ESSEX FIRE AUTHORITY Essex County Fire & Rescue Service

Transcription

1 ESSEX FIRE AUTHORITY Essex County Fire & Rescue Service MEETING Policy & Strategy Committee AGENDA ITEM 7 MEETING DATE 25 March 2009 REPORT NUMBER SUBJECT REPORT BY Monitoring IT Transformation Progress The Chief Fire Officer, David Johnson PRESENTED BY Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Adam Eckley SUMMARY The purpose of this report is to provide Members of the Policy and Strategy committee with an update on the progress of the Information Technology Transformation Programme in line with requirements set out when the Policy and Strategy committee approved the delivery of the programme at its meeting of 25 th June 2008 (EFA/081/08 refers). RECOMMENDATION Members of the Policy and Strategy committee are asked to note the contents of this report. BACKGROUND Members of the Policy and Strategy committee will recall that when approval was given for the Information Technology Transformation Programme at the meeting of the Policy and Strategy committee held on 25 th June 2008, a requirement was established for progress to be reported as a standing agenda item of the committee until the programme is completed in December This is the fourth such report and sets before Members information regarding the progress made to date against the programme workstreams and confirms how the programme is performing against the budget forecast set out in the original proposal approved by the Policy and Strategy committee. Programme Governance The Information Technology Transformation Programme continues to be managed utilising the best practice principles established within the OGC guidance Managing Successful Programmes (MSP). Weekly progress meetings are held between Director Assets, Resources and Administration and Hedra s Programme manager. Additionally an Information Technology Transformation

2 Page 2 of 5 Programme Board (ITTPB) meeting is held every month to formally assess progress in the previous month and validate any potential reward against workstream progress. Programme Workstream progress Members may recall that the following programme outline was included within the proposal set before the Policy and Strategy committee on 25 th June Figure 1: Information Technology Transformation Programme Plan Programme Mgt & Resourcing Mobilisation & Planning Programme Mgt, Comms, etc. Baselining Recruit Key Staff Sourcing / Org l Strategy Establish New IT Organisation Governance & Exploitation Governance process Review of Projects Exploitation resp & processes Immediate Issues Establish Business Ownership Issues log & Plan Implement fixes IT Services Improvement Mgt Controls Enhance Service Desk Continuous Improvement Service Mgt Processes Customer Service Agreement Risk Mgt & Continuity System Documentation Penetration Test Risk Register & Mgt Plan IT Resilience / Continuity Plan IS Strategy Strategic Business Requirements Strategic Direction Develop Strategy Implement Strategy Operations Process Review Business Process Review Hi-level Station IT Requirements Short-term improvements Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Members may recall that the previous update delivered in January set out a list of the key pieces of work that have been delivered within the programme since the previous report. It is reassuring to note that the following additional activities have now been completed: The IT Strategic Direction, setting out the key principles and decisions, upon which the IT Strategy will be built. This is based upon the requirements set out in the Strategic Business Requirements (delivered in December) and addresses issues such as the continued use of the MIS, SAP and Coda Dream systems. The Operations Process Review, providing a wealth of information, documenting current business processes within ECFRS Operations and highlighting those with greatest potential for improvement. As well as providing important input to the IT Strategy, it also provides the basis for further process improvement work, supported by IT. Implementation of new ways of working within the IT department, in line with accepted industry best practice. These include: Change/Release management, ensuring an acceptable level of testing prior to any change to systems; Incident management, ensuring all calls are recorded and tracked through to resolution; and Problem management, facilitating the identification and resolution of underlying IT problems

3 Page 3 of 5 Implementation of IT Service Management System, enabling appropriate recording, prioritisation and categorisation of calls, enabling improved performance reporting and analysis An enhanced IT Service Desk, increasing resource levels and capabilities to deliver an improved level of customer service, with arrangements for reporting performance against agreed service levels, as set out in the agreed Customer Service Statement. (Customer Service reports have now been delivered for January and February, showing in detail the service levels achieved that month) A detailed Operational IT Risk Register and Risk Management Plan, providing a comprehensive analysis of all significant risks to the ongoing IT service, together with the proposed strategy and plan for mitigating those risks. A revised structure for the IT department, together with job descriptions for key management posts and a timetable for restructuring the department and recruiting new managers and staff. Progress made between July and the end of February has been in line with the activities set out in the IT Transformation Programme Plan, with the exception of those outlined in the IT Strategy workstream. While recent progress in this area has been good, the workstream remains behind schedule, with the final deliverable now due in April. This matter was discussed at the January meeting of the IT Transformation Programme Board (12 th January 2009), at which time the imposition of a financial penalty was initiated. All other expected milestones have been achieved during this period. An updated Programme Plan is set out in Appendix A. Benefits management The Programme Initiation Document (PID) clearly defines the benefits to be derived from the IT Transformation Programme. This is supported by the Risk/Reward mechanism which provides a clear incentive for Hedra to exceed the expectations set out in the IT Transformation Programme. At this stage in the IT Transformation Programme the extent and range of potential benefits is becoming more clearly defined as the research activities deliver their conclusions and the new IT strategic direction emerges. As the full IT Strategy is developed, action plans will be delivered which set out how the many IT related weaknesses identified will be addressed. Once implemented, tangible benefits from these action plans will be monitored by the ITTPB and reported when appropriate. The IT Transformation Programme has already delivered a large number benefits, many of which position ECFRS for achieving further benefits over coming years, as the IT Strategy is implemented. The current benefits include: Assurance that all IT projects currently underway have a clear business case, and are proceeding in a direction that is consistent with the emerging IT Strategy, so as to maximise the value gained by ECFRS from its current IT investments Greater control over the initiation of new IT projects, ensuring that all future IT investment is aligned, has a clear business case and will maximise overall value to ECFRS Greater visibility and control over IT issues, finances, service level performance, projects, staff resources and workload. This is enabling more effective management of the IT function, ensuring better utilisation of IT staff and other resources and facilitating ongoing improvements to the overall service provided to users Greater understanding of business processes in use within Operations, the issues that apply to these and the ways in which these may be improved, supported by IT

