Appendix
ICT Strategy, 2011-2014
Version 0.12
Fife Council is committed to improving services and outcomes for Fife despite the significant
financial challenge. This requires the right strategic plans; the effective and agile delivery of
business change and a low-cost and simplified approach to service delivery. This ICT
Strategy aligns to these outcomes through the following five strategic goals :1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Reduce costs and improve returns for ICT
Improve customer satisfaction in ICT Services
Deliver the systems and technical architecture for a changing Council
Protect and improve the use of Council information
Improve outcomes in Fife by harnessing ICT skills & innovation
Table of Contents
1.
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................3
2.
TOWARDS 2014 .........................................................................................................................4
3.
THE ICT ENVIRONMENT ...........................................................................................................5
4.
THE OPERATING MODEL .........................................................................................................7
5.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND SERVICES ........................................................................11
6.
REVENUE EXPENDITURE .......................................................................................................12
7.
CAPITAL INVESTMENT ...........................................................................................................14
8.
ICT GOVERNANCE ..................................................................................................................15
9.
THE STRATEGIC GOALS SUMMARISED ...............................................................................16
1.
Introduction
1.1
Fife Council faces significant challenges in delivering organisational efficiencies and
improvements. This means taking significant steps to control and reduce operational costs
while improving customer satisfaction in the face of steadily increasing demand. In short,
the Council needs to be “doing better with less”.
1.2
The Council ICT Strategy for 2011-2014 reflects a number of changes in our approach to
ICT strategic planning to meet this need. Previous strategies have focussed almost
exclusively on the capabilities of the Council IT Service and on technological directions. In
taking a more holistic view, this Strategy starts to recognise the pervasive nature and
benefits of ICT as an asset to Fife – both Council and residents - and a growing need to
extend ICT investments to real community benefits. It also recognises the need for the
entire Council to be engaged with the ICT Strategy and for it to address their needs.
1.3
The ICT Strategy has been drawn together from several sources. Engagement with
business change activities across Directorates and with the Corporate Improvement
Programme have provided valuable input to setting the strategic direction towards 2014.
This is the first time an ICT Strategy has been able to use this emergent and maturing
approach to business change. It is intended that this, along with actions outlined in this
Strategy regarding Account Management and the IT Strategy Board, will improve the
alignment of ICT delivery with the needs of the Council in delivering services to Fife..
1.4
Detailed analysis of the current situation around the ICT environment and operating
model, including input from SOCITM (Society of IT Management) benchmarks on
customer satisfaction have been key in establishing current and emergent issues and
risks.
1.5
The impacts associated with relevant Strategic Risks - Information Governance
(ORG004), ICT availability and reliability (ORG0013) and ICT Governance (ORG0018)
have also been considered throughout. Delivery of the approach set out in this Strategy
and the operation of the ICT Strategy Board are both key control measures in the
mitigation of these risks.
1.6
In drawing these requirements together, the ICT Strategy presents 5 overarching goals:




