ICT STRATEGY

ICT Strategy

Version: Draft 2.0Release date: TBC

ICT Services

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1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................3

2 SUMMARY....................................................................................................................................................3

3 VISION...........................................................................................................................................................4

4 THE NATIONAL CONTEXT..............................................................................................................................5

5 TECHNOLOGICAL DRIVERS............................................................................................................................7

6 CURRENTPLANNED TECHNOLOGY................................................................................................................9

7 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES..............................................................................................................................10

8 ICT ARCHITECTURE.....................................................................................................................................13

9 TARGET FUTURE POSITION - BENEFITS.......................................................................................................13

10 GOVERNANCE OF ICT STRATEGY.................................................................................................................19

11 TRAINING, SKILLS AND EXPERTISE..............................................................................................................21

APPENDIX 1 – REFERENCE/SOURCE DOCUMENTS...............................................................................................22

APPENDIX 2 – GLOSSARY.....................................................................................................................................22

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1 INTRODUCTIONThis document presents the Highland Council’s Strategy for Information and Communication Technology. The strategy sets in context the significant investment in the ICT Transformation Programme and how this supports the delivery of the Councils Services as well as the wider ambitions and Priorities of the Council and its partners.

The ICT Strategy reflects the National and Local Governmental ICT Strategies, key legislative and other strategically significant changes in the ICT sector, as well as the changing business needs of the Council.

2 SUMMARYAs part of the target operating model, the ICT Transformation Programme is scheduled to run until 2019 and will deliver a complete Desktop Refresh, both hardware and software which includes a significant shift towards modern cloud based applications, a refresh of the entire Local Area Network in all Council buildings including schools, a new telephony solution across all schools and corporate offices with unified communications being deployed across the majority of corporate sites, a new fully Managed Print Service and the consolidation and virtualisation of servers in a secure data centre. These initiatives should ensure that ICT Infrastructure is well-placed to meet the needs of the Council.

The feedback gleaned from reviews with Highland Council Services has shown that ICT needs to become more agile and flexible to support business changes in a financially-challenging and rapidly-changing environment. At the same time there is a desire to increase skill levels to enable staff to manage our information more effectively, to make better use of video and tele-conferencing, to improve collaboration across Services and with partners, to increase citizens’ self-service access to information and services and to obtain improved support from line of business systems suppliers.

The maturing technologies of Cloud Computing, Mobile Applications (‘mobile apps’) and the possibilities offered by collaborating through the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN) will offer opportunities to address these issues. Further use of Cloud computing on Governmental or private networks promise speedier setup times and a flexible pricing model. Indeed the Wipro Data Centre could be considered as a form of “private cloud”, and many of the Council’s existing ICT suppliers already offer their own cloud-based services. In addition to this, there are national (UK and Scotland-wide) procurement frameworks to help drive costs down through the use of draw-down contracts for fixed and mobile telephony, and related opportunities to examine the benefits of a unified approach to communications technologies Mobile applications will provide support for remote, mobile and flexible working for Council staff, as well as mobile access and self-service facilities for the public, supporting the increasing demand for ‘channel shift’ in the provision and access to services which is already well underway as part of the Councils Digital Services ambition.

3 VISIONHighland Council ICT Services has a published Mission Statement which is as follows:

"To be the ICT Centre of Excellence enabling Business Change and Transformation across the Council and to Lead on the Strategic Deployment of

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ICT through the Delivery of Professional, Efficient and Customer-focused ICT Services"

This statement informs our Vision for ICT Services and the strategic framework which will be used to implement this Vision:

Our technology will be flexible, resilient and fit for purpose, enabling improved public services through the exploitation of the Council’s investment in technology;

Our data will be secure, accurate, available and become a trusted source of information to be used and adapted for decision-making by Citizens, Councillors and Employees;

Our processes will continually improve to enable the Council to become more efficient and reduce costs;

We will develop our skills in the management and exploitation of the technology that the Council has invested in, and share our knowledge amongst Council Employees and the wider Highland community.

In essence, our Vision is to use ICT to continuously improve service delivery and to support and enable initiatives which make Council services more accessible, more convenient, more operationally efficient and cost-effective. The principle of ‘fit for purpose’ has been introduced to ensure that future ICT investments are cost-effective; prioritising off-the-shelf, core functionality which is ‘good enough’ rather than expensive customisation based on an idealised solution.

