G-Cloud Services 6 Service Definition Data Centre Storage and Services
1. Introduction to Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd As a specialist provider of public sector advice in relation to IM&T and business change we have a strong track record of advising on all matters in relation to IM&T. We have particular success in the delivery of the following Cloud-based solutions and services: Enterprise-wide Integrated Business Management solution using the Qorex software platform Evidence-based clinical care pathway support and redesign using the HealthOne Whole Person Care Record solution Implementation of digital-pen solutions using the OpenForms platform Office 365 preparation and deployment Data Centre storage and services Business Intelligence strategy, design, specification and implementation Business analysis, service development and redesign Service management Transition management Programme management, project management and governance Project specification and selection Information management, including assessment of current processes, data quality issues and process redesign Informatics leadership and service delivery This, coupled with a well-established network of contacts and associates within all areas of the NHS makes us ideally placed to meet your requirements. One of our key strengths is our ability to rapidly grasp a deep understanding of our clients needs, a skill developed through many years experience operating within the public sector IM&T environment. As Information Management, Business Change and Programme and Project Management specialists we have a sound understanding of the issues facing large organisations and the most effective strategies and approaches to solve them. We also recognise the great value that specialist products and services can bring as part of a consultancy assignment. We have therefore developed strong relationships with carefully selected partners so that we are able to offer these products and services within the G-Cloud 6 framework, with Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd taking full responsibility for client delivery. In this way, we can bring a range of leading systems and solutions to our clients. We are acutely aware of the financial constraints facing the public sector, and the organisational changes impacting the planning and delivery of healthcare. We have significant experience of the delivery of NHS QIPP programme initiatives that enable
improved experience, cost reduction and better utilisation of resources. A discount scheme is offered to all our clients, and details are provided on our rate card. We understand the challenges faced by large public sector organisations and are confident that we can harness our experience to provide an excellent service which delivers value for money to all of our clients. 2. Service Definition 2.1 Overview of G-Cloud Service Data Centre Storage and Services Solution overview The G-Cloud storage and service solution provides a secure and compliant, scalable enterprise grade infrastructure. This is delivered within a secure hosted environment and compliant connectivity to N3 and other resilient networks. Our Service provides the Customer with access to server, storage and other related infrastructure. The service is hosted in our data centres which provide security and resilient power and cooling. There are various components to the Cloud service and the customer may take any number of these as part of the solution: Compute: Server infrastructure for running virtual machines by selecting processor and memory requirements. Store: Storage infrastructure for storing data available on a per GB basis Backup: Storage infrastructure for backing-up data available on a per GB basis Balance: Load balancing infrastructure Protect: Firewall infrastructure available on a per port or per dedicated virtual appliance basis Shield: DDoS mitigation service to offer additional protection from DDoS attacks available in addition to internet bandwidth on a per Mbps basis HA: High availability options as either a single site or dual site service Portal: on-line web portal for managing and administrating various parts of the service Transit: bandwidth for connecting services and to the internet Licences: licences from various vendors including Microsoft, Citrix, VMware and Symantec
Support: support arrangements with varying levels of cover and including adds, moves and changes. Solution features Storage in the Cloud combined with computing resource and connectivity provides a range of benefits; - Reduced costs of providing storage, computing resource and connectivity - Reduction in overall service maintenance and support costs - Compliance with data security requirements - High service availability, monitoring and SLA Solution examples - Opex solution is required as Capital available for investment in IT Infrastructure limited - Hosted solution providing a geographically independent location - Improved backup/dr provision, more robust business continuity plan - Service compliant with Data security requirements up to IL3 - Platform for browser, application and device enabled solutions Technical solution - Provides instances of servers to deploy new applications or user environments - Applications can write direct to cloud based storage solutions - Native and virtualised enterprise application integration 2.2 Information assurance Impact Level (IL) at which the G-Cloud service is accredited to hold and process information The solution is IL3 compliant with Data Centres located in England. Connectivity via secure networks (N3) is available.
