Analysis And Proposed Solution For ICT And Digital Strategy For Argyll And Bute Council Essay.

Through this report you need to demonstrate that they have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Explain current trends in ICT infrastructure and their impacts on ICT infrastructure management;
2. Demonstrate an awareness of current ICT governance frameworks and their relevance to thedevelopment of ICT infrastructure management plans and proposals;
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the role and importance of ICT service provision and acquisition in the responsibilities of an ICT infrastructure manager.

Co-operative information gathering approach for The Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020

The information gathering approach that has been taken in order to develop The Argyll and Bute Council ICT and digital strategy 2017-2020 is co-operative information gathering approach without the use of any type of formal powers.

The Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020 is in response to the multiple strategies which supports the local government ICT national transformation programme and a public sector ICT infrastructure review. ICT and digital services are a key enabler for supporting The Argyll and Bute Council’s contribution towards Argyll and Bute being a thriving, successful, area in which all forms of deprivations and inequality will be reduced. ICT and Digital strategy will also support the development of a more co-operative and prosperous Argyll and Bute which will benefit every individual and community. The Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and digital strategy helps in outlining the approach that the council will take for the development and deployment of ICT and digital technologies in efficient delivery of its services which will help to deliver outcomes that matters to its customers. The Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020 defines the vison, key principles and overall direction of travel for ICT and digital services. The Argyll and Bute Council digital first policy helps in outlining the vison of the council which states that digital services are so good that one who uses the services, prefers to use them. The Argyll and Bute Council outlines various set of principles for the company namely designing services with the customers, staffs and partners at the centre of the process, convenient and easy to use with integrated and standard interfaces, focusing on deliver of service and not just on building websites, storing information once and securely, using data in an effective manner, ensuring that the foundations work, innovation and agile in nature, management of cost performance, increase in skilled workforce, re-using and then busing and only building at the last resort and increase in commerciality. The vison which drives Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital strategy are empowered visitors, empowered learners, empowered partners, empowered services, empowered elected members, empowered management, empowered workforce, empowered businesses and empowered citizens. ICT and digital services are a key enabler for supporting the contribution of the Council towards Argyll and Bute being a thriving, successful area where all forms of deprivations and in-equality are reduced. The ICT and digital strategy of the Argyll and Bute Council will also support the development of a more effective Argyll and Bute which will help in benefitting each individual and each community.

Key enablers for The Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020

The ICT services offered by the council are data centres, cloud strategy, network communications, user interactions and cybersecurity.

The main objective of the current report is to identify the ICT governance framework which is currently in place in the Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020 and to analyse the analyse the ICT governance framework which is currently. After the analysis of the current ICT governance framework which are in place the Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020, the report focuses on finding the key gaps which are associated with the current ICT governance framework followed in the Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020. The report then focuses on proposing an appropriate ICT governance framework for the Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020 which will help in addressing the key gaps which were identified in the existing ICT governance framework currently being implemented in the Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020, which aligns with the Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020 service and infrastructure directions along with proving recommendation and justification regarding the new proposal.

3.1 Existing ICT governance framework

The existing ICT governance framework on which the Argyll and Bute Council ICT and Digital strategy 2017-2020 is based upon is ITIL version 3 ICT governance framework.

• Choice of ICT governance framework

The ICT governance framework that can be proposed on which the Argyll and Bute Council IT and Digital Strategy 2017-2020 will be also based upon the ITIL version 3, IT governance framework but the difference between the both the framework is that the current ITIL version 3 framework will be aligned with mobile services in order to achieve better outcomes regarding the ICT services of the council.

4.1Analysis

ITIL/COBIT Guidelines/ Criteria	Evidence	Assessment/Findings
Establishment of a formal ITSM methodology which aligns the ICT service delivery with the business needs of the Council’s service Department.	Selection of the ITIL version 3 methodology developed by the UK Government’s Office of Government Competing.	Confirms The ITSM of Information Technology Service Methodology helps in aligning the service needs of the council with the business needs of the council.
Supplier management helps in identifying, negotiating and entering with agreements with suppliers who will be responsible for the supply of quality raw materials in required time.	There is no evidence which shows that the performances of the suppliers are monitored and they are managed accordingly.	Not Confirms Meeting the ITIL version 3 guidelines ensure that the organization focuses on the management of suppliers in order to achieve service efficiency.
Enabling an agile and flexible workforce in order to increase the productivity of the services of the company.	The council will develop a mobile approach to offer the workforce of the council a range of suitable mobile devices and connections to operate effectively and securely over the network while delivering productivity benefits and delivering high customer satisfaction.	Confirms It conforms with the ITIL version 3 guidelines as it focuses on the development of workforce in order to adapt to the skill requirements of ITIL version 3.
The council should concentrate on providing a point of focus and management for all capacity and performance management issues relating to both resources and services and to match the capacity of the ICT infrastructure.	Tracking and managing workflow of the workforce of the company through mobile devices and through automated mobile productivity applications	Not Confirms According to ITIL version 3 guidelines capacity management should be taken into consideration in the service design phase which focuses on various technical issues.

