discourage other forms of sharing and storing electronic documents

Consider ongoing use of IDOX once Sharepoint is established.

Implement trial of Boardpacks for paperless meetings

If successful, roll out Boardpacks for other meetings across the council

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Theme 2015 - 2016 2016 - 2017 2017 - 2018 2018 – 2019 2019 – 2020 Application Rationalisation

Consolidate all applications into single list, shared with digital team to identify legacy applications

Identify services who could use same application (eg asset management) and promote rationalisation

Procure and implement single service desk

Information Management

Encourage all staff to review and reduce electronic file storage

Identify resource to lead on information management for the council.

Promote the use of Sharepoint for storing and sharing files

Introduce Policy to delete unstructured data not accessed over an agreed period of time

Work with Health organisations to see how data can be securely shared

Big DataShared Services Complete Kent Connects

shared services work and identify sharing opportunities within the partnership and what/how to share

Develop plan to deliver shared services across the public sector in Kent and SE7, and deliver amended service.

Continue working with councils outside of Kent Connects partnership to identify opportunities for shared services

If approved, develop and deliver shared services with councils outside of Kent Connects partnership

Work with Gravesham to develop shared service for audit, ensuring technology is delivered to meet requirements.

Implement new Wide Area Network which can support shared services

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Theme 2015 - 2016 2016 - 2017 2017 - 2018 2018 – 2019 2019 – 2020 Income Generation Continue to develop

relationships , ensuring good account management with recipients of the service.

Contact Care Homes to see whether there are any opportunities for IT service delivery – most likely for the larger homes in the area

Continue to pursue income opportunities

Continue to pursue income opportunities

Continue to pursue income opportunities

Agree and promote additional services that could be offered to schools.

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16. Delivery of the Strategy

Medway ICT strategy will be delivered through a combination of ICT ‘business as usual’ and new initiatives as part of the digital programme. ‘Business as usual’ will ensure the availability, security, integrity, capacity and currency of the ICT infrastructure and systems through ongoing updates and improvement.

17. Governance of the Strategy

Corporate Management Team (CMT) will support the Medway ICT Strategy and monitor its delivery from a business context, ensuring interrelationships with other initiatives across the Council, and managing investment decisions in technology solutions on behalf of the council. Any significant deviations in terms of costs, resources or direction within developments will be referred back to CMT.

The ICT Strategic Group, chaired by the Assistant Director for Organisational Change, will establish the strategic direction for ICT services.

The ICT Operational Group, chaired by the Head of ICT, will recommend changes, priorities and policies to be adopted.

It is recognised that both the local government environment and the ICT environment are dynamic and changes will occur. Therefore the Medway ICT strategy will be reviewed on an annual basis to determine whether new initiatives are required and to reprioritise work if necessary.

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CORPORATE MANAGEMENT TEAM

ICT STRATEGIC GROUP

ICT OPERATIONAL GROUP

GlossaryAgile A project management methodology currently used by

the Digital programme.Big Data Big data is a broad term for data sets so large or

complex that may be analysed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations.

Cloud computing A shared service for delivering technology using the Internet

Digital by Default The Service Standard ensures digital teams build high quality government services. It is comprised of 18 points and a transactional service must meet each of these criteria .

GDS The Government Digital Service – leading the digital transformation of government, making public services digital by default

ITIL IT Infrastructure Library – a set of best practice guidance for ICT service delivery

KPSN Kent Public Service Network – this is a single shared network launched to enable Kent & Medway public sector organisations to use the same network. Giving consistent access experience form any location.

MFD Multi-Functional Device – a device that prints, photocopies, scans and transmits and receives fax.

MPLS Multi Protocol Label Switching – a mechanism used in high performance networks to ensure quality of service .

PSN Public Service networkPCIDSS Payment Card Industry Data Security StandardPRINCE2 PRojects IN Controlled Environments – project

management best practice methodology.RSA Token A tamper resistant security device. The token is

assigned to a computer user and generates an authentication code at fixed intervals

SE7 The 5 county and 2 unitary council partnership of councils in the south-east region

SLA Service Level AgreementSIPTablet A laptop shaped in the form of a notebook with the

capability of being written on with a touch screen and stylus.

VOIP Voice Over Internet Protocol – enables calls to be made over the Internet rather than via standard telephone lines

VPN Virtual Private Network – a network connected together via securely encrypted communication tunnels over a public network such as the .

WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive

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