4 THE NATIONAL CONTEXT4.1 National Vision and Outcomes

This Strategy has been developed with regard to the work being undertaken by the Local Government Digital Office which is working in partnership with Scotland’s local authorities helping to drive digital transformation across the country - delivering a digital first approach that enables councils to provide better services to their citizens across main themes, Digital Leadership, Digital Foundation & Digital Services

The Highland Council ICT Strategy has also been informed by the Scottish Government’s national Digital Public Services Strategy and Action Plan: “Scotland's Digital Future: Delivery of Public Services”.

There are 3 main outcomes and 2 supporting outcomes:

Digital Public Services – more on line. This outcome is about as many services as possible being on line i.e. ‘digital by default’. The development of new digital services will be customer-driven, as our external and internal customers increasingly expect to access Council and other public services on line, at any time of the day and from any device. New services should be simple, standardised and if possible, automated, allowing for self-service where appropriate.

Reduced costs – ICT is a cost to Councils, but it is also an enabler of cost reductions in services. There are a number of potential areas for cost reduction available to Councils, through the re-use or sharing of infrastructure and

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services, as well as the benefits provided by aggregated procurement. In addition, ICT can help automate transactional services and reduce the overall cost of service provision.

Better public services enabled by ICT – Both the National and Local Government ICT Strategies highlight the importance of prevention, partnership at a local “place” level, improved performance management and people development as the 4 pillars of improved public services. ICT has a role in enabling each of these, for example by improving data-sharing across public sector organisations, better and more focused services can be provided to the most vulnerable in our society.

The 2 supporting outcomes are:

Lower carbon footprint – ICT developments would be expected to make a contribution to reducing carbon emissions.

Digital enabled economy – The digital infrastructure work to provide digital access for the public across Scotland (Broadband for Scotland) is focused on developing the economy of Scotland, rather than the transformation of public services per se. However, there are a number of important touch points between the 2 strategies that require to be mapped and the benefits realised. For example, improved high-speed public broadband will allow more citizens access to digital public services especially in remote areas. At the same time, the Council will also aim to deliver services and manage its data in a way that supports businesses, provides new business opportunities and contributes to economic growth.

4.2 Core PrinciplesThree core principles that are fundamental to achieving these outcomes have been adopted at the national level. These are closely related to the guiding principles set out in the National and Local Government ICT Strategies, and are: collaborate, redesign and innovate.

Collaborate, share and re-use assets: Local public service organisations should join up their service delivery strategies, support them with collaboratively developed, ICT-enabled delivery processes, jointly commission ICT infrastructure and services, pool budgets, share staff, and measure, capture and share the resultant benefits and savings.

Redesign services to simplify, standardise and automate: Services should be re-designed and ICT-enabled, using open and reusable standards to meet aspirations for ‘anytime, anywhere, any device’ access. Services, whether internal or external, should be ‘digital by default’.

Innovate to empower citizens and communities: Social and digital inclusion should be built by shifting ownership and use of information and technology towards the service user. Service users, SMEs and the technology sector should be engaged in service design and delivery, and resources, information and skills in the community will be used to build local systems and services. A central premise will be to act quickly and not be afraid to take controlled risks.

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4.3 Legislative ConsiderationsThe Scottish Government issued an Open Data Strategy in 2015 that sets out the expectations of public sector organisations in relation to open data. This encourages the proactive release of data and allowing re-use of this through open data licences.

The following acts provide legislative duties in relation to the release of data and making this available as open data:

• The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015

• Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

• Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004

• Data Protection Act 1998

• INSPIRE (Scotland) Regulations 2009

The council is working as part of the Smart Cities Programme to promote open data and increase the amount of council data that is made available for re-use. Open data is set out further is section 5.5 and a strategic objective is set out in Section 7 to reflect this ambition.

5 TECHNOLOGICAL DRIVERSThere are four significant changes in technology and the way services are delivered that are likely to impact on the way the Council uses technology for its administration and delivery of services to the public. These are: Cloud Computing, Mobile Applications, the exploitation of the Public Services Network [in Scotland referred to as the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN)] and Big/Open Data.

