ICT Strategy

2016 to 2018

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Vision statement

To make available to customers, employees and other stakeholders, high quality, good value ICT services that support the council in delivering its corporate plan.

Vision detail

The council’s strategic direction captured in the corporate plan for 2015-20 sets out an overall vision to establish Norwich as a fine city for all with a mission statement to always put the city and its people first.

A key priority to achieve this is the commitment to ensure the provision of efficient, effective and quality public services to residents and visitors. Whilst we will continue to face considerable savings targets over the next five years, we will continue to protect and improve those services our citizen’s value most as much as we possibly can.

This ICT strategy, alongside a series of enablers that include accommodation and people, will support this vision as we work with our citizens and partners to deliver the following key actions:

to engage and work effectively with customers, communities and partner organisations, utilising data and intelligence and collaborative and preventative approaches to improve community outcomes

to continue to reshape the way the council works to realise our savings target and improving council performance wherever possible

to improve the efficiency of the council's customer access channels.

In addition, this strategy will support the council’s digital inclusion strategy which aims to support all our customers and citizens to access and use the internet. We will work with key partners and stakeholders to innovate and move towards a ‘digital by default’ model to reduce cost and improve the accessibility of services. At the same time we will support all our citizens to access and use the internet to make sure they are not excluded from the economic, social and financial benefits. Further, where citizens are unable to be digital, we will provide support to those customers.

A programme made up of a number of projects to deliver the ICT strategy will be established, evaluated, reviewed and prioritised by an ICT programme board to support the council’s vision.

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Our shop window; our website

We want to:

convey a sense of place and an amazing ‘front door’ to the city and the council

support more mobile devices and provide all our users with a better experience

decrease direct enquiries to the council and increase online transactions.

HOW SO THAT…

Access digital inclusion external funding to implement a new brand of website using a dynamic company with a proven track record of design.

Optimise experience, knowledge and procurement leverage from within our IT shared partner service provider (LGSS) by using a website platform already supported by the partnership.

Create a fully responsive website using a mobile-first approach.

Design a clear, simple and inviting website, and align our content focusing on task oriented user needs using customer intelligence tools to identify what customers do, what they want to do and to personalise communication with them.

Council services are promoted and further investment and tourism can be drawn into the city via a professional and high quality website.

Users can self-serve from any device (such as a desktop, tablet or smartphone) using effective sign posting and ease of access to information and transactional services.

Expensive face-to-face interaction and avoidable contact can be reduced using the channel shift transformation opportunities presented by on-line information and transactional services.

Connectivity with our Citizens can be exploited to promote events and initiatives, and to encourage feedback to facilitate the ongoing service transformation programme.

SELF SERVICE AGILE WORKING MORE FOR LESS CONTINUITY

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Connecting existing council systems

We want to:

enable our multiple, varied and tailored service delivery systems to talk to each other.

HOW SO THAT...

Exploit our existing investment in a corporate toolkit (NDL) that is designed to connect systems. It works universally with all software and can be developed locally to join together our disparate systems

Server based Toolkit Develop to cleanse data across systems, automate workflow and processing, and capture data from e-forms to auto populate back office systems without manual intervention

Mobile based Toolkit Develop ‘mobile applications’ to deliver information directly to the workforce out in the field using a device of choice – working online or offline

Invest in secure file transfer software to provide reliable and resilient transfer of data between both external and internal systems

Information in core council systems is reliable, with a simplified and consistent approach to integration within a controlled and auditable environment.

Agile working can be achieved: - Remote submission of inspection data - Issues reported direct into back office - Case information interrogated whilst

working off site. Duplicate manual input can be avoided and touch points minimised via triaged workflow providing opportunities for service transformation.

Design integration with the systems used by external partner organisations to automate workflow, report real time information and enable our partners to gather evidence as part of the process.

SELF SERVICE AGILE WORKING MORE FOR LESS

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Internal communication workspace

We want to:

publish up-to-date and relevant internal content in an easily accessible format

promote and facilitate team working and internal self- serve

pass information seamlessly from one service to another.

HOW SO THAT…

Develop citynet using the same design principles and styles as the website including intuitive search facilities, news announcements and notice boards

Upgrade existing platform and optimise improved document workflow functionality:

self-serve forms with booking, authorisation and escalation routes

shared external contacts lists

document version control with review alerts

Create ‘Sites’ for each team with dynamic devolved content to share information and facilitate collaborative working.

Centralise management information and publish spatial data to visually report on all service requests, incidents and events.

Develop map based self-serve forms for internal workflow and capture of service requirements and incidents.

Communication across the organisation is enhanced and users can self-serve using effective sign posting and ease of access to information and transactional services.

Service transformation opportunities and resource targeting can be achieved using

collaborative working

clear, visual hot spots of activity

built up accurate case histories

Information can be effectively managed and shared using best practice document version control.

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Customer portal

We want to:

promote a variety of online self-serve options available to our citizens and visitors

implement a customer portal providing customised access to our services using one single Sign-on through our website.

HOW SO THAT…

Develop online an ‘Account Services’ via a secure customer portal to give visibility of transactions and balance information.

Integrate and develop online self-service options using the right ‘tool’ for the job:

MyNorwich – publish ‘neighbourhood’ type information using location as the search criteria

Service portals - develop for service specific functionality (such as planning, repairs and committees)

Spatial E-Forms – develop for location based service requests and reporting (such as fly tipping)

Dynamic and Intelligent forms – develop application style forms where questions can be tailored based on previous responses provided.

