Welcome to our newsletter, bringing you all the latest from the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government. In this newsletter, we bring you a detailed update on what has been happening across the Digital Partnership throughout the last month and details of upcoming activities.
If you have any queries regarding any of the content within this newsletter, please get in touch.
Digital Maturity Assessment - Plans and Next Steps.
In response to the continuously shifting digital landscape and the varied priorities and expectations surrounding transformational service delivery, we have updated our Digital Maturity Assessment (DMA).
Our prior approach primarily emphasised establishing foundational elements such as an organisational Digital Strategy and basic digital capabilities, engaging only Senior Management individuals.
Recognising the benefit of innovation and insight, based on customer feedback, the DMA has been partially automated, enabling us to engage 'all staff' across the council.
We are working with a number of councils on aligning our DMA pillars to organisation workstreams and priorities, with this biannual model enabling teams to measure success and impact as well as benefit from ongoing consultative support.
We are iteratively onboarding councils with this process, therefore if you haven’t already been in touch to progress this with us, please do get in touch with Verity hislop.
Scotland-wide CACI Data Agreement Update.
23 Councils have now signed up to the Data Agreement with CACI which provides access to the Paycheck (household income) and Acorn (demographics) products as well as the InSite Profiler tool that can be used to help target interventions.
The data has now been distributed to the councils that have committed to the agreement and "Activation Sessions" have been delivered by CACI to help people to understand what is available, how to use it and how to get started.
The Digital Office is working with CACI to plan a programme of engagement with the councils involved. In the first instance, a survey will shortly be issued to councils to understand how they plan to use the data, and what challenges they might face in order to prioritise content for the engagement. If you would like to find out more about this initiative, please contact Colin Birchenall.
New 5-Year Strategic Partnership Arrangement with Microsoft (SPA24).
We’re pleased to share that Crown Commercial Services (CCS) has successfully negotiated a new Memorandum of Understanding, named the Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 (SPA24) with Microsoft, effective from 1 November 2024.
This replaces the expiring Digital Transformation Arrangement 21 (DTA21) and offers enhanced value across Microsoft’s product and service portfolio to eligible public sector organisations, including all Scottish Councils, regardless of size or procurement route.
We're running a session with Crown Commercial Services on Friday 22nd of November at 10am - 11am, where you can find out more about the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and how to access the enhanced value it offers on Microsoft products. Sign up using the form below.
New Aggregated Procurement Opportunity for M365 Licences.
Since November 2022, The Digital Office, Scotland Excel and Crown Commercial Services (CCS) have joined forces to offer councils the opportunity to renew their Microsoft Enterprise Agreements through aggregated procurements. This initiative has enabled councils to secure cost-effective Microsoft Licence Solutions Partners by leveraging the collective strength of their shared demand. To date, 17 councils—over half of Scotland's local authorities—have benefited from this initiative.
We're delighted to announce that a new opportunity for councils is now open!
Councils have the opportunity to submit their Microsoft licence requirements by 29th November 2024, with the contract anticipated to be awarded in mid-February 2025.
This contract will cover enrolments from 30th April 2025, to 1st August 2025. It's important to note that participating in the procurement process imposes no obligation to commit to the successful bidder.
Participating in one of the CCS aggregated procurements is likely to provide you with a saving between 2% to 3.5% on Microsoft reseller (LSP) margins compared to market pricing.
To participate, join one of CCS's weekly virtual drop-in clinics every Wednesday from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm, where you can engage directly with the team. No booking is required, simply drop in using the link below.
Following our discovery workshop and the identified benefits of local authorities utilising Engage Process for mapping and sharing processes, we're thrilled to announce that, after compiling all your feedback, desires, and requirements, along with extensive negotiations and teamwork, your request for a shared repository for Scottish Councils is now live but empty!
Some key advantages include:
A dedicated Knowledge Centre featuring shared processes
Expert product consultants to aid in your progress
A 5% discount for Scottish organizations purchasing or renewing Engage Process
Framework to facilitate procurement
Now that we have a dedicated shared space for collectively mapping our processes, and 23 councils having procured the tool, we are looking to launch this community of practice and consider the following:
Identify priority processes to collectively map
Agree governance around uploading and sharing processes
Review the procurement process to address pain-points and make this as seamless as possible
A security assessment
We're excited to explore the collective impact we can achieve across local government and invite you to get involved in this initiative by signing up using the form below.
If you would like more information or to discuss what using Engage Process across your organisation could look like, please contact Verity Hislop.
In today's digital age, cyber security is more critical than ever. Councils face multiple cyber threats that can disrupt operations. Even with the best security it is impossible to prevent all cyberattacks, therefore preparation for an incident is extremely important .
To support this, the Digital Office is offering strategic cyber tabletop exercises specifically designed for local authorities based on IASME training funded by the Scottish Government in line with the NCSC Exercising Technical Standard. Targeted at Chief Executives, Boards of Directors, Heads of Service, and Service Managers, these exercises provide an invaluable opportunity to sharpen response strategies and improve resilience against cyber threats.
Find out more about cyber tabletop exercises in our recent blog by our Chief Information Officer, Dave Ritchie.
Shared ARC Platform Wins Collaborative Procurement Initiative at the GO Awards.
The Shared ARC (Alarm Receiving Centre) Platform, a pioneering initiative developed to modernise telecare services, has been honoured with the GO Excellence Award for Collaborative Procurement.
This award highlights the commitment of the Shared ARC Platform team and Scotland Excel to enhancing public service delivery through innovative, multi-tenant cloud solutions.
Join us for the Partnership Forum on Wednesday, November 20th, from 10 am to 12:15 pm, where we will explore vital topics shaping the future of Scottish local government.
This engaging event features three keynote presentations covering:
Digital Strategy: learn about plans for refreshing Scotland's Digital Strategy.
Solace/ IS Transformation Programme: highlighting recent progress, one-year on from the launch of our call to action at the Solace conference
Digital “To-Be” State: highlighting recent progress following the Digital Partnership Forum in June.
Following the keynote presentations, we will host a dynamic Question Time session focused on pressing issues in Scottish local government. Engage with a panel of experts in areas such as AI, common solutions, digital skills, data, procurement, and cybersecurity.
Don’t miss this opportunity to voice your thoughts and questions on current hot topics. Make sure to sign up and submit any questions you want to see featured during the session!
Date: Wednesday 20th November 2024 Time: 10am - 12.15pm Location: Microsoft Teams (Virtual Event)
Sign up to the annual CENSIS Innovation Centre Technology Summit!
Immerse yourself in cutting-edge technology and meet and connect with hundreds of industry experts.
This is a free day of top-class speakers, exhibitors and networking, and includes refreshments, lunch and a post-event drinks reception.
Hear from leading experts and challenge providers, and understand how businesses are delivering digitalisation, sensing, imaging and IoT solutions across a range of markets.
Join Our Chief Technology Officer, Colin Birchenall at the panel discussion on digitalisation and IoT and how these can be used to deliver the public services of the future – alongside speakers from the UK Government, Amazon Web Services (local government) and wireless connectivity company North, installers and managers of the IoT Scotland network.
Date: Thursday 14th November 2024 Time: 9am - 5pm Location: Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
DigiKnowVember is Renfrewshire’s Digital Inclusion week, organised from within the DigiRen Network and takes place between Monday 4th to Friday 8th November 2024.
You can view / access / download the following information relating to DigiKnowVember and we would welcome organisations across Scotland (and beyond) to promote this work with their networks, colleagues, communities and businesses, as appropriate:
