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 Technology Service (STS):

Members noted the summary of key performance management indicators for the service across all three Council’s, 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 November 2022:

·            During the 4-month period (July 2022 to October 2022), for STS, logged call volumes were generally around 6,000 to 6,500 tickets per month, which had been very similar to the previous reporting period.

·            In terms of tickets logged with the STS these had totalled 51,278 tickets between 1^st July and 31^st October 2022 for all council application teams as well as the shared service (an average of 12,819 tickets per month) against 53,136 in the last reporting period, March 2022 to June 2022 (an average of 13,284 tickets per month). These tickets consisted of both incidents and service requests, with members noting the breakdown of tickets logged as detailed within section 3.9 of the report.

·            Since the last meeting of the Joint Committee 16 Priority 1 incidents had been logged (compared with 10 in the previous reporting period), of which nine were resolved within the Service Level Agreement (SLA).

·            Priority 2 and Priority 3 issues within STS queues had seen an average of 35% and 62% compliance with the SLAs from July 2022 to October 2022 (against 66% and 61% reported for the previous reporting period).  SLA performance for P3 priority tickets continues to improve slowly over time.  A breakdown of the top seven categories for P2 and P3 calls had been provided within section 3.18 - 3.19 of the report, with SLA performance for P3 priority tickets continuing to improve.  Priority 4 service requests within STS queues for this reporting period had a 71% compliance with the SLA, compared with 71% reported during the previous monitoring period.

·            In terms of open calls within STS operational queues these now stood at at 3,200 compared with 2,600 at the end of the previous reporting – an increase of 600 calls. While logged volumes remained steady, there had been increased demand experienced in relation to the phone service and also in face-to-face visits to STS on-site teams.  Whilst working to reduce the number of operational open tickets this demand combined with staffing pressures had led to an increase in open call numbers with STS also reviewing the structure to ensure sufficient capacity was available in key areas and to maximise use resources to service the current demand.  Whilst open call numbers had increased, members were advised there had been a small improvement in SLA performance for the key priority 3 incident calls with STS non-operational open calls standing at 436 – a reduction of 114 down from 550 compared with the last reporting period.

·            Whilst also noting the challenges in keeping the untriaged call queue to the close of day target of 50, members were advised of the efforts being made to keep the numbers as low as possible, given the current demand.  This involved putting in place a new process to specifically manage the queue on a daily basis whereby dedicated engineers were solely focussed on triage during the day to ensure STS remained within target going forward.  In addition, members were advised of the efforts being made to continue developing the STS dashboards to provide greater insights into the data available from various sources, such as Hornbill, and allow greater understanding of the issues and “pinch-points” faced in order to better target resources.

·            The Net Promoter Score (NPS) industry standard rating for service user experience had achieved a positive rating in relation to STS performance across all three Council partners of 61.6% for calls resolved in STS operational queues (compared to 62.6% in the previous period).  This had been supported by the successful roll out of the QMinder queuing system and IT Hub drop-in centres.  Whilst feedback from staff across Brent and Lewisham had remained consistent the position was more mixed across Southwark, reflecting the increase in call volumes and higher number of open and untriaged calls.  As a result of the issued identified a Support Board had also been established which was currently meeting on a weekly basis to review and address issues as they were identified.

At this stage, comments were then invited from Members on the Service Performance update with the following issues raised:

·            Further details were sought on the reason for the increase in STS operational calls being logged within Southwark.  In response, Fabio Negro advised that the calls being logged related to a number of varied issues including wider Priority 1 and 2 incidents, with the highest level of calls being logged across all three authorities in relation to email and Outlook issues.  Given the comments highlighted Dionne Lowndes (Chief Technology & Digital Officer – Southwark) offered to follow up outside of the meeting with the Southwark members of the Joint Committee on the specific service issues identified.

·            In terms of the impact of current performance in relation to calls logged under Priority 2, 3 and 4 on levels of compliance under the SLA members were keen to explore how realistic the key performance indicators remained.  In response, members were advised of the STS structural review undertaken in 2021 and annual review of the requirements within the Inter Authority Agreement, the outcome of which had been detailed in section 3.81 and Appendix C of the report.  These had included an assessment of the core delivery model and how the service was structured to enable their delivery with the SLA being adjusted to ensure they matched agreed KPIs.  Given the increase in current demand and impact on performance a further independent service review had been commissioned in order to assess the current processes, structure and capability across the STS given the changing nature and complexity of demand, as had been outlined in section 3.9 of the report.

·            Comments were also identified in relation to the work being undertaken to enhance the user friendliness of Hornbill, with members advised of the ongoing work to review and expand the capabilities of the portal, including increased automation of self-help functionality.  At the same time, members recognised the challenge in being able to extract meaningful management Information from the system and further work being undertaken to enhance the reporting capabilities through use of dashboards that interacted directly with the system and all its data fields.  The success of the QMinder queuing system was also recognised in supporting the management of service requests and user expectations.

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 3.33 – 3.46 of the report, the Board were informed that there were no serious cyber security issues had been logged during the latest monitoring period.  Work also continued with a third party recommended by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to proactively monitor the environment across all three boroughs.  Whilst three incidents had been reported by the STS security partner over the reporting period, on investigation none of these had been found to involve malicious activity.

In terms of specific updates, members noted:

·            The ongoing 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 as well as work to develop and deploy Microsoft endpoint protection to the laptop estate in order to maintain a compliance baseline on all devices.