2.3 Details of the level of backup/restore and disaster recovery to be provided Backup and restore Data are stored in a Data Centre in England with back up data protection and fault tolerance for local protection. Disaster recovery Data are stored in a Data Centre in England with back up data protection and fault tolerance and copied to a second Data Centre in England for remote protection. 2.4 On-boarding and off-boarding processes and scope On-boarding The on-boarding process will depend upon individual setup and requirements. This can vary from copying virtual machines to point to point connection to physical media. This includes physical to physical, physical to virtual and virtual to virtual. Industry standard technology, multiple formats and experience in data migrations facilitates the process. Off-boarding All user generated data such as content, metadata and configuration will be returned. The format and standards used for data extraction and presentation will be industry standard. As defined in security accreditation for IL2 and IL3, data from devices or storage media will be destroyed if retained after the contract period. 2.5 Provision of cloud services 2.5.1 Faults We will provide assistance in the event of a service failure. Faults will be dealt with as described in section 2.6. 2.5.2 Software updates and patches As part of the service software updates and patches will be applied to the supplier managed elements of the service when they are required due to software defect (bug) or security vulnerability. The Customer will be responsible for patching their virtual machines.
2.5.3 Hardware maintenance Any fault relating to hardware failure on the Cloud platform is covered by hardware maintenance which is provided as part of the service. Cloud can be used in conjunction with Colocation. In this event the Customer is responsible for maintaining their own hardware in accordance with the Schedule Document for Colocation Services. 2.5.4 Adds, moves and changes We provide moves, adds and changes (MACs) as part of the standard service. This service will cover configuration changes and addition or deletion of users. The service includes 5 MAC tickets per month, with each Standard request for a MAC using 1 ticket. A standard MAC request is defined as a change which can be completed within 30 minutes by a support engineer during the contracted support hours. MAC tickets cannot be combined or carried over to the next month due to non-utilisation. 2.5.5 Power Power to the Cloud service is provided using dual feeds. UPS and Generator back-up is also provided with a minimum N+1 configuration. 2.5.6 Internet security We provide Cloud customers with public internet access. Internet Security and Virus Protection is the responsibility of the Customer. All internet usage is subject to the Acceptable Use Policy. Firewall and virus protection options are available as part of the service on request at an additional charge. The Cloud service is managed from an internet accessible Portal. We have secured this by placing it behind a firewall and using SSL encryption from the portal to the Customer. In order to obtain access Customers are allocated per person usernames and passwords. Furthermore the portal provides role based authorization, so control of what a particular user can do is also available. 2.5.7 Data back-up It is the Customer s responsibility to ensure their data is backed-up. We provide a back-up to SAN service at an additional cost through our Backup platform. This is covered in a separate schedule document. Should the Customer take this service they must specify the storage intervals and retention policy on the order form.
2.5.8 IP addresses The number of public internet routable IP addresses assigned will identified on the Order Form. IP address usage is monitored and reported to RIPE database. The use of IP addresses must be justified. It is the Customer s responsibility to use their assigned IP addresses. Use of non-assigned IP addresses will result in immediate disconnection from the Network. Because the Cloud service is a shared platform that will involve elements managed by the supplier, we shall not be liable in respect of any contract, agreement or relationship that Customer may have with any third party. If a dispute arises between Customer and a third party involving our Cloud Service, we shall provide the Customer with reasonable information and assistance (to the extent that it is not adverse to our interests to Customer (at Customer s expense)) in the resolution of such dispute. 2.5.9 Suspension of service We shall be entitled to suspend the Support service: In a life or property threatening emergency If required to do so by any governmental or regulatory authority; or Where the Customer is in breach of this Agreement. 2.5.10 Warranty The Customer warrants that it will not use the Products or Services or permit the same to be used: For the transmission of any material which is defamatory, offensive or of an abusive or obscene or menacing nature; and/or To cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety or any improper use; and/or Except in accordance with any relevant legal or regulatory requirements, and operating instructions notified by the supplier from time to time; and/or In a manner which constitutes a violation or infringement of the right of any person; and/or Contrary to the procedures set out in the Customer Handbook and the terms of this Agreement.
