EXECVIEW for G-Cloud Framework Users Execview Project Portfolio Management Service Definition for G-Cloud iii
G-Cloud ITT Service Definition overview (This section of our response is intended to provide a rapid overview for the reader, and aligns to the response table. This is expended the Execview website. An overview of the G-Cloud Service (functional, non functional) Execview Project Portfolio Management provides a complete PPM suite including project planning and resource management. Designed to be 'top down' and light touch, all stakeholders can use Execview - PMs, the PMO, Executives, Sponsors, BAU (Business As Usual) teams, Operations staff and Third Parties. The functionality covers all key areas of Portfolio Management - from strategic outcome mapping to project 'idea assessment' workflows through programme/project definition, planning and tracking. Execview also provides audit tools, a gated governance framework for gateway approvals, and automatic summarised status reporting at all levels of the organisation. Execview is designed to deploy quickly (1-2 weeks), remove cost and complexity, reduce the need for consultants and, in most cases, will significant achieve in-year savings. Key functions Portfolio / PMO environment. New Initiative/project request/prioritisation workflow Project/programme workflows and gateways Portfolio reports. Scorecards for projects, programmes, portfolios, steering groups, stakeholder groups / bespoke reports. Project planning, Gantt charts, milestone charts Deliverables and Task planning and scheduling. Project / programme progress reports. Online PID (Project Initiation Documents). Standard project/programme workflows and gateways. Gated governance assessments Milestone definition and tracking. Status tracking. Stakeholder management and tracking Risk, Assumption, Issues, Dependency (RAIDs) management Stakeholder management planning/tracking Dependency management. Resource management and timesheet management Cost and revenue management. Change Request workflow Document / collaboration store Personal task/accountability home page for every user (detailing work in all activities)
Non functional Information assurance Impact Level (IL) at which the G-Cloud Service is accredited to hold and process information Details of the level of backup/restore and disaster recovery that will be provided On-boarding and Offboarding processes/scope etc. Pricing (including unit prices, volume discounts (if any), data extraction etc.) Hosting/Service management details Service constraints (e.g. maintenance windows, level of customisation permitted, schedule for deprecation of functionality/features etc.) Service Levels (e.g. performance, availability, support hours, severity definitions etc.) Interfaces to any supplier and client systems exporting structured data files. Security model based on role-based security and additional security for restricted third-party access. Web browser accessed cloud platform based on SQL Server /.NET technology base (IE6+, safari, Chrome, Firefox and most modern browsers) IL2. Execview is also, in some cases, compliant to IL3 if installed on private government network/servers. Full DR (Disaster Recovery) facilities managed by RackSpace (Tier 1) with 5 day maximum restore time (tested 6 monthly) Full set up service provided by Methods and Execview, including best practice design, set-up, training, data loading. Off-Boarding includes client extract of data via Excel export Unit prices or site license models 30 per project, program or portfolio units per month (Minimum x20) (NB - because there are no separate per-seat charges, or data storage, Execview is extremely cost-effective). Volume discounts available. Hosted at Data Centre in London. Full platform monitoring by RackSpace and Execview. ITIL processes used for problem, incident and change management. Formal logging of all incidents and change requests. Options to install on client servers for local hosting if required. User customisation of activity definitions, labels, fields, reports and scorecards. New functionality fixes normally released on a 2 weekly sprint cycle. 24 hour planned availability with planned 1 maintenance window per fortnight / Core hours 0830-1800 with no planned downtime / 99.5% availability target. Normal definitions for P1, P2, P3, etc. fault impacts and resolution times. Email, telephone support.
Financial recompense model for not meeting service levels Training Ordering and invoicing process Termination terms - By consumers (i.e. consumption) Termination terms - By the Supplier (removal of the G- Cloud Service) Data restoration / service migration Consumer responsibilities Technical requirements (service dependencies and detailed technical interfaces, e.g. client side requirements, bandwidth/latency requirements etc.) Details of any trial service available. Liability of up to 100% of SaaS service fees in affected period or as agreed in G-Cloud contracted condition. Administrator, Projects, Service Management, Reporting, Training available as standard packages, along with bespoke arrangements during start-up. Post start-up optimisation interventions to ensure best practice use of the Execview platform. Order against PO based on agreed volumes. 3 months written notice or terms as agreed with G-cloud. We would normally only terminate in the case of inappropriate use. License agreement provides details. Restoration is normally same day. See Disaster Recovery for other. Administration of users and access security, configuration, naming conventions and other set-up options. Setting up new Activities (Projects, Service areas, CRs etc). Providing first line support to end users Browser based access (IE6 or later, Safari, Chrome, Mozilla) A reasonable internet connection speed is required. Low cost Proof of concept and Pilot options on a fixed price set-up and operation basis see priced packages.
