ICT FOIs

We regularly receive requests for information about ICT under the Freedom of Information Act. Please see below for answers to some of the most commonly-asked enquiries.

As we share services between South Hams and West Devon, the following information is for both authorities as a unit (unless otherwise specified).

ICT FOIs

General and Budget

Query	Answer
How many employees are working in the council?	Approximately 475
IT function?	Our IT function is in-house
What is the total number of IT staff employed by the organisation?	15
Do you have a managed/shared service with any other councils?	South Hams District Council share services with West Devon Borough Council.
Who is Head of IT?	Mike Ward, 01803 861234, mike.ward@swdevon.gov.uk
Do you have a digital workplace strategy	No
Number of virtualised servers?	150
Which Virtualisation platform do you use?	Hyper-V
Do you have a cloud strategy?	No
Are you actively moving any applications/infrastructure into a cloud environment?	No
Do you use Azure or Amazon Web Services?	Yes - Azure
Which IT re-sellers do you work with and buy from, and frameworks utilised?	Nexus, Trustmarque
What is your annual IT budget?	£1.2m
Do you normally purchase equipment and services as a capital investment (Cap-Ex) or ongoing operational charges (Opex)?	Both
What is your annual Intranet budget?	Zero
What is your current Intranet solution?	Umbraco
When did you first start to use it?	Approximately 2017
Do you use Open Source applications, such as Drupal or WordPress?	Yes - Umbraco and Drupal
Who is responsible for managing your Intranet?	Communications
Who is responsible for the procurement of your Intranet?	N/A

Contact Details

Responsible Officer:

Mike Ward, Head of IT Practice, 01803 861234, mike.ward@swdevon.gov.uk

Hardware

Query	Answer
Storage
What storage vendor and models do you currently use?	Dell
What were the installation dates of the above storage vendor?	2014-2018
When is your planned (or estimated) storage refresh date?	None planned
Do you have any extended warranties?	No
What is your estimated budget for the server refresh?	Zero
What is the capacity of the storage data in TB & how much of this is utilised?	50 TB
Servers
What server vendor and models do you currently use?	Dell
What were the installation dates of the above server vendor?	2017
When is your planned (or estimated) server refresh date?	None planned
Do you have any extended warranties?	No
What is your estimated budget for the server refresh?	Zero
Which operating systems are used?	2003-2012
Number of Physical servers?	4
Network
What network vendor and models do you currently use?	Dell
What were the installation dates of the above network vendor?	2012-2018
When is your planned (or estimated) Network refresh date?	None planned
Do you have any extended warranties?	No
What is your estimated budget for the Network refresh?	Zero
What network architecture is currently used?	Ethernet
Questions related to the Local Area Network (LAN) environment: Contract type?	Self managed and maintained in-house
Questions related to the Local Area Network (LAN) environment: Hardware Brand?	Switches are a mixture of Dell and UniFi
Questions related to the Local Area Network (LAN) environment: Annual Spend (average) for each supplier?	Approx. £2000 for Dell, £4000 for UniFi
Questions related to the Local Area Network (LAN) environment: Number of Users?	Approx 450
Questions related to the Local Area Network (LAN) environment: Number of Sites?	Where equipment is supported by each contract - 2
Responsible officer?	Shane Carpenter, ICT Senior Specialist, shane.carpenter@swdevon.gov.uk
When did you install your current Wi-Fi environment?	2016
What security solutions are being utilised?	Firewalls, Anti-virus, Mail filters, Web filters
End User Devices
How many desktops/laptops are deployed by the Council?	350
How many mobile devices (Phones & tablets etc.) are deployed by the council?	115
What were the installation dates of the above desktop/laptops?	2015-2018
When is your planned (or estimated) desktop/laptop refresh date?	Ongoing
Backup, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
What device/system do you use for your daily backups?	Disk
What backup software do you use?	Veeam
How much data do you back up, in TB?	Weekly Tape backup is approx. 22 TB
Do you use a third party to provide a Business Continuity service?	No
Does your current recovery solution meet your stakeholder's expectations?	Yes
Do you already backup into the cloud?	No
Do you have a documented disaster recovery & business continuity plan in place?	Yes
Asset Disposal
Do you have contract for IT asset disposal?	No
Who is responsible for your IT Asset disposal?	Mike Ward - Head of IT Practice
Photocopiers/MFDs (Multi-Functional Device)/Printers	We only have MFDs, so answers given are for MFDs
Please name all of the IT resellers that you have contacts with and buy from	Ricoh
What is the length of the contracts with the named IT resellers above	3-5 years
How many devices do you have in operation?	14
Which is the brand name of the devices?	Ricoh and Brother
Please provide the following details on how these were procured: Procurement method	Framework
If Framework, which one?	Crown
What is your annual print/copy volume and spend?	South Hams Printer rental: £9021.32 Print/copy volume: 433276 Spend on print/copies: £4700.10 West Devon Printer rental: £638.32 Print/copy volume: 5842 Spend on print/copies: £85.89
Who is the person within your organisation responsible for these contracts?	Neil Hawke, Head of Strategy and Projects, neil.hawke@swdevon.gov.uk