2.6 Service management details 2.6.1 Fault handling Faults are handled as outlined in the Fault Reporting and Management Handbook. 2.6.2 Maintenance window Where our plans to perform essential works and the changes are service affecting, we will use reasonable endeavours to perform such works between the hours of 00:00 and 04:00 and will use reasonable endeavours to give the Customer at least five (5) days prior notice for network related work and at least ten (10) days prior notice for Infrastructure related work. In the event of an emergency or Service Affecting Fault such notice may be less than 24 hours. This is without prejudice to or limitation of the definition of Planned Outage. 2.6.3 Time to repair We aim to resolve requests in relation to our infrastructure causing a loss of service within four (4) hours, with the response times as set out below. Service feature Tier 2 Tier 3 Availability (monthly) 99.741% 99.982% Incident response Incident update P1 within 15 mins, P2 within 4 hours, P3 within 24 hours, P4 within 72 hours P1 hourly, P2 every 2 hours, P3 every 24 hours, P4 every 24 hours Communication Bespoke email P1/P2 Phone P3/P4 Bespoke email Customer support Incident review Incident report Incident report Planned Maintenance and Emergency Maintenance shall be excluded from any availability calculation in regard to service credits but shall be included in the monthly service reporting.
Service management will be provided by an integrated help desk. This will provide problem identification and resolution and act as a single point of contact. The integrated help desk uses ITIL based procedures. It provides reporting, incident escalation and is responsible for continual service improvement. The help desk is integrated with change management to ensure that all changes to infrastructure are authorised and planned. Response times are dependent on Service Level (Bronze, Silver, Silver Plus, Gold). All category 1 & 2 faults should be raised via the tickets system then followed by a phone call. * Acknowledgement refers to an automated service which generates a response and alerts engineers of a service failure; or where there is dialogue between the client and the engineer. ** We will use reasonable endeavours to adhere to the TTRF guidelines. Where fault resolution involves third parties, or hardware replacement, then this is subject to the support contracts in place with those parties. *** Standard Change requests will be completed during the contracted support hours within 2 days where requests are conducted within the support contract. This does not include change requests outside of the support contract, or change request implemented outside the contracted support hours these will be dealt with as chargeable projects. 2.6.4 Fault duration All faults recorded by the Network Management System will be reconciled against the corresponding fault ticket raised by the Technical Support Centre. The exact fault duration will be calculated as the elapsed time between the fault being reported to the Technical Support Centre and the time when Service is restored. 2.6.5 Calculation of service credits Where a Monthly Review Period incorporates part of a month, any service credit will apply to a pro-rated monthly Rental Charge. Service credits will be calculated monthly, aggregated and credited to the Customer on a quarterly basis. If a Service is cancelled during a Monthly Review Period, no service credit will be payable in respect of that service for that Monthly Review Period. The Customer must claim any service credit due to a failure to meet the Service Levels, in writing, within twenty one (21) Business Days of the date at
which the Customer could reasonably be expected to become aware of such failure, otherwise no service credits shall be payable. The Customer shall not be entitled to any service credits in respect of a claim unless and until we have received notice of the claim in writing in accordance with the above. Should we require additional information from the Customer, the Customer shall assist, and shall not be entitled to any service credits until we have received all the information it has reasonably requested. Service feature Tier 2 Tier 3 Service credits 10% of monthly fee 10% of monthly fee For Compute (with nha dual Site) service credits will only be payable when availability drops below 99.99%. For every hour or part hour each service element is unavailable beyond the target availability a service credit of 5% of the monthly rental of that service element will be applied. 2.6.6 Exclusions to payment of service credits Without prejudice to or limitation of the definition of Service Availability, service credits will not be payable by us to the Customer in relation to the Service Availability for faults or disruptions to the Services caused by any of the following: The fault, action or negligence of the Customer, its employees, agents or contractors; The Customer failing to comply with the provisions of the Agreement; A fault in, or any other problem associated with, equipment connected on the Customer s side of the supplier s Network termination point, except where such fault or problem is directly caused by the fault, action or negligence of us, its employees, agents or contractors; Any Force Majeure event described in our General Terms and Conditions; Any Planned Outage. Service credits are not applicable for more than one breach of any targets outlined in this document arising from the same occurrence. 2.7 Service constraints There are no service constraints outside of application functionality or 3rd party appliances providing the data.
