Business Analysis from Quadrant - to enable more or better use of Cloud Services (Service Definition, G-Cloud CloudStore Services)

Transcription

1 - to enable more or better use of Cloud Services (Service Definition, G-Cloud CloudStore Services) Quadrant Consultants Limited Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF Tel: (0) quadstaff@qcl.co.uk Website:

2 Summary Quadrant is a well-established provider of process improvement services across central and local government. We bring 25 years experience with over 250 organisations, both public and private sector, and we have held places on three successive Cabinet Office level frameworks since Our business analysis work looks at how an organisation s needs and resources are best served by more or better use of services offered through G-Cloud and Cloudstore. We cover goal setting, asset mapping, needs auditing, stakeholder engagement, business case, payback and ROI analysis, user experience and proposition development, for process improvement through cloud adoption. For Business Analysis through CloudStore, Quadrant provides a complete consulting service with choices for customers on where best to work together as a blended team. Our tools and methods are readily shared. We work within a fixed cost to deliver practical breakthroughs at pace. Contents This service definition catalogue from Quadrant complies with the standardised format for information presentment through the CloudStore 1. An overview of our Business Analysis offering in CloudStore Information Assurance The level of backup/restore and disaster recovery provided On-boarding and Off-boarding processes/scope Service management details Service constraints Service Levels Financial recompense model for not meeting service levels Training Ordering and invoicing process Termination terms Data restoration / service migration Customer responsibilities Technical requirements Details of any trial service available Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 2 of 12

3 1. An overview of our Business Analysis offering in CloudStore This brief overview section covers the following chapters: Introduction Quadrant Coverage of G-Cloud Categories with Business Analysis The Quadrant Business Analysis Service model Project Management Why Quadrant Our Track Record Deliverable Services Introduction Conducting a Business Analysis process, through the CloudStore, is a great way to ensure that your organisation has a good understanding of the business needs and opportunities for cloud services. Cloud services are attractive for their affordability and flexibility. In considering how to make more and better use of cloud, you will want assurance of greater productivity with risks mitigated. This is where the Business Analysis services though CloudStore can help, and Quadrant s approach provides a rounded Business Analysis process. At a functional level, our service provides consulting support and a comprehensive Business Analysis procedure; using standard, replicable techniques, applied to your own particular circumstances. Quadrant has worked with over 250 organisations over 25 years, and we recognise the differences in the way management teams want to use their assets and resources for the benefit of their customers and communities. When conducting each business analysis for cloud operations, it is important to see the significant advantages of shared infrastructures, platforms or software whilst using analytical skills to also appreciate what makes one organisation rightly different to another. The Quadrant Business Analysis service through CloudStore does this. Quadrant appreciates that to gain a Project Mandate for use of cloud, you will benefit from an early stage Business Analysis process. You may be considering how to use cloud more or better in any one of the typical domains of interest below in Fig.1; from operations, to support services, across your supply chain, and to external customers and users of your services. Cloud offerings work for each and all of these, and you can discover with Quadrant which parts work best for you and when, knowing that the all-round implications of change will have been considered through business analysis. Figure 1 Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 3 of 12

4 There are a number of questions that will have led you to the point of looking for a Business Analysis partner, beyond the obvious one of how do I get started: How can we ensure that our operations are accurately described, before cloud integration? Has our management information system provided a good basis for evaluation of cloud? What distinctive features of our operations need to be highlighted in cloud planning? Have we got a consensus on the stated needs of our business and supply chain before we consider the options for cloud across all or part of our activities? and lastly but importantly, How can our customers, and those who rely on our services, be provided with a quality and added value of service through best use of cloud, based on sound business analysis? For each of these domains of concern and ambition, Quadrant has developed a Business Analysis process that keeps control with you, and keeps minds open to the best possible options. Quadrant Coverage of Cloud with Business Analysis Quadrant s Business Analysis work, seen in Fig.2, covers the landscape of G-Cloud CloudStore categories (IaaS, SaaS, PaaS, Specialist Cloud Services SCS) and the four broad business domains relevant to cloud adoption (operations, support services, supply chain, contact management). Industry projections anticipate that organisational migration into Software as a Service will, in terms of spend, become the dominant flow, replacing the existing sizeable cost of embedded local licensing. Infrastructure and Platforms offer a hierarchy of hosting, with choices from fully stacked offerings to pick and mix platform evolutions. Within specialist cloud services (SCS), G-Cloud has made available a range of enabling services, and Quadrant keeps this fourth area in scope for our Business Analysis offering, when we are asked to collaborate with both customers, and their selected other suppliers. Figure 2 The Business Analysis process from Quadrant appreciates that responsibilities and accountabilities will increasingly pass across boundaries and segregated responsibilities, including third parties. Ensuring that the customer organisation maintains an analytical process that aligns with cloud is a pivotal service we can offer through CloudStore Business Analysis. It can be considered to be either a preparatory or an ongoing process. It should be seen as an essential and enabling service that makes a public sector organisation s efforts to integrate cloud solutions all the more productive. Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 4 of 12