Reduce costs and improve returns for ICT
Improve Customer Satisfaction in the IT Service
Deliver the systems and technical architecture for a changing Council
Protect and improve the use of Council information
Improve outcomes in Fife by harnessing ICT skills & innovation
1.7
These are underpinned by over 60 detailed actions and strategic measures to deliver
these goals and provide transparency on our progress to achieving them.
1.8
If properly executed and supported, this will deliver an ICT environment and operating
model which is more reliable, simpler, cheaper and far more responsive to business
needs. In turn, this platform will enable greater sharing of resources and innovation essential if we are to “do better with less”.
2.
Towards 2014
2.1
Fife Council in 2014 will be a significantly different organisation in a number of ways. We
know there will be less staff, reduced financial resources, fewer buildings and increasing
demands to share services and information.
2.2
Unsurprisingly, a primary consideration across the ICT Strategy is to reduce the costs
associated with ICT. Cost reduction in direct service provision is just one contributory
factor. It is insufficient on its own to achieve the scale of savings required. Managing the
Council-wide consumption and growth in demand for ICT services and ensuring that the
widest possible returns can be extracted from ICT investments will be essential.
2.3
Long-standing and increasing issues around complexity, duplication and the number of
“legacy elements” within the ICT environment must also be addressed if we are to achieve
the savings required across the Council. This means greater standardisation of key
systems and processes, balancing competing demands for optimal outcomes.
2.4
Success in “doing better with less” is linked to ensuring that skilled and professional frontline Council staff are effectively enabled in terms of improved productivity, enhanced
collaboration and more reliable and flexible access to information and systems.
2.5
In all Council Services, this means using IT to deliver more routine services directly
(including self-service) and enabling skilled Council staff to focus more of their time on the
professional activities which deliver improvements to the Council’s key outcomes.
2.6
An example of this is the recent integration of the Council VOIP telephony system and the
Contact Centre, which provides opportunities to shift more routine contact away from
professional staff to those who are highly-trained in customer services, making the best
use of both.
2.7
Within Directorates like Social Work and Environment & Development (E&D) Services,
mobile and flexible working will increase significantly and become critical to maintaining
services in the face of growing demands with less staff. Within Social Work, more flexible
(but still secured) access to information and connecting skilled, but highly mobile, staff
together are particular challenges to be addressed. These require the right collaborative &
communications platforms to be developed and implemented, building on existing ICT
investments where possible.
2.8
This strategy is aligned with the emergent Education eVision Programme, aimed at
transforming the way ICT is used in Schools to equip pupils to deal with the technologies
they experience in the world outside of formal education. Upgrading network links to
schools and implementing existing wireless technology solutions presents great
opportunities to build media-enabled learning and more flexible classroom provision.
Simplifying and reducing the cost of School infrastructure and developing a model for
improved autonomy and self-service also feature in the Programme and align fully with
the aims and actions of this Strategy
2.9
By 2014, it is likely that Councils will share more systems, services and technology with
each other and with partner agencies. This may be mandated by the Scottish
Government, but it is more likely that financial constraints will make this the only
sustainable route. As Scotland’s third largest Council, Fife should be well placed to lead
this activity as long as the right decisions are taken around systems and technology now.
Work with Finance & Procurement Directorate to replace legacy systems is currently
being undertaken with that aim in mind, potentially implementing externally hosted ICT
solutions to reduce costs and enable future sharing opportunities.
2.10
Given these demands and changes, it is clear that the Council must redevelop the way it
delivers ICT. This means changes in the way ICT is provided, supported, consumed and
delivered. More services will be provided or hosted externally in partnership with other
public or private sector organisations. As a likely consequence, some ICT investments will
shift from current capital “buy and implement” models to more revenue-based “pay as you
use” arrangements. The Council’s IT Service will need to improve and change its skills,
processes and responsibilities in response to these changes.
2.11
The way Fife residents, businesses and pupils use technology for domestic, social,
educational and economic purposes is changing significantly and is reflected throughout
the ICT Strategy. Further growth in demand for technology-based citizen contact and
engagement (e.g. Web, social networking, smartphones) are expected over the next 3
years. These will provide opportunities for improved service delivery if they are properly
considered and planned for, but reputational damage if they are not.
2.12
The most obvious and immediate impacts to the Council will be in the way that our
customers engage and interact with us. Greater demands for transparency, easier access
to information and simpler, more personalised approaches will feature strongly. Failure to
address this while we drive towards greater automation and self-service to reduce costs
could result in customer dissatisfaction.
2.13
Greater Council, partner and customer demands for access to information and services
are also a significant consideration. A more open and accessible environment is not only
achievable – it is essential - but it needs to be balanced with our on-going responsibility to
protect and secure data.
3.
The ICT Environment
3.1
The following table represents a high-level view of the current ICT environment depicting
an overly complex ICT environment.
Staff supported
Customers Pupils
Sites supported
Servers
Hardware
Estate
Devices
18,782
28,782
462
439, 63% legacy (244 Novell servers with
81% legacy).
26,892, 53% >5 years old (63% Education,
27% Others)
Communications 3369 routers/switches, 11% legacy
Storage
118,351 Gigabytes, Growth Rate = 25% year
on year
Service
125 supported by IT, 59 assessed with 26
Applications
(44%) legacy, unknown number outside IT
(e.g. SWIFT)
Software
Estate
3.2
Infrastructure
Applications
(e.g.
Groupwise)
Server
Operating
Systems
45, 11 (24%) legacy
Desktop
Applications
(e.g. MS Office)
2,296 (excludes Education), legacy status
unknown, but likely to be significant.
10 different operating systems in use, of
these Windows 2000 is legacy (installed on
19 servers)
There have been significant steps forward over the last few years:

