Agenda item

This report provides an update on the performance of the Shared ICT Service.

Fabio Negro (Managing Director of Shared Service) introduced the report to the Joint Committee updating members on key performance areas in relation to the Shared ICT Service (STS).

Members noted the summary of key performance management indicators for the service across all three Councils, which had been included within Appendix A of the update report. In terms of detailed service performance, the Joint Committee were advised that since the last meeting in July 2021:

·                During the three-month period between June - August 2021 call volumes had reached 7,500 in June and July but had dropped to around 6,500, in August reflecting the start of the holiday period.  Throughout the period open call volumes had averaged 3,500 to 4,000.  Whilst untriaged call totals had, at one stage, risen to nearly 1,500 these were now below 300 as the Shared Service continued to work towards reducing and maintaining numbers close to zero by the end of each business day.

·                In terms of tickets logged with the shared service these had totalled 32,511 (between June – August 2021) which was an average of 10,837 tickets per month.  This compared to 41,502 tickets in the previous period (February - May 2021). These tickets consisted of both service requests and issues, with members noting the detailed breakdown of tickets logged as detailed within section 3.10 of the report.

·                Since the last meeting of the Joint Committee, 13 Priority 1 incidents had been logged of which six had been resolved within Service Level Agreement (SLA).  This compared to eight Priority 1 incidents in the previous reporting period.  There were also seven non STS related P1s resolved by local applications teams within the respective councils, four of which were within SLA.

·                Priority 2 and 3 issues within STS queues had seen an average of 52% and 61% compliance with the SLA (against 57% and 67% reported during the previous period).  While STS had placed considerable emphasis on improved call management, more complex issues had caused resolution times to increase within this period.  Issues relating to the covid pandemic affecting on-site teams had also been experienced, which had impacted on resourcing levels at various times.  The position had also been impacted by the significant drain on business as usual (BAU) capability due to the level of key project work being undertaken.  This had included work related to the cloud migration project which had also affected the ability to meet defined SLA levels.

·                A breakdown of the top six categories for P2 and P3 calls had been provided within section 3.15 - 3.16 of the report.  Priority 4 service requests within STS queues for this reporting period had a 63% compliance with the SLA compared with 79% reported during the previous monitoring period.

·                Development of the customer service portal Hornbill had continued to progress as noted in 3.19 of the report, with the aim of providing a more user-centric experience and the introduction of more automated workflows designed to speed up the allocation and resolution of incidents and tickets.  A trial of the new experience had been completed with positive feedback and whilst initial release had been delayed in order for final modifications to be made it was anticipated that the new portal would go live before the end of October 2021.

Fabio Negro then moved on to provide an update on the progress made in relation to Cyber Security across the Shared Service.  In noting the update provided within sections 3.23 – 3.34 of the report, the Board were informed there had been one low level incident recorded (with no evidence of malicious activity found) during the monitoring period but that no serious cyber security issues had been identified.  Work also continued with a third party recommended by the National Cyber Security Centre to proactively monitor the environment across all three boroughs.

Following discussions at the previous Committee in July 2021 in relation to the security of mobile devices, a review had been conducted to ensure sufficient protection was in place.  Brent and Lewisham’s old smartphone estate had been identified as requiring upgrade as they fell below current security compliance levels with members advised that Brent had now completed their replacement programme and were in the process of updating all compliant devices to the latest iOS version.  As Lewisham were currently considering their model around mobile telephony a strategy was currently being developed with Southwark identified as having few outstanding devices which were being managed on a case-by-case basis.  In terms of other specific updates, members noted:

·                Brent had now received their Public Service Network (PSN) compliance certification with Lewisham also compliant.  Further work would be required in relation to Southwark’s certification given the legacy estate issues needing to be resolved.

·                The ongoing work being undertaken in an effort to manage the number of accounts and standardise the starters, movers and leavers process across all three councils as detailed within section 3.32 of the report.

