23 rd September, 2013
Niche/Savvis SaaS Overview Core Features Additional Features Niche SaaS provides for the administration, management and support of Niche Technology s Niche Records Management System at one or more of Savvis s secure data centres, customer accredited up to IL4. The Niche SaaS core features include the initial installation and provisioning of software, proactive management monitoring of servers, provision of performance metrics, access to a 24/7 help desk and all new functional and technical features of the Niche RMS software. Free trial period to assess Niche SaaS Initial installation, configuring and provisioning of Niche RMS software Server availability and performance monitoring Proactive identification of performance issues Reporting of disk space utilisation Access to 24/7 help desk Tier-3 production end-user support, for example to assist force support personnel with answering Niche RMS use questions from users. Software updates to support new operating platforms: for example, new workstation or server operating systems and RDBMS versions. Software updates to existing police data management capabilities due to updated PACE or other legislative changes or Home Office reporting requirements. Agreed new system functional and technical capabilities requested by the Customer. New system functional and technical capabilities that were added as a result of requests from Niche customers worldwide that are subsequently available to all customers as part of the Niche RMS COTS system. Provision of Niche RMS web services The Niche SaaS additional features are itemised (and costed) separately so that Customers can customize the Niche SaaS service to meet their specific requirements. Additional services include: Installation of new Niche RMS software versions Installation of software patches Installation of additional Niche RMS instances: e.g., training and test systems Installing, configuring and maintaining national interfaces (PNC, PND, CPS, LIBRA, configuring, Livescan, Pentip, PNLDB) Installing and maintaining local interfaces (e.g., Command and Control, Gazetteer) Installing, configuring and maintaining Data Warehouse Installing, configuring and maintaining Business Intelligence Installing, configuring and maintaining other Customer systems in cloud environment 1
Project support services Training and knowledge transfer services BRC services Development of custom capabilities (e.g., Customer-specific output reports, data entry forms, etc.) Strategy & architecture services Business change services Solution development & implementation services Service management Customer requirements Niche SaaS typically requires that the Customer undertakes some functions themselves: Define local configuration options Define local workflow to support local business practices Define local interfaces User Acceptance testing of Niche RMS software Undertake end-user training and tier 1 & 2 end-user support System user management (user IDs, roles, etc.) Membership in national Niche User Groups Management and support of workstations, including installation of Niche RMS components (if applicable) Management and support of mobile devices, including installation of Niche RMS components (if applicable) Benefits Availability of Niche RMS on a per user/month basis without a need for capital expenditure (Capex) Flexible technical support model through as needed use of additional features Flexible business support model through as needed use of additional features Available to support all sizes of police forces in the UK. Niche SaaS can be taken for the full functionality of the Niche Records Management System or any individual or combination of modules, i.e., Crime, Intelligence, Custody, Case file preparation, Property, Public Protection (General Incidents) NicheRMS SaaS Technical overview Niche RMS SaaS runs on industry-standard Microsoft Platform and Infrastructure components. Benefits of Niche RMS SaaS s use of the Microsoft platform include: The Microsoft platform is highly interoperable, allowing the Customer to integrate Niche RMS SaaS with other Customer systems Niche RMS SaaS supports most mainstream Microsoft compatible platforms and technology, offering the Customer maximum deployment flexibility Niche s continuous refresh evergreen program ensures that support for new platforms and technology is added over the operational lifetime of the service On/off-boarding processes. Niche BRC services are available to provide onboarding planning and implementation. All Customer data in Niche RMS is 2
stored in an industry-standard RDBMS, allowing straightforward data access for off-boarding. The format/standards for data extracts include Microsoft SQL Server database backup, BCP, CSV and other formats and transfer protocols supported by Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services. All Customer data will be returned at the end of the subscription period. Niche will purge and destroy (as defined in security accreditation for different ILs) all Customer data from all computers, storage devices and storage media that are to be retained by Niche after the end of the subscription period and the subsequent extraction of Customer data (if requested by the consumer). The Customer can optionally purchase Niche services to assist with off-boarding activities. The Service is deployed on the Government Wide Service (GWS) an assured platform for delivering Government services. GWS is delivered by Savvis, a global cloud provider with local, in-country operations based around its data centre portfolio. Savvis is a recognized leader in the provision of cloud services and managed hosting solutions. All the application services delivered from GWS are delivered in a solution approach using Savvis established practices and alliances with specific application providers. Savvis offer a number of data centre options at Customer IL3 or IL4 and a combination of network options for the Customer utilising PSN (PNN) and /or internet connections. Three different types of environment are available to Customers: (1) Proof of Concept environment (see section below) (2) Pre-production environments, e.g., training and testing of versions (3) Production environments Niche SaaS is aimed at allowing a customer to move smoothly and seamlessly from a free proof of concept trial period into pre-production and hence production. 3
Proof of Concept and Trials Niche Technology is able to offer free of charge Proof of Concept (POC) and Trials of its Niche RMS software on the Savvis Government Wide Service or Savvis s Virtual Private Data Centre (VPDC) cloud platform. The POC can be for up to 3 months (90 days) and is available on request. Longer trials may be negotiated. General Parameters for Trial Up to 90 days Any or all of the Niche RMS functionality; crime, intelligence, case, custody, property, public protection may be trialed. The POC can examine individual functional processes (e.g., crime recording) or an end to end process (e.g., crime investigation from crime recording to investigation, to arrest (custody), to charge, to case file preparation and to court). Niche Technology project managers, customer support personnel, system developers and technical consultants will support POC as required. Target turnaround time from request to implementation is 10 working days. Currently a POC cannot support interfaces to national systems such as PNC, PND, CMS and LIBRA. However the POC can include demonstrates of how these interfaces will work in production operation. The trial can explore implementation issues such as data migration from legacy systems or this can be investigated as a separate service (Niche SaaS Implementation and Support Services from G-Cloud II Lot 4). 4