investments in the previous ICT Roadmap agreed in 2005 have been implemented
and are fundamental enablers to this Strategy;
Recent investments in server and data network systems, alongside strengthened
risk management processes, means these elements are more reliable than ever
despite issues arising from areas of under-investment, including older business
systems and Novell Netware and Groupwise.
3.3
The complexity of the ICT environment results in approximately 65% of IT Service’s
resources (staff and financial) supporting operational activities. With a revenue budget
expected to reduce by a third, the resources consumed in maintaining the operational
environment will become unsustainable unless significant steps are taken to reduce this
complexity.
3.4
The future is for a simpler, more reliable ICT environment which is cheaper to run. The
Strategy, tackles several long-standing issues which reduce responsiveness to business
change and inhibit flexible access to systems and information.
3.5
Many of the core Council applications are ageing with 26 of the 59 applications that have
been assessed by IT now in a “legacy” stage where support is costly and in some cases is
beyond any support guarantees offered by the supplier.
3.6
Asides from direct resource implications of maintaining this legacy, the ICT environment is
increasingly less responsive to the Council’s need for rapid change. Major programmes
encounter problems related to legacy elements which inject costs or delays and often
result in work-rounds which erode the final benefits expected. Examples are problems
caused by Novell Netware and Groupwise which have affected PRINT08, VOIP and more
recently, Blackberry deployments.
3.7
The last SOCITM Customer Benchmark in 2010 highlighted a perception that the ICT
environment suffers from downtime issues, and is generally not fit for purpose. It also
expressed concerns about poor performance in relation to peers with regards to the
timescales required to implement systems, technologies or devices, echoing the
statements made in the previous paragraphs.
3.8
Comments on downtime issues are difficult to clarify. Network or data centre failures –
where recent investments have been made - are rare. It is likely that availability issues
experienced by users are more attributable to the age of client devices (desktops and
laptops) or problems with legacy applications.
3.9
Comments around the fitness for purpose of the environment are easier to understand
when analysed in more detail. The primary reason for this is age-related, with older
devices and applications more likely to have performance, functionality or stability issues.
57% of Council desktops and 44% of laptops were purchased before 2007. Refresh of
these is the responsibility of Services and with the scale of budget reductions has not
been a priority for much of the Council.
3.10
There is also some evidence to identify specific applications as problematic - for example,
SWIFT problems identified in the recent SOCITM customer interviews. These problems
may be vendor-related, rather than directly related to the Council ICT environment,
although customers may not know or care and this is being reflected in the satisfaction
rates. Alongside a more significant role for IT Services in professionally managing the
overall ICT service provision, greater transparency around issues like this and a technical
focus on resolving them is needed.
3.11
In terms of managing and reducing complexity, current approaches to IT investment do
not consider the additional complexities of adding systems without decommissioning
others – “adding more, removing little”. A fundamental shift is needed in the approval and
implementation of IT solutions, taking a more holistic “Enterprise Architecture view” of the
Council. Considerations on sharing, re-use and systems decommissioning do not
currently figure highly enough in current business cases. A key role exists for the IT
Strategy Board and for Corporate Improvement/Directorate Programmes to drive through
the benefits of switching systems off.
3.12
The “legacy” status of much of the environment also hinders progress on two important
fronts:– enabling “access anywhere, from any device” and integrating information sources
to reduce duplication. Both of these directly impact Council business, and will be
significant barriers to information sharing and partnership working going forward.
Accelerated application retiral for legacy applications and a review of the underpinning
Web platforms and development standards are key elements in the mitigation of these
issues. The first stage is to map this out in the form of a Council Applications Register to
inform direction and is an early action in the period covered by the Strategy.
3.13
This ICT Strategy takes several further steps to reducing complexity. Some of these are
technical solutions which will greatly simplify the environment by reducing the complexity,
improving the support of client devices and reducing the number of physical servers
hosted in the Data Centre. However, just as important is challenging ways of working and
addressing poor use of IT throughout the organisation.
4.
The Operating Model
4.1
The Council’s current ICT operating model is that of a centralised and largely in-house
provision with a limited number of external contracts for specialist provision (such as
Contact Centre support). The current centralised model is still considered the most costefficient, but there are inherent difficulties to be addressed with responsiveness to
individual Service needs and aligning Council and Service ICT demands.
4.2
The Council’s in-house IT Service was re-structured in 2008. This re-structure was
significant and replaced one which aligned solely on technical skills and capabilities to
one which replicated the “lifecycle model” of IT strategic planning, change delivery and
operations. This restructure took the Service in the right direction, but resulted in several
significant areas of weakness.
4.3
The following table presents an overview of the current Service as at February 2011.
ICT Services
234 (86 delivering Change, 146 in
Headcount
Operational Support, and 2 Chief Officers)
2010/11
Other Services
Unknown number of staff with IT related roles
in Directorates
Centralised Service with single point of governance through ICT
Operating Strategy Board
Model
No formal relationships with IT-related staff in Directorates and
Services. Some Directorates and Services engage well
informally.
4.4
The 2008 restructure delivered some key improvements including:
greater numbers of staff are trained and supporting business change;

systems of project governance are now in place and providing greater delivery
assurance on technical projects;

the Service has been actively working to promote new thinking on IT investment, by
introducing an “Enterprise Architecture” approach prevalent in the private sector and
gaining ground in the public sector in the light of current challenges;

an increase in the skills and capabilities required to support modern IT provision for
the Council;

