Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Committee Paper Item IGC/14/26 Name of Committee: Subject: Information Governance Committee Scope for the BCU Telephony Infrastructure development Summary or Issues of Significance This paper outlines the issues relating to the Health Board s legacy telephony systems and outlines the programme of work required to develop a robust and modern telephony system for the organisation. The paper outlines high level opportunities, risks and costs for this long term project Strategic Theme / Priority / Values addressed by this paper Healthcare Standard addressed Underpinning BCU Three Year operational plan HCS 19 & HCS 20 Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) Recommendations: Committee is asked to note the scope of the Telecommunications procurement Author(s) Presented by Sion Jones, Assistant Head of ICT Dylan Williams, Assistant Director of Informatics Date of report 28.02.2014 Date of meeting 19.05.2014 BCUHB Committee Coversheet v5.02 Disclosure: Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is the operational name of Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board
BCU Health Board Telephony Infrastructure Purpose of the paper The paper outlines the current position and future scope of work to deliver a robust and modern telephony infrastructure for BCUHB. Current Position The Siemens ISDX telephone system was designed in the early 1980s and uses Time Division Multiplexing technology (TDM) to switch voice calls between internal extensions and public facing exchange lines. Glan Clwyd and Wrexham Maelor Hospitals currently depend heavily on the Siemens ISDX telephone systems which account for the majority of telephone handsets across the campuses. TDM switching is now regarded as an obsolescent technology as the latest generation of telephony solutions now use Internet Protocol (IP) networks to switch calls and are commonly known as IP Telephony (IPT). Within the marketplace, all the telephony manufacturers have now a) introduced IPT solutions and b) announced formal plans to cease support of legacy TDM products. In May 2010, Siemens presented a 3 milestone plan regarding the future of its ISDX product line which includes the different models used by BCUHB. 1. End of sales for DX April 30th 2011 2. End of sales for DX-R April 30th 2012 3. End of sales for upgrade and expansion hardware 30 April 2013 As the 30 April 2013 has now passed, the current and final position for the DX is as follows: Siemens will cease all manufacturer support activities on the DX product range on 30th April 2017. Siemens recommends that all DX customers should migrate to a new telephony solution before the end of manufacturer support in April 2017. Siemens recommends that all DX customers should only take out support contracts with official DX maintainers to ensure they have access to third line technical support, latest software patches and product updates until these activities cease in April 2017. Prior to the formation of BCUHB, all three predecessor Trusts invested in IPT to gain access to additional extension capacity and new features. The IPT solution of choice for all 3 Trusts was the Avaya/Nortel CS1000 (CS1K) which links with the Siemens ISDX platforms and accounts for 20% of all handsets across BCUHB. The majority of the remote community site telephone systems are either obsolescent or approach obsolescence. As such, the implications and risks of continuing to rely on the systems are similar to those detailed above for the ISDX. Risks One of the ISDX systems could develop a major fault that takes a long time to resolve and the worst case scenario would be a total system failure that takes hours to resolve. The cost of ISDX maintenance will increase year by year. BCUHB will be unable to introduce new ways of working to ISDX users to improve the patient experience. BCUHB will be unable to introduce new ways of working to ISDX users to increase staff productivity. BCUHB will be unable to introduce new ways of working to ISDX users to minimise operating costs. BCUHB will leave itself with insufficient time to plan and execute a controlled migration to IP telephony. BCUHB will fail to recruit and retain the best medical and non-medical staff due to its out of date technology environment. 1
By continuing to rely on obsolescent technologies that do not support the latest ways of working and business practices, e.g. home working, virtual team working, Bring Your Own Device etc., there is a risk that BCUHB may struggle to attract and retain the best talent. The Strategic Vision Telecommunications in the 21 st century is multimedia, i.e. voice, video and text. BCUHB s telecommunications service needs to offer users a menu of propositions that comprise different combinations of applications and physical devices to meet differing needs. Each user should be provided with the appropriate service proposition to support their role in the business operation. Access to features should be independent of physical location, i.e. common services across all sites. BCUHB s telecommunication infrastructure should support access from both corporate and personal devices, as appropriate to the requirement. Wherever