ITEM CA16
CABINET– 18 SEPTEMBER 2007
ICT SERVICES – FUNDAMENTAL REVIEW 2007
Report by Head of ICT Services
Introduction
1. A Fundamental Service Review (FSR) of ICT Services took place between January and July 2007. The aim of the review was threefold:
(i) to ensure the service is fit for purpose; (ii) to ensure that costs are at or below the average for similar authorities; (iii) to ensure that Medium term efficiency savings targets can be made.
2. The Council’s Change Programme placed an urgency on these questions being answered, given the central role ICT is expected to play in delivering the Programme. Change Aim 6, for example, requires the Council to be "an organisation that makes effective use of technology for the benefit of its customers”.
3. The Review was set up on a unique basis in that it was the first FSR conducted jointly on behalf of the Cabinet and a Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee).
4. The work of the FSR was overseen by a board comprising Members and senior officers. The evidence collection, analysis and subsequent presentations were carried out by Hedra, an external consultancy which has conducted many similar exercises in both the public and private sectors. The experience it was able to bring in benchmarking the Council’s ICT services was invaluable and was considered exceptional value for money.
5. A major presentation of the findings of the FSR was given to Members and officers on 31st May 2007. The FRS outcomes and action plan have been endorsed by the Change Management Board at its meeting on 27th June 2007 and by the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 26th July 2007, and are now presented to the Cabinet for consideration.
Outcomes of the Fundamental Review of ICT Services
6. The summary report from Hedra is attached as Annex 1 (download as .doc file). However, it is worth repeating the principal conclusions particularly as they relate to the FSR’s original objectives.
Fit for purpose ICT Services is fit for purpose and benchmarks extremely well against upper quartile peer organisations.
Cost comparisons When benchmarked against upper quartile peer organisations, and also compared to ten other County Councils, the cost of ICT services is below the average.
Efficiency savings ICT Services are able to meet their planned Medium Term efficiency savings. There are no obvious areas for additional direct savings within the ICT budget. However, through a number of the identified improvement themes, savings may be realised through better use of existing hardware and applications systems resources. The main area of savings would be achieved through improvements to basic IT training which would reduce hidden user effort and appear as non-cashable Gershon savings.
Overall conclusion The overall conclusions of Hedra are as follows: “In Hedra’s professional opinion, the ICT service at OCC is cost efficient and, in comparison to other County Councils, an effective operation. We assess many IT organisations and in comparison with County Council peers, OCC has a very capable and technically strong IT team Hedra believes that the real potential of the IT function has yet to be fully realised by the Council.” Hedra’s final comments complement the recent success of ICT in being the first of the Council’s internal support services to obtain the Chartermark award.
Areas for development
The FSR highlighted a number of areas on which the future development of ICT should be focused. In consultation with Hedra these have been grouped and prioritised as set out in the high level action plan attached as Annex 2 (download as .doc file).
7. The majority of these represent immediate improvements to the current operational remit of ICT Services or to the way in which ICT Services relates to Directorates and other services within the Council. More detailed implementation plans exist for these areas many of which are already being acted on.
8. The implementation of these plans will be monitored on a six monthly basis by the Change Board.
9. A number of areas do, however, relate to the Council as a whole and are best described as ‘corporate’ issues. The most significant of these is the need to ensure that the Council has a robust strategic planning capability and that the real potential of the ICT function can be fully realised by the Council. Changes in this direction had already been introduced prior to the FSR by the Cabinet Member for Change Management but the opportunity is now being taken to strengthen this further with a strategic planning capability which can take forward the current and future needs of the Council as a whole.
10. This will be achieved by means of a tightly focused ICT Strategy Group which will be responsible for the strategic direction of ICT as a whole within the Council as well as the implementation of the corporate recommendations made by Hedra. The details of the Group are set out in Annex 3 (download as .doc file).
11. This will complement actions to determine, prioritise and publish ICT Strategic requirements for each of the Directorates and to fully realise Change Aim 6.
Financial and Staff Implications
12. In large part, the Action Plan can be funded from within existing resources by re-prioritising expenditure. Where funding is not available within existing budgets funding will be sought as part of the Council’s normal budgeting process or by application to the Change Fund. The principal areas which will require funding or a corporate re-prioritisation are as follows:
IT Training for County Council staff – Once an appropriate training programme is specified and costed, improvements will depend on obtaining higher priority within the Council’s Learning & Development programme.
Applications Portfolio Management – Replacing Access databases across the Council may have cost implications which would need to be absorbed by Directorates.
Change & Configuration Management Database – This cannot be funded from existing ICT budgets and will be a funding pressure for 2008/09.
RECOMMENDATIONS
13. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to
(a) congratulate ICT Services on the outcome of the FSR;
(b) note the conclusions of the FSR; and
(c) endorse the priorities and identified areas for future development.
STEPHAN CONAWAY Head of ICT Services
Background papers: Hedra Report to Oxfordshire County Council, May 2007 – Executive Summary
Contact Officer: Graham Shaw, Deputy Head of ICT, Tel: 01865 816593
September 2007
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