work to consolidate major contracts has started to drive out operational costs
through greater technical scrutiny of these contracts.
4.5
However, analysis has also revealed some areas which need to be addressed which are
either currently impacting delivery or have the potential to become more serious in the
future.
4.6
IT contract and supplier management has yet to be fully consolidated across the Council.
The majority of maintenance contracts are managed by IT, but there are still some that
are held by Services. There is often no formal agreement on who manages the
relationship with key ICT suppliers to ensure best value. As a result, opportunities are
missed to regulate performance, aggregate contracts, extend existing agreements to meet
new business areas, or to share IT services and solutions with other Councils and
agencies. There is a strong and compelling case for the “IT supply chain” to be managed
as a whole by IT Services, particularly as more services are externalised. Uncontrolled,
this will result in a fragmented approach, introducing additional costs and complexity.
4.7
The change of approach in 2008 also resulted in imbalances in the use of staff capacity
within IT which will only increase unless addressed. The move to “buy” rather than “build”
means there is some under-utilisation of former development staff. While there remains a
potential demand for such skills in the Council – primarily engaged in small-scale
web/application development and integration work, this over-capacity remains an issue.
4.8
On the other side of this imbalance, there is a shortage of staff with skills and experience
in key areas including project management, contract management ICT
governance/planning and technical architecture. These are specialised roles and there
may be difficulties in redeploying existing staff into these new skills areas, but these are
roles which will become increasingly important to the Council moving forward.
4.9
The current IT Service dedicates around 65% of its resources to operational activities. As
resources reduce, there will be a tendency for that percentage to increase unless
complexity in the environment is reduced and alternative service delivery arrangements
are implemented. Alternative delivery models within IT are well established and range
from “whole outsource” to new models where services are commissioned over the Internet
(referred to as Cloud-based provision). The latter has gained increasing acceptance as a
new, cost-effective alternative in recent years, but concerns remain over control of critical
applications, security and reliability which are being addressed by vendors as this market
develops.
4.10
Any future plans to externalise operations should consider the current areas where
savings can easily be made, ensuring the Council does not simply hand over savings
opportunities to one or more large providers, but directly extracts the benefits from these.
Where services are retained in-house, the development of a “Business Unit” approach will
ensure that cost transparency and market comparisons can be provided.
4.11
It is also important to note that some ICT strategic and systems capacity has been
retained in Directorates and Services. This should be reviewed to ensure consistency,
and more formal arrangements drawn up to avoid duplication with staff in the IT function
or with external arrangements. It is essential that these staff are engaged in activities
which fully align with this Strategy and commissioning solutions which have followed
effective ICT and Programme governance routes.
4.12
The restructuring of POS will also combine IT and POS functions to increase overall
efficiency. Programme Management and business analysis/intelligence will be unified,
creating one point of overall assurance for programme delivery and business change in
Change & Improvement. In addition, closer collaboration between Change and
Improvement activities and IT will ensure that business change proceeds with a more
complete view of the impacts and opportunities, aligning process and information changes
with ICT infrastructure and software considerations.
4.13
In terms of customer satisfaction, the IT Service has several issues to address. While
improving customer service in recent years, the improvement has only been marginal and
still represents a third quartile performance in relation to peers as assessed SOCITM
benchmarking undertaken every two years.
4.14
The last benchmarking in 2010, identified the following key areas for improvement in
terms of the operating model:


4.15
ICT staff understanding of business needs
Communication Channels
Time taken to Deliver New Developments/Projects & Respond to
Incidents/Change Requests
The first two items relate to the IT Services’ relationships with Directorates and Services
and this was a marked area of reduced performance in recent years. Relationships with
the business need to be developed and managed both at a strategic and operational level
and it is clear that the previous decision to remove the Account Management function
from IT has been a significant contributory factor.
4.16
Further issues between IT Services and Directorates opened up as IT were seen to be
driving a centralised approach in an environment where front line Services were looking
for bespoke solutions. An example of this is the IT Project Management Office or
(ITPMO) which was functioning as a proxy for programme and project governance across
the Council. This was an unintentional outcome for IT, who from their perspective, were
leading with good practice and attempting to manage a high demand they had to regulate.
From the Services’ perspective, however, IT were stopping or delaying business projects.
4.17
There are continuing issues with a lack of clarity/agreement on the process for engaging
IT in change projects. From the IT perspective, the Service is often presented with a predetermined application or solution to a business problem in the middle of a change
project, rather than a set of requirements towards the beginning. When this prompts a
belated “due diligence” process, which often highlight difficulties and alternative solutions,
IT Services are then perceived as adding delay or being unresponsive to business needs
when they are in fact, managing the overall risk for the Council, including taking a longer
view on reducing cost and complexity overall. This can be avoided by greater IT
engagement earlier in change programmes and ensuring that clear project governance
arrangements are in place.
4.18
Further analysis on concerns over Service responsiveness and delivery shows:
Fife project performance on IT projects is slightly above the UK average, but
still behind business requirements;

Performance on IT fault resolution is slightly lower and for IT change requests is
substantially lower than other councils.
4.19
From a project delivery perspective, the re-alignment of IT Services within POS will allow
the IT Service to focus more attention on assuring technical project delivery and simplify
the overall project governance within IT as a result.
4.20
In terms of faults and requests, the in-house ICT Service deals with many routine
requests which, with some investment in automation and re-designed processes, could be
effectively managed by operational Services. It is estimated that up to 50% of the 32,000
calls received per annum to the Service Desk could be dealt with by staff within Services
or automated and provided through self-service means. This will become increasingly
important in a Council which is adopting more mobile and flexible working arrangements.
4.21
This Strategy starts to build a revised operating model where the remaining in-house ICT
professional service has a focus on:








Being more of a “service broker” rather than a direct provider;
Managing and monitoring external ICT contracts on behalf of the Council and
ensuring that existing contracted arrangements are used as widely as possible;
Providing a unified “Service Catalogue” view of ICT services regardless of the
provider;
Strengthening governance through improved transparency;
Providing professional ICT input at the right points to guide business change;
Providing “self-service” mechanisms for routine changes and fault resolution;
Co-ordinating the activities of suppliers;
Providing delivery co-ordination and project management skills specifically
focussed around the timely delivery of technical solutions;
Using partnerships and contracted agencies to carry out more of the
implementation work related to business change;




IT consultancy/advisory support to strategic planning and programme
development;
Assuring compliance with legislative and ICT/information governance;
Working within the Council and with suppliers to manage and control costs
related to ICT consumption;
Minimising, and providing greater transparency on, the cost of any retained
operational services through a “Business Unit” approach.
4.22
This retained role mirrors other corporate services within the Council and is an IT
provisioning model which has been employed in many private sector organisations in the
last 10 years. It will be a key function of the ICT Strategy Board to ensure that ICT can
and does operate in this fashion.
5.
Access to information and services
5.1
More open and flexible access to information and services – whether for staff, citizens,
delivery partners or elsewhere in the public sector – will become increasingly important.
5.2
The current complexity of the environment, discussed in detail under “ICT Environment”,
is a limiting factor.
5.3
The delivery of a Customer Management solution (Lagan) as part of the Customer
Management Programme will help the shift from traditional channels to Web-based online
services. However, many current Council applications do not integrate easily to webbased, online transactions and forms. To be fully effective and suitably flexible, many
legacy applications will have to be retired and replaced with modern equivalents over the
period of this Strategy. The Strategy outlines several actions required to catalogue,
govern and replace key Council applications and web services with systems more
capable of providing truly interactive services.
5.4
These issues of complexity are also carried through into the management of the Council’s
Intranet and Internet platforms. Recent improvements have been made to the content and
presentation of the FifeDirect web site and significant improvements are planned in terms
of the governance of Web content - both internally and externally. However, the
underlying platform needs to be reviewed to ensure that it can match these
improvements.
5.5
The creation of a platform which enables the following is considered as important for
“information/services consumers” - internal or external to the Council: Federation of access around industry standard directories, removing multiple logins
and opening up opportunities for partners, citizens and Services to authorise/remove
access under their own governance as appropriate;
 Web-based, portal presentation allowing for individual customisation and
personalisation of services;
 Effective search and knowledge management capabilities;
 Support for open standards to facilitate integration of information and
transactions/processes across multiple systems;
 A reduced requirement for in-house web development and administration of our
internal and external websites, allowing greater resource to be focussed on the
management and delivery of content;
 More automated content management, including associated workflows to support
information management needs;
 Greater capabilities to integrate with emergent technologies, such as social networking
sites (Facebook/Twitter) and smartphone/tablet devices.
5.6
Potential replacement of our Web platforms internally and externally should therefore be
considered early in the three years of this Strategy. Many neighbouring Councils (such as
Edinburgh and Borders) have already replaced their ageing Web platforms with simpler,
cheaper and more modern equivalents, satisfying many of the requirements above in the
process and there are opportunities to learn from their experiences.
5.7
The change necessary to enable more flexible access to information, will introduce new
risks to information security and data protection unless properly managed. The Strategy
balances the need for effective governance and assurance in this area against the
growing demands for flexibility and openness.
5.8
The IT Service has a strong focus on risk and business continuity and Fife has not
experienced any major security or business continuity incidents. Audit reports, however,
have highlighted business continuity plan testing as an issue and the production of Annual
Plans and testing regimes, aligned to corporate Business Continuity and Emergency
Planning requirements, are an early deliverable from this Strategy.
5.9
Information Governance and IT Strategy are currently managed through separate Boards
in the Council. This arrangement reflected the historic need to manage information of all
types – both paper and electronic. In many organisations this governance is unified,
reflecting the fact that information is primarily delivered through the electronic information
systems and governance is enforced through automated measures around these
systems. It is also essential that strategic changes do not compromise information
governance, including legislative requirements. For these reasons, combining the
operation of the ICT Strategy Board and Information Governance Board is a key Strategic
action.
The ICT Strategy contains several further actions aimed at addressing identified risks in
this area. Reviewing and implementing key policies, technologies and defining technical
standards for new systems are addressed. In addition, the Strategy seeks to provide the
right architecture for open, flexible and accurate information delivery, incorporating the
necessary balance required to assure the public and the Council that this is not at the
expense of complying with legislative requirements.
5.10
.
6.
Revenue Expenditure
6.1
It is estimated that the Council spends just over £20m (2.5-2.6%) of its total operational
budget on ICT provision (not including mobile or fixed line telephony costs) as follows:


£16.5m in IT Services (the largest items being £9.5m in staff, £4m in software
agreements, £2m on communications links and £600K on premises and vehicle
costs);
£3.5m in equipment refresh budgets controlled by Services;
Up to £500K of software costs not currently managed by IT Services.
6.2
A figure of 2.5% is not regarded as excessive. A CIPFA benchmark for the Treasury
across the entire UK public sector showed an average of 3.7%. However, cost reductions
are possible and a target of 2% can be achieved. It should be noted, however, that
shifting from capital “buy and implement” to a more revenue-based model of “pay as you
use” will inevitably add revenue costs, but will reduce and smooth ICT capital investment
requirements.
6.3
Currently, charging for operational IT Services is not linked to consumption, for example,
in the way that energy costs are. Services have little visibility on IT costs and no incentive
to regulate their behaviour or change business processes or requirements to reduce costs
for the Council beyond simple measures, such as deferring equipment purchase. For
example, electronic storage is growing at 25% per year creating a significant financial and
carbon cost to the Council. There is presently little engagement with or incentive to
Services addressing this issue by improving information management.
6.4
The IT Service currently does not control all operational IT costs, with Directorates and
Services responsible for purchasing their own IT equipment. There are two potential
consequences of this which should be monitored – Council staff productivity is impacted
because their IT equipment is not fit for purpose and IT support costs increasing as faults
and demand for support increases.
6.5
Reducing operational costs is therefore seen as the first of three overlapping phases of
cost reduction as depicted in Figure 1 (following) – Three phases of IT Cost Management.
All three phases are essential to achieve the savings targets.
Figure 1. Three phases of ICT Cost Management
6.6
Reducing direct costs is something that is largely within the gift of IT Services and can be
performed without significant impacts or changes to service delivery or Directorate
budgets/recharge. Technical solutions, such as virtualisation can reduce the “per unit” costs
of IT provision with no visible impact to services. The next phase is to drive the right
behaviours and provide the right information to enable capacity planning (IT staff and ICT
components) and the management of consumption. This will require the engagement of
Services as it may well lead to changes in the recharging of Services based on measures of
direct consumption.
6.7
The most significant savings, however, can be achieved by driving forward an agenda which
promotes, or even mandates, systems re-use, simplification and overall reduction/retiral.
Currently, insufficient emphasis is given to this in Business Cases and Options Appraisals–
resulting in a steady growth in the number of implemented ICT systems over many years.
6.8
Within the goal of “Reduce costs and improve returns from ICT”, there are several key
measures and actions identified to reduce and manage down costs across these three
phases.
7.
Capital Investment
7.1
The ICT Investment Plan shows around £22m of approved investment over 10 years,
although this will shortly be reduced by almost £5.6m in line with savings targets. There are
currently £8m of emerging needs - largely refresh/maintenance costs as a consequence of
previous investments coming to the end of their supported life. This Plan will be re-profiled
and revised in the light of acceptance of this Strategy.
7.2
IT capital investments can vary between 1% and 5% of total Council capital expenditure,
depending on the need for equipment or application replacement in any given year. This does
not include ICT costs allocated specifically to programmes or projects.
7.3
The most significant challenges affecting ICT Capital Investment are:-
7.4

A lack of real transparency and consequentially, governance, over the nature and
expected returns from ICT investments

A highly variable profile of expenditure with significant increases in years where
previous investments need replaced, e.g. refresh requirements totalling £4m in
2014/15;

A significant capital requirement just to maintain the environment at current levels –
estimated to be £4m per annum for core infrastructure alone (i.e. 20% of the total
replacement value of the Council’s ICT infrastructure)

A poor track record of delivering ICT investments to timescale, primarily due to
procurement complexity and conflicting demands placed on IT and Procurement.
This Strategy proposes the creation of a new ICT Investment Plan to enables more effective
ICT investment decisions on a “balanced portfolio”, providing more clarity on the nature of the
investment and expected returns. The investment headings in the new Plan are:
Strategic Investment – i.e. investments which deliver technical solutions, enabling
delivery across multiple Programmes or priorities and/or reducing complexity and cost
in line with the ICT Strategy

Compliance and legislative – investments to remain compliant with legislative or
statutory requirements.

Legacy application replacement – investment to replace core Council software
systems and applications.

Maintenance and refresh – investment to replace core ICT infrastructure and
hardware.

Growth and capacity - Investment to address projected growth, “pre-provisioning”
capacity before it impacts Council service delivery.