possible, BCUHB s telecommunication services should be based on the use of open Standards and maintain seamless inter-site connectivity to other Welsh health organisations by utilising existing and future technologies and procurement frameworks. Planning It is paramount that BCUHB recognises that the Vision is a medium to long term objective and not a recommendation on features that should be introduced immediately. We recognise that migrating from the current infrastructure to the Vision will be a medium to long term project that will require annual investment over a 3 to 5 period. Early investments will deliver a defined robust feature set and support the initial migration of users. Subsequent investments will support additional users and the introduction of new features. While investment into basic user licences and devices is mandatory to allow the obsolescent systems to be replaced, investment into the new features will be discretionary and subject to formal business cases, e.g. mobility. Cost Profile Item Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23 23/24 Totals,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Implementation Costs (700) (600) (400) (200) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (1,900) New Running Costs (300) (300) (300) (300) (300) (300) (300) (300) (300) (300) (3,000) Cost Avoidance 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 3000 Net (Cost) / Saving ( 700) ( 600) ( 400) ( 200) ( 0) ( 0) ( 0) ( 0) ( 0) ( 0) ( 1,900) Proposed Programme The programme will involve a major procurement phase which will be supported by the All Wales Shared Services team to ensure best value and strategic fit. Activity Start End Sign off the Outline Business Case March 2014 Agree requirements March 2014 Prepare tender documentation March 2014 March 2014 Initiate the tender process April 2014 May 2014 Identify preferred supplier July 2014 Sign off the Full Business Case July 2014 Award contract July 2014 2
Supplier lead time July 2014 August 2014 Install core infrastructure at DGH sites September 2014 October 2014 Test and prove the core infrastructure November 2014 December 2014 Commence user migration January 2015 Complete user migration December 2019 Benefits The introduction of a new telephony infrastructure will realise a number of benefits. These benefits are broken down by BCUHB, users, patients and IT as follows. The Health Board The anticipated benefits from a BCUHB perspective are as follows: The internal telephone service at BCUHB s sites will be secured for the long term. This will be achieved by purchasing a latest generation IP solution from a leading manufacturer. BCUHB s telephony service will be more resilient. This will be achieved by distributing the key elements of the solution across BCUHB s IP network. BCUHB will be in a position to improve customer service. This will be achieved by using the new features and facilities related to a) routing incoming calls and b) staff mobility. Also, by gaining access to real time and historical information related to a) number of calls, b) average wait times and c) average duration etc. BCUHB will be in a position to increase staff productivity. This will be achieved by using cordless / mobile devices and the new features and facilities related to a) staff mobility and b) unified communications. BCUHB will be in a position to introduce new ways of working. For example, mobile working, home working etc. BCUHB will be in a position to make better use of its physical estate. This will be achieved by allowing non clinical staff to work from any location, either on or off-site. BCUHB will be in a position to realise savings in energy, carbon output, building maintenance and building security costs. This will be achieved by introducing new ways of working and closing down redundant buildings. BCUHB will be in a position to improve the patient experience. This will be achieved by improving a) the ability to communicate and b) staff productivity. BCUHB will realise better value for money on its telecommunications expenditure. This will be achieved by eliminating the cost of low value activities that are not required with modern solutions, e.g. cabling works, moves adds and changes etc. BCUHB will be better placed to recruit and retain the best staff. This will be achieved by demonstrating that BCUHB is a modern forward thinking organisation that invests into the latest technologies to make life better for patients and staff. Users Indirectly, this will lead to consequential savings in both recruitment and training. Modern IPT solutions have a wide range of features and facilities which are designed to support and enable a) improvements in customer service, b) increases in staff productivity and c) reductions in 3