Telecommunications Contracts

Query	Answer
Telephone
Contract type (Maintenance, Managed, Shared):	Maintenance
Existing provider:	Netcall
Annual average spend (over the past 3 years):	Netcall - £10,768
Number of telephone users:	Approx 450
Primary hardware brand:	Microsoft Teams
Application(s) running on PBX/VOIP systems:	Microsoft Teams Netcall Liberty Converse
Telephone system type:	Microsoft Teams with a Gamma SIP connection
Number of lines:	SIP - 70 connections
Contract duration:	Netcall - renewed annually
Contract expiry date:	Rolling contracts
Contract review date:	N/A
Contract description:	Gamma - SIP telephony connection NexusOS - Legacy Skype and Teams platform UC support and monitoring Netcall - Liberty platform and software support
How were these services procured?	Three quotes through supplier chain
Mobile Phones
Network provider(s):	EE O2
Annual average spend:	EE - £41,500 O2 - £4,600
Number of connections:	EE - 247 devices (voice and data) O2 - 79 devices (data only)
Contract duration, start/expiry date:	We purchase new connections as and when needed so we have multiple start dates and end dates for each supplier. We can add/remove sims on a 30-day contract with all EE device using a shared data pool
Contract review date:	None planned until at least 2027
Broadband
Fixed broadband provider(s):	Virgin Media BT KCOM
Annual average spend:	Virgin Media - £11,880 BT - £8,259 KCOM - £3,708.96
Contract duration:	Virgin Media - 3 year contract BT - 3 year contract KCOM - Rolling contract
Contract renewal date:	Virgin Media - June 2024 BT - July 2024 KCOM - N/A (rolling contract)
WAN
WAN provider:	Updata
Annual average spend:	£23,000
Number of sites covered:	Two
Contract duration:	1-year contract
Contract renewal date:	June 2024
Contract description:	Devon WAN 500Mbs connection between Follaton House and Kilworthy Park

Software

Query	Answer
CRM
Software:	Liberty Create
Supplier:	Netcall
Current version:
Hosting:	SaaS
Contract duration:	1 year (annual contract)
Contract purchase/start date:	03/02/2024
Contract renewal/expiry date:	02/02/2025
Annual cost of support and maintenance:	£85,000
Licence:	Enterprise Licence
Finance/Accounting
Software:	Civica Financials
Supplier:	Civica
Current version:	17.0
Hosting:	On Premise
Contract duration:	5 years
Contract purchase/start date:	31/3/2023
Contract renewal/expiry date:	30/10/2028
Annual cost of support and maintenance:	£157,199
Licence:	Enterprise Licence
Payroll
Software:	iTrent
Supplier:	MHR
Current version:	10.46.01
Hosting:	On Premise
Contract duration:	Quarterly charges
Contract purchase/start date:	27/02/2023
Contract renewal/expiry date:	Rolling contract
Annual cost of support and maintenance:	£5,542
HR
Software:	MHR
Supplier:	MHR
Current version:	N/A
Hosting:	On Premise
Contract duration:	Quarterly charges
Contract purchase/start date:	27/02/2023
Contract renewal/expiry date:	Rolling contract
Annual cost of support and maintenance:	£5,542
ICT Service Management
Software:	Halo ITSM
Supplier:	Halo
Hosting:	SaaS
Contract purchase/start date:	01/08/2023
Contract renewal/expiry date:	31/07/2026
Annual cost of support and maintenance:	£12,420.00
Planning
Supplier:	Def
Contract duration:	3 years
Contract purchase/start date:	01/04/2023
Contract renewal/expiry date:	31/03/2026
Annual cost of support and maintenance:	Year 1 - £81,012.00 + onboarding costs Year 2 - £84,252.80 Year 3 - £87,622.60
Contact Centre
Do you have a customer-facing contact centre?	Yes
Do you employ and manage your own agents, or do you outsource to a third party?	Employ and manage own agents
How many contact centre agents do you have?	Approximately 15 full time employees
Do agents work from home or just your offices?	Work form home and from the office
Please confirm the manufacturer of your contact centre system(s) that are currently in place	Netcall
When is your contract renewal date?	1 April 2029
Who maintains your contact centre system?	In-house and Netcall
CRM
Do you use a CRM in the contact centre? What platform is used?	In house created software utilising low-code solution Liberty Create
Do you use the same CRM for the rest of the organisation?	Yes
Do you use a knowledge base/knowledge management platform?	No
AI and Automation
Does your organisation have a customer-facing chatbot?	Yes
If so, who provides this chatbot technology?	Netcall, Liberty Connect
Does your organisation utilise RPA technology? If so, which?	Yes, Netcall RPA
Other Systems
Budgeting and forecasting system?	We don't really have this (please refer to 1. CRM above)
Online procurement or EMarketplace system?	Bramblehub
Business Process (BPM) outsourced to a third party supplier?	No
Do you use or are you planning to use MS O365?	Yes
If applicable, how many people are using Office 365?	522
Do you use any SaaS (Software as a service) applications?	Yes
Software Asset Management
Do you use a software asset management and/or software inventory tool?	Yes
If so which ones?	SCCM PDQ
Do you have a Software Asset Management Policy?	No
How much did you pay in the last financial year for software licences?	£750k
Do you currently measure software usage versus the number of licences purchased?	Yes
Who is responsible for your Software Asset Management?	Mike Ward - Head of IT Practice
Performance Management
Software:	Pentana RPM
Hosting:	Off the shelf application
Responsible contract officer:	Assistant Director of Strategy and Organisational Development
Microsoft Enterprise Agreement
Software:	Microsoft Office and other products - See table below
Supplier:	Phoenix
Current version:	See table below
Hosting:
Contract duration:	3 years
Contract purchase/start date:	August 2023
Contract renewal/expiry date:	August 2026
Annual cost of support and maintenance:	£165,779.70
Number of licences:	See table below
Responsible contract officer:	Shane Carpenter, ICT Senior Specialist, Shane.Carpenter@swdevon.gov.uk