An overview of the Execview G-Cloud Service Execview provides a ground-breaking Enterprise Governance Platform for delivering and managing business transformation, operational excellence and strategic outcomes. Execview combines best industry practices, thinking and visibility into a software platform that gives organisations the capacity and capability to deliver change themselves, reducing the need for external consultants. Execview is a paradigm shift it will drive out significant headcount, ICT and consulting cost. It makes a wide range of software redundant and improves the ability for teams to work together. Execview offers the ability to drive, innovate and control government department outcomes. Board-level dashboards ensure timely, informed and effective enterprise-wide management and decision-making while sophisticated tools enable the planning and managing of complex enterprise programmes, portfolios and projects along with service delivery and operational services, including services outsourced to third parties. Available in the Cloud, on a Software-as-a-Service basis (or implemented within your own Private Cloud or environment if required), Execview can take just a few days or weeks to be live with an organisation s data. By giving executives and professionals a concise and instant view of what s happening in the business, Execview drives up corporate performance. Its highly innovative, intuitive displays of visual management techniques put critical information at the fingertips of the people running the business. Execview enables them to attain high levels of business performance: it offers a complete view of the data needed to steer the company; manages KPIs and SLAs; and plans, monitors and tracks to ensure the right decisions are made while easily identifying risks and issues. Having been designed by industry experts, Execview automatically incorporates industry best practices as part of the solution such as Prince2, CMMI, MSP, and EFQM methodologies empowering users and reducing the expense of external consultants skills.
Information assurance Impact Level (IL) at which the G-Cloud Service is accredited to hold and process information Execview is designed to be secure to IL2, and in some cases to IL3, in a government private server/network environment. The Execview SaaS service has passed the security test of various public organisations including Essex County council, Ordnance Survey, the BBC and the University of London. Additionally it is used by numerous financial and commercial companies. Details of security model It is the responsibility of the Licensee to administer user accounts, create new users, grant access rights, and delete or lock out users when their use of the Software is completed. Each Licensee is required to have at least one Administrator role for this purpose. This role is a minimal part time role for someone within your existing organisation: Execview requires passwords to include at least one uppercase letter and one numerical digit and to be of at least eight characters in length. Users are required to change their passwords every 30 days. After three incorrect attempts to login Execview locks the user s account. If no login occurs for 90 days, the user s account is expired. Statistics of login frequency, last login and duration of login are available and will be provided on request.
On-boarding and Off-boarding processes/scope etc. Software Package/Suite/ Service Description Licensing Mechanism Price Per Unit Hosting Execview Project Portfolio Management A cloud-based PPM solution for managing complex portfolios of programmes and projects linked to strategic outcomes. Full PPM toolkit and Resource Management. Manages third party and multi-agency projects and links delivery and benefits into to the corporate / directorate plan. Two options for charging: i) Usage-based charges based on the number of projects. OR ii) by agreement, a fixed site license per month for volume usage. There is no additional cost for the number of people / seats, disk storage Training and implementation costs are shown separately SaaS fees are billed monthly or quarterly in advance Unit price = 30 per project * per month Minimum 20 projects There is no separate charge for users (*) A programme consisting of the programme plus 10 projects or work streams would count as 11 New portfolio set-up and Administrator training 5,000. One day training for up to 12 people 3,000. Bespoke training available. On-site support 950 per day. Volume discounts available. None SaaS fees include mail and telephone support, hosting, data capacity charges No additional cost all standard upgrades are FoC
Service management details Operational hours The Execview Software platform is available 24x7, with core operations support times from 0830 1800 Monday to Friday. This could be extended by agreement for specific clients at a marginal cost. Planned downtime Planned downtime will be announced at least 24 hours in advance via email to system administrators. Downtime for upgrades will last less than thirty minutes. Any lengthy period of planned downtime (i.e. over one hour) will be scheduled to occur at weekends. Unplanned downtime Unplanned outages occur where the software service needs to be taken out of service for maintenance purposes during the normal operational hours. We will endeavour to notify affected System Administrators by email, with an estimate of the outage period and our understanding of the problem and how it is being resolved. Availability Application availability (via the internet) is designed to be 99.5% within the operating hours above. Details of the level of Backup/Restore and Disaster Recovery provided Our data centre hosting provider, RackSpace, provides data storage, all physical and logical security and all backup and restore operations. Backups are taken nightly, with full backups weekly. Backups are stored off-site. The Licensor test restores on a regular basis to assure that backups will provide valid recovery. RackSpace provide business continuity and disaster recovery measures which, in the unlikely event of them being needed, would see an alternative hosted service restored within a maximum of 5 days. Maintainability, Change Control and Software Updates Software bugs and enhancements can be logged via the online bug reporting tool. At agreed intervals, Execview account managers meet with their clients to review the accumulated log of such reports, so that progress can be tracked, queries raised and dealt with, and a high level of understanding of the client s needs grown and maintained. Execview operate an Agile software development methodology, whereby releases typically occur every two weeks. We use a software change control tool called Subversion (SVN) to manage all new developments, operating separately branched code for major new features which are only merged with the core software set once tested and ready.