·                The ongoing work being undertaken by STS in conjunction with their mail filtering partner, to monitor and address potential malicious email activity.

·                The active programme of work to update security controls and harden infrastructure across all three authorities which had included the deployment of tools to aid both vulnerability management and patching across the server estate.  In addition members were advised that the STS have been awarded £100k by the government to help procure additional tools and training in order to combat cyber-attacks.

The Joint Committee then moved on to note the update provided in respect of Continuous Service Improvement within sections 3.35 – 3.37 of the report.  Members noted the work being undertaken by the Service Design team focussed around delivery of the list of prioritised service improvements (SIB).  This had now started to deliver incremental improvements aimed at reducing the need to contact the Service Desk, through self-service options including password reset, Wi-Fi connectivity, etc.  Other key initiatives which had been designed and delivered were detailed within section 3.36 of the report, which members were advised had also included a Service Improvement Backlog Plan being managed by the Service Design team.

In relation to the Audits involving STS, members noted the details provided on the 22 audits which had been undertaken across all three authorities during 2020/21.  Of these, six remained with management actions to be completed as detailed within section 3.38 – 3.39 of the report.  In addition, members were advised of the programme of audits identified for 2021/22 as detailed within section 3.40 of the report.

Moving on, Fabio Negro then provided an update on the progress made in relation to the Technology Road Map with the focus currently on producing key business cases for infrastructure and Cyber security improvements.  Members noted that the business case for the replacement of the F5 Application Load Balancers/Web Application Firewalls had been approved and the procurement completed with implementation due at the end of the year.  Also, the roadmap business cases for the Compute and Storage Infrastructure replacement had been completed in order for procurement to progress.  As part of the ongoing development of the Roadmap members were also advised of the efforts being made to improve Wi-Fi and remote meeting connectivity across all three authorities following the return of staff to Council offices as part of the ongoing recovery from the pandemic.

In terms of the Target Operating Model (TOM) members noted, as detailed within sections 3.42 – 3.47 of the report, that the structure had now largely been implemented with work underway to recruit to the existing vacancies and embed the new roles and ways of working across the structure.  Details on the newly implemented top level structure within STS were set out in section 3.46 of the report with members also advised of the new cross team organisational structure to promote and enhance communication links across the IT Function.

In terms of other updates, the Joint Committee noted:

·                The ongoing progress being made in terms of the model for delivery of IT infrastructure support services to Lewisham Homes, as detailed with sections 3.48 – 3.52 of the report, which had now been approved by the Shared Service Joint Management Board and Lewisham Homes.  Work was now underway to the plan for the migration of the Lewisham Homes datacentres to the STS and completion of various other projects (including migration to Office 365 and the rollout of laptops to the user base) prior to the final transitioning of support with a final date for this transition to be confirmed pending completion of the various projects.

·                The project and procurement updates provided within section 3.53 – 3.68 of the report.

·                The details provided in relation to the financial performance of STS as detailed within section 4 of the report.  In terms of 2021-2022 this included a forecast overspend of £45k, which related mainly to the cost of agency staff while these positions were transitioned into permanent posts under the Target Operating Model.  Members noted that the forecast would be subject to change throughout the financial year as the current projection had been based on P1 and P2 outturn and current service knowledge, with the aim being to address the overspend by the end of the financial year.

Following the Service Performance update provided Fabio Negro invited questions from Members with the Joint Committee discussing the points highlighted below:

·                In response to the service performance update, members were keen to not only compare performance in relation to tickets logged with the previous monitoring period but also compared to the same time period over the previous year.  Fabio Negro advised that whilst this would be possible there would also be a need to take into account the impact of the pandemic when making such comparisons.