As opined by Ahmad, Noha, Qutaifan and Alhilali (2013) the key gaps which have been identified in the current ITIL version 3 framework used by the council are as follows:

• The non-consideration of supplier management aspect is not considered properly in the current ITIL version 3 ICT framework of the council- The ICT infrastructure of the company involves the development and management of different kinds of software and therefore it is very likely that suppliers or vendors are involved in the process of development of ICT infrastructure but the ICT plan of the company lack concept of supplier management in order to access the potential and compatible suppliers and monitoring of the quality of raw materials from the suppliers.
• The plan does not fulfil the availability and capacity guidelines and requirements- The plan intents to add mobility in to the ICT infrastructure of the company and accordingly the drivers, benefits and objectives have been described accordingly but there seems a lack of availability management and ICT capacity management in the ICT plan of the council.

5.1 Proposed Solution

As opined by BahrawiBahrawi (2015) there are several IT governance frameworks and models which have flourished over the years in order to facilitate better governance, process definitions and controls for IT. There are major IT governance, process and architectural frameworks which are available for implementation in the market such as COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technology), ITIL(Information Technology Infrastructure Library), CMMI(Capability Maturity Model Integration) and TOGAF(The Open Group Architectural Framework). The above mentioned IT governance frameworks are all major process definition standardization effort best IT practices, governance and financial controls. All the above mentioned frameworks subsequently overlap with each other, are inconsistent in nature and approach IT governance from different perspectives and therefore they require substantial interpretation before interpretation. The IT governance framework which has been chosen in order to address the gap of the Argyll and Bute Council ICT and digital strategy 2017-2020 is the ITIL Version 3framework in alignment with mobile services. The ITIL framework has various components which are termed as ITIL core. As per Balocco, Ciappini and Rangone (2013) the ITIL core has five phases namely first phase or Service strategy, second phase or service design, third phase or service transition, fourth phase or service operation and fifth phase or continual service improvements. The different phases of the ITIL framework focus on alignment of IT services with the needs of an organization. The various components of ITIL are integrated in a single coherent proposal by means of the five phase service lifecycle for IT service management.

• Purpose/Goal of the Proposal

ICT services offered by the council

As opined by Fadiya, Georgakis, Chinyio and Nwagboso (2015) the council should accept the proposal as the alignment of mobile services with the ITIL version 3 of IT governance framework helps in the effective alignment of the IT solutions with the needs of the council. The council should also accept the proposal as the alignment of mobile services with the ITIL version 3 of IT governance frameworkhas realistic service levels for IT service management of the council. As stated by Hba and Manouar (2017) the council should also accept the proposal as the alignment of mobile services with the ITIL version 3 of IT governance framework due to various other advantages associated with it such as improvement of the interaction and relationships with the stakeholders, optimization and reduction of costs, effective co-ordination of the delivery of goods and services across the value chain, change in organizational culture in order to support the achievement of sustained success and it enables the adoption of a standard approach to service management across the council.

According to Hellang, Skiftenes Flak and Päivärinta (2013) the specific goals of the alignment of mobile services with the ITIL version 3 of IT governance frameworkImprovement of service quality and decrease of risks associated with it.

• Improving the decision making framework of the council.
• Reduction of the IT costs of the council.
• Increasing the productivity of the services.
• Facilitating clear and effective communication among the stakeholders.
• Embracing a practical approach towards service management which is effective in nature.
• Assumptions underlying the proposal

As opined by Huggins and Frosina (2017) the first and foremost assumption which is underlying the proposal of aligning mobile services with the ITIL version 3, ICT governance framework are that the analysis and proposal of this report are based on the current plan as there are no other supporting information supporting the plan and the Argyll and Bute Council focused to pay attention to the strategy development regarding ICT and to provide continuous support to the human resources of the council in order to implement the ICT and Digital Strategy project of the council.

The Argyll and Bute council provides information and services regarding various aspects and areas to their stakeholders the alignment of the mobile services with the ITIL version 3 framework will focus on should focus on the employees and other stakeholders who are a part of the council as the users of the mobile services. From the user perspective it is expected to design some sort of sub-system and accordingly integrate them with each other which will help in saving storage spaces, improve security features and will also help in reducing the associated costs.

