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The Client
Estyn is the office of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales based in Cardiff. It is a Crown body, originally established under the Education Act 1992, which is independent of the National Assembly for Wales but is funded by it. The Estyn mission is to achieve excellence for all learners in Wales through raising the standards and quality in education and training. Almost all education and training providers throughout Wales are subject to inspection by Estyn at least once within a six-year period. Estyn employs around 100 members of staff, of which 50+ are HMI. It has currently almost completed an 18 month “Transforming Estyn” programme which has renewed its organisation and all its IT Systems.
The Challenge
Estyn were faced with changing business requirements, pressure from users for improvements in the level of IT and PC IT Support due to more flexible working arrangements as well as the need to refresh the organisations network infrastructure. It was also finding that recruiting and retaining IT staff with the right technical skills was proving difficult.
Business Solution
Westgate have a long track record of providing IT Network Services under Managed Services contracts and know how to manage the take-on of new clients so its smooth and low risk with no service interruptions. In Estyns case our network engineers were able very quickly to take control of the Network Infrastructure that was being outsourced by Estyn, stabilise the Network then begin managing it for Estyn under SLA.
The key service components of Westgates approach to the Estyn network outsourcing contract include:
• Westgate providing IT Services that aim to fully meet user’s needs for IT support wherever and (where possible longer term) whenever they are working
• ALL routine IT Support for Estyn users to be provided by Westgate IT. Some exceptions exist around some line-of-business IT applications but the default provider of support for all network, PC, Laptop, broadband and mobile connectivity solutions is Westgate IT
• Using the Microsoft and other skills of the 14 experienced technical staff we have at our HQ in Bath to provide high quality IT services for Estyn
• An effective Service Level Agreement (SLA) being put in place with regular reviews to ensure that service levels continue to meet the needs of Estyns staff
• Web, Telephone & Remote Support from Westgate with users using the communication channel that suits them at the time they have an IT problem that needs a fix
• ALL routine IT Support needs being dealt with by telephone call to Westgate, through users logging a support request directly via the Westgate IT Helpdesk Website and by Westgate connecting remotely (when possible) to a users PC/Laptop to resolve faults. This applies whether the user is in Cardiff or another location
• Telephone support from Westgate in Bath is available on normal working days between the hours of 08:30 to 17:00
• Westgate assessing whether an out-of-hours service is needed in future to meet urgent operational needs, where demand exists from Estyn users
• For difficult technical problems, helpdesk calls already being dealt with by 1st Line Support will be upgraded to 2nd and 3rd Line Support as required.
• Mobile & Home Worker Support. Westgate IT has been delivering the IT services needed for Estyn users to do efficient (and low stress) mobile & home working. It required a complex set of IT components & services to integrate and work smoothly for users to enable them to work together and with their stakeholders and collaborate and communicate. Whenever, and wherever, they were working.
• This involved Westgate IT in rolling out and supporting laptops that work well with good security, connectivity when required through Broadband, WiFi & 3G Orange dongles, messaging through Outlook email & text messaging and SharePoint EDM (Electronic Document Management) based Intranet & Extranet based provision of information & documents
• Westgate IT delivered and facilitated Training for Estyn users
• Effective IT support from Westgate IT & other support staff in Estyn through the phone, web and remote support services
• For mobile working our strategy has been to support Mobile & Home workers as if they were located in Estyns Cardiff office. This is clearly challenging and means that our IT support services need continuous tuning so as to remain aligned to evolving Estyn user needs, as use of mobile working increased.
• Our overarching approach to service delivery is to ensure that where IT problems occur we get the user working again ASAP. This might involve swapping/replacing/repairing laptops or other defective kit using same day or overnight couriers or using home or site visits by a Westgate engineer to wherever the user or inspection team is located.
• Overall our approach is to “do what it takes” to keep users satisfied with the IT they use and we provide and service.
Outcome
Estyns 100+ users have found their IT systems and services have stabilised, network reliability and “uptime” has dramatically improved, and overall user satisfaction with the IT systems they use on a routine basis has increased, even though Westgate has implemented new equipment and software applications to meet new business needs.
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