Agenda item

Presentation

Members received a presentation on the transition to the new IT service.  The Committee welcomed the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources to the meeting.

In making the presentation, the Director of ICT reminded Members of the timeline of the transition to the new IT service and outlined the planned service model, client side structure and the self-service customer portal.  The portal provided customers with the ability to report issues 24/7 and whilst the feedback so far had been largely positive any negative feedback was followed up ‘in person’.  He explained that the ICT team consisted of approximately 30 members of staff with a focus on customer service and that the previous large single source contract had been replaced with multiple smaller expert suppliers which he hoped would be more cost effective.

The Director of ICT reported on the deployment of Windows 10 devices and that the new telephony solution was currently being rolled out.  He outlined the next steps in terms of ensuring that Forward Drive was fitted out with the necessary kit/ solutions.  The presentation also addressed Cloud Infrastructure Migration and cybersecurity.  The Portfolio Holder commended the Director of ICT and his team, the current IT supplier and partners for what had been achieved, particularly in such a short timescale against the back drop of a global pandemic.

Following the presentation, Members made comments and asked questions including the following:-

·                     A Member noted that he understood that there were issues with the technology behind webforms and problems with the Planning Portal. Members were advised that the Planning system was managed by the Planning service as it was a ‘devolved application’.  It was accepted that there had been problems especially when workload was extremely high, as had been seen recently.  However, this was as much to do with the devolved planning system and associated processes as it was to do with the web interface.  The Portfolio Holder reported that the Council had put a lot of effort into developing its web and ‘front end’ experience and, in his opinion, the Council’s website was now one of the best in terms of interaction.  The Chair added that the scrutiny sub-committee and Leads would be considering this issue and noted a Member’s comments that one of the main complaints received was that webfoms needed to be simplified;

·                     in response to a Member’s question as to the efficiencies delivered by the cultural shift in ways of working, the Director of ICT explained that Harrow had made rapid progress in adopting new tools such as Teams during the Covid pandemic, but there was still more to do.  In the coming six months further support would be provided to officers and Members in their use of Teams collaboration, OneDrive and other new technologies now available;

·                     a Member sought clarification as to how efficiencies and savings were measured, stating that a project should not be undertaken without this information.  The Portfolio Holder responded that the situation on costs and budgets was complicated by the move of devolved applications to the Cloud and the IT service taking on the strategic responsibility for IT from individual services and Sopra Steria, but it was expected that the result of the in-sourcing of the IT service would result in savings and efficiencies.  The Corporate Director of Resources added that savings were not the only value to be gained from in-sourcing IT; there would also be improved services resulting from the Council being in better control of its IT on an ongoing basis.  Within the original business plan for the in-sourcing, savings had been identified and were being tracked.  The Director of ICT also explained that Office 365 provided benchmark information on adoption of the new technologies.  The Chair requested that this data be circulated to Members;

·                     in response to a Member’s question in relation to the use of Amazon Web services, the Director ICT advised that the Council instead had a relationship with Microsoft Azure web services.  This was procured under UK government framework terms which took account of ethical issues on a national basis.

In summing up the discussion, the Chair stated that the improvements in IT had been remarkable with the shift to home working, virtual meetings whilst at the same time bringing services in house.  He thanked officers and the Portfolio Holder for their work, presentation and attendance and acknowledged the need to talk about IT, how it was used and communication with residents.

RESOLVED:  That the presentation be noted.