Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Forde House, Brunel Road, Newton Abbot, TQ12 4XX. View directions

Items
No. Item

12.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 67 KB

To approve the minutes of the last meeitng.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 30 May, 2019 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

13.

Declarations of Interest

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary

interests that relate to business on the agenda.

Minutes:

None.

14.

Questions from the Public Under Procedural Rules

A period of up to 15 minutes will be set aside to deal with questions to the

Committee from members of the public.

 

Each individual will be restricted to speaking for a total of 3 minutes.

 

Where a question does not relate to an agenda item details of questions should

be notified to the Proper Officer of the Relevant Council at least two working days

prior to the meeting.

Minutes:

None.

15.

Question from Members of the Councils under Procedure Rules

To receive questions from Members of the Councils.

 

Where a question does not relate to an agenda item details of questions should be notified to the Proper Officer of the Relevant Council at least two working days prior to the meeting.

Minutes:

None.

16.

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 - Exclusion of Press and Public

It is considered that the Committee would be likely to exclude the press and public during the consideration of items 10 – 14 on this agenda and then the following resolution should be passed: -

 

That, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for items 10-14 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED    That, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for Minutes 19 -23 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

17.

IT Directors Report- Strata Performance Report covering period May to end July 2019 pdf icon PDF 4 MB

Minutes:

The Strata IT Director presented the report on the last four months of activity, the aim being to provide background to the core areas of specialisation within Strata and identifying key activities, successes and areas for improvement.

2019 was proving to be a very productive and successful time for Strata.

 

The successes include: a high level of end user satisfaction, Global Desktop and Global Comms platform having excellent levels of system availability; the migration of staff for Agile working at Exeter City Council is progressing well and initial feedback is very good; the Business Systems team are leading on the discovery phase / requirements gathering phase of the new Finance and Income Management system across the three authorities; the Service Desk team continue to provide an exemplary service; the Infrastructure team have been working with the Supplier Manager to look into the costs of mobile devices and networking. We have already been able to negotiate a £6k per annum saving from Vodafone; the Security and Compliance have deployed ‘Mimecast’ the new content and email filtering system; the dedicated IT trainer is proving invaluable in assisting Members with their migration to ipads, and is now leading on Climate Change as Strata’s Champion; and Strata staff are excelling in supporting the ever growing IT demands and needs of the three authorities.

 

It was agreed that the Customer Services Plan and glossary of terms be circulated to the Committee.

 

RESOLVED - The report be received and noted.

 

18.

Finance Report pdf icon PDF 38 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Strata Director (Finance) referred to the report circulated with the agenda and advised on the financial position of Strata at the end of the first quarter of 2019-20. Strata had a budget of £6.531 million to run the IT Services in

2019/20 along with funding for various capital projects. An account is also maintained for additional purchases (outside of the existing Strata contract) throughout the year. These are invoiced to each Council based on actual purchases made.

 

Strata is projected to deliver £812,900 of revenue savings in 2019-20, a projected shortfall currently of around £41,000. The key variations were set out in the report. Strata is working on further opportunities to deliver the extra £40,000, by renegotiating mobile phone contracts. The target for the Company is to deliver the additional shortfall by the end of the financial year.

 

RESOLVED  - The report is noted.

 

19.

Commercialisation

How best to develop the Strata business outside of the three partner authorities

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report circulated with the agenda in relation to commercial opportunities.

 

RECOMMENDED - The recommendation as detailed at page 14 of the report be approved.

20.

Project Management Framework

The adoption of the Strata Project Management Process.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report circulated with the agenda which detailed a framework to deliver successful Strata projects. Not all aspects of the framework would be applicable to all projects, and the level of governance would also vary between projects.

 

RECOMMENDED - The three authorities formally adopt the Strata Project Management framework as set out in the report, and that this framework is followed by the authorities and Strata for all future ICT projects.

21.

Project Management Office

Creating a PMO function to support and enhance Strata’s delivery capability.  

Minutes:

The IT Director referred to the report circulated with the agenda, on the creation of a single Strata Project Management Office (PMO) to manage all projects, and to facilitate IT Training, Supplier Management and Customer Advocacy.

 

RECOMMENDED - The PMO be supported.

22.

Ongoing Development of Strata Firmstep Resource to Support the Needs of the Three Authorities

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report circulated with the agenda which outlined options for the continuation of resources for the One Teignbridge Firmstep project.

 

RECOMMENDED   Option B as detailed at page 12 of the report be agreed by all three authorities. Should no option be agreed, an alternative, acceptable option be prepared by each authority to instruct Strata how to proceed.

23.

Governance

Review of the proposed changes to the Strata governance structure (IT Director to report)

Minutes:

The IT Director reported on proposals to streamline the Strata governance process, with the formation of an IT Steering Board, whilst maintaining the Executive and Scrutiny democratic process.

 

RECOMMENDED - The proposals be approved.