5 The Quadrant Business Analysis model Project Management From over 25 years experience, and six years on 3 successive Cabinet Office frameworks, we appreciate that many of the best possible options reside within the know-how of the organisation. There will be other design options from across the UK public sector or elsewhere, and private sector examples too. We start, with you, with a learning process, and can work in close collaboration or at key milestones and checkpoints to progress through four stages, from Business Analysis to our final delivery for you. In the Discover stage we commence a learning process about the business activities and needs In the Define stage we use preparatory knowledge gained to define the parameters of change. In the Develop stage we are collaborating closely with customer teams to complete analyses. In the Delivery stage we are preparing to off-board our team, and transfer skills and tools. The workload and direction for any of these stages are assessed on a case by case basis, as there is a great diversity in the scale and the requirements of the public sector buyers through the CloudStore. As a guideline, Quadrant benefits from over 250 client cases in delivering consulting solutions, and we are able to use proven fast track methods, deliberately reuse what has worked well at our reference sites, and demonstrate speed to market/change so customers gain the cloud advantages quickly, and with risk mitigated. Each of the stages in our approach below, Fig.3, can be completed in weeks, and we will cap the expected workload and costs at our risk. Figure 3 Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 5 of 12

6 A trial run of a consulting service for Business Analysis is not always feasible, but Quadrant is able to spend preparatory time with interested buyers, to demonstrate our methods, and show by example the probable workload and lapsed timescale, based on appreciation of the information asset types. Quadrant endorses the G-Cloud and Cabinet Office expectation that public sector buyers will be offered standardised, repeatable services from suppliers on frameworks. Our process methods for CloudStore, in Fig.4, have been developed to align with PRINCE2 and will be seen to be readily off-boarded and transferred in to customer teams, for repeatable and affordable internal use. Figure 4 The Quadrant Business Analysis process enables the best possible blend of internal and external best practice in the application of cloud design to your domain(s) of concern. Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 6 of 12

7 Why Select Quadrant? Quadrant understands the challenges faced by public and private sector organisations wanting to create a rich data view of their service delivery transactions while containing costs and thinking digital. Electronic Business Analysis of relevant information assets in a timely and accurate manner will be the capability that defines whether an organisation can realise the full benefits of cloud operations. Using Cloud services more or better will not in itself change an organisation s productivity for the better. The process of discovering how cloud design can fulfil a customer team s ambitions is a great place to be involved and make a contribution, and Quadrant is eager to join with like-minded teams. At Quadrant, we work hard to find breakthroughs for organisations seeking beneficial changes. We hope you can select us to explore in more detail what we can do for your Business Analysis needs. Quadrant has a distinctive approach, a passion for delivering breakthroughs, and is a proven provider of services through Cabinet Office frameworks, gained on three successive occurrences since Wide Ranging Experience and Basis for Best Practice Comparisons Quadrant has worked successfully with over 250 organisations for over 25 years. We appreciate the common purpose of client teams to make a difference, and we recognise the unique challenges each organisation has to overcome Collaborative and Appreciative Consulting Process Quadrant s project management processes are PRINCE based and begin with the expectations that the client team we engage with are the agents for change. Our consultants have client-side practical experience and use a methodology which gets better results faster by bringing proven insights and recognising team-wide breakthrough thinking. Committed Cloud Users for our own Business Needs Quadrant has undertaken a staged process from traditional to cloud based operations, and can share the benefits while guarding against the risks. Our Business Analysis process can become your advantage, when we work with you to establish the best way to use cloud services more or better in the public sector. Dedicated Senior Staff Throughout Our work With You The senior and director level team you meet at Quadrant, when exploring your early requirements are the ones who will work with you across the project lifecycle, from discovery and analysis through to delivered solutions Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 7 of 12

