Bespoke Cloud Software and Web Application Development

G-Cloud: Special Cloud Services (Lot 4)

Service Definition

Bespoke Cloud Software and Web

Application Development

Contact:

John Wiseman

STCS Limited

Gear House

Saltmeadows Road

Gateshead

Tyne and Wear

NE8 3AH

0191 490 3232

www.stcs.co.uk

17th September 2013 Version 1

Table of Contents

1.

Service Definition ...2

1.1 Overview ...2

1.2 About Us ...2

1.3 Service Description ...2

1.3.5 Deployment into production... 3

2.

Information Assurance ...4

3.

Backup, Restore and Disaster Recovery ...4

4.

On-boarding and Off-boarding ...4

5.

Pricing...4

6.

Service Management Details ...4

7.

Service Constraints...5

8.

Service Levels...5

9.

Training...6

10. Financial Recompense ...6

11. Ordering and Invoicing Process ...7

12. Termination ...7

13. Data Restoration/Service Migration ...7

14. Client Responsibilities...7

15. Technical Requirements ...7

1. Service Definition

1.1 Overview

Through this service STCS designs and builds bespoke web applications for the cloud.

As specialists in this area we have a proven and substantial track record of delivering systems and applications for Government Departments, on time and on budget. This experience not only means that we have the capacity and technical ability in place, it also ensures that we have proven methods and project management systems ready to secure delivery of any size of project. Past projects have ranged from rapid delivery of fast-turnaround applications through to extensive strategic projects supporting government departments. Through this experience we understand the potential challenges and pitfalls and how to control the budget through agile methods.

We recognise that the essence of good service in bespoke software development is to deliver business value through well-designed and reliable systems and at STCS we do that time after time. We strive to ensure that our customers are satisfied with the result; first by listening carefully, then by employing best practices during design and development, and through using highly skilled IT

professionals. We are not only focused on the result but we also ensure that our clients are enthusiastically involved, part of the design process, and in control - so that they know where the project is going in terms of cost and timescale as well as design. This also helps ensure that not only is the application right, but that the client’s staff are primed ready to make the very best use of it from the outset. We do this by working closely with the client’s staff in workshops and by using

appropriate agile and Prince 2 project management techniques.

1.2 About Us

Founded in 1988, STCS is well established and has a strong record of building bespoke software applications. We have skilled software professionals who are experienced across the entire software development life cycle and this ensures that the systems that we build are effective, efficient and reliable.

Amongst our customers we have those from both the private and public sector and we have experience of building high availability transaction systems for government as well as government agencies. Some of the application developments that we have been responsible for have been quite unique but we have also built systems in the following application areas: financial management, training management, booking systems and e-commerce systems. Profiles of our work can be found on our website, www.stcs.co.uk

1.3 Service Description

Our approach to application development, based upon agile methods, is generally to divide a project into phases so that in each phase both the users and the developers can focus on particular

functional components to help ensure good experience for the end users of the system. Each phase of the project is then taken through the stages of design and development to a final state where client representatives can test the system. The products of a particular phase might not in themselves be implemented into live running but in any event the experience gained by the client through testing that phase of the project may lead to improvements in the subsequent development phase. The stages of analysis design and development are as follows:

1.3.1 Project Definition

The process begins with our business analysts working alongside the client representatives to determine the high-level requirements for the system and to establish where the big business benefits will be gained. This work often includessome initial meetings to allow our business analysts to come up to speed with the application requirements and we also frequently run a workshop to discuss the system priorities and agree the structure of the project in terms of the likely phases and high-level functionality.

1.3.2 Design

Each phase of development begins with the design of that phase. We have found that a workshop involving a small number of client representatives helps ensure close working and common focus - and so where possible we utilise this approach at the start of the design process.

In these workshops we have the opportunity of working closely together to develop a shared understanding of the finer requirements. As well as exploring the functionality these workshops provide the opportunity to build a good working relationship between the STCS business analysts and the client representatives. The product of the workshop is a target set of requirements expressed in terms of a set of user stories, and that becomes the basis for the phase. STCS would continue to design that phase and through prototype sessions would agree the look and feel of the system with the client representatives.