5.1 Cloud ComputingCloud computing is the delivery of computing and storage capacity as a service by a 3rd party to the purchasing organisation over a network. The name is derived from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure utilised. Implemented appropriately,

Cloud computing can generate significant benefits in terms of cost-reduction, increased flexibility and scalability of solutions, as well as improving organisational agility.

Cloud services offer the council the opportunity to provide development and test environments only when required as opposed to having always on and discrete infrastructure within our data centre, thus saving costs.

Further to this, many of the Council’s other suppliers are developing Cloud services, some of which are being made available through the UK Government’s G-Cloud initiative, which provides a public-sector procurement framework for cloud services. The key features of this approach to the procurement and supply of ICT are reduced timescales/costs to implement and the variable running costs which are not fixed but which fluctuate with demand. When demand decreases, so do costs, unlike non-cloud systems which have fixed costs which don’t reduce with reduced demand. This model does have implications for procurement as there is likely to be less dependence on a single supplier and the need to engage more with

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the suppliers of systems rather than infrastructure. Cloud services do also put more dependence on resilient and secure external network connections.

Cloud computing offers further benefits of business continuity by not having all applications and services in a central place. The Council will endeavor to provide a secure solution to allow access to all HC service cloud computing solutions through a dedicated and resilient platform; .Centrally Managed Mobile Applications

5.2 Centrally Managed Mobile ApplicationsThe council will deploy a secure managed environment to deliver mobile applications to the council staff and members. This may also in future potentially include the ability for staff and members to use their own personal smartphones (Bring Your Own Device – BYOD) securely for business purposes As smartphones and tablets continue to develop within the consumer market and the mobile communications companies expand their coverage of 3G and 4G networks, the Council’s existing suppliers are developing mobile apps for the systems that we use, including mobile phone applications (‘apps’) for the public to provide them with access to Council services.

The industry trend is also towards a convergence between conventional computing and the development of consumer-led apps, and towards device-independent methods of accessing ICT-based services. The choice of device is based on the type of use and environment rather than being dictated by the choice of application. Compared to conventional PC software, apps tend to be cheaper to develop, easier to use and more flexible to adapt to changed requirements but they do have limitations in terms of functionality. “Mobile apps” should not be seen as restricted just to “mobile devices” as there could be great benefits in expanding their use where possible to conventional PCs, such as those currently available for Windows 10.

5.3 Public Services Network The Public Services Network (PSN) is a UK Government initiative intended to create a secure system of networks to enable the delivery of public services from any place by any provider. The intention is that the PSN will generate savings by removing duplicate network connections, simplifying procurement processes, increasing the uptake of mobile working and lead to greater use of shared services. The PSN framework covers central government departments, non-departmental public bodies, the NHS, local authorities and voluntary sector charities.

In Scotland, the Scottish Wide Area Network (formerly known as the Scottish Public Services Network or SPSN, now known as SWAN) is the secure private network for public sector organisations in Scotland. The Pathfinder North Partnership consisting of six local authorities across the north of Scotland in which the Council is the lead authority is a vanguard member of SWAN and has played a key role in its creation and subsequent implementation. SWAN has, and continues to replace existing network contracts to create a single network, and through the introduction of uniform standards and gateways to other networks, reduce duplication of procurement and operational effort, thus driving down the costs of network services. Exploitation of this network and associated value added services will enable the Council to remove the reliance, and cost-base, associated with implementing dedicated network connections to each public sector partner.

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5.4 Cyber Security In order that the Council is a cyber resilient organization, confident in our capacity to protect Council and citizen data which underpins the delivery of our services to the public, we will continuously evaluate cyber resiliency to defend against Threats (Criminal, State-sponsored and terrorism related, Opportunistic) and Vulnerabilities/Weaknesses (Cloud adoption, IOT, legacy applications and infrastructure).

The Council will promote security by design, this will include vulnerability scanning, protective monitoring, auditing, incident response plans, penetration testing. We will follow the key objectives of the UK Government National Cyber Security Strategy which is to DEFEND Council data and systems, DETER by having the right protection in place and DEVELOP a Cyber Security plan to overcome future threats and challenges.

