delivering the

Smart City & ICT Partnership

Six Monthly Performance Report

October 2008 - March 2009

Service performance in terms of desktop and systems availability and delivery of basic services exceed service level agreements. In particular, availability across the 170 applications supported by the partnership has been excellent with the best performance since the inception of the contract. Availability of the council website remains of concern, and new support arrangements have been put in place with the 3^rd Party Supplier along with work on the tender and business case for a replacement system.

Overall customer satisfaction with ICT has slightly improved over the period, with average scores of 4.27 out of 5 being recorded, a slight increase from 4.25 keeping customer satisfaction at a consistent high level. Customer satisfaction with the Change Process remains below the target, but seen to be improving in recent months with further improvements being made to the process.

Key projects have been completed in the period including the E-HR project with the launch of myJobScotland within the Council and self-service training administration functionality. The new stock management and online ordering system for the Community Equipment Service was also rolled out during the period. The first stage of the Modernising Social Care Information project has been completed - upgrading the SWIFT application and the supporting infrastructure.

To support the Achieving Excellence Programme significant work has taken place on the design of a Corporate Customer Services strategy as reported to Council in December. Underpinning this strategy, planning and procurement for the introduction of a new website has progressed with a business case due to be presented to the Finance & Resources Committee in June. The consolidation of telephony contracts across the Council is also progressing well as approved by Finance & Resources Committee on 17^th June 2008. Efficiency savings over three years are now estimated to exceed target with a revised estimate of £1.2m compared to the £750k provided previously to Committee. Plans for reinvestment are being finalised with proposals being finalised for the introduction of a Call Centre Management system which will support more effective management of customer contact across a range of service areas.

The Smart City Steering Group has undertaken a review of the work programme for 2009/12 over the period and plans for continuous improvement of partnership working have been developed.

How are we doing?

A key objective of the Partnership is the delivery of excellent ICT services on a day to day basis across all Council services. Overall service performance has improved both for corporate and learning & teaching users with improvements in the reliability of desktop services and time for fault resolution. The availability of critical systems was excellent remaining above the target of 99.5% availability throughout the period. Only two significant outages occurred of critical corporate systems in the six-month period. These were:-

Investigations highlighted that outages were created through a change to server policies made by BT which had not been adequately tested before introduction into the live environment. Revised procedures for testing policy changes are now in place.

The availability of the Council web site www.edinburgh.gov.uk  remains of concern with five occasions where performance deteriorated significantly although the application did not completely fail . Similar performance issues have affected the Intranet during the period. An improved support model was agreed with Hyperwave to take place from the 1^st of April, which should make the application more stable. However, the issues with Hyperwave are unlikely to be fully resolved and work continues on finalising plans for a replacement system.

One significant departmental system outage occurred during the period. The Comino system supporting Revenues & Benefits was unavailable for three days. Significant investigations were undertaken with the 3^rd party software supplier and infrastructure has been upgraded.

Corporate Service and Change

Learning & Teaching Service and Change

How are we doing?

A customer survey is sent out on resolution or completion of all incidents or requests for service. Over 2,500 questionnaires are issued each month with a response rate of 27%. The overall satisfaction level of 4.27 is currently above the target of 4 out of a 5 point scale.  Satisfaction with incident resolution is also over the target of 4 out of 5.

User satisfaction with completion of more complex change requests continues to be below the required target of an average score of 4 over the 6 month period. In March the target was achieved as a result of the recent process improvements introduced.

User satisfaction is measured across five separate aspects of the service. Scores for particular questions each month are outlined in the table below:

The following table shows the current and historical results for each question.

Over the period, 62 issues were formally escalated and the Partnership received 7 formal complaints from users. 62% of formal complaints raised have been resolved with users within the target of one month.

Following feedback from service users, the customer survey method has been refined to allow for a `non applicable' option for each question. This has resulted in more accurate analysis of the returned questionnaires being possible.

A senior manager survey was undertaken following a briefing held in May and the results of this survey are currently being collated for review by the Smart City Steering Group.

What are we doing?

The improvements introduced last year to the change process have delivered significant benefits in both a faster turnaround of simple change requests and a reduction in the cost of delivering these changes. Further work has been identified and a further improvement programme agreed particularly to address delivery times for complex change.