·            The ongoing focus on the Respond and Recover area, given the importance of offline backups in the case of any ransomware incident, with the Rubrik backup solution now covering the councils on premise workloads plus those Office 365 components migrated to the cloud (email, OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint) and strong performance in relation to backup compliance rates.

·            The ongoing work being undertaken by STS in conjunction with their mail filtering partner, to monitor and address potential malicious email activity, which remained a primary source of concern.

·            In terms of Public Service Network (PSN) compliance, it was noted that Brent and Lewisham were currently compliant, although final certification was required with Southwark’s health check scheduled for January 2023.  In terms of Cyber Essential accreditation Southwark were now in the process of undertaking an initial Cyber Essentials gap analysis following their migration to the cloud in order to assess their position in relation to accreditation.  Members were also advised that all three councils had passed and have been accredited for another year for the DSP toolkit which provided digital access to the NHS.

·            The work being undertaken to address the old smartphone estate within Brent and Lewisham, given the increase in devices falling below current security compliance levels.  Brent had completed their replacement programme and was now in the process of updating all compliant devices to the latest iOS version, whilst Lewisham was considering its model around mobile telephony in order to develop a final strategy.  Southwark had very few outstanding devices, with issues identified therefore being managed on a risk assessed case-by-case basis.

·            The work being undertaken by STS with third-party JumpSec and the London Office of Technology (LOTI) to conduct scans of internet-facing services, hosted by STS and third parties with issues identified as a result now having been resolved.  This had been subsidised by a LOTI contribution.

Comments were then invited from members on the Cyber Security update with the following issues raised:

·            Further details were sought on the issues currently being experienced with the platform being used to register smartphones operated by Southwark.  Fabio Negro advised the issues involved the platform being used to register Apple devices, which were currently being investigated with Apple and on which further details regarding the timescales to resolve would be provided once this process had been completed.

The Joint Committee then moved on to consider the details provided on the STS related audits which had been undertaken across all three authorities during 2020/21 along with progress on delivery of the recommended actions identified, as detailed within section 3.51 – 3.55 of the report.  It was noted that two audits had been completed in 2022-23 and since the previous update 12 actions have been closed (5 for Brent, 4 for Southwark and 3 for Lewisham), with one new action opened.

Members noted the focus around asset management as one of the key themes within the audits, with an Asset Management Policy having been developed in response and currently awaiting approval from partners.  This would complete four recommended actions as well as solidifying the actions required for the remaining IT Asset Management recommendations.

In terms of other updates, the Joint Committee noted:

·            The ongoing progress being made in terms of the Continuous model of Service Improvement as detailed with sections 3.47 – 3.50 of the report and Technology Roadmap as detailed within section 3.56 – 3.59 of the report.

·            The project updates provided within section 363 – 3.67 of the report.  In terms of projects, 53 in-flight projects had now been identified across Brent, Lewisham and Southwark representing a decrease of seven since the last update.  Whilst there has been a decrease in the number of projects, the projects underway were large scale in nature and included the Windows 2012 project, and rollout of Microsoft 365 in Brent and Lewisham, upgrades to wifi and key network solutions and the leisure insourcing project in Southwark.  It was also noted that the number of pipeline projects had also continued to increase with an increased demand for technical resources that would need to be factored into project costings moving forward.

·            The development of new capacity within STS to manage the starters, movers and leavers process, as detailed within section 3.68 – 3.69 of the report with the User Access Team now having gone live in August 2022 including the recruitment of two apprentices in Southwark.

·            The updates provided in relation to key procurements being undertaken across STS, as detailed within section 3.70 – 3.80 of the report.  This included the award (subject to completion of final negotiations) of a new Vodaphone contract for Brent and Lewisham to run until March 2024 which would coincide with the expiry of Southwark’s contract with 02 (subject to its extension) alongside completion of a review of requirements for the Automated Call Distribution (Contact Centre) and telephony contracts.  The current 8x8 contracts expired in March 2023, with authority now being sought for a two year extension.  In addition, Members were advised that a new agreement for Lewisham’s Microsoft licensing had been procured, incorporating E5, which had commenced in November 2022.

·            The outline of the changes agreed as a result of the annual review of the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) as detailed within section 3.81 and Appendix C of the report.  These included updates to the Tier 0 and Tier 1 lists designed to more accurately reflect critical services and associated applications, and who had primary responsibility for them along with amending SLAs to match agreed KPIs.  In addition members were advised of the new mechanism agreed to manage the budgetary treatment of significant changes to user numbers, referred to as the cost per user/step change process on which further details had been provided within Appendix B of the report with attention specifically drawn to the calculation of historical cost per user over the last 3 years, which it was noted had decreased as the shared service had become more efficient.

·            The progress in terms of the update of the existing STS Strategy due for renewal in 2023.  This would include the opportunity for review and comment by members of the Joint Committee, prior to a final version being presented to each Council and at the next meeting in March 2023.

·            The details provided in relation to the financial performance of STS as detailed within section 4 of the report, with a balanced position still forecast for 2022/23.  In terms of risks identified, members noted the ongoing impact of the current inflationary economic pressures on supply costs and other consumables which were continuing to be monitored.

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 Section 3 and Appendix A of the report.

(3)    To note the contents of the “Changes to STS core budget following a step change in user numbers” document attached as Appendix B to the report.

(4)    To note the annual review of the Inter Authority Agreement and recommended changes as detailed within the Revisions Summary attached as Appendix C of the report