With easy access to cloud computing, cyber security becomes a much wider area of risk for the Council. Utilising cloud computing, Corporate and citizen data is stored in disparate 3rd party commercial organisations infrastructure and whilst this provides the potential for better value for money solutions, there are many standards around security and information management that need assured prior to the procurement of any new solution. ICT Services will support respective business service ICT requirements through a robust governance process and engagement with council services prior to procurement to ensure potential solutions meet the required security and information management standards, thus reducing potential cloud computing vulnerabilities.

5.5 Big & Open DataThe Council will also adhere to Government compliance and initiatives by participating in PSN and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation and DWP code of connection. The ICT Services security team will actively promote Cyber Awareness within the Council.

The information underpinning public services is an essential asset in the battle for better efficiency. Without question, more robust information and, more importantly, the insight, analysis and answers, are key to deciding the best use of diminishing resources across the public sector. The Council collects and stores significant volumes of different datasets relating to the delivery of its services, but currently only utilises a subset of this data when managing existing services or designing new or improved services. These numerous datasets could be combined in different permutations, but the complex interrelationships between the data, and often the sheer volume of data makes obtaining useful information from this ‘big data’ a difficult process. New data analytics tools and skills are required in order to support improved business decision-making which can be made through the exploitation of big data. Big data must also be underpinned by the important considerations of privacy, data quality and security. This new approach should allow Services to make better use of the Council’s existing data - and on-going data-collection - to help improve the way the Council designs, manages and delivers its services to the public.

Not only should Services be making better use of the Council’s data internally, but the Council also needs to be proactive in addressing the growing demand for information to be made more widely available whether this is from ad hoc enquiries or more formal Freedom of Information requests.

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Thus non-personal data held by the Council could be made freely available to use as open data and then re-mixed by the public and 3 rd parties, so that it can be turned into useful applications, generate new ideas for improved services, generating income, support transparency and accountability and make sharing data between public sector partners more efficient.

6 CURRENT PLANNED TECHNOLOGYThrough the ICT Transformation Programme delivered by Wipro and the Councils ICT Services Team, the Council will have new desktop devices complete with more up-to-date versions of Microsoft’s Office, Email, and Communications software, a fully managed multi-function printer estate our servers located in a modern, secure Data Centre as well as a local and wide area network capable of supporting a modern and reliable ICT Service

Included in this portfolio are a suite of cloud based applications within Microsoft Office 365 (O365) offering that, create further possibilities for flexible working, unified communications and increased online collaboration.

The telephony systems in the majority Council schools and offices will be upgraded to the latest IP telephony solution, reducing the need for costly telephony connections. This is aligned to the wider transformation programme as part of the Councils unified communications programme to increase efficiency, reduce the Councils travel costs and associated carbon footprint with enhanced capability to collaborate online and via video conference.

Regarding the existing line-of-business applications, there is a need to assess the value to the Council of each application as currently employed. This will take the form of a strategic Application Portfolio Management approach to Council applications to enable the exploitation of existing investments, This will identify areas where there may be opportunities to replace or refine existing applications in order to reduce costs and/or increase the value to the Council’s operational activities, whilst at the same time driving down the cost of service provision and exploiting economies of scale from a single supplier.

7 Strategic ObjectivesAt a national level, Highland Council supports the Scottish Government’s aims for transforming public services using ICT, as originally identified in the McClelland and Christie Reports and now being delivered through the National and Local Government ICT Strategies. The Council’s ICT Strategy is aligned with the strategic themes of:

Citizen/Customer Focus; Transparency and Privacy; Collaboration and adoption of common systems and standards; A skilled and empowered Workforce; Value for Money.

The following key objectives encompassing developments and initiatives at both a corporate and individual Service level have been identified to deliver the strategic themes and Vision:

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Identify where ICT can be used to support the Programme for The Highland Council entitled “Local Choices, Highland Voices” which was approved in September 2017, and sets out actions across 5 main themes as detailed below;

o a place to live;o a place to learn; o a place to thrive; o infrastructure welcoming place; o a redesigned Council;

The Council is in the process of developing an ambitious Service-wide Improvement Programme which is focused on achieving the required budget savings through commercialisation, income generation and efficiencies. ICT Services will work collaboratively to identify where it can facilitate and enable this programme.

