Agenda item

The Committee at its meeting held on 6 September considered an update to the ICT Technology Plan and resolved that, as lead member of the former ICT Task Group, Cllr Nigel Carter would meet with the Cabinet member for Resources and relevant officers to further review and identify areas for potential scrutiny involvement.

During the meeting three areas of interest were identified for the Committees consideration, namely SAP, Sharepoint and Cloud.  A report on the first two areas would be presented to the Committee at its meeting in December.

The Cabinet member for Resources and ICT Programme Manager were in attendance to present the report on Cloud and to answer any questions arising.

In presenting the report the Cabinet member confirmed that an already good working relationship between Wiltshire Council and Microsoft was being further developed to ensure a strong strategic partnership was in place to deliver cloud services and other key solutions.

The partnership approach would include the formation of a joint co-located team to leverage Microsoft Office 365 technical expertise and Wiltshire Council infrastructure knowledge.  Following deployment of Office 365 to a pilot group the full roll-out was now underway with approximately two thirds of users now migrated.  Full migration was expected by December 2012.

In noting that a cloud project had been initiated to introduce a hosted web based portal and Smartphone app to allow reporting of issues from members of the public, a presentation on the scope to cover Streetscene issues such as Street Litter and Fly Tipping was given.

The presentation included details on how the application would look from a front end perspective as well as details on accessibility of the data, including statistical information, from a storage point of view.

The Committee welcomed the information provided but raised concern on security of the app.  Clarification was provided that any problems were being identified and would be addressed prior to full launch.

Although there was still a requirement for the Council to run its own servers at present, it was acknowledged that the number of servers required had been reduced and would continue to do so, with a project saving of £1.3m to date.  A further increase in savings was expected next year.

In noting that the supplier of the hosted solution was My Council Services, the question on why this particular provider had been used was raised.  Although other reporting applications with a range of attributes had been considered, (including Fix my Streets and Love Clean Streets) My Council Services had been identified as the most appropriate supplier.

Although the implementation of the app was likely to result in a reduction of telephone reports, this option of reporting would still be available for those members of the public wishing to use this service. Members were also mindful of the heightened public expectations that would result from instant reporting and the need for services to respond accordingly.

The Committee also discussed the benefits of a council telephone directory app which was currently available via ‘Good’.  In noting that this app would no longer work following migration to Cloud all efforts were being made to ensure ‘Active Synch’ the replacement app would work in the same way.

In concluding debate the Chairman thanked both the Cabinet member and officers for the report.

Resolved:

1)    To note the progress and achievements made to date on the Cloud Programme.

2)    To note that reports on SAP and Sharepoint will be considered by the Committee at its next meeting on 13 December.