• Login of visitors and account management system

According to Jäntti and Hotti (2016) even though there is a facilitation of open data platform for all the users of the system but still there is a requirement for demanding some identification and verification functionality in the system in order to authenticate the identity of the users which will help in providing security to the data and will also facilitate accuracy of data. The log in and the sign out process should be also included in the verification component in order to prevent the system from intended hacker attacks and data breaches. The interface for the login of visitors and account management system should contain the following components namely login and verification component, adding data to the profile, resetting the password, connecting with the social media accounts of the user, help component, general settings component and log out component.

• Request and Response System

Existing ICT governance framework

As opined by Kabra and Ramesh (2015) the Argyll and Bure Council provides the platform for various services such as employment opportunity, information regarding transportation, recommendations regarding travelling etc. Based on the requests of the visitors of the council to the platform regarding searching for specific information by filter options or seeking for the website of other services, the council should focus on developing a request and response system in order to take actions regarding those request and in return offer appropriate information and solution to the users or customers of the council.

• Staff process operating and decision making system

As opined by Jairak and Praneetpolgrang (2013) the employees of the council require more flexibility and reliability for performing their day to day operations especially out of their office desks and cabin. The system of staff process operation and decision making is specially designed for control and management of the daily works and operations of the employees of the council. There will be a communication platform which will be present in the system in order to provide the workforce of the company the ability to exchange information and communication with other co-workers of the council and also to deliver opinions and views regarding a decision taken by the council. All the operations and delivery of information among the staffs will be recorded and documented by the system of the council which will contribute towards the quality and punctuality regarding the delivery of tasks. The interface regarding the staffs process operating and decision making system could include the following components namely creation of a workplace package, addition of related people, definition of the various roles and responsibilities, sending information directly to the staffs, voting or adding comments, agreeing or disagreeing to an opinion and completion and signature.

• General visitor question and answer system

As stated by Misuraca and Viscusi (2015) the system is designed in order to collect and display general question and answers of the users regarding the services offered by the council. Regarding the government, the documents will be catalogued accordingly into thousands of single folder which make very difficult for the users to find and therefore such questions will likely be popular among the users of the system and therefore the system will help in lining the question followed by simple answers to the questions based on their importance and order of clicking by the users.

According to Navarra (2013) as the Argyll and Bute Council offers cloud computing service to their users which is based on the concept of service sharing, storage savings and making the blocks individually and easy to be improved and modified, the service oriented architecture has therefore close connections with the cloud computing services. Service oriented Architecture is a critical approach which helps in establishing the architecture based on the services and has the ability to distribute and compose the services together. The Service Oriented Architecture is defined as an organizational and technical framework which helps an organization to deliver self-describing and platform independent business functionality which provides a way of sharing functions, mostly business functions in a flexible manner. As opined by HasanzadehHasanzadeh, MahsaNazemi, ElahiElahi and ZanjaniZanjani. (2013) therefore Service Oriented Architecture helps in creating a flexible environment for the improvement and updating of the system and will also help in adapting to the change of requirements in a quick and efficient manner through its agility. From the point of operations of the council, there will be vast number of services which will be designed and added to the mobile platform and therefore adopting the service oriented architecture concept will help in making the entire mobile based service to be independent in nature and will also lead to savings of cost.

Analysis of the existing framework

As stated by Ruben Pereira, JoãoAguiar, José Braga Vasconcelos and Isaias Bianchi (2018) the proposal for aligning mobile services with the ITIL version 3, ICT governance framework aligns with the council’s service and infrastructure direction as the main principles on which the ICT and Digital strategy of the council is based upon are namely designing services with the customers, staffs and partners at the centre of the process, convenient and easy to use with integrated and standard interfaces, focusing on deliver of service and not just on building websites, storing information once and securely, using data in an effective manner, ensuring that the foundations work, innovation and agile in nature, management of cost performance, increase in skilled workforce, re-using and then busing and only building at the last resort and increase in commerciality. As opined by Rubino and Vitolla (2014) the principles on which the ITIL version 3IT governance framework will be based upon are focusing on value, designing for enhanced experience, starting from currently where the organization belongs, working holistically, progressing in an iterative manner, direct observation, being transparent, being collaborative in nature and keeping it simple. Therefore by comparison of the guiding principles of both the council’s ICT and digital strategy and ITIL framework it can be said that the proposal of aligning mobile services with the current ITIL version 3 framework of ICT governance framework, aligns with the Council’s service and infrastructure design.