Support the Councils Digital Strategy by understanding its aims and ambition and play a key role in the identification and provision of the technology required to deliver it.

Continue to develop the necessary ICT policy and security framework to ensure that the Council meets its legislative commitments and adopt and embed best practice based on industry standards such as ISO 27001, ITIL , PRINCE2, LEAN SIX SIGMA and AGILE throughout the Council;

Ensure the continuing provision of fully supported, managed and secure high-quality ICT services through:

o Completion of the implementation of the ICT Transformation Programme

o Maximise the benefits of the Scottish Wide Area Network contract and associated value added services

Add to the existing year-on-year savings built into the current Managed ICT Services contract by identifying areas for reducing expenditure in line with the corporate savings targets

Implement a new Unified Communications solution which will remove some of the boundaries between fixed telephones, mobile telephones, instant messaging and video conferencing.

Enable the wider adoption of new services, such as Cloud based services and Mobile Applications. This may also in future potentially include the ability for staff and members to use their own personal smartphones (Bring Your Own Device – BYOD) securely for business purposes

Ensure that the quality of ICT services provided are fit for purpose and meet Services’ business needs.

Ensure that there is increased resilience in the Council’s core ICT infrastructure to support and maintain the increasing number of applications delivered over the web.

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Investigate and exploit the opportunities provided by Shared Services.

Provide easier access to improved management information and data as standard to enable Council Services to become more ‘information self-sufficient’ and enable them to make better-informed decisions regarding the design, efficiency and management of the services they provide to the public and other stakeholders.

Continue to work with and support the Council’s Improvement Programme;

Further develop our Geographical Information Systems (GIS), exploit new hosted data management and map delivery services, as well as increasing the publication, uptake and exploitation of GIS and the Council’s own geographic data sets within Council Services and the wider Highland community, and address the Council’s obligations under the EU INSPIRE Directive;

Develop the use of technology to support external access to Council systems to enable partnership working.

Develop and implement change management plans for ICT awareness and training addressing the needs of ICT staff, employees and elected members;

Collaborate with HC Services and its Partners to ensure forward planning in relation to project and service management impacts, and to help them identify specific Service needs in support of the delivery of their Service Plans;

Support the Care & Learning Service with the implementation of their ICT in Learning Strategy (ICTil) and work with High-Life Highland to support the development and implementation of their ICT Strategy;

Support the Care & Learning Service with the future development of the Schools Management Information System.

Support the Digital Services Team and the Councils Improvement Programme with the further development of the Council’s online offering to provide more transactional and self-manage facilities via its website, more mobile-friendly access, and more customisable information on the services provided by the Council;

Support Council Services with the development and implementation of mobile applications to provide new ways for citizens to access Council services and to support the Council’s corporate Mobile Service Delivery project;

Work with our ICT suppliers and Council Services to rationalise the Council’s line-of-business applications and to adopt common systems for common business processes.

Work with Services and application providers to ensure new applications or upgrades to existing applications are mobile ready or compatible by default.

Work with software suppliers to ensure that business intelligence is included as standard for new procurements to provide on-demand, real business intelligence, and that data is made available in open file formats to allow ease

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of data extraction, exchange and integration with other software and reporting tools, as well as ease of publication for (re)use by 3rd parties.

Investigate the UK Government’s Open Data licencing model (‘Open Government Licence v2.0’) to consider its adoption for future publication of the Council’s own data sets.

Supporting this strategy will be a dynamic portfolio of Council ICT projects and the Digital Strategy, which now forms part of the Council’s overarching ‘Customer Engagement Strategy’.

In addition, the Council’s project portfolio (programme) will be reviewed regularly to reflect the changing demands of the Council and its citizens, as well as to take advantage of any new opportunities offered by emerging and maturing technologies.

8 ICT ARCHITECTURE In partnership with its ICT service providers the Council will define, communicate and enforce a detailed technical strategy and supporting standards. The technical strategy envisages setting standards at the Infrastructure and Application levels:

Infrastructure (Computing platform)o The server, desktop and mobile hardware, operating platform, as well as

storage and deployment technologies. Infrastructure (Networks)

o The voice and data network services including fixed, wireless and remote access technologies deployed across the Council. This includes the associated software architecture supporting the network technology and to enable mobile access from Council and non-Council devices (for public access and to enable Bring Your Own Device [BYOD]).

o New Council and School buildings and major refurbishment programmes will incorporate wireless (Wi-Fi) infrastructure.

