Microsoft UK Government Blog

Buying Solutions ‘Best Practice’ Roadshows – Microsoft presenting on new Public Sector Agreement

Buying Solutions are running a series of regional Best Practice roadshows in the following cities later in June where Microsoft will be presenting on the new Public Sector Agreement (PSA09):

·        Glasgow :         Thursday June 17^th

·        London:            Wednesday June 23^rd

·        Manchester:     Thursday June 24^th

Sharing best practice and hearing from peers about how they found solutions to procurement challenges is an effective way to improve services and achieve greater value for money and savings for the public sector.

Microsoft will have expertise at all these roadshows throughout the day of each event and will deliver a session on the new Public Sector Agreement negotiated with Buying Solutions on behalf of the public sector.

You can reserve your place at any of these ‘best practice’ roadshows here.

Do spare the time to attend as we would we delighted to meet you in person to talk through how you can get even better value from your investment with Microsoft through the new Public Sector Agreement.

Posted by Ian

Microsoft and the Welsh Assembly announce Welsh language support for SharePoint

SharePoint ar gael in Gymraeg

Microsoft have joined the Welsh Assembly Government at the Urdd Eisteddfod in Cardiff Bay, to launch Welsh language support for SharePoint. Steve Beswick, of Microsoft, and Meri Huws, of the Welsh Language Board, officially launched the pack with Jane Hutt, the Welsh Assembly Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills.

Meri Huws, Chair of the Welsh Language Board

This follows on from the work we did a little while ago to make Windows and Office available in Welsh. We do all of this through making a free Language Interface Pack available for download, which you can then use to convert your system over.

There are already quite a few schools and local authorities in Wales using SharePoint – for example, Swansea run their learning platform on it, and the addition of the Welsh language option will extend the potential use.

Julie Davies, a teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Bryn Tawe in Swansea explained why it was so important:

As a school and centre of excellence for Welsh medium education, we have always taken advantage of new Welsh language initiatives and resources. We are very excited to see a large IT company recognising and responding to the need for more resources in our first language. I believe Swansea Edunet which is based on SharePoint will improve communication within the school, and create an effective learning community for staff members and pupils.

But why SharePoint in Welsh, and why is it so important to education? Well, the answer on the day was:

Mae Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 yn darparu lleoliad sengl, integredig lle gall defnyddwyr gydweithio’n effeithiol, chwilio am wybodaeth, rheoli cynnwys a llyfnhau prosesau gweinyddol. Mae’n integreiddio’n hawdd â systemau TGCh sydd eisoes yn eu lle, ac mae’n gymorth i wneud penderfyniadau ar sail gwybodaeth drwy cynorthwyo i staff gael hyd i wybodaeth yn haws, i’w rhannu ac i adrodd arni.

You can find the English version of this in the Welsh Language Board press release in English (Welsh version here)

Download Information

The downloads are now publicly available using the URLs below.  I got a surprise checking these links – the pages are all in Welsh!

SharePoint Server 2007 Language Pack  (X86)

SharePoint Server 2007 Language Pack  (X64)

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack (X64)

Lowest cost for Office 2007 - Home Use Programme for public sector employees

If you’re working for one of the many UK public sector organisations that have a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, then read on…

• If you run the IT across your organisation, then you’ve got a chance to make your colleagues happy
• If you’re working elsewhere in the organisation, then there’s a chance to save some money

As part of our Software Assurance programme, which is a standard part of an Enterprise Agreement, we include a benefit called the Home Use Programme (HUP). This gives employees the opportunity to buy Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 for £12.93. HUP is designed to increase employee satisfaction, employee retention, and training and productivity. (I’d whisper this so that only the IT people hear - It’s also been seen to reduce support costs). The licence allows employees to use the software as long as they work for the organisation, and as long as the organisation is covered by Software Assurance.

Unlike similar schemes, the employee is the one responsible for correctly licensing (ie you simply have to let them know when they should stop using it, you’re not expected to enforce this). And finally, the system takes no administration from the organisation – the employee places their order online, using their own credit card, and receives the software and support directly from Microsoft.

For some reason, even though it has been around a while, not that many people have taken it up.

It is easy to activate:

• Your EA Benefit Administrator (quick, find a number for the IT department!) goes onto the Microsoft Volume Licensing Services website, and ticks a box to activate the programme (at https://licensing.microsoft.com). They will enter an email domain for your organisation (like @dvla.gov.uk) and in return will get a program code
• They distribute that program code around the organisation
• Employees logon to https://hup.microsoft.com, and enter their email address and the program code – and then just place their order.

It’s that simple.

And instead of paying £90 in a shop for Office Home & Student, your employees have Office Enterprise for less than £15.

We’ve got HUP Information Packs sitting here in the office, with a resources CD to help promote it internally. If you want one, just drop James an email

And finally, there’s also an option where the administrator can order multiple copies on behalf of employees, where the price has been dropped to under £7 if you order 20+ before 15th June. That’s all on https://licensing.microsoft.com too.

New Public Sector Agreement between Microsoft and Buying Solutions

The new Public Sector Agreement (PSA09) is a new software purchasing model for the UK public sector. It is the result of an in-depth collaborative procurement engagement between Microsoft and Buying Solutions on behalf of the public sector. You can read the full press release about PSA09 here.

In PSA09, Microsoft is offering value for money, greater choice and licensing flexibility, unique in its public or private sector agreements.

It paves the way for future models of software purchasing and will help organisations to meet emerging and future challenges in delivering public service reform.