Service Improvement and efficiency – investment to improve the IT operating
model, justified solely on “spend to save” or clear performance improvement
measures.
7.5
There is an acknowledgement that ICT investment will often feature less significantly than
investment in more tangible assets, such as School buildings. In addition, significant “bumps”
in Investment will not be readily accommodated at a time of shrinking capital funds.
7.6
It is assumed that the Council would prefer to reduce ICT capital expenditure and avoid
significant investment “bumps” in future, particularly in respect to maintenance/refresh and
legacy replacement amounts.
7.7
Reducing capital expenditure can be achieved by reducing overall complexity in the ICT
environment and shifting some capital expenditure items to more revenue-based “pay as you
use” models. Shifting to revenue-based models also has the added advantage or eliminating
procurement lead times, if the right Procurement frameworks can be created to enable this.
7.8
At a time of reducing funds, it would seem natural to reduce funding to the bare essentials
required to maintain the environment (i.e. focussing purely on keeping the lights on).
However, with ICT this would be the wrong balance of investment. Simply doing this would
stlll cost between £4m and £6m per annum for little real return.
7.9
The correct Strategic Investments will cost less than maintaining the status quo. Getting
Strategic investments right will not only deliver benefits across several Programmes and
priorities, but can also reduce future capital and revenue implications and should be a
consideration when drawing up future Investment Plans.
7.10
The main risk with this approach is in the prevalence of “optionality”. This would result in the
benefits of Strategic Investments not being fully realised – duplicating costs in the process.
Where Strategic Investments are approved, it must be in the knowledge that they can be
applied across the Council and not just for specific Directorates or Services.
8.
ICT Governance
8.1
This Strategy is designed to meet the needs of the Council and of Fife over the 3 years from
2011 – 2014. Effective engagement is needed with the senior management and all parts of
the Council to ensure it effectively supports delivery of this Strategy.
8.2
CMT ownership and sponsorship of this Strategy rests with the Executive Director,
Performance and Organisational Support (soon to be Corporate Services).
8.3
The Head of ICT is the main executor of this Strategy with key responsibilities to ensure:
effective operation of the ICT Strategy Board in governing this Strategy and associated
Investment Plans;

any emergent risks or issues are managed or escalated as appropriate;

that key changes to Council direction and service delivery are appropriately reflected
in the Strategy;

that all Council stakeholders are fully aware of the content and implications of this
Strategy.
8.4
The ICT Strategy Board should oversee progress, resolving issues and risks as they arise
and promoting engagement on ICT issues throughout the Council.
8.5
The Strategy will be reviewed annually in December under the direction of the ICT Strategy
Board and Council Management Team to ensure it continues to align to Council priorities and
any new developments in terms of Directorate priorities or technology directions are
incorporated. If necessary, Committee will be sought prior to the end of March.
8.6
Progress toward strategic objectives will be reviewed on a quarterly basis by the ICT Strategy
Board to ensure actions are being completed and underlying measures and progress towards
the desired outcomes are on target.
8.7
The capital implications of this Strategy are included in a revised ICT Investment Plan included as Appendix B. This Plan includes operational investment requirements and will be
governed by the ICT Strategy Board with reviews on a quarterly basis to ensure satisfactory
progress.
8.8
Any revisions or changes to the Plan requiring funding adjustments will be managed through
the existing capital approval processes.
9.
The Strategic Goals summarised
9.1
The detailed actions underpinning these goals are described in detail in a separate document
entitled “Fife Council Strategic Goals 2011-2014. This section provides a high-level view of
the expected outcomes of these goals and highlights the main areas of activity.
9.2
These goals reflect a three-way balance in the Strategy – tackling current issues, dealing with
emergent risks and creating the right environment to invest in ICT and support the future
needs of the Council and Fife.
9.3
Goal 1. Reduce costs and improve returns from ICT
Key
outcomes

Total operational cost reductions for IT services
(including contracted services) of between 25%
and 30% over the next 3 years.

Improved capability within Council, Directorate
and Service Management to make the right
decisions about IT expenditure.

A simplified Council ICT environment which
enables agile business change.

Increasing sharing/re-use, eliminated
duplication and managed consumption of IT
solutions and services.

An IT Service which is demonstrably costefficient.

An IT Service which has shifted emphasis from
complete in-house provision to advising and
brokering the right mix of investment in in-house
and external solutions.
Summary of
main action
areas
Potential
measures
9.4

Formal ICT Contracts/Supplier Management.

External (Cloud-based) applications and server
hosting.

Documented standards and principles.

Creation of a Council Application Register.

Capacity Planning & Forecasting.

Simplified Server hosting arrangements.

Recharge and Consumption Model.

Simplified Desktop Environment based on “thin
client” technology.

Creation and governance of a new ICT
Investment Plan.

“Business Unit” management approach to inhouse ICT operations.

ICT Costs as a % of total Council operating
budget.

Premises, vehicles and power costs for IT
Services.

Ratio of staff to number of supported devices.