• How the proposal addresses key gaps

According to Paarlberg (2016) the alignment of the mobile services with the ITIL version 3 ICT governance frameworkswill help in addressing the key gaps which were observed during the analysis of the Argyll and Bute Council 2017-2020 digital strategy. The key gaps which were observed in the analysis of the ICT and digital strategy of the council were non-consideration of the aspect of supplier management and lack of availability management and ICT capacity management, as management of a large amount of digital data, interfaces to the co-operate system and access to mobile based platform requires more practical and feasible approach. The management of availability and management of capacity are considered very critical in the stages of design which is required for implementation.

As opined by Henry (2016) the alignment of mobile services with the ITIL version 3, ICT governance framework will help in addressing the key gaps by facilitating availability management and capacity management which will help in managing large amounts of digital data, will help in facilitating interfaces to the co-operate system and will also provide access to mobile based platform by adopting a feasible approach.

Proposed solution for addressing key gaps

As stated by Xiao, Califf, Sarker and Sarker (2013) the proposal of  integrating mobile based integration system composing various sub-systems and service oriented architecture function with the existing ITIL version 3 to the council aligns with the chosen ICT framework as the main objectives of the proposal are to reduce the risks of the company, improved decision making process of the company, increased productivity of the council, increased quality of services and decrease of risks of the council and greater customer satisfaction whereas the objective of the chosen ICT governance framework is to optimize and reduce costs for the council, improvement of interaction and relationships with the customers, effective co-ordination of delivery of goods and services across the value chain of the council and adoption of a standard approach to service management across the council.

• Expected Outcomes of the proposed solution

According to Gordon (2013) the expected outcomes which are associated with the integration of mobile based integration system composing various sub-systems in the current ITIL framework of the council are as follows are as follows:

• Designing of user friendly experience cased on the point of view of the stakeholders and staffs of the council.
• Contribution to the standard process for smooth operations in the council and to make effective decisions.
• Development of a possibility of the employees to work from wherever and whenever they are.
• Quick response with prepared actions requested by the visitors on the website of the council.
• Providing the users with a basic and popular model for the users and the other stakeholders in order to utilize the entire system in a proper manner.
• Sharing of the data and delivering the external link to the website in order to help visitors and other stakeholders.
• Managing the security of the system by registration and identity verification functions which help in identifying and registering visitors.

The expected outcomes of the service oriented architecture in the existing ITIL framework of the council is as follows:

• Help in creating a culture of innovation in the operations of the council.
• Instant response to the changes from service design or requirements.
• Savings of additional expenses of the company regarding construction of infrastructure.
• Increase in the capacity of the council through the utilization of cloud server technology.
• Help in connecting to latest programing method without implementing change in the service section.
• Provision of more user friendly services based on the context of service architecture.
• Increase in the availability and accessibility of data as a result of reduced storage and independence among the components.

It is recommended that the Argyll and Bute Council should adopt the proposal of alignment of mobile services with the ITIL version 3, ICT governance framework which is described above.

Justification:

The council, for the mobile based services should focus on the availability, security, accessibility and maintenance of the system. It also remains a challenge for the council to use the mobility and discover more functionality in order to conduct a suitable plan in order to deliver the ICT services of the council successfully to the end users or customers of the council. The other recommendations to the council regarding the proposal are establishing a management committee to control the various phases of the project, demonstrating the goals and needs of the business through a completed way and through a completed methodology and ensuring the smooth running of the project based on the process involved in the ITIL version 3 governance frameworks.

References

Ahmad, N., Noha, T. A., Qutaifan, F., and Alhilali, A. (2013). Technology adoption model and a road map to successful implementation of ITIL. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, [Online] 26(5), 553-576. Available at- doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-07-2013-0041 Accessed as on 5/10/2018

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Overview of IT governance frameworks and models

Fadiya, O., Georgakis, P., Chinyio, E., and Nwagboso, C. (2015). Decision-making framework for selecting ICT-based construction logistics systems. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, [Online] 13(2), 260–281. Available at doi: 10.1108/JEDT-07-2011-0047 Accessed as on 5/10/2018

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HasanzadehHasanzadeh, MahsaNazemi, ElahiElahi, and ZanjaniZanjani(2013). A Framework Determining Service Level in a B2B Environment based on ITIL Framework. Journal of Information Technology Management, [Online] 5(2), 37–56. Available at doi:10.22059/jitm.2013.36527 Accessed as on 5/10/2018

Hba, R., and Manouar, A. (2017). ICT Green Governance: new generation model based on Corporate Social Responsibility and Green IT. Journal of mining and digital humanities, [Online] pp 1-8. https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1701/1701.08714.pdf Accessed as on 5/10/2018

Hellang, Ø.,Skiftenes Flak, L., and Päivärinta, T. (2013). Diverging approaches to benefits realization from public ICT investments. Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, [Online] 7(1), 93–108.Available at doi:10.1108/17506161311308188 Accessed as on 5/10/2018

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