1.3.3 Development

The business analysts assigned to the project work closely with the developers within STCS to ensure that the system is carefully built to meet the specification. We deploy the necessary range of skills to ensure that the software is efficient as well as effective and intuitive.

STCS develops systems using open source languages and vendor specific languages. For vendor specific we develop using Microsoft .NET or Oracle, and for open source we develop using Java or PHP and our experience also includes a comprehensive set of front-end web technologies.

1.3.4 Testing

At STCS software is rigorously tested at each critical stage, in particular:  It is tested by the developer as it is written

 It is tested as a system when the software components are brought together

 It is tested by the business analyst before the system is released to the customer for acceptance testing.

This approach to testing is efficient and thorough. It is efficient because the errors are trapped as early as possible and it is thorough because of independent testing. Only when software has been tested in this way is software released into acceptance testing.

1.3.5 Deployment into production

When a workable set of functionality is ready and where the client has decided to release this into production, deployment will then take place. Deployment into production is carefully planned and there are frequently some data on-boarding activities that must be coordinated. We would normally plan for deployment at quiet times so far as the system users are concerned and

deployment would be followed by final checks to ensure that the deployment has been successful.

2. Information Assurance

STCS has very experienced and skilled IT professionals who understand how to build software where access to the application is secure, where the design can provide for the required level of data integrity and where appropriate controls are built in.

The measures that are adopted for any project will be arrived at following assessment of the risks and the business impact level, and after full discussion with the client members of the project team.

3. Backup, Restore and Disaster Recovery

This particular service, being development based, is unlikely to require a particular level of backup, restore and disaster recovery. These security aspects are most frequently dealt with through the server infrastructure that would support any application - though it is recognised that there could be some application system design implications. STCS would be able to participate in discussions and offer advice about the risks and possible solutions and would then be able to implement agreed solutions. Even if there are no design implications the testing of these security aspects would be fully taken into consideration in the overall project planning, and particularly in the system testing.

4. On-boarding and Off-boarding

When significant new software application functionality is developed there is frequently a need to migrate data from one or more existing systems. This process is often a minor part of the project, sometimes even trivial but occasionally it can be a very large consideration. STCS will design and configure or build extraction, transformation and load processes as necessary.

On-boarding and off-boarding of data would normally be part and parcel of STCS’s bespoke design and development service. Even in cases where data migration is a sizable project in its own right STCS has the necessary breadth and depth of database skills to undertake such a project.

5. Pricing

Prices for this service will most often be fixed and based upon an estimate of the required effort and upon the rates that are shown in the STCS SFIA document. As an alternative to a fixed price, depending upon project need, we can work on a time and material basis but with a possible cap on overall price and with a provision for the scope of the project to be varied, by agreement, to fit the project budget.

6. Service Management Details

Depending upon the size, complexity and intensity of the project STCS will adopt one of the following models, and the model may also sometimes change at different times during the project:

We might feel comfortable with a single person who would fulfill the role of the senior business analyst and project manager. This has the advantage of there being a single point of contact for all matters, and there is likely to be positive cost implications. This approach would be appropriate for small and less complex projects.

Larger projects would normally benefit from having one person leading the development with a separate person responsible for project management. The main benefit is focus of attention so that the important things can always be attended to adequately.

With yet larger, more complex or intense projects there might be a dedicated person leading the project management and they might also have assistance.

Formality of communication may vary from project to project but we would anticipate project reporting on a weekly basis with meetings taking place in accordance with the project need and as agreed during project initiation.

The STCS project managers are Prince2 practitioners and our business analysts are DSDM Atern practitioners, and we have experience and systems in place that have been developed through delivering similar projects. Clients can be confident that we are using latest best practice to drive projects to completion.

7. Service Constraints

STCS business analysts and project managers work in close partnership with our client’s representatives. This helps to ensure that we discover the fine details of the application’s

requirements so that there is a coordinated approach to the project. To facilitate this our business analysts will frequently work on-site close to the user representatives. Where co-location is not necessary or feasible the STCS business analysts will visit and work with the client representatives as often as required.

Our developers are able to work wherever is best for the smooth running of the project and there are a number of examples where the entire STCS project team has worked on the client’s premises for all or part of a project.

