Microsoft social care system

The request was partially successful.

Dear Aberdeen City Council,

In your response to https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... the Council confirmed that it has spent £1.3 million up to June 2021 on the new Microsoft software system for social care

Q1: What is the total sum budgeted for the social care IT system?
Q2: How many rounds of data migration had been completed by the point at which the £1.3 million was spent?
Q3: Had the Council’s social care system configuration been signed off by the Council by the point at which the £1.3 million was spent?
Q4: What is the projected go-live date of the social care system?

Yours faithfully,

Mark Proctor

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
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Access to Information Team, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen City Council

1 Attachment

Reference: FOI-346084217
Date of request: 01/07/2021
Title of request: Microsoft Social Care System

Dear Mark Proctor,

Thank you for your completing your Freedom of Information Request.

We aim to answer all requests within 20 working days.

You will receive a response via email and an update in [1]your self-serve
account.

For information about how we handle your request please see our [2]Freedom
of Information privacy notice.

For information about your appeal rights please see [3]Freedom of
Information reviews and appeals.

Kind regards

Access to Information Team
Aberdeen City Council | Customer Development | Customer Experience |
Customer
Marischal College | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC

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Access to Information Team, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen City Council

Reference: FOI-346084217
Date of request: 30/06/2021
Title of request: Microsoft Social Care System

Dear Mark Proctor,

Thank you for your information request. We have completed the necessary
search for the information requested. Our response is now detailed below.

In your response to
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...
the Council confirmed that it has spent £1.3 million up to June 2021 on
the new Microsoft software system for social care

Q1: What is the total sum budgeted for the social care IT system? 

Approval, including funding, to replace our existing Social Care Case
Management System was granted on 29 August 2019 by Strategic Commissioning
Committee (Committee Report OPS072_CareFirst Replacement). This Report was
restricted due to information on estimated expenditure on contracts.

We are unable to provide you with information on the total sum budgeted as
it is exempt from disclosure. In order to comply with our obligations
under the terms of Section 16 of the FOISA, we hereby give notice that we
are refusing your request under the terms of Section 33(1)(b) Commercial
Interests - of the FOISA.

In making this decision we considered the following points:

This report is sensitive for the following reasons:

- Commercial licencing and support information and costs relating to our
current health and social care system.

- Detailed breakdown of requested budget to replace the current system
which also provides information on hosting arrangements and IT
infrastructure - potentially creating a security risk for Aberdeen City
Council.

- Information on how vulnerable citizen information is stored and
processed.

Release of this information will affect the commercial interests of our
current health and social care system provider; our new provider; Aberdeen
City Health and Social Care Partnership and Aberdeen City Council.

Whilst we recognise that there is a public interest in release in relation
to transparency of public spend on IT infrastructure to support vulnerable
citizens we have significant concerns that the release of this information
will detrimentally impact on our system provider - as current contractual
costs and licensing fees will be released in the public domain; our new
health and social care system provider – disclosure of ACC budget
information could harm commercial interests in terms of future
negotiations / contractual arrangements with other customers, and Aberdeen
City Health and Social Care Partnership and Aberdeen City Council. Build
of a new enterprise-wide platform is currently underway within a
contractual framework with a supplier. It would be detrimental to any
potential negotiation position should any change request be required
during the project timeline.

On balance, it is considered that the information is exempt from release
under substantial prejudice to commercial interests.

Q2: How many rounds of data migration had been completed by the point at
which the £1.3 million was spent?

At the point of the £1.3m spend no rounds of data migration had taken
place.

Q3: Had the Council’s social care system configuration been signed off by
the Council by the point at which the £1.3 million was spent?

Yes, the configuration of D365 has been signed off and refined via sprint
elaboration.

Q4: What is the projected go-live date of the social care system?

The solution is planned to go live in Social Care in early 2022.

We handled your request for information in accordance with the provisions
of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

If you are dissatisfied with the way we have handled your request or the
content of it, you are entitled to ask for an appeal. You can do this from
your [1]Aberdeen City Council self service account.

For more information on your right to review, please visit [2]Freedom of
Information Review and Appeals.

We hope this helps with your request.

Kind regards

Access to Information Team
Aberdeen City Council | Customer Development | Customer Experience |
Customer
Marischal College | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
[3]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC

Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to [4]information
on why and how we use your data.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

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Dear Aberdeen City Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Aberdeen City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Microsoft social care system'.

The cost of a software system should never be treated as confidential.

You have claimed various security concerns based entirely on a straw man argument. I haven't asked for any security-related information, I have simply asked for the total sum budgeted.