operating costs. The anticipated benefits from a user perspective are based on the premise that the internal telephone service will: Be simpler to use. This will enable users to a) be more productive and b) provide better customer service. Deliver a common user experience at all locations. This will enable staff to be productive in all locations. Provide real time information on the location and availability of colleagues. This will increase staff productivity by helping to eliminate unsuccessful attempts to contact colleagues, voice mail tag, email tag etc. Inherently support the concept of mobility. This will increase staff productivity and improve customer service by allowing users to make and receive extension calls in any location, both on and off site. Support number portability. This will eliminate costs and confusion by allowing users and / or departments to relocate across the sites without the need to change extension telephone numbers. Support the use of personal devices as extension telephones. This will enable BCUHB to introduce a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy so that appropriate users can download the relevant extension app from their app-store and register it with BCUHB s telephony solution. This would minimise the need for BCUHB to purchase new devices to work with the new telephony solution. Support off-site extensions across consumer broadband connections. This will enable staff to make and receive calls on their office phone number at home without incurring call charges. Support the integration of PC applications. This will improve staff productivity by allowing users to access an on-line telephone directory and click to dial. Support the integration of video and telephony. This will enable users to a) make and receive video telephony calls and b) participate in video conferences from the desktop. Support on-line meetings and collaboration sessions. This will minimise the need to be away from the desk leading to a) increase in staff productivity and b) a reduction in travelling costs. Patients From a patient, relative, friend and customer perspective, the anticipated benefit is that the overall customer experience will improve because: It will be easier to contact the right person or department. This will be achieved by improving call routing and introducing staff mobility. For example, callers can select the desired service from a menu, queue for busy extensions and receive information on the likely wait time. Wait times will reduce. This will be achieved by improving the flow of information between staff and introducing staff mobility. Patient journey times will reduce. This will be achieved by improving the flow of information between staff and introducing staff mobility. Also, by allowing clinicians form any location to participate in on-site activities without the need to travel, i.e. remote diagnosis. 4
There will be better clinical outcomes. This will be achieved by improving the flow of information between staff and introducing staff mobility. Staff are happy and motivated. This will be achieved by providing a modern technological environment and introducing new ways of working that suit both BCUHB and staff. Also, by allowing the controlled use of personal devices in the workplace, e.g. using a personal smartphone as an extension, using a tablet to participate in video conferences etc. Further points for consideration: A key point to note is that the replacement of the obsolescent telephone systems is being forced on BCUHB as a consequence of the forthcoming cessation of manufacturer support. By using this compelling technology event as the catalyst for changing business processes and user behaviour, BCUHB can start to secure the benefits identified above. It should also be noted that moving from a simple legacy telephone system to a modern feature-rich IP telephony solution is unlikely to result in direct ICT savings. As such, this project should be viewed as a mandatory ICT investment that has the potential to support and enable business change that will deliver consequential benefits to BCUHB. IT / Facilities From an IT / Facilities perspective, the anticipated benefits of a new IP telephony solution are as follows: The workload associated with managing the telephony service will decrease. This benefit will be realised due to the fact that the telephony service will not require its own discrete network. The workload associated with completing moves, adds, changes and deletions will decrease. This benefit will be realised due to the fact that it will be possible for users to a) use self-service facilities to make certain configuration changes and b) relocate their own telephones when moving offices. The time required to complete moves, adds, changes and deletions will decrease. This benefit will be realised due to the fact that it will be possible to complete most changes by a) asking users to relocate their own telephones when moving, b) accessing a centralised management terminal or c) re-patching in wiring centres. The need to rely on external contractors will decrease. This benefit will be realised due to the fact that a) BCUHB resources will undertake patching activities in wiring centres and b) modern IP solutions provide customers with greater access to the management environment. The cost of future building projects will decrease. This benefit will be realised due to the fact that one cabling scheme can be used for both voice and data. The return on investment for future network enhancement projects will increase. This benefit will be realised due to the fact that the fixed and wireless network will now be supporting voice and video in addition to data. 5