4 Page 4 of 5 Better control over the use of paper forms across Operations, reducing the number of distinct forms from 1200 to under 400, eliminating unnecessary paperwork and ensuring greater consistency in the information that is provided by staff Increased reliability, availability and performance of IT services, resulting from greater control over system changes, the resolution of key technical problems and better scheduling of service maintenance outside of normal working hours A more professional, reliable and helpful IT Service Desk, providing improved levels of service and communication to users, with controls in place to ensure that all IT incidents are dealt with within acceptable timeframes, according to business priority. Reduced risk of loss of data that might result from the failure of IT systems. Significant improvements to the data backup procedures ensure that all ECFRS data is backed up and any failures of backup tasks are identified and corrected. Reduced risk of loss of knowledge that might result from the loss of IT personnel. Ongoing documentation of key systems and infrastructure continues to reduce the reliance on individuals for the continuity of IT services. Improvements to system security in relation to unauthorised access to systems. Vulnerability tests highlighted some clear gaps in system security, the most significant of which have now been addressed and staff trained so as to prevent reoccurrence. A much greater appreciation of all the operational risks that apply to the IT service, the current state of the controls in place to manage these and a clear plan for establishing more effective controls in the future Greater understanding from senior managers across ECFRS of their role in delivering continued improvements to the IT service, and achieving greater value for money from IT investments made. RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS The programme governance arrangements established by Director Assets, Resources and Administration require the preparation, maintenance and constant review of both risk and issues logs. These documents are examined at each meeting of the IT Transformation Programme Board, thereby positively managing issues and risks as they relate to the delivery of the overall programme. The use of external consultancy support always presents a risk, in that there must be a clear focus upon the outcomes to be achieved as a result of that support. Director Assets, Resources and Administration has sought to mitigate this risk by preparing and approving a risk and reward mechanism which provides clear incentives to exceed the performance benefits set out in the Information Technology Transformation Programme. The IT Transformation Programme itself is designed to mitigate the significant risks identified within the Strategic IT Effectiveness Review completed in April Furthermore the IT Transformation Programme is also designed to mitigate the significant risk of securing a poor outcome in the next direction of travel assessment. Without significantly addressing the concerns expressed by the Audit Commission regarding the lack of support offered by IT in the delivery of the Authority s priorities then the performance rating for the Fire Authority is likely to drop significantly. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS The financial implications of the IT Transformation Programme were set out in the paper considered by the Policy and Strategy committee at its meeting on 25 th June 2008 (EFA/081/08 refers) and are therefore not repeated here. The ITTPB monitor the progress of the IT Transformation Programme against the planned budget by workstream. The failure to achieve the outcomes expected in the IT Strategy

5 Page 5 of 5 workstream resulted in the withholding of 10% of the fees aligned to all work within that workstream until all expected outputs are delivered. In effect this means that fees are being withheld from January 2009 until the expected delivery of the completed IT Strategy in April In all other respects all fees approved to date are in line with the budget profile established for the programme. There are therefore no further financial implications arising directly out of this report, which have not been covered in the body of the report. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS Members of the Policy and Strategy committee should be reassured that the ongoing relationship with Hedra is defined within a legally binding contract using pre-negotiated terms and conditions drawn from an OGC Catalist framework. There are therefore no further legal implications arising directly out of this report, which have not been covered in the body of the report. USE OF RESOURCES The efficient, effective and prudent use of resources has remained uppermost in the considerations of Director Assets, Resources and Administration throughout the Strategic IT Effectiveness Review and subsequent improvement planning exercise. The ongoing management of the IT Transformation Programme seeks to maximise the benefits gained from the annual investment in information technology. There is a clear link between the Information Technology Transformation Programme and the effectiveness of the organisation. Failure to respond to the challenges set out in the Strategic IT Effectiveness review will limit ECFRS ability to deliver efficiency savings in the future. The risk and reward mechanism prepared and approved by the ITTPB seeks to maximise additional benefits of the IT Transformation Programme by linking additional value to the rewards of Hedra whilst ensuring that a minimum percentage of that value can be taken as a cashable efficiency to cover the fees paid to Hedra. LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION) ACT 1985 List of background documents EFA 080/08, EFA 081/08, EFA 114/08, EFA 128/08 and EFA 010/09 Proper Officer: Contact Officer: ACFO Adam Eckley Adam Eckley Essex County Fire & Rescue Service, Kelvedon Park, Rivenhall, Witham, Essex CM8 3HB Ext adam.eckley@essex-fire.gov.uk