Exploit use of attachments (for submission of evidence and photographs etc.), online payments and integration with systems held by our key service providers

Customer can self-serve by default and manage their interactions offering true end-to- end self-service and options for expert help when required:

Decrease direct enquiries and increase

online transactions

Avoid progress chasing or repeat visits

Provide visibility of service status information available form contractors and partner organisations

Service transformation can streamline processes from first point of contact through to service delivery to minimise any touch points and avoid duplicate reporting by publishing spatially plotted incidents

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Self-serve infrastructure

We want to:

provide a secure infrastructure to support a transactional and dynamic web presence.

HOW SO THAT…

Adopt the best practice for secure infrastructure design:

Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG) ‘Walled Gardens for Remote Access’ guidance. This introduces a three-tier security design to ensure we continue to be in line with best practices

Mitigate residual risks concerning monitoring and audit functions by adopting recommendations in line with CESG ‘Audit & Monitoring Across Security Domains’ guidance

Front line business transactional capability, and information sharing with third party systems is securely supported

Mandatory security compliance is achieved with the Public Sector Network (PSN) and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

SELF SERVICE AGILE WORKING MORE FOR LESS CONTINUITY

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Digital inclusion and social media

We want to:

access and comment on services via social media

enable our citizens, visitors, service providers, community groups and workforce to easily communicate and share information.

HOW SO THAT…

Invest in Wi-Fi for public spaces within City Hall such as the customer contact centre and committee rooms.

Engage in the Norwich Wi-Fi project which aims to flood the city with free digital access

Invest in and develop improved web filter management software

Invest in and enhance our internet band width capability

Implement the usage of webinars, options for low key web camera video conferencing, and interactive online training with streaming media

Citizens and visitors find it easy to engage with us and access our services at any time

Required security and network performance is retained whilst providing flexibility for business usage

Communication is promoted as we work with external delivery provides of all shapes and sizes – community groups, joint ventures, charities, private sector organisation, social care delivery groups and various local government partners

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Mobile workforce

We want to:

equip our workforce with the means to work whatever their location on a device that meets individual user requirements within a secure and managed environment.

HOW SO THAT…

Roaming profiles Provision of up-to-date and standardised desktop estate with functionality to work from any office location on the network with full access to all required applications

Citrix for home working Provision of flexible, secure remote access to data, applications from any location using any device

Deployment of managed mobile devices

Optimise experience, knowledge and cost leverage from within our IT shared partner managed service provider (LGSS).

Provide a standard ‘catalogue’ of mobile devices (with various options of suitable mobile working capability) across all of the LGSS partnering authorities

Procurement and support costs can be minimised

Staff can be relocated to any office location on the network and permanent office space accommodation can be reduced

Service transformation can focus resources on service delivery and not unnecessary administration or travel

Agile working can be achieved: - Remote submission of inspection data - Issues reported direct into back office - Case information interrogated whilst working

off site

SELF SERVICE AGILE WORKING

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Agile working infrastructure

We want to:

get the right infrastructure in place to support agile working

protect the security of the organisation and the sensitive data we manage.

HOW SO THAT…

Develop and deploy Microsoft Windows based devices to provide compatibility with existing desktop estate and systems

Adopt best practice for secure device design and management (CESG ‘Wireless Networking’ guidance) and implement an appropriate device management solution

Invest in and deploy mobile access infrastructure using:

Access point security tools (to enable wireless connectivity) and;

Appropriate security tools to authentic users (and therefore allow connectivity to organisational network resources).

Develop and deploy Wi-Fi to all of our customer buildings to enable access to corporate services in a secure environment

Security risks inherent with mobile devices are mitigated, including the confidentiality and integrity of data ‘in transit’

Devices can be managed remotely, including software upgrade and a complete wipe if lost

Maximum integration and flexibility is enabled as Microsoft products underpin both the councils operating systems and web browser functionality

Services can be delivered to our customers from a wide range of working locations

SELF SERVICE AGILE WORKING

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Business continuity

We want to:

maintain access to critical systems in any event including the relocation of staff.

HOW SO THAT…

Retain the existing infrastructure which has a high speed network across three core sites to provide resilience

Develop a secondary data centre to remove the dependency on the primary data centre in the event that it is not fully operational.

Invest in hardware upgrades to our data centre and develop secure, agile and dynamic services into the data centre

Virtualise services that were previously tied to hardware

Enhance the bandwidth so that the backup of data and the potential of hosting virtual environments across the sites can be achieved

Enhance the exiting physical space at the primary DR site to utilise and provide further resilience and business continuity

Business continuity is enabled in terms of resilience and off site replication of data, rather than just a holding area purely for a DR event

Host servers share disk resource and storage, and the requirement of additional asset and use of proprietary hardware is minimised

Service provision is cost-effective and within a flexible model

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Collaboration, consolidation and innovative systems

We want to:

drive savings directly out of the ICT provision

develop collaborative and partnership working regardless of location.

HOW SO THAT…

Maximise economics of scale in ICT service provision via LGSS ICT and other partnering organisations, whilst retaining our local customer service and channel strategy approaches

Exploit potential opportunities for shared implementation of applications using a shared platform

Create a platform for Norwich to host collaborative services of their business and make opportunities to work with partner organisations

Maintain up-to-date systems and exploit existing functionality

Establish quarterly ‘strategic’ reviews with Socitim to maximise opportunities for development and innovation.

Service transformation opportunities and resource targeting can be achieved

More for less and collaboration for all partner organisations can be achieved

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