Applicationso The corporate applications, line-of-business service applications,

desktop/personal productivity applications and mobile applications.o Corporate desktop applications will continue to be based on the Microsoft

Office suite.o Line-of-business applications, where possible, should be web-based, with the

presumption that new systems will share procurement, development, implementation and operation with other public bodies.

o Cloud based applications/systems to meet the Council’s security and access policies

o We will continue to adopt open source and shareware products where appropriate, notably in the curriculum environment.

9 TARGET FUTURE POSITION - BENEFITSThis strategy identifies the potential benefits offered by the exploitation of existing ICT as:

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Continued support for increased mobile and flexible working, including a review of the possibilities offered by mobile devices and ‘bring your own device’ [BYOD].

Introduction and support of Mobile Applications to enable the public to access Council data and services, and to support mobile and flexible working by Council employees.

Skills development in desktop tools and SharePoint to provide rapid and agile support for changing operational circumstances.

Cost reduction achieved from a presumption in favour of:o Using ‘Software as a Service’ (SAAS) Cloud-based applications;o Procuring and implementing Shared Services and the utilisation of the Public

Services Network/SWAN. Cost reduction achieved from utilising open-source software where appropriate,

particularly within the curriculum environment; Rationalised line of business applications with greater value obtained from the core

applications. Improved management and exploitation of line of business applications by engaging

directly with Supplier-hosted Cloud Services. Improved system integration and communication through open data format

standards, such as XML, and potential use of integration software. Improved business decision-making through better and more accurate up-to-date

data and new Business Intelligence tools for self-serviced and flexible reporting. Expansion and exploitation of the use of the Extranet to involve a wider range of

partners and a wider range of Extranet-based services. Wireless access to the Council’s network will be provided in new and refurbished

Council properties. Highland Council will be seen as an exemplar in the use of ICT, providing replicable

standards and technologies which can be exploited by the wider business community.

10 GOVERNANCE OF ICT STRATEGYThe ICT Strategy is a working document and is not defined for a specific period allowing the strategy to be flexible as new opportunities or technologies emerge, or the needs of the business are such that the strategy needs to be adjusted. The strategy will be updated as required but as a minimum this will be done on an annual basis

Progress against key projects in the strategy will be reported regularly to elected members through the appropriate Service Committee and the ICT investment programme, as a whole, will be reported to Corporate Resources Committee. Specific Roles for this Strategy are as follows.

10.1 Corporate Resources Committee Agree the vision and the ICT strategy

10.2 ICT Senior Management Team Review the ICT Strategy on an annual basis and recommend the ICT Strategy to the

Corporate Resources Committee

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10.3 ICT Contract Board The ICT Contract Board shall: provide senior level guidance, leadership and strategy for the overall delivery of the

Services; be the point of escalation from the Service Management Board be the point of escalation from the Contract Change Board for contract Changes

which will have a significant impact on the Services to the ICT Contract Board ensure that ICT Contracts are operated throughout in a manner which optimises

value for money and operational benefit derived by the Authority and the commercial benefit derived by the Suppliers;

receive and review reports from the Service Management Board and review reports on technology, service and other developments that offer potential for

improving the benefit that either Party is receiving, in particular value for money; determine business strategy and provide guidance on policy matters which may

impact on the implementation of the Services or on any Optional Services; and authorise the commissioning and initiation of, and assess opportunities for, Optional Services; and

provide guidance and authorisation to the Service Management Board on relevant Changes.

promote innovation and development of new business ideas in order to meet the Authority’s requirements and efficiency targets within contractual scope

and scale possibilities; review significant issues requiring decision and resolution for Community Benefits

and the progress against the Community Benefits Plan; receive reports from the Supplier on matters such as issues relating to delivery of

Community Benefits programme; review the Community Benefits programme performance, co-ordination of individual

projects and any integration issues. receive and review reports from the Contract Change Management Group and in this

capacity shall: approve or reject (close) all proposed Contract Changes which must be approved monitor and review the cumulative effect of all Changes on an ongoing basis.

