Application Hosting 2 project

Report: 10
Date: 21 September 2006
By: Commissioner

Summary

The MPS is committed to providing a modern Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure capable of supporting its operational objectives. The Application Hosting 2 (AH2) project contributes to this by providing an MPS standard server and storage infrastructure that is used to host MPS-wide applications, allowing them to deliver services to end users.

The Directorate of Information (DoI) is seeking the Committee’s support to procure and install additional standard servers and storage devices into the MPS data centres. This infrastructure will be used to run large MPS IT applications such as MetaFor (Forensic Case Management) and CRIMINT Plus (Intelligence Database). It will provide a robust, reliable system to improve service levels to MPS users resulting in increased availability, resilience and disaster recovery facilities. As the hardware and infrastructure software is provided by this one enabling project, support and backup regimes are centrally designed and conform to corporate standards. Systems that use Application Hosting equipment will also be able to share data more easily and will be significantly easier to support and maintain.

The Application Hosting 2 is an enabling project, which underpins the DoI Programme of project work. If the consolidated approach proposed in Application Hosting 2 is not undertaken, DoI projects would incur significant extra costs in having to provide their own hosting servers and backup infrastructure in a piecemeal fashion. This would not benefit from economies of scale in procurement or the standardised, corporate approach to support costs.

The Committee’s approval is being sought to approve expenditure within this project to a value of £4.3 m (£3.2m capital; £1.1m revenue) in this financial year. This budget has been allocated for the AH2 project and is fully available within the DoI within this financial year.

A. Recommendations

That

1. Members note the contents of this report and endorse the aims of the Application Hosting 2 Project; and
2. approve the expenditure of £3.2M Capital and £1.1M Revenue, (which is within the agreed DoI budget for this financial year) for the procurement and installation of servers and storage devices. A formal competitive procurement procedure will be determined and managed by Procurement Services in order to achieve Best Value within the required timescales.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. The MPS is committed to providing a modern Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure, capable of supporting its operational objectives. The first stage, known as the ‘Aware’ programme, has provided a pervasive, robust and reliable network infrastructure with desktop services appropriate to a modern, world-class organisation. A second stage, the Enterprise Applications Platform (EAP) project, provided an MPS standard server and storage infrastructure that is capable of hosting MPS-wide applications. The third stage, Application Hosting 1 expanded, and enhanced the infrastructure and provided hosting solutions for applications that use the EAP.

2. Application Hosting 2 is the overall consolidation of this activity to a business as usual process to provide a common platform for IT developments.

3. The Application Hosting 2 project provides IT infrastructure and is an enabling project. The project covers the activities needed to install and configure existing purchased equipment to support existing application projects in the new data centres and the data centre migration project itself. It also provides for the procurement of hardware, software and installation services to enable the MPS to benefit from robust and resilient data storage, disaster recovery and back up facilities in line with the agreed MPS strategies.

4. The scope of the AH2 project has been agreed in line with DoI governance.

5. The Applications Hosting 2 project needs to commence in order to:

• Continue to provide the existing infrastructure of standard scalable servers and storage systems that are used/will be shared by a number of business critical IT application projects including Metafor (Forensic Case Management), CiDW (Corporate Intelligence Data Warehouse), TRIS (Traffic Recording), MetMIS (Performance Reporting), VRES (Vehicle Recovery), E Mail Archiving, Mobility, Storage for SAP/Metfin, and provision of disaster recovery facilities for data storage (H:\ and S:\ drives).
• Implement the MPS strategic solutions for data storage, including tape libraries and associated management software and Web Servers.
• Install and configure hardware purchased in March 2006 prior to the move to the new Capgemini data centres. This equipment is needed to support existing application projects and the data centre migration project. These projects will incur delays and extra cost if this project is not approved.
• Ensure the processes governing the applications hosting service are appropriate and are transferred to Service Delivery Group for business as usual.

Benefits

6. The true business benefits will be delivered by the MPS applications that are hosted on the servers (within EAP). These applications support the Met Modernisation Programme in Categories 1 -Intelligence, 2 – Quality of Service and 3 – Information Quality. Thus, the Application Hosting project, delivers business benefits through the efficiencies experienced by the MPS applications projects. AH2 also plays a vital part in aligning many parts of the MPS together: - people, processes, hardware, software, premises, stakeholders, users and technology.

7. Application Hosting, by providing infrastructure, supports the agreed ICT strategy in:

• Achieving improvements in police performance by delivering ICT solutions
• Supporting operational policing by delivering timely information to the point of need through innovative solutions

8. The Application Hosting project provides a standardised set of hardware and operating system software for new MPS applications.

9. Financially, the benefits of the project are delivered through:

• A reduction in the Total Cost of Ownership of the hosting hardware. This is achieved through a reduction in overall support costs of 25% (revenue) by using common hardware, software and processes.
• A reduction in procurement costs of 10% on capital items by combining multiple project purchases of hardware, software, installation and commissioning.

10. This work is essential to meet the needs of the MPS business in terms of providing hardware and operating system level software to enable application projects to deliver and to provide extra hardware resources to ensure a smooth transition to the new data centres.

11. Without this project, the MPS would have to take a piecemeal approach to the provision of this infrastructure resulting in delays to application projects (which deliver the business benefits) and significant additional overall expenditure by the MPS.

12. In summary:

• Technical benefits are: the consolidation of technical hardware and software into a common system with defined standards allowing easier and more cost effective support.
• Economic benefits are: cost avoidance through savings made in procurement efficiency and reduction in Total Cost of Ownership of IT systems.

C. Race and equality impact

The Applications Hosting 2 project is an infrastructure project with no specific race and equality implications. The project will comply with the MPS race and equality procedures.

D. Financial implications

1. The budget for the Applications Hosting 2 project was approved as part of the DoI Work Programme for 2006/7, and is included within DoI plans for this financial year.

2. The MPS Investment Board approved the Business Case for this work on 25 July 2006.

3. Approval is sought for expenditure of £3.2M capital; £1.1M revenue in 2006/7 which is within the agreed financial budget of £3.2M capital; £1.1M revenue.

4. The ongoing hardware and software support costs of £860k p.a. have been provided for in DoI’s future budget provision. Ongoing maintenance costs are included in Service Delivery Group’s Projects into Service costs for 2007/8 onwards.

5. Following discussions with Procurement Services it has been agreed that, where appropriate, hardware and services required will be purchased through a competitive procurement exercise to be determined and managed by Procurement Services. This will be in line with agreed Procurement Strategy, and will aim to achieve Best Value in the required timescales.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Ailsa Beaton, Director of Information, MPS

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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