2.8 Training User and administrator manuals, tutorials and FAQs are available. The 3rd party appliance vendor can provide additional documentation and training. 2.9 Data restoration and service migration Backup/restore Data are stored in a Data Centre in England with back up data protection and fault tolerance for local protection. Disaster recovery Data are stored in a Data Centre in England with back up data protection and fault tolerance and copied to a second Data Centre in England for remote protection. Service migration The on-boarding process will depend upon the customer s individual setup and requirements. The customer will be responsible for the cost of any cloud storage gateway appliance that is required to be installed locally. Billing is dependent upon usage, for example storage and bandwidth usage. The customer is responsible for complying with information assurance requirements so that only appropriate data and applications are stored and processed. 2.10 Technical requirements (service dependencies and detailed technical interfaces e.g. client side requirements, bandwidth/latency requirements) The customer will be required to provide a suitable cloud storage gateway appliance that is required to be installed locally. The appliance will require internet access (IL2/IL3) or compliant connectivity to N3 and other resilient networks. 2.11 Details of any trial service available A free trial service for 30 days with up to 6Tb of storage is available. This is limited to one free trial per organisation.
2.12 Additional terms Additional Terms means this section 2.12 forming part of the Master Agreement, which describes the Products and/ or Services to be provided and the relevant service levels; Planned Outage means in maintaining the service provided, we may with reasonable notice require a temporary outage in service. Wherever possible we will agree the outage with you in advance of the required work. Any planned downtime shall not be included in fault or service reliability measurements. Professional Service Charges means the professional service charges detailed on the Order Form or otherwise agreed in writing between the Parties in accordance with Clause 4 below; Service Affecting Fault (SAF) means any failure of our Network, equipment or service, which, in our reasonable opinion causes a loss of a customer s service. In all such cases the service shall be deemed unavailable and the length of downtime recorded by Node4 from when the fault is registered by Node4 and a fault ticket number allocated. Service Availability means the time for which our service is usable, expressed as a percentage of the total time in a given Service Measurement Period. Our service shall be deemed available for the purposes of calculating Service Availability if it is not usable due to an event outside our reasonable control, a Customer Responsible Fault, a Third Party Attributable Fault or is due to a Planned Outage. Service Commencement Date means the date when we provide the Service tested and ready for use; Service Measurement Period means a calendar month for which the Service is available. Standard Setup for Compute means the configuration of the customer account on the Portal and the allocation of CPU, memory, basic storage, IP addresses and VLANs to the customer account. The Customer will configure the virtual machines. Standard Setup for Protect means the configuration of firewall rules, basic IPS, Protocol Agents, QoS, and HA features on the virtual firewall appliance based on a customer document defining those rules. This does not include IPSec, Antivirus, Web Filter or Antispam features.
Technical Support Centre means our fault management centre, which operates our Network Management System; Third Party Attributable Faults means in the event that a Service Affecting or Non-Service Affecting Fault is identified as being attributable to a third party this measurement period shall not be included in service availability measurements. Such faults do not qualify for rebates or compensation. The supplier will endeavour to resolve and rectify such Third Party Attributable Faults as soon as possible. Time To Resolve Fault (TTRF) means the length of time from the issue of the fault ticket number to repair and resolution or the service circuit and/or associated equipment. Web Portal means a website Customer may use to view online service reports.
Strategy & architecture Business change Solution development & implementation Service management Procurement & management support Client interface 3 Pricing structure Compute, Storage and Content Delivery Network charges are set out in the IaaS DataCentre price schedule. Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd has a standard rate card for consulting resources with a range of daily rates as shown in the SFIA rate card below. Pricing Structure 1. Follow 330 330 330 330 330 330 2. Assist 400 400 400 400 400 400 3. Apply 510 510 510 510 510 510 4. Enable 650 650 650 650 650 650 5. Ensure/Advise 750 750 750 750 750 750 6. Initiate/Influence 850 850 850 850 850 850 7. Set Strategy/Inspire 950 950 950 950 950 950 All prices are shown in GBP and exclude VAT and expenses. For more information and prices for Data Centre provision please see pricing document.
4 General Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd is pleased to set out general terms of business. 4.1 Discussing your requirements Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd would be delighted to discuss your requirements directly in order to fully understand how we can best support you and add value in support of your strategic priorities. Interested parties should email Neil Stevens on neil@neilstevensconsulting.com or call on 01823 429180 or 07806 664603. If required we can arrange for one of our experienced consultants to meet to discuss your needs in more detail and prepare a written proposal for your consideration. 4.2 Ordering and invoicing process Orders will be based on a written proposal from Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd which specifies the agreed Services and Prices. A Work Order will be completed and signed by both parties. Typically invoices will be raised monthly in arrears for consulting services, and annually in advance for purchases, licences and ongoing support and maintenance charges. Our pricing structure includes a number of discount opportunities which we would be very happy to discuss with potential clients prior to any order being placed. Full details are provided in the Prices documentation. Payment terms are 30 days from receipt of a valid VAT invoice. 4.3 Governance and delivery Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd. will nominate a client delivery director to take responsibility for delivery, and to act as an escalation point if required throughout the period of the contract. At the start of every contract an agreed reporting process will be established so that the client knows the status at any given time. Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd is highly experienced in the successful delivery of extremely challenging and complex programmes and is committed to developing and maintaining excellent communication to support effective delivery and value for every client.
4.4 Client responsibilities Each client is responsible for nominating a senior engagement lead for Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd to ensure delivery of appropriate outcomes and to agreed quality standards. They will also act as an escalation point in the event that client resources are not available as agreed during scoping phase. The Client will: a) co-operate with the Company in all matters relating to delivery of Services; b) to the extent that any Services are provided at its premises, be responsible (at its own cost) for preparing its premises for the provision of Services. This will include (but is not limited to): i. access to Client employees and premises; ii. iii. all electric power, lighting, heating and air conditioning at the Client promises reasonably required by the Consultant to deliver Services; office space readily available which is suitable for this purpose and the provision of normal office services including first aid, photocopying, telephone and facsimile services (but excluding any administration services other than those that are defined in the Work Order); c) provide the Company with such information as it may reasonably need concerning the Client s operations and answers to queries, decisions and approvals which may be reasonably necessary for the Consultant to deliver Services as agreed in the Work Order. The Client is responsible for ensuring that such information provided is accurate and complete; d) be responsible for the provision of any third-party software specified in the Agreement which may include purchase, licence and ongoing support and maintenance costs. 4.5 Confidentiality Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd is committed to ensuring that all client material is treated in the utmost confidentiality. We are aware that, as part of any client assignment, we may have access to highly sensitive data. In this respect we would be pleased to sign confidentiality agreements with clients as required.
4.6 Termination terms 4.6.1 This agreement shall be effective from the Effective Date and shall continue in force until the parties have discharged all their obligations under it unless: a) this agreement terminates in the circumstances set out in clause 10.2; b) the Main Contract is terminated for any reason, in which case this agreement shall terminate immediately and automatically, without further action being necessary by the parties, and subject to all the rights of the parties accrued up to the date of termination; or c) this agreement is terminated by one of the parties under clause 10.2. 4.6.2 Without prejudice to any rights that have accrued under this agreement or any of its rights or remedies, either party may at any time terminate this agreement with immediate effect by giving written notice to the other party if: a) the other party fails to pay any amount due under this agreement on the due date for payment and remains in default not less than 30 days after being notified in writing to make such payment; b) the other party commits a material breach of any material term of this agreement (other than failure to pay any amounts due under this agreement) and (if such breach is remediable) fails to remedy that breach within a period of 14 days after being notified in writing to do so; c) the other party repeatedly breaches any of the terms of this agreement in such a manner as to reasonably justify the opinion that its conduct is inconsistent with it having the intention or ability to give effect to the terms of this agreement; d) the other party suspends, or threatens to suspend, payment of its debts or is unable to pay its debts as they fall due or admits inability to pay its debts or is deemed unable to pay its debts within the meaning of section 123 of the Insolvency Act 1986; e) the other party commences negotiations with all or any class of its creditors with a view to rescheduling any of its debts, or makes a proposal for or enters into any compromise or arrangement with its creditors other than (being a company) for the sole purpose of a scheme for a solvent amalgamation of that other party with one or more other companies or the solvent reconstruction of that other party.
4.7 Terms and conditions The full terms and conditions are provided in the Neil Stevens Consulting Ltd Terms and Conditions document and the G-Cloud 6 Framework Agreement.