Agenda item

To consider the report of the Strata IT Director.

The Strata IT Director presented his report to update Members on the progress within Strata.

The Strata IT Director presented his comprehensive report providing an update on the function of the Strata organisation, the aim being to provide background to the core areas of specialisation within Strata and identifying key activities, successes and areas for improvement. He detailed a SWOT analysis developed in conjunction with the Strata Board and Strata staff and highlighted the following key areas:-

·         Internal and External Communication – the first edition of the Strata Newsletter was tabled

·         Supplier Management

·         Projects and Business Change Requests - Workload

·         Security including Cyber Threats

The Strata IT Director advised that improved management was now in place to give realistic timescales for business change requests (BCR) which would aid with the management of BCR’s and the Councils would also know what they could expect.

In response to Members, the Strata IT Director clarified that the majority of issues with the Global Desk Top had been identified and that a recent survey of all Council staff had raised 11 factors including printing, taking a long time to log on, and problems with Microsoft Outlook. These issues were currently being investigated and a Global Desktop Improvement Plan had been compiled to ensure that resolutions were being worked on in a structured fashion.

Members discussed the need to ensure there was capacity to undertake BCR’s and that Strata would not need to come back to the Council’s for extra resources to take these forward.

The Chief Executive, East Devon District Council, raised concerns regarding the IT installation at Exmouth and that if it would be installed on time and fit for purpose.

Individual mangers presented their respective areas as set out below:-

Infrastructure Projects - Adrian Smith

The Infrastructure and Support Manger advised that the issues with the data centre at Oakwood House in Marsh Barton, Exeter had been address by the installation of a new air conditioning system although a review would be undertaken of Oakwood House regarding its suitability as the location of the backup data centre.

As a result of the introduction of an external organisation at Teignbridge, refurbishment including IT systems was progressing rapidly and it was anticipated that Global Communication installation at Exmouth, as part of the overall relocation of the Council offices, would commence in Exmouth in late August.

Strata were currently undertaking a review of the Global Desktop environment (Global Desktop Improvement Programme) and looking at a number of issues that had been reported. The most pressing current problem with the Global Desktop was outlook crashing, other issues including wrong printer settings, blank screens, slow login and specific applications slowness including Excel. He assured Members that the problems encountered were being addressed. The current feedback satisfaction rate for the service desk was 97%. Strata was now working closely with students from Exeter College who had recently undertaken a project to redesign the Strata web site.

Strata officers clarified that the Housing and Benefits server had already been migrated to Exmouth and the file servers would be migrated in due course.

Document Centres - Martin Millmow

The Document Centre Manager reported that new printing devices would be rolled out, Ricoh having been the successful of seven tenderers and with the existing 80 printers to be reduced to 53 the new devices were equipped to cope with recent system upgrades, the roll out to commence with Exeter City Council. The Strata web design team had worked on a wide range of communication materials to support the second phase of the new East Devon District Council Waste and Re-cycling scheme.

The Document Centre Manager clarified that the printers would be able to use Wi-Fi and this would be rolled out in the second/third phase. Teignbridge District Council felt that this option was vital in light of staff now using laptops and mobile devices. 

Programme and Resources – Steve Gammon

The Programme and Resources Manager detailed the 16 systems convergence projects being undertaken as requested by Council service mangers and as agreed by the partner Councils and in the annual Strata Business Plan.

He referred to the increase in the cost of the Car Park system which, nevertheless, had been put back by the delay in the system’s implementation and to the increase in cost (£13,000) of a new HR and Payroll system at Teignbridge to bring it in line with legislative changes.

Business Systems – Dave Sercombe

The Business Systems Manager provided an update on staff changes.

He reported that Strata were continuing to deliver the 70 plus system implementation and business case projects currently in progress, such a high demand placing pressure on business change requests. Some of the main projects were HR and Payroll and Garden Waste Renewals for Teignbridge, Document Management and Waste and Recycling rollouts for East Devon and Car Parks for East Devon and Teignbridge, Trade Waste Management for Exeter, the latter having experienced some issues with invoices that were being resolved.

Compliance and Security – Robin Barlow

The Compliance and Security Manager enlarged on the recent cyber-attacks explaining that hackers were constantly probing systems for weaknesses with up to a million probes a day common and with 20,000 attacks since March. A table detailed the source of attacks by nation. Extra vigilance was therefore vital.

The Compliance and Security team were analysing the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations which would need to be complied with by May 2018.

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) was now coming forward and Strata would need to consider compliance with the GDPR directives as a priority moving forward.

Strata had agreed a new Public Services Network contract and delivered a saving of £20,000 over a two year term.

In response to a Member, the Compliance and Security Manager clarified that Strata had two firewalls.

Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee considered the report at its meeting on 15 June 2017 and its comments were reported.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.