Regular forums have been held for staff both in corporate and school setting and are attended by senior members of the partnership management team. FurtherCrossing the Floor sessions have been held, where members of the Council and BT could spend time with each other to find out more about each other's roles and improve their understanding of the issues we each face. This was well received and we plan to have more sessions in the near future.

A briefing for all Senior Managers was held in May and feedback is currently being evaluated to form the basis for future partnership improvements.

* No returns received

How are we doing?

Key business transformation programmes secured through the Smart City Partnership are set to drive over £24m of cash-releasing efficiency savings for departments by 2011. These include the Enterprise Finance project which enabled the Integrating Finance and the Corporate Procurement programmes, E-HR and the Modernising Childrens' Information projects.

During the last year:

What are we doing?

The Customer Services workstream has completed an outline programme design which has involved significant consultation across Council departments. This programme design includes proposals to replace the current web platform and upgrade the Council's telephony infrastructure.

Significant progress has also been made on developing a proposal for business change programmes to support mobile, flexible and home working and asset and major project management. Less progress has been made on other aspects of the programme such as financial systems consolidation.

How are we doing?

A risk register is maintained for the Council's ICT services. This contains high-level risks which are derived from detailed risk registers maintained covering ICT infrastructure, ICT services, and ICT project delivery. These risks, and mitigating actions, are reviewed regularly by the e-Government and Corporate Services management teams.

During the period a review was completed by the external auditor of the Council's arrangements for Information Handling & Security. This was presented to the Audit Committee on 2 April 2009. The report concluded that the Council has a strong data handling environment and excellent leadership.

Work has continued over the last six months with departments in developing and maintaining a Corporate Information Asset Register detailing the Council's major information systems. Proposals are also in development to introduce a control framework for the use of portable devices and media (such as laptops and USB data devices).

The `Security Awareness Programme' has continued with updated intranet content and a poster campaign across the Council. Awareness briefings have been held with senior managers from across the Council and this has resulted in a number of follow-up `team' briefings. Plans are being finalised to introduce online, computer-based training in Information Security and Data Protection for staff.

In the last few months a project has been initiated by BT to upgrade our internet filtering solution, as it had reached the end of it's supportable life. The new system is currently being piloted at a high school and rollout across Council departments is anticipated within the next six months. Early indications suggest that the new system will be more flexible, easier to manage and easier to monitor.

A security review has been undertaken by BT of our ICT architecture and services. This identified many areas demonstrating the application of best practice security standards and also some areas for improvement. An associated `service improvement plan' has been drafted and is expected to be initiated in the coming month.

How are we doing?

Detailed analysis has been undertaken this year on costs paid to BT since the start of the contract. .This analysis has highlighted that ICT spend and investment across the Council grew significantly from 2001 through to 2007. During this period the number of PCs grew from 5,500 to 7,000 within the corporate estate and 6,000 to 13,000 in schools. The Council also invested in a range of significant ICT developments such as the Oracle Financials, Planning & Building Standards portal, Waverley Court, SWIFT and SEEMIS systems.

Renegotiation of the contract in 2006/7 and the adoption of a standardised ICT infrastructure model drove significant ongoing efficiency savings out of the ICT service. Spend is expected to decrease further this year with a reduction in development expenditure and increased governance reducing the amount of non-essential change.

It is anticipated that overall expenditure on ICT services will be around £28.5m in 2009/10. A reduction of 10.9% from the levels of expenditure in 2006/7.

Internal and Independent value for money assessments continue to be applied to all BT proposals.

The Partnership has recently taken advantage of national procurement from the Scottish Government to join the national User Licence Agreement (ULA) for Oracle software this time for all services.

How are we doing?

What are we doing?

The level of activity involving ICT solutions remains highs with 66 projects in delivery throughout the Council, 44 business cases in development and 56 ideas captured. The programme is currently being reviewed and re-prioritised to ensure that it is focussed on delivering value.

Departments have established ICT steering groups and work plans which allow the majority of ideas to be captured. These are taken through a defined business case process. As well as identifying innovative opportunities the partnership also looks at new ways of developing better partnership relationships;

[Author ID1: at Mon May 11 12:50:00 2009 ]

Smart City & ICT Partnership Performance Report October 2008 - March 2009

Smart City Vision

"The Council is recognised as a UK leader in the delivery of modern, integrated and interactive public service through the intelligent application of technology"

Smart City Strategy, 2003

Similar to corporate users the majority of requests raised by staff are for standard jobs with published target delivery dates. The top five requests represent over 50% of all changes requested. The chart to the left highlights that over 96% of these requests are delivered within agreed targets.