·                Referring to the ongoing impact of the pandemic on the performance of the service Fabio Negro highlighted the measures in place to ensure staff across the service were protected and following the relevant guidance.  Whilst noting the concern at the increase and impact of untriaged call volumes, members were advised this had not only reflected the impact of covid but also the transition of the team following the restructure under the Target Operating Model, with performance having improved as the new structure was  embedded and assurance provided regarding the capacity available across the service, including use of initiatives such as pop up teams.  The Joint Committee also welcomed the inclusion of apprenticeships within the service.  Members felt it would also be useful as part of future monitoring reports for details to provided, where available, on the target number and time specified for triaging calls and performance being achieved in dealing with these.

·                In response to a query regarding Lewisham Homes, confirmation was provided that the TUPE implications relating to the transfer of support to the Shared Service had been fully assessed with members keen to ensure the go live was achieved as quickly as possible.

·                Further details were also sought on the strategy in place to ensure that staff and members across all three authorities were aware of the move to the new Hornbill customer portal and way in which this would operate once live.  In response Fabio Negro advised of the plans in place to ensure the necessary information was available for both staff and members, with the system having been designed to provide a more user centric experience and improve the categorisation of calls being logged.  As a further issue, details were also sought on the escalation process that would be provided within the new customer portal for service issues and requests logged by members, which Fabio Negro advised had been reviewed in order to ensure a flexible and responsive service was maintained and formalised under the new arrangements.  As part of the new system members were advised it would be now be possible to identify key stakeholders, with the aim of prioritising requests or issues raised, by role.

·                Members were also keen to explore the way in which performance relating to Priority 3 and 4 service requests could be improved with Fabio Negro highlighting, in response, the positive impact which the implementation of the new structure under the Target Operating Model was expected to have moving forward.  Whilst it was anticipated that the remaining vacancies within the structure would be filled it was noted these included specialist technical roles which had traditionally been harder to recruit and may therefore require further consideration and review.

·                In response to a query raised around progress with the migration of each Council towards Office 365, Fabio Negro informed Members that Southwark had already completed the transition with plans for Brent and Lewisham also being developed for summer 2022.  It was, however, noted that this transition would not only involve an upgrade in technology but would also need to be accompanied by wider transformational change across each authority with Peter Gadsdon highlighting the move towards cloud based operating systems such as the new Oracle Cloud system and re-platforming of the Council’s website within Brent as an example.

·                Support was expressed for the work being undertaken to provide a defined service design model for the enterprise implementation of Zoom in Lewisham as a means of extending the range of online meeting solutions available with members noting this had been designed to ensure the necessary licensing and security measures were in place.

·                An update was also sought in relation to any impact which the global shortage in sourcing IT components was having on the Shared Service and supply of IT equipment for users.  Members were advised that this had been identified and logged as a current service risk with particular issues being experienced, as an example, with the supply of headsets.  Alternative sources of supply were being explored in the short term to assist in addressing demand pending those products currently unavailable being restocked.

·                In response to a further query clarification was provided on the accumulated Vodafone credit of £485k which had been referred to within section 4 of the report.  Members were advised that this related to credit billed by Brent and Lewisham of which £406k had been offered in settlement.

As no further matters were raised, the Joint Committee completed their consideration of the update report.  The Chair thanked Fabio Negro for the updates provided and it was RESOLVED:

(1)      To note the update provided and actions being taken in relation to the ongoing performance and delivery of the shared service, as detailed within Section 3 of the report.

(2)      To note the contents of the Performance Pack as detailed in Appendix A of the report.

(3)     As specific actions arising from the update, it was agreed:

(a)      To ensure that members across all three local authorities within the Shared Service were included as part of the communications and updates due to be issued in relation to the release and operation of the new Hornbill customer portal in advance of it going live at the end of October 21.

(b)      To provide a comparison (as part of future performance updates) on the overall number of tickets logged by the Shared Service over the current reporting period with those over the same period from the previous year.

(c)      To include (as part of future performance updates) details on the target number and time specified for triaging calls and performance being achieved in dealing with these.