8 Track Record in related areas Typical examples of Quadrant Business Analysis and Business Analysis related work across the public and private sectors include: For a local authority consortium: - across Cambridge, Welwyn, Oxford, Ipswich, Lincoln; Quadrant conducted business analyses using SaaS on Council Tax administration costings. For a local authority consortium: - Blaby DC Charnwood BC, Hinckley & Bosworth BC, North West Leicestershire DC, Oadby & Wigston BC; Quadrant conducted a business analysis using SaaS to compare the administration cost to serve in housing benefits. For Cherwell District Council we conducted a business needs analysis to enable executive decisions on potential hybrid cloud data services for local incident mapping. For Sport England: - Quadrant used a series of diagnostic tools for a detailed analysis of the Active People online data set, for local authority and sports club policy guidances. For the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA):- Quadrant undertook an extensive programme of business and data analysis and economic modelling, as part of their value for money study of the teacher recruitment activities. For Post Office Limited prior to shared services across their contact management centres, Quadrant conducted a business analysis of the external supplier options and comparisons. These cases and more enable Quadrant to design a fast-track and comprehensive Business Analysis service, and we would be pleased to have an opportunity to demonstrate how our capable team applies our proven tools. Deliverable Services Quadrant has designed a replicable Business Analysis service, using familiar methods and deliverable outputs. Typical functional outputs of our Business Analysis work include: Stated Needs Audit Report Stakeholder Sounding Report Assessment of Information Security Management Policies and Standards o our consulting service operates at IL0 and for the defined purposes of Business Analysis best practice we do not need to handle information above IL0. Option Selection Filtering Business Case Project Mandate Business Analysis Stage(s) Report Milestone/Gateway Presentation Packs Skills Transfer, Learnings/Issues Log, and Off-Boarding Packs. Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 8 of 12

9 2. Information Assurance For this G-Cloud Service, in Lot 4 Specialist Cloud Services for Information Management and Digital Continuity, it is appropriate that Business Analysis design benefits from the widest possible team working. Quadrant has designed a Business Analysis offering that operates at IL0. We understand, and have operated at, the ISO27001:2005 certificated level, and we can apply our information security management assurance system to guide our clients to the most appropriate policies and standards when exploring cloud working. We have sponsored Quadrant staff through CLAS certification and we can nominate colleagues with security clearance, on a case by case basis. Quadrant has administered an entry-level claims certification service for CESG with commercial off the shelf information security products for the wider public sector and can use this experience to guide clients through CloudStore to the best sources of information assurance advice and good practice. 3. The level of backup/restore and disaster recovery provided Throughout a Quadrant Business Analysis process with our clients, the asset integrity of work in progress is protected and recoverable. We have a backup/restore and disaster recovery process in operation, and provide this for G-Cloud CloudStore clients. Quadrant Business Continuity is drawn from our policies for Quality Management, where are certificated to ISO/IEC 9001:2008 (No. FS ). Quadrant s infrastructure is designed as a hybrid local area network and cloud solution. Our client and financial accounting system is backed up by Quadrant physical servers, and in the secure cloud via our Livedrive and SecondCopy and a copy of client transactions is provided monthly to our accountants, outside of Greater London. We use commercial off the shelf (replaceable) applications, with Microsoft, Google and Adobe components. All data is stored on the local file server allowing it to be backed up and accessible. Contact and application Outlook is an exception, as this synchronises directly with our Google Apps accounts on the Internet, using gsyncit software. The file server is installed with Microsoft Windows Foundation Server 2012 software. It has multiple hard disk drives attached to a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) controller which uses up to 75% of the drives actively. Any unused drives operate as hot spares which rebuild with the contents of any failed drive without interruption to the file server operation, to provide business as usual. An additional Quadrant server also provides backup services using SecondCopy software running pre-planned daily schedules. Quadrant always has a complete backup on our network locally, plus an online, always on, Livedrive backup in the cloud. We use SaaS cloud services, in a hybrid design. Quadrant has a calendar schedule, to retain our ISO9001 certification that requires us to run planned and surprise business continuity tests (power outages, etc) for BSI appraisal, of any Incident Management and Preventive/Corrective Actions and a Lessons Learnt log. Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 9 of 12