Value of external contracts under ICT
management.

Savings identified through ICT Supplier
Management.

Number of distinct business applications in use
in the Council.

Costs associated with growth in ICT demand.
Improve Customer satisfaction in the provision of IT services
Key
outcomes

An IT Service which can demonstrate
operational excellence, through key
performance measures and benchmarks.

An IT Service which is transparent in terms of
the services offered and their associated
performance levels.

An IT Service which understands the needs of
the Services and Directorates and uses that
knowledge to shape the best possible service
within the resources available – even where
that means contracting out the service
concerned.

A greater degree of self-service routine IT
provision.

A greater understanding on what IT can and
cannot deliver within available resources.
Summary of
main action
areas
Potential key
measures
9.5

Re-instatement of IT Account Management.

Simplification of IT Project governance.

Skills Development & Workforce Planning.

Real-time Customer Information on ICT
performance.

Creation of Procurement Frameworks to deliver
additional ICT capacity.

Self Service provision and web-based Service
Catalogue.

Pro-active measures to reduce or eliminate
serious or repeating problems.

SOCITM Customer Benchmark assessment.

% of requests placed through self-service.

% of calls resolved at initial call.

Lead times for desktop installations.

Average Time to Resolve faults.

Systems availability on key applications and
systems.

% of applications and infrastructure
components classified as “Legacy”.
Deliver the systems and technical architecture to support a changing Council
Key
outcomes
Summary of
main action
areas

A systems and technical environment which can
be accessed from any location using any
device.

An increased capability to separate the
provision of end-point computing devices from
centralised systems provision, enabling
appropriate models for “self-provision”, e.g. in
Education or for individual employees, Council
partners.

A capability to exploit new web and mobile
technologies (including a greater degree of
delegation to Services) to rapidly commission
small applications or specific integrations
between systems.

Delivery of “Core Infrastructure” as defined in
Mobile and Flexible Programme.

Implementation of Collaboration & Learning
Platforms.

Conversion of applications to work on “any
device in any location”.

Implementation of small-scale web
development capabilities, including the
capability for skilled staff in Services to selfdevelop.
Potential key
measures
9.6

% of Council applications delivered through
“any device, any location”.

Numbers of staff enabled for mobile and flexible
working.

Numbers of staff accessing systems remotely.

% of Council workstations enabled for hotdesking/flexible use.

Key milestones delivered from Mobile & Flexible
Working.
Protect and improve the use of Council information
Key
outcomes
Summary of
main action
areas
Potential key
measures

Continued compliance with regulation and
recovery/business continuity requirements.

Improvements to systems access, primarily
consolidating many separate logins and
systems access accounts into a central
“identity” repository.

A growing capability to integrate back-end
systems and data, reducing the administrative
overheads and errors associated with re-keying
data between systems.

Improved capability to share systems and
information with customers, partners, etc.

A modern and efficient web delivery and
content management platform, potentially
shared with other Councils, and replacing the
current underpinnings of FISH and FifeDirect.

Implementation and execution of Business
Continuity Plans.

GSX (Government Secure eXtranet) and
Payment Card Industry Compliance.

Document & Information Management.

Implementation of Identity and Access
Management processes and systems.

Reviewed Security & Information Standards.

Definition of Web & Open Integration
Standards.

Number of distinct authentication sources/logins

Number of security breaches and incidents.

Number of upheld decisions against regulatory
breaches.

Number of open significant risks identified by
External/Internal Audit.

Number of external agencies/staff enabled for
federated access to Council systems.
9.7
Improve outcomes in Fife by harnessing ICT skills & innovation
Key
outcomes
Summary of
main action
areas
Potential key
measures

A greater connection between IT staff and the
delivery of real benefits and improvements to
residents, pupils, partners and communities in
Fife.

A Council-wide and cohesive approach to
fostering technology innovations and a more
structured approach to exploring appropriate
opportunities.

An improved customer experience with the
Council through the exploitation of web,
collaborative and communications technologies.

A greater pooling of technology and IT
opportunities, resources and skills between
peer organisations.

Technical delivery of Customer Management
and Education eVision Programmes.

Co-operation with Economic Development on
Rural Broadband Provision.

Delivery of Wide Area Network Investment.

Delivery of a potential public/private Fife Digital
Network.

Shared Services investigations.

Creation of an ICT Innovation Forum.

Establishment of Public Sector CIO
collaborative forum.

ICT support and investment in Digital Inclusion.

Number of Council transactions delivered via
self-service technologies
(Web/Smartphone/Social Networking).

Capacity/bandwidth usage on Education
network links.

Savings, efficiencies and performance
improvements identified by ICT Innovation
Forum.

IT Services and solutions introduced as a result
of collaboration with other Councils and
agencies.

High-speed broadband penetration in Fife
Council.

Number of Digital Inclusion initiatives in Fife
enabled through Council ICT investment.