Waverley Borough Council Committee System - Committee Document Meeting of the Council held on 17/12/2001 ICT Strategy - Revised 2001

To recognise the critical role of information and communications technology (ICT) in the provision of a range of accessible services to our citizens, businesses and partners. To assist the Council in the delivery of its Vision Statement and Strategies by the timely delivery, responsive support and sound management of ICT that is: · secure, robust and reliable; · integrated, innovative and flexible; · economic, efficient and effective; and · supportive of Local Government’s legislative requirements, e.g. Best Value and e-Government. in order to ensure that the Council’s information resource is: · confidential; · accurate; · appropriate; and · accessible. In order to maintain and develop the levels of service required of ICT it is recognised that it is necessary to invest in the appropriate finance, training and technical resources.

To ensure that its ICT systems support the Council in its commitment to provide well managed cost-effective local government services by assisting the providers of the Council’s services:

The ICT Strategy should be an integral part of the Council’s corporate strategy and be directed towards the future organisation and its information needs.

· Timely Delivery of ICT Systems

To manage the implementation and upgrade of ICT systems within a timetable agreed with the providers of the Council’s services that takes into account the need to roll-out the software and hardware with:

· Responsive Support of ICT Systems
To provide or assist in the provision of solutions to all queries and problems raised by users of the ICT systems and to manage the process to ensure that solutions are provided within a timescale acceptable to the users and are recorded for management purposes.

· Sound Management of ICT Systems
To be aware of and adopt, as appropriate and within the Council’s resources, best practice in the management of ICT facilities.

· Secure ICT Systems
To ensure that the appropriate security procedures are in place with respect to access to all of the Council’s ICT facilities (including hardware, software, networks and internet) in order to protect the Council’s investment and preserve the confidentiality and integrity of its data.

· Robust and Reliable ICT Systems
To ensure the continuous delivery and support of the Council’s ICT systems throughout the periods of time those systems are required by the Council’s service providers in the delivery of their services.

To ensure that the necessary operational controls, back-up procedures and disaster-recovery facilities are in place in order to minimise any impact there might be upon the Council in the event of the loss of its ICT systems and support the Council’s Business Continuity Plan.

· Integrated ICT Systems
To provide access, where appropriate, to shared data across systems, platforms and networks in such a way as to ensure that the technology is transparent to the user and the collated information appears seamless.

· Innovative ICT Systems
To constantly review the market place to identify the appropriate advances in ICT technologies and services and be aware of the Council’s service providers’ current and potential information needs in order to advise on the introduction of the former to support the delivery of the latter.

· Flexible ICT Systems
To ensure that the technical and functional specifications of the ICT systems implemented within the Council address the need to be able to accommodate future changes in service and legislative requirements and exploit advances in technology.

· Economic ICT Systems
To ensure that the ICT systems used by the Council provide “value for money”.

· Efficient ICT Systems
To ensure that the Council’s information is stored and processed as efficiently as possible both in terms of cost, time and use of ICT resources.

· Support the Delivery of Local Government’s Legislative Requirements
To ensure that the Council’s ICT systems:

· support the delivery of the services that are legislatively required of the Council;
· support the delivery of the information that the Council is obliged to provide under legislation; and
· are able to implement any changes in legislation within the necessary timescale;
and advise the Council upon the potential of ICT to support Government initiatives on the delivery of Local Government services and implement as necessary.

· Information is Confidential
To ensure that the Council’s information is processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act and can only be accessed by those customers and users of the Council’s ICT systems that can demonstrate the appropriate level of authorisation.

· Information is Accurate
To ensure that the Council’s information is verified as appropriate upon receipt and is not corrupted, miscalculated or lost during processing, storage or output.

· Information is Appropriate
To ensure that the information delivered by the Council’s ICT systems is appropriate and sufficient to the users’ and customers’ identified needs.

· Information is Accessible
To ensure that the Council’s ICT systems deliver the necessary information to customers and users of the Council’s services:

· within the timescale required;
· at the location required; and
· via the medium and in the format required,
to enable the service to be delivered as efficiently and effectively as possible.

In order that the Council might deliver its primary objectives for ICT it is recognised that the necessary investment has to be made in the following areas:

Ø The maintenance, upgrade and planned replacement, as necessary, of the Council’s existing ICT infrastructure;
Ø The introduction of new technologies where it has been demonstrated that their implementation will improve the delivery and cost-effectiveness of the Council’s services; and
Ø The provision of the level of staff training and awareness required to ensure maximum benefit from the Council’s investment in ICT.

In order to provide and maintain this necessary level of investment alternative sources of funding will need to be investigated and developed including:

Ø Central Government funding of e-Government;
Ø Other sources of Government funding (e.g. Invest to Save Budget);
Ø Public/Private Partnerships;
Ø PFI;
Ø Partnerships with the public and voluntary sectors.