The volumes of incidents & changes logged each month by users in Learning & Teaching Establishments over the period averaged 1019., These volumes are similar to those of the previous six months.

Keeping the customer satisfied…

12,630 calls to the helpdesk resolved in the period

5,378 service requests delivered in the period

15,107 customer satisfaction questionnaires sent out in the period

4.27 out of 5 average customer satisfaction

62 % of complaints resolved within one month

The Partnership is committed to delivering excellent customer service to the Council. To measure this, we send out customer satisfaction questionnaires with every helpdesk call and service/change request.

Responding to customer feedback:

Delivering innovative business solutions is at the heart of the Smart City Strategy and the Partnership. Our programme of delivery projects aligns to the Council's Corporate Plan and Service Plans.

Our aim is to improve the way the Council does business through the intelligent application of technology and the simplification and standardisation of business processes. We add value by enabling staff to deliver better services to our customers and to work smarter and more efficiently.

The Council is heavily dependent on ICT to deliver its services. Over 13,000 staff depend on our ICT systems to do their job and deliver front-line services.

The security of our information systems is critical to the continuity of our business. It is essential that the right information is available to the right people, at the right time. The Partnership has adopted a structured approach to security, with a range of different controls to protect our network, servers, workstations, staff and information systems.

Hoping for the best, planning for the worst…

100% of projects maintain up to date risk registers

32 average risk rating for risks in the Partnership risk register

Keeping safe…

39 security investigations during the period

4 million spam emails blocked every month

Delivering ICT services that provide value for money for the Council is a key focus of the Partnership. We strive to identify and take advantage of the opportunities from new technologies and approaches to service provision to improve the quality and reduce the cost of ICT services to departments. Regular industry surveys and spot checks by independent experts provide assurance that the services provided are competitively priced.

Keeping the costs down…

£1.9m of savings this year from core service costs

£1m of operational points to be applied to departmental change

£1.2m estimate saving on PSTN contract over 3 years

Every day we support…

77,022 page views on www.edinburgh.gov.uk

145 helpcalls to get people working again

41,790 corporate emails sent & delivered

541 gigabytes of data traffic sent across the network

The City of Edinburgh Council's ICT estate is one of the largest and most complex in Scotland. Delivering enhanced service support levels is a specific objective of our Partnership with BT.

Our ICT estate

Who do we support?

Exploring new ideas…

56 ideas captured

44 business cases being developed

66 projects being delivered

3 Innovation sessions held

A key objective of the Smart City Partnership is to develop innovation in service delivery. Departmental ICT strategy groups have been formed across the Council and a Single Programme of Work has been developed to capture ideas from staff in the Council and BT and to assess opportunities where ICT investment could deliver improved services and a more efficient operation. Business cases will be developed to ensure we target and prioritise resources available for ICT investment towards areas of greatest benefit.

Modernising the Council…

Major upgrade to Swift system started

Key projects initiated to deliver significant cashable benefits in telecoms and document production and print.

75% project  delivery against  plan for full year 

Delivering innovative projects on schedule, to specification and to cost is at the heart of the Smart City Strategy. Our programme of delivery projects aims to add business value to all Council services by enabling staff to work smarter and deliver improved customer service.

During the reporting period, the project designed to improve the efficiency of the Council telephony network has begun to deliver significant financial savings and will continue to do so throughout 2009/10.

Similarly, the project to improve the usage of multi-functional print/copy/fax devices will see the substantial reduction the numbers of desktop and network printers in use in the Council deliver financial and environmental benefits. In addition, a significant project to upgrade the core Social Care application (Swift) has begun with the first phase completed successfully in January 2009.

In overall terms, the outstanding changes requested by staff across the Council has remained static with 304 jobs outstanding at the end of March 09, compared to 302 reported the end of September 08. This represents an average outstanding change of 36% of total requests received across the period. The number of jobs outstanding older than 3 months has however reduced from 24% to 16%.