SMBC ICT Functional Review Recommendations (Amended 1 st June 2016)

Transcription

1 SMBC ICT Functional Review Recommendations (Amended 1 st June 2016) No. Recommendation ICT and Peer Review Comments Responsibility Deadline Current 1. Whilst the ICT Strategy is well defined and documented, the governance and prioritisation regarding how ICT should respond to service requests and enable the delivery of the corporate strategy is fragmented, with too many influencing bodies competing for resources and priorities. Agreed The governance arrangements for ICT decision making need to be stream-lined so that we have a senior, Corporate Group responsible for deciding ICT priorities and which any major decisions need to go through. The decisions from this Group will then help to determine the pipeline of work and the use of Project s which is referred to later in this document. Resources to agree through CLT 75 The proposed new Business Intelligence and Improvement Unit will be the point of escalation for inter-divisional work request conflicts. Proposed new process for managing ICT work requests presented to the Resources on the 27 th April and accepted with minor changes. Project process documentation now being compiled and implemented across ICT. Account managers (AMs) will now present to Directorate Leadership Teams (DLTs) with a view to embedding the process by the end of Q2 (FY 16/17). 2. Whilst ICT management have produced a file of 20 documents regarding workload planning, there are no single common processes or procedures for clearly documenting the staff time and effort to deliver the pipeline of work. A forward plan is already available which enables ICT to manage their work, but this is not understood by ICT s main customers. Agreed that ICT need to have the pipeline of work documented, by ICT employee that is understood and agreed with customers. It is accepted that this may not be necessary for those ICT employees that do not interact with customers, although it will be necessary to agree who these ICT employees are. 75 Proposed new process for managing ICT work requests presented to the Resources on the 27 th April and accepted with minor changes. Project process documentation now being compiled and implemented across ICT. AMs will now present to DLTs with a view to embedding the process by the end of Q2 (FY 16/17)l. Detailed time recording was not required by customers so it is for ICT to decide whether this is helpful to them. 3. ICT are perceived as a service that supports systems rather than customers. It is the Account s role to change this perception and there was a general feeling that those areas that have Account s don t feel this way. We need to look into the possibility of an Account for the Resources Directorate (the only Directorate without one), who would cover the core systems of Oracle and Northgate. Resources and Q3 (FY2015/16) 100 To continue with the customer relationship journey, three new ICT Account s have been appointed to better manage relationships with ICT s customers. These roles are already showing good results and improved customer relationship. In addition, the AMs are taking the lead in improving ICT core processes with regard to; workload planning, asset management and service offerings.

2 4. With no formal Service Catalogue (SC), client directorates/divisions are unsure as to what services and support they should expect and hence perceive that they receive poor value for money from ICT, with little control over investment or use of resources. A set of ICT standards has been developed, published and is reported on. However, it was agreed that these should be revisited so that they are agreed with and understood by customers. An updated set of ICT customer standards should be put together with a group of ICT customers from around the Council so that they are a jointly agreed set of standards (and it would be good to include these in the Solihull Way magazine once agreed). Also agreed that we need to raise awareness of the availability of ICT statistics and also set up a procedure for frequent enquiries from a particular service to be reported back to the relevant service manager to see if there are any training issues that need to be addressed. Q2 50 This requirement will now be addressed as part of the redesign of the ICT Intranet pages, which will more clearly articulate the services available from ICT and how to access them. Draft layouts for the new intranet pages were presented to the Director of Resources on the 27 th April and are now being developed into an operational offering. In addition to the above, ICT have responded to comments made within the Agile Working Programme Heads of Service meetings and A3 plans with regards to perceived and actual IT competencies within each Directorate. An IT trainer is now in post and has developed an in house instructor led Outlook Essentials course which links to the IMPACT seminar series organised by Organisational Development; 35 staff have been trained so far and further courses in both Outlook and other Microsoft products are being planned. Both the Adults and Children s Directorates ran their own staff satisfaction surveys last year, many comments were made with regards to the need for more IT training. The IT Trainer and ICT Account have now established two super user groups to establish the actual IT training needs and it has been established that the most significant issue is with Carefirst rather than core Microsoft products. 5. The benefits of the Account (AM) role should be exploited Agreed. We need to look into the possibility of an Account for the Resources Directorate/Core Systems. Resources and Q3 (FY15/16) AM for the Resources Directorate appointed and all approved AM posts now filled Overlap in roles and responsibilities relating to the support of ICT systems between the Corporate Performance, Policy and function and the corporate ICT function. This will be looked at as part of the wider Functional Review for the Resources Directorate. 50 Further decisions regarding any merger of roles and/or will be held in abeyance pending the commencement of the permanent on the 20 th June The Solihull Observatory and Corporate Performance are due to be transferred to the newly established Business Improvement and Intelligence Division.