10.4 ICT Development Board High-level decision-making on ICT Strategy Consider proposals for the use if ICT investment funds and Decide on a Programme

of ICT Investments ensuring that requests have been approved by the Technical Forum and, where appropriate, are managed in line with the Project Management Governance Policy

Scrutinise the performance of all service providers Scrutinise the realisation of expected benefits from investments Programme level risk and issue review Manage the overall delivery of the Council’s portfolio of ICT projects Resource planning around existing and forthcoming projects Management of “gateway” process for governance of ICT projects or projects with a

significant ICT dependency Review business cases for ICT projects

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10.4 Technical Assurance Group The Technical Assurance Group shall be accountable to the Service Management

Board for oversight of the technology used in the Supplier Solution and ensuring that technological choices are made to maximise the long term value of the Supplier Solution as a business asset of the Authority.

The Technical Assurance Group shall:o Perform a gateway role in assessing non-standard service requests and their

alignment to the Councils ICT Strategy and compatibility with its infrastructure

o ensure compliance with the Standards; o grant dispensations for variations from such compliance where appropriate; o assure the coherence and consistency of the systems architecture for the

Supplier Solution; o monitor developments in new technology and reporting on their potential

benefit to the Services; o provide advice, guidance and information on technical issues; o assure that the technical architecture of the Supplier Solution is aligned to

the Service Requirements and has sufficient flexibility to cope with future requirements of the Authority;

o review and make recommendations to the Service Management Board in respect of:

o proposed technical changes which require a Contract Change; o proposed Contract Changes which require technical changes.

10.5 Service Management Board The Service Management Board shall be responsible for: the executive management of the Services and shall in this capacity: be accountable to the ICT Contract Board for comprehensive oversight of the

Services and for the senior management of the operational relationship between the Parties;

report to the ICT Contract Board on significant issues requiring decision and resolution by the ICT Contract Board and on progress against the high level Implementation Plan;

receive reports from the Programme Managers on matters such as issues relating to delivery of existing Services and performance against Performance Indicators, progress against the Implementation Plan and possible future developments;

review and report to the ICT Contract Board on service management, co-ordination of individual projects and any integration issues;

deal with the prioritisation of resources and review the appointment of project managers for individual projects on behalf of the Parties;

consider and resolve Disputes (including Disputes as to the cause of a Delay or the performance of the Services) in the first instance and if necessary escalate the Dispute to the ICT Contract Board; and

develop operational/supplier relationship and develop and propose the relationship development strategy and ensure the implementation of the same; and

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the identification and management of risks relating to the performance of the Services and in this capacity shall:

provide assurance to the ICT Contract Board that risks are being effectively managed across the Services, including reporting the 'top 5' risks to the Contract Board on a monthly basis;

identify the risks to be reported to the ICT Contract Board via the regular risk reports;

accept or reject new risks proposed for inclusion in the Risk Register; ratify or refuse requests to close risks on the Risk Register; and identify risks relating to or arising out of the performance of the Services and

provisional owners of these risks.

10.6 Head of People & TransformationThe Head People & Transformation is responsible for:

Leadership of the Council ICT organisation and ICT services, Leadership of the Council Information Management Strategy, Leadership of other major ICT/Customer Service Initiatives, as required by the

Council ICT Management Team

10.7 ICT Management Team

The ICT Management Team comprising of the Operations Manager, Service & Performance Manager, Strategy & Engagement Manager and the Technical Design Architect are responsible for the development and ownership of the Council ICT Strategy and delivery of ICT services including:-

ICT Strategy;o Ensure the business and ICT converge by linking the objectives, strategy, and

processes to the ICT strategy and document this as a technical design and ICT strategy

o Understand, support, develop and advocate the Council’s ICT strategy and vision and provide strategic advice to service departments.

o Ongoing review and implementation of the ICT Strategy Corporate Policies and Standards for ICT systems and services; Procurement and delivery of ICT systems and services; Leadership and management of the ICT staff; Information Management, Systems Assurance and Security.

10.8 Service Directors and Heads of Service Modernising the delivery of services and creating efficiencies through the best use of

ICT systems and services; Sponsoring the development of ICT business cases and if approved ensure their

delivery; Creation, management and implementation of Business Continuity plans; Engagement with ICT Services via Business Support Managers.