Product	Quantity
Enterprise Mobility + Security E3	73
Enterprise Mobility + Security E5	544
Microsoft 365 Audio Conferencing	1
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P1	72
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2	471
Microsoft Teams Phone Resource Account	49
Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro	7
Microsoft Teams Shared Devices	4
Office 365 E1	1
Office 365 E3	73
Office 365 E5	472
Project Standard ALng LSA	9
SQL Server Standard Core ALng LSA 2L	10
Visio Plan 1	5
Win Remote Desktop Services CAL ALng LSA UCAL	170
Win Server DC Core ALng LSA 16L	8
Windows 10/11 Enterprise E3	72
Windows 10/11 Enterprise E5	471

Cybersecurity

Query	Answer
Standard Firewall (Network)
Software:
Supplier:	Nouveau
Primary brand:	Withheld for security purposes
Hosting:
Contract duration:	1 year
Contract purchase/start date:	March 2023
Contract renewal/expiry date:	March 2024
Annual average spend:	£17,614.48
Description of services:	Firewall maintenance renewals
Anti-virus Software
Software:
Supplier:	Software Box
Primary brand:	Withheld for security purposes
Hosting:
Contract duration:	2 years
Contract purchase/start date:	20/01/2024
Contract renewal/expiry date:	20/01/2026
Annual average spend:	£10,020
Description of services:	Software renewal only

5G and Smart City Plans

The following is a response to the questions listed on the 'SaveUsNow' website.

Query	Answer
Do you have a 5G strategy?	No
I request the name/s of the Officer/s in charge of the 5G strategy and roll out for 5G and Smart Cities.	We have no Officers in charge of (or working on) the 5G strategy and roll out for 5G and Smart Cities.
Are you in talks with any experts, companies or entities about autonomous vehicles (AV) for Public Transport and/or private use on Public Highways?	No. We are not the Community Transport Provider for this area. Please contact Devon County Council for information on AVs for Public Transport.
Do you have a strategy for Smart Roads and Smart Signage on Public Highways and Public Spaces?	We have no Smart Signage in Public Spaces. We are not the Highways Authority for this area. Please contact Devon County Council for information on Smart Roads/Signage on Public Highways.
Are you planning to roll out or have rolled out LED street lighting?	We are not the Highways Authority for this area. Please contact Devon County Council for information on LED Street Lighting.
Where do you have 3G and 4G systems in Public Spaces and Public Roads?	We have no 3G or 4G systems in Public Spaces. We are not the Highways Authority for this area. Please contact Devon County Council for information on 3G/4G on Public Roads.