8. Service Levels

An application development project will frequently have several phases of iterations and we may well be supporting a live version of the system at the same time as developing the next iteration.

Performance during development will be measured against the project plan, and a service level will be agreed for support. STCS typically provides the following service level for the support of live running applications during the hours 8-6 Monday to Friday.

The response that will be provided to a system failure or incident will be dependent upon the nature of the failure or fault. STCS has defined three levels of priority.

Priority Criteria

1 The system is not operational or is operational but with critical functionality not available or not working correctly and there is no workaround to the problem 2 The system is operational and critical functionality is

unavailable or not working correctly but there is a workaround to the problem

3 The system is operational and there are faults but the critical functionality is working correctly

Priority Initial Response (max time in working hours)

Action following initial response and target response times

1 2 Allocate a support person to investigate the fault and

to work continuously, in working time, until the fault has been identified and fixed. We will keep the client informed about progress at regular intervals.

2 2 Allocate a support person to investigate the fault and

to work continuously in working time until the problem has been diagnosed. Will implement a fix within two working days.

3 4 Will investigate the problem within two working days

and discuss the fix with the customer representative. Will either implement the fix within 5 working days or agree to implement any change with the next planned release of the system.

9. Training

The background of some STCS staff has been in lecturing and training and in some projects we have provided training as a service in its own right. This wealth of experience helps ensure that we design, prepare and deliver very effective training programmes to support the introduction of new systems, and we have experience of delivering training material online as well as in the classroom.

With Cloud based systems the application users could be widely distributed and so the adopted training strategy will take that distribution into consideration, and different user types will require different styles of training.

For infrequent users of a system such as members of the public it is important that the applications are well designed for good user experience and that there is adequate online guidance and tips.

For users who need to execute more complicated transactions or a wide range of transactions then other styles of training would be appropriate and STCS can offer online or classroom based training. Having written and populated a training management system for a government department STCS has considerable experience as authors of business and system help. STCS has employed tools such a Captivate and RoboHelp for context sensitive online training. These tools enable the trainer to

prepare recordings of a transaction so that a user can remotely run through a transaction to see how it has been done, and these recordings will be available online so that if a user has not recently

executed a transaction they can conveniently be reminded of how it is executed.

10. Financial Recompense

This service requires STCS to deliver software that has been agreed during the project and any failures that are discovered during acceptance testing will be rectified. Also, faults discovered during the warranty period will be rectified free of charge.

11. Ordering and Invoicing Process

STCS normally operates by a client issuing a purchase order and by STCS issuing invoices at agreed milestones during a project. The normal payment terms are 14 days following the invoice date.

12. Termination

This service will be governed by the G-Cloud Call Off Terms and then by STCS’s terms and

conditions. Termination of this service will be through breach of these terms and conditions by either party.

13. Data Restoration/Service Migration

During the application design, resilience of the application will be considered and in conjunction with the organisation that will host the system in the cloud a strategy will be developed to restore the application in the event of failure. If STCS is contracted to support a system then it will be closely involved in data restoration, or service migration in the event of catastrophic failure.

14. Client Responsibilities

We work in close partnership with clients, and our project managers track each project using proven project management processes and clearly communicate plans, but for some tasks the client is responsible for providing information in a timely and agreed manner.

Where a fixed price has been agreed for a project there will be assumptions built in as to the time allowed for the client to decide upon proposals tabled. In order to prevent cost over-runs the client will be responsible for making decisions about proposals within the prescribed time scales.

15. Technical Requirements

As this is a development service the technical requirements that will be necessary to support the resulting application will not be known until the functional and quantitative requirements of the application have been assessed.

16. Trial Service and Added Value

It is important to note that in defining and delivering every project for every client, we seek to deliver as much added value as the project will allow – additional services and input that add real, measurable value to a client’s budget and project, that are ultimately not charged for – and we are happy to discuss these when tendering for any project.

For example, we understand that often the first step is to work with a client on a trial basis to help that client consider the scope of a project or its feasibility. To facilitate this we can agree to provide the first two days of business analysis completely free of charge (where the only cost to the client is agreed reasonable travel and subsistence costs). This added value service allows the client to be clear on the right way forward before rate card costs are incurred.