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11 TRAINING, SKILLS AND EXPERTISEThe Councils ICT Services Team have a broad skillset across project, programme, technical and supplier management to effectively support the needs of the business and to manage its ICT Suppliers this includes;

Information Security (e.g. BCS CiSMP & CISM); Strategy and Architecture; Information Management; Service Management (e.g. ITIL); Network Support & Telephony Asset and Licence Management; Project Management (e.g. PRINCE2); Procurement and Contract Management (particularly Cloud and Shared Services).

Formal training will be supplemented by ‘informal’ skills/knowledge development to enable ICT staff to provide agile and flexible support, advice and guidance to Council Services.

As part of the ICT Transformation Programme, the Highland Council has invested in the Microsoft Office suite of software - Office 365. While much of the new software is an upgrade to software that has been in use for many years and in its basic usage most users are familiar with it, there are many new features and new software components that require training to exploit. Further investment in training and skills across the Council will therefore be necessary in order that the Council and its employees are able to maximise the benefits and efficiencies that will be available as a result of this programme. These will be identified and delivered as part of the change management programme that is in place to support the organisation through the ICT Transformation Programme

APPENDIX 1 – REFERENCE/SOURCE DOCUMENTSReview of Public Procurement in Scotland - Report and Recommendations (2006) – ‘McClelland Report’;

Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services (2011) – ‘Christie Report’;

Scotland's Digital Future: Delivery of Public Services (2012) – The Scottish Government;

Local Government Digital Office - Scotland’s centre for digital excellence

The Highland Council Information Management Strategy

The Highland Council Digital Ambition

Highland Council Education, Culture and Sport Service - Curriculum ICT Strategy

Highland Council Customer Engagement Strategy - Web Strategy

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APPENDIX 2 – GLOSSARY

Blog

A contraction of the words ‘web log’; a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first).

BYOD Bring Your Own Device - employees bringing personally-owned mobile or tablet devices to their place of work

Channel shift The creation of effective and efficient communication channels that are most appropriate for the customer and organisation.

Cloud Computing

Computer systems and services delivered from an external network, usually on a rental cost basisThere are three types of Cloud Computing:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).

Using Infrastructure as a Service, organisations rent the use of servers (as many as needed during the rental period) provided by one or more cloud providers.Using Platform as a Service, organisations rent the use of servers and the required system software, effectively renting a computing platform,Using Software as a Service, organisations also rent the application software and databases, such as Oracle Cloud. The cloud providers also manage the infrastructure and platforms on which the applications run.

CRM Customer Relationship Management System – currently Lagan Case Management system supplied by KANA

Data SetsCollections of data usually in tabular form. Publishing of public data sets is part of the UK Government's Transparency agenda.

Extranet An internal computer network that allows controlled access from outside users

GIS Geographical Information Systems – maps and map data

ICT

Information and Communications Technology is often used as an extended synonym for information technology (IT), but is a more specific term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

Internet Public network a.k.a. the World Wide Web, or simply ‘the Web’.

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Intranet A computer network within an organisation

ISO 27001 Information Security Management System standard

ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library - a set of practices for IT service management

Mobile Apps Small computer applications that can be downloaded from an “App Store” for handheld devices like smartphones and tablets.

Pathfinder Pathfinder North - a project to implement a high-speed broadband network across the Highlands and Islands local authorities

PRINCE2 Projects IN Controlled Environments 2 - a structured project management method

PSN Public Services Network – a replacement for Government Secure Intranet (GSi) and Managed Telecommunications Service (Mts)

SWAN

Scottish Wide Area Network – the SWAN programme will deliver a single public services network available for the use of any, and potentially all, public service organisations within Scotland; with aggregated demand delivering both cost and performance advantages.

Transformation Programme Technology upgrade programme for the Fujitsu contract 2010 – 2015

Unified communications

The integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, telephony (including IP telephony), video conferencing, data sharing (including web connected electronic whiteboards aka IWB's or Interactive White Boards), call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax).

VirtualisationThe creation of a virtual machine that acts like a real computer with an operating system. Software executed on these virtual machines is separated from the underlying hardware resources.

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