As an aside, if the council has already spent £1.3 million and you haven't yet completed a single round of data migration, we can form 2 clear conclusions:

1. You have already spent more on this system than any comparable social care IT system, and you're less than half way through your expenditure. Wasteful
2. There's no real possibility that you will go live in early 2022 as you suggest. Now might be a good time to set expectations within your stakeholder group

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...

Yours faithfully,

Mark Proctor

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
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Derek Jamieson, Aberdeen City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Proctor, 

 

Thank you for your email of 23 July 2021 requesting that Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) review its handling of your request. I can now advise you
that we have undertaken an internal review of our decision and the
findings are set out below.

 

Review details

You requested that we review our decision based on your e-mail as follows
:-

 

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Aberdeen City Council's
handling of my FOI request 'Microsoft social care system'.
The cost of a software system should never be treated as confidential.
You have claimed various security concerns based entirely on a straw man
argument. I haven't asked for any security-related information, I have
simply asked for the total sum budgeted.
As an aside, if the council has already spent £1.3 million and you haven't
yet completed a single round of data migration, we can form 2 clear
conclusions:
1. You have already spent more on this system than any comparable social
care IT system, and you're less than half way through your expenditure.
Wasteful
2. There's no real possibility that you will go live in early 2022 as you
suggest. Now might be a good time to set expectations within your
stakeholder group

 

Review outcome

The Review Panel resolved to overturn the Council’s application of Section
33(1)b) – Commercial Interests - of FOISA and replaced with Section 25 -
information otherwise accessible - of FOISA and directed that a modified
reply, within the accompanying e-mail, be provided. 

 

Aberdeen City Council in accordance with [1]Section 35 of the Procurement
Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 have a legal obligation to publish a Contracts
Register as a statement of current and future opportunities ; this is
publicly available on our website at [2]Contracts register | Aberdeen City
Council.

 

Item 000-GUMT5776 within the contracts register lists the contract awarded
to Microsoft Ltd for CONT520 Microsoft Dynamics365 for Social Care
Platform on 30 April 2020 at a total contract value of £3,324,640.

 

It should be noted that Dynamics365 has not been procured as a single line
of business ‘social care IT system’ but has been procured as an enterprise
solution to allow the flexibility to transition multiple, ageing and
restrictive line of business systems to a common platform. Social Care is
the first business area to transition to the new technology.

 

 

What happens next?

 

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your request for an internal
review, you can apply directly to the Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner (OSIC) for a decision. Generally, OSIC cannot make a decision
unless you have been through the ACC’s review procedure. To make an
application to OSIC, please write or email OSIC at:

 

The Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

[3]www.itspublicknowledge.info

 

An application to OSIC must be made in writing within six months of
receipt of ACC’s Review Decision Notice. When applying to OSIC for a
decision you should give your name and address for correspondence. Please
note that OSIC will not be able to investigate if you have not used your
real name to make your information request. You must also specify:

 

● which request for information your requirement for review relates to

● the reason that you asked ACC to carry out a review of your request

● the reason why you are not satisfied with ACC's review outcome decision

 

The Commissioner will contact ACC and invite its comments on your
application. Thereafter (if no settlement has meantime been reached), the
Commissioner must reach a decision within 4 months of receiving your
application, or within such other period as is reasonable. You will
receive written notice of the outcome of the Commissioner’s decision.

 

Should you wish to appeal against the Scottish Information Commissioner's
decision, there is an appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law
only. Any such appeal must be made within 42 days after the date of the
decision has been issued.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Derek Jamieson

Review Panel Clerk

 

 

Derek Jamieson | Committee Services Officer

Aberdeen City Council | Governance

Town House (1^st Floor) | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10
1AQ
[4]ACC_Crest_for
mac email  

Direct Dial: 01224 523057 (Currently VoiceMail Only)

[5]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

| Twitter: @AberdeenCC | Facebook.com/AberdeenCC

 

Please note that I work variable hours on variable days

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

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3. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/
5. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Jamieson,

Thank you for reviewing my request and upholding my complaint.

I remain baffled, though.

The council has budgeted £3,324,640 for a system which should cost only half of that. I note the aspiration that this might provide a platform for the council to do other things in future - at undisclosed additional cost, I note - but £3.3 million is an insane amount to spend on a social care system. You could have implemented a proven system at literally half of that sum and had £1.5-£1.8 million available for frontline social care.

I'm also extremely concerned that you plan to go live early in 2022 but haven't yet completed a single round of data migration. I won't be holding my breath . . .

Good luck with the project.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Proctor