What makes PSA09 different from previous agreements?

·        Value for money  – customers can save up to 16% on previous licensing agreements

·        Matches business needs – customers can choose from more flexible licensing options

·        Simpler licence transferability – licences can be transferred between organisations

·        Accelerates public service reform – provides the enabling technology for frontline services

We have arranged two Live Meetings (webcasts) with Microsoft and Buying Solutions experts for you to find out more about the new Public Sector Agreement and get your questions answered:

Register to take part in a Live Meeting on the New Public Sector Agreement

·        To take part in the Live Meeting on Wednesday May 13^th, 11:00-12:00 register here and quote invitation code: 833389

·        To take part in the Live Meeting on Thursday May 14^th, 14:00-15:00 register here and quote invitation code: B418BE

All we need is 1-hour of your time at your desk, in front of your PC/web browser and Microsoft and Buying Solutions will explain how you can get the most out of PSA09 for your organisation.

Posted by Ian

Digital Inclusion – Video Story

The CEO is dead ... long live the traffic warden

The Local Government Association (LGA) has published a list of 200 words and phrases (only 200 do I hear you say?) that public bodies should not use if they want to communicate effectively with local people. The LGA’s selection of impenetrable public sector language includes:

·        Taxonomy

·        Rebaselining

·        Mainstreaming

·        Holistic Governance

·        Contestability

·        Predictors of beaconicity

·        Synergies

Although it is not one of the proscribed terms one of my personal favourites is CEO.  To anyone in the commercial world, the Chief Executive Officer is clearly the person at the top of the organisation who takes strategic decisions and where the buck stops: in the local authority sector the Civil Enforcement Officer is the person who performs the duties of a traffic warden.

Congratulations to the LGA for raising the flag once more for simpler English and shorter sentences in public documents.  However, I hope we never confuse a desire to eliminate impenetrable language in public documents with the enrichment that is possible with local dialects of English.

In recent communications (I will admit not official public sector publications) I have seen the words stramash and numpty used in connection with the current economic crisis – and sometimes it needs regional dialect expressions to convey real meaning.

Posted by Ian

Live Meeting (Webcast): Information Governance in the Public Sector (Friday March 20th)

The next Live Meeting in our series on how you can optimise the use of Microsoft technology to improve the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of Public Sector ICT will focus on information governance and assurance.

This Live Meeting explores the Microsoft technologies that enable Public Sector organisations to address the security requirements of the recent Data Handling (Cabinet Office) and Data Sharing (Information Commissioner’s Office) reviews.  During this Live Meeting our experts will provide you with an overview on:

·        Microsoft technology for establishing a secure ICT infrastructure and protecting confidential information ‘at rest’ on devices and ‘on the move’ for an increasingly mobile workforce

·        Microsoft customers and the benefits they are realising from applying Microsoft technology to their information governance challenges

Our experts will demonstrate, with practical examples from Public Sector organisations, how Microsoft’s approach to information governance can enable the secure deployment of public services online, including the new services that will be enabled by Government Connect that links local authorities to central Government data via GCSx.

What the Live Meeting will cover:

11:00    Opening remarks and Live Meeting guidance

Microsoft and Information Governance

Questions and Answers

12:00    More information and next steps

When the Live Meeting takes place:

Friday March 20, 2009: 11:00 – 12:00

How to take part:

Simply click on the link below for more information and to register to take part. You will automatically be sent your access details to connect to the Live Meeting on Friday March 20^th at 11:00:

Microsoft and Information Governance

All we need is 1-hour of your time at your desk, in front of your PC/web browser and Microsoft experts will explain how you can get more out of your investment in Microsoft technology by implementing flexible and mobile working solutions that improve information access and increase staff productivity.

Blogging over breakfast

Last year I was surprised and pleased to learn that I’d somehow made it to become the Computer Weekly 2008 Public Sector blogger of the year (for my Schools blog). And it led to me running a few internal training sessions for Microsoft people, talking about blogging and offering advice for people who are considering starting blogging, or had made some first tentative steps.

A colleague suggested that I should offer the same session to other people – so here’s the invitation!

On 15th April, I’m going to run a “Blogging over Breakfast” session at our offices in central London, for unexperienced or less experienced bloggers – if you’ve always itched to tell your story, then this may be for you. It’s not going to be about the technology of blogging, but will focus on generic advice on blogging in the UK Public Sector. I’ll cover a bunch of things from the basics of sitting down to write, to information on the Civil Service code on blogging.

I’m hoping that we can make the session quite interactive, and limit to a maximum of 14 people. It will be suitable for you if you want to:

• Help a group of people keep in touch
• Sell an idea (or something else)
• Make your organisation look good
• Share good practice
• Get something off your chest
• Want to campaign for something (like Jerry Fishenden)
• Want to make people laugh (like David Salaguinto)
• …or other reasons

I’ve scheduled it during the Easter week, as it might be quieter, and easier to pop down to Victoria. It’ll be a small group – and I’ll allocate places on a first-come, first-served basis.

The details: 15th April, 8:30-10:30 at the Microsoft offices at 100 Victoria Street, London

If you’d like to come along, then drop me an email.

If I’ve got it wrong, and you could only make it during term-time, then flame me with an email, and if I get enough requests, I’ll add another date.

I’ll buy the coffees and the breakfast – you just bring your ideas to contribute to the conversation

Live Meeting (Webcast): Virtualisation from desktop to datacentre (Friday March 13th)

The next Live Meeting in our series on how you can optimise the use of Microsoft technology to improve the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of