10 4. On-boarding and Off-boarding processes/scope We deploy robust stage boundaries and processes for on-boarding and off-boarding, through our Quadrant s ISO9001:2008 Quality Management process and use of the PRINCE2 process model. On/Off-Boarding, in the context of Business Analysis consulting, is less about technical and resource dependencies and more about signed-off scope, at commencement, and then skills and tools transfer once through all controlled stages and completed work packages. The end result and deliverable output of a Quadrant Business Analysis assignment is an End Project Report for customer director level sign off, with a Closed Risk Register, Issues Register, Quality Register and a Lessons Log. 5. Service management details Quadrant will provide a capable lead Project Director and Client Service Manager role subject to the scale of the Business Analysis requirements. Project Initiation and Project Direction, from Initiation Notification to Closure Notification Appropriate facilities for any exchange of information at the (former) Unclassified IL0 and new Official tier, lower end. Document management and control to ensure client team has access and title to the full set of Business Analysis related materials and delivered outputs. Quadrant service details, from our published terms and conditions for CloudStore through G-Cloud. Business Day Consultant s Working Day Working Week Business/Office Hours Travel and Subsistence Mileage Professional Indemnity Means, any day (other than Saturday or Sunday) on which ordinary banks are open for their full range of normal business in London. 8 hours exclusive of travel and lunch. Monday to Friday excluding national holidays Means 09:00am to 17:00pm of any Business Day, when the Quadrant office can be expected to be available to customers Included in our day rate within M25. Payable at a department or customer s standard Travel & Subsistence rates outside M25. Included in our day rate within M25. Payable at a department or customer s standard Travel & Subsistence rates outside M25. Included in our day rate 6. Service constraints Quadrant services, in delivery of Business Analysis consulting through G-Cloud and CloudStore, have no constraints on our abilities and facility to meet the contracted requirements. We make every effort to apply standardised ways of working, not customised. We do not embed restrictive, time-limited or bespoke procedures into any outcomes for the client teams. We strive to deliver open, accessible outcomes. Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 10 of 12

11 7. Service Levels The service level, in support of a Business Analysis professional service, is determined by the scale and speed of the client requirement, and the lapsed time or intended duration. Quadrant is very happy to align our service level to the client requirements, underpinned by our own ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management certification which ensures a Service Level Agreement can accompany each contract. We are pleased to share this process and our obligations with clients. This indicates remedial actions and recompense for any non-performance of agreed services. We also operate a customer satisfaction survey and we can share our latest performance indicators. 8. Financial recompense model for not meeting service levels A standardised call-off service through the G-Cloud CloudStore should not disadvantage a client through any non-conformance of a supplier, so Quadrant is happy to discuss an appropriate scale. 9. Training The Business Analysis design and development process, when applied at the start of customer adoption of cloud working, is less suited to a standalone training module, though Quadrant is able to offer this. Once Business Analysis process and rules are established, the training is more routinely seen as part of an internal, integrated acceptable use of ICT that a customer s team control. Quadrant can contribute training modules for customer training formats, on how to ensure Business Analysis continued improvement. Where the Business Analysis design process and initial domain of interest for cloud working is one that the client intends to repeat, at successive intervals or commence later across separate parts of the organisation, Quadrant is able to provide training modules for repeat use of the Quadrant process. 10. Ordering and invoicing process Quadrant is able to process a range of ordering and payment options. Direct orders placed through a Crown Commercial Service electronic ordering facility are welcomed, with remittances managed through the normal range of business remittances services Quadrant is able to commence work promptly on receipt of a purchase order authorisation. Our invoicing dates and frequency would be as agreed within each customer contract and is expected to be month ending, for submitted invoices, and monthly in arrears, for due payment dates. Our terms and conditions as published in CloudStore provide a fuller set of provisions. 11. Termination terms Quadrant is happy to align with established normal practice for CloudStore professional services. Termination (notification) period by a service consumer/customer: Termination period by Quadrant, if no longer providing a G-Cloud Service: none applicable 30 days Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 11 of 12

12 12. Data restoration / service migration Data restoration and service migration are not seen as part of an early stage Business Analysis consultation. Quadrant will ensure that all datasets (none above IL0 are expected) are maintained in good order for any request to restore file formats, document management and version control back to the client. Our own Business Analysis functionality ensures we can retrieve and remove customer data on request. 13. Customer responsibilities The customers responsibilities and, to an extent, risk in co-production, is considered as low level by Quadrant, for the purposes of ease and speed of procurement through the CloudStore. A customer should always deploy best endeavours to ensure that, where agreed at commencement, they fulfil their part in the timely provision of necessary, comprehensive and accurate information for sharing with Quadrant, to ensure that Quadrant delivery at milestones and checkpoints can be achieved. We do not envisage technical or financial risk for a customer in delivery of Business Analysis consulting. 14. Technical requirements Considered non-applicable for our Business Analysis professional service delivery. 15. Details of any trial service available A trial service of a Business Analysis consulting process is not possible. Quadrant is willing and able to meet prospective customers and demonstrate the intended method and tools, with no obligation. ============================================================================ Contacts at Quadrant for G-Cloud, through the CloudStore, include Peter Hayes, Joint Managing Director, and company Information Security Manager Mike Bell, Joint Managing Director William Annandale, Managing Partner, and ISO9001:2008 lead Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Tel: (0) quadstaff@qcl.co.uk Website: Quadrant Consultants Limited, Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, WC2N 4JF, Page 12 of 12