Account Managers discuss, agree and confirm timescales for all bugs and enhancements with their clients. We do not offer set response times to meet enhancement requests, but bugs will be fixed on the following basis: Critical fixes: Worked on and released either immediately or on the evening of the day they are completed. Top priority ( P1 ): in the next release. Medium priority ( P2 ): normally in the release after next but certainly within two months. Low priority ( P3 ): within four months. In the unlikely event that an upgrade should be rolled back, the Execview system keeps backup copies of the Execview database and can restore these to revert all data to the moment before the upgrade. Selective reversion of specific features is much harder; the most practical course of action in almost all cases is to fix the issue(s). Execview is hosted by a major hosting provider based in the London area, directly connected to LINX (the London Internet Exchange). This affords Execview excellent bandwidth availability via multiple Tier 1 Internet Service Providers, alongside high volume sites serving the UK such as Google, Yahoo and bbc.co.uk. Execview s hosting provider delivers: SSL security 24 hour availability Daily backups stored offsite Multiple site hosting with the ability to restore the full service within 5 days in the event of a disaster SAS 70 audit Zero-Downtime Network 1-Hour Hardware Replacement Unlimited access to 24x7x365 dedicated support team including Level 3 Tech Support Instant Emergency Response Full administrative access Fully resilient DNS infrastructure Automated Microsoft Security Patching Major defects are software fault(s) which renders a large part, or all, of the Execview service unusable, and for which there is no reasonable workaround. Should such a defect arise, Execview would normally shut down the service in order not to exacerbate the problem for customers. Such a defect may cause data integrity issues, delaying, and making more complex, restoration of normal service. Execview would make all reasonable endeavours to communicate with User Administrators within 30 minutes with a statement of the problem and action plan to resolve it. Since the nature of such a fault cannot be predicted, it is not possible to offer a guaranteed fix time.
Financial recompense model for not meeting service levels We are prepared to discuss this, but our pricing approach is to deliver this service at a minimal cost. We would be prepared to offer a pro-rata service cost rebate in the event of a very serious outage. If we include larger penalties, this risk would need to be priced in to the service cost. Training Most users can expect to learn to access and use Execview in an hour of training for project and service reporting. The training is either on-site or via a WebEx session. The Administrator(s) is responsible for Execview set-up, data integration, and mapping, user and security management, resource and cost management, etc. This requires more formal training and support. This is normally a by-product of the Execview Set-up whilst working alongside our consultants. Alternatively they can take a formal course see details later in this section. We run a range of training and courses for larger roll-outs we would Train the Trainer Training and service improvement Methods and Execview, supported by other partners where needed, will provide a range of services that deliver Execview in line with specific Departmental and Change Organisation needs. Execview Set-up - rapid, phased implementation services to establish Execview, load data and configure a range of outputs linked to the client governance model. Execview and Best Practice Training Execview trains a core group of users and administrators, usually combined with some on-site support sessions. Additionally, we run master classes in best practice for executives, managers and practitioners. Best Practice Assurance reviews and health checks of client Execview set-up and industry best practice with recommendations. Performance Improvement Intervention services to improve performance for example, workshops and 1-5 day implementation services to improve outcome planning, project delivery or operational services. Bespoke development Bespoke development of the Execview platform where clients have specific requirements that are additional to Execview standard functionality.
Ordering and invoicing process If the requirement is known and standard, a simple PO for the number of services needed and length of contract should be provided by the client. Normally Execview is purchased with a set-up and configuration service from Execview Ltd or Methods this is a low cost service that is designed to get the service running and train users and Administrators to use it as an on-going service. Each set-up is normally 5-20 days according to the service needed. Once the set-up is agreed, the work will be delivered, normally as a set of phased deliverables. This can be very short, 1-2 weeks, or longer if there are a number of third party services and data sources to integrate, geographic teams to train, and bespoke reporting and workflows to set up Termination terms By consumers (i.e. consumption) By agreement. Because of the low price point and set-up work involved, we normally expect 3 months notice of termination. This could be changed by agreement for specific situations. By the Supplier (removal of the G-Cloud Service) We will not terminate the service within the contracted window, unless there is some inappropriate use of the service. See terms and conditions Data restoration / service migration Normally a few minute for most unplanned outages. A significant issue might take longer. See Disaster Recovery for further details. Data in Execview can be exported to MS Excel in tabular form if required on service exit. Consumer responsibilities Customer responsibilities include Administering their users, suppliers login credentials. Managing role based security. Setting up and managing activities in Execview. Providing first line support for application users. Reporting issues and bugs to Execview for resolution. Managing data. All aspects of content accountability, including Data Protection requirements, appropriate use by users.
Providing user training and user roll--out (NB: Methods/Execview will normally train administrators and trainers, but can manage a wider deployment as contracted). Technical requirements A compatible internet browser (Most modern browsers are compatible) An acceptably fast connection to the Internet. Details of any trial service available. We can provide two types of trial: Simple proof of concept /demonstration. A limited period trial (typically 4-8 weeks). As part of this service we train your users and administrators to run Execview, and then provide remote of on-site support as needed. Due to the effort involved, we charge for our time associated with setting this up and providing initial training so your teams can pilot the platform effectively. Typically it is a few days, at our standard day rate.