3 7. The pass-through of service requests from the service desk to 2 nd line support often fails, with 2 nd line support either failing to action service requests in a timely manner, not passing the request onto the most appropriate person/team and in some cases, closing calls without resolution. The Deputy the Head of Customer Services are currently looking at the operation of the ICT Service Desk and whether future requests should continue to sit with ICT or transfer to Customer Services. This comment will be picked up as part of this work. Q3 for the appointment of a permanent Service Desk 50 The statistics show that pass-through succeeds in around 98.2 of cases. Complex cases are inevitably sometimes routed by the service desk to the wrong solutions team. The idea of moving the Service Desk to Customer Services has been rejected by all three of the Head of Customer Services, the Head of ICT and the Functional review consultants, Actica. The intended coaching and mentoring from the Customer Services leadership team, to ensure we get the very best processes and behaviours from the ICT Service Desk team has not yet been implemented. 8. Clarify the role and purpose of the Service Desk function. (Actica recommend that the service desk function is repositioned as a fault resolution as opposed to a call logging service and that it remains part of ICT). The is Q3 for the appointment of a permanent Service Desk 50 Merger of the Service Desk and Wintel teams as a vehicle to deliver effective fault resolution remains outstanding, as does the appointment of a Service Desk. Due to sickness, the appointment of a Service Desk was deferred and an interim/acting up appointment made, pending a full organisational review of the Change, Incident and Service Management roles and, by the Interim. 9. Converse to the positive feedback on Service Desk support received from the on-line survey, during the face-to-face interviews, whilst positive comment was received about the service desk staff, there was much adverse comment regarding, the processes, length of time to respond and/or fix issues/problems. The is & Q3 for the appointment of a permanent Service Desk 50 As for recommendation 8.

4 10. Some areas of the ICT services e.g. Business Services, operates in a 'Matrix Management' structure. This approach lacks clear leadership of staff and core and makes accountability and the measurement of effectiveness difficult. The Peer Review Group felt that it is for ICT to decide whether matrix management is the best way for them to manage ICT resources. Some other areas of the Council operate in a matrix management style. Customers want to understand what their ICT contacts are working on and this can be dealt with through the Account roles mentioned earlier. Some customers (particularly HR) felt that ICT delivery would work better if their key ICT contacts were based in their service. Whilst not directly related to the point made by Actica, this is the main action that needs to be investigated under this recommendation. Assistant Director Finance and Property Head of HR Head of Income & Awards Head of Customer Services Q2 (FY 15/16) 100 The idea of breaking up the ICT support teams and moving them into the customer directorates and divisions has been robustly discussed amongst officers. A unanimous decision has been reached that the ICT support staff should remain in the ICT Division. 11. With an Infrastructure/DBA team and a Wintel server team, there is a duplication of skill sets. There is some support for this recommendation in ICT but it depends on the outcome of the discussions about moving the Service Desk to the Contact Centre and views on the overall future structure of ICT. & 70 Whilst the team has been physically split and the infrastructure DBA s now report to the Infrastructure, the merger of the Service Desk and Wintel teams as a vehicle to deliver effective fault resolution remains outstanding. Fulfilment of this action has been allocated to the Interim. 12. Query the need for separate data and voice teams. There is some support for this recommendation in ICT but it needs further consideration. & Q2 (FY15/16) 100 The teams are physically co-located and work well together. They are critical requirements for the Data Centre move and for the new building project. Synergies to be driven from merging the teams will be re-considered at the conclusion of these projects in A reliance on key individuals. Agreed ICT to carry out a risk analysis, for discussion with the Resources on mitigation and the level of risk that will be taken. & Resources On-going 60 Whilst ICT succession planning has continued with workshop sessions, there remains an overreliance on certain key individuals who have niche, possibly unique, specialist knowledge and experience. On the ICT Risk Register, this issue has a Gross risk level of 9 and a Net risk level of 6. The incoming will appraise the situation as part of any structure/organisational review.

5 14. Views have been expressed that some ICT team leaders may be technically qualified but lack management capability and/or experience. The management structure of ICT will be looked at as part of the wider Functional Review for the Resources Directorate. Q3 As part of the revised workload planning process, a new skills matrix monitoring system is being introduced and this will be used to identify training/staff development requirements Mixed reviews and/or comments regarding the effectiveness, numbers and location of the ICT project management function. From the Peer Review meeting, there was support for the Project s and general support for them remaining with ICT. However, agreement of the pipeline of work and who directs the project managers need to be resolved, as covered by the earlier recommendations. Assistant Director Finance and Property Head of HR Head of Income & Awards Head of Customer Services Representatives from other Directorates. Q2 100 The value delivered by the Project s is recognised and supported. The Project s are directed by the Programme and through Directorate Leadership Teams. Further consolidation and performance management of this function will be achieved with the establishment of the new Business Intelligence and Improvement Division. When operational, the proposed governance arrangements will result in the emergence of corporate programme/project management standards and procedures and the ICT Project Management (PM) team will be a virtual part of the corporate Business Intelligence and Improvement resource. (Longer term the new Corporate ICT Group). 16. Service desk staff have not received adequate training to equip them to handle anything other than basic issues. The is Q3 The budget for training is under close scrutiny and limited funds may be available. The intended coaching and mentoring from the Customer Services leadership team, to ensure we get the very best processes and behaviours from the ICT Service Desk team will be pursued. 40 Service desk staff will also continue to learn through working with colleagues, with online training facilities and the planned merger with the Wintel team. When the issue 19 is addressed (new service desk software) additional training in the use of the installed system will be required. 17. Service desk/customer support activities are often seen as disruptive by 2 nd line support. The is Q3 This issue will be addressed with the structural changes identified at recommendation

6 18. Poor recording of installed IT estate/infrastructure (both hardware and software asset registers) and the condition, effectiveness, maintenance and support of the same. Agreed that the records of the IT estate/infrastructure need to be improved. Asset Management Strategy/Planning Q1/2 (FY2016/17) End User hardware asset register Q2/3 (FY2016/17) Software asset register Q2/3 (FY2016/17) Red 25 The problem has been that different types of asset are recorded in different systems. This is partly because the automated systems that audit track and maintain IT systems are different and produce records in different ways. Data Centre equipment is recorded in RMS Service Desk and AIT Patch. End user devices (Personal Computers, smartphones, tablets etc.) are recorded in; RMS Service Desk, System Centre Configuration (SCCM), HP Asset and LANDESK. Telephony and Network equipment is recorded in AIT Patch and Outpost 24. Software Licences are recorded in LANDesk, SCCM and RMS, depending on the type of software asset (distributed or central). The problem has manifested itself in the agile working project, where a view of what equipment an individual has was not easily produced. This has been resolved by the production of a consolidated view that takes the asset information from the relevant systems and presents it in a single view however; this can only be viewed as a temporary fix. A new consolidated register is required. In addition to the above, there remains the requirement to prepare a detailed asset register relating to software applications and 3 rd party service provision e.g. the Wide Area Network (WAN). This is of critical importance in order to effectively manage licence/service duration, payments, version control and the timeliness of tendering procedures. Software version control is of significant importance when considering the roll-out of new software versions e.g. the roll-out of a new version of Internet Explorer may conflict with installed Line of Business applications An appraisal is now being undertaken as to what 3 rd party software is available to resolve this issue and a business case will be prepared by ICT to establish the benefits of the required investment. 19. The Service Desk uses out-dated RMS service desk software, the functionality of which appears to have never been fully exploited. It does not have the correct tools i.e. documented answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), asset tracking, call handling and tracking. The is currently reviewing the operation of the ICT The (FY17/18) Red 20 It has now been determined that termination of the RMS contract can only be given on or before the annual anniversary contract renewal date (September) and the notice period is twelve months from that date. As notice was not given on or before September 2015, the earliest date that the termination clock will start running is now September Given the delayed implementation timescales, the choice of service desk software is being revisited, as well as the implications and the timing for introducing the replacement infrastructure and organisation. 20. With the rollout of Citrix, many of the previous administrator permissions have been withdrawn for the Service Desk staff. The is Service. The Q4 (FY 15/16) 100 Resolved

7 21. ICT is perceived as always asking for extra money to undertake work and/ or deliver services /infrastructure It was accepted that this is the case. The challenge for ICT is to change this perception through working closer with customers, for customers to understand (and agree with) demands on ICT capacity. It was agreed that ICT telling customers how busy they are is not working and a different relationship is required. 70 Proposed new process for managing ICT work requests presented to the Resources on the 27 th April and accepted with minor changes. Project process documentation is now being compiled and implemented across ICT. AMs will now present to DLTs with a view to embed the process by the end of Q2 22. There is a need for ICT to meet the budget reductions required as part of the overall cost reduction programme. Budget reductions to be agreed between the Resources and &. The the Resources will ensure that the required budget savings are delivered. Resources & Head of ICT and End of Q4 delivery of current year savings Red 30 Whilst budget saving targets for Financial Years 2016/17 and 2017/18 have been agreed, budget management has been a long standing and on-going weakness within ICT and it is now the subject of increased scrutiny and governance. With input and the support from the Resource and Finance colleagues the proposed approach to achieving the required savings has been agreed and signed-off. It has been proposed that effective budget management is set as a key objective, within the Performance and Development Review (PDR) process, for all budget holders and that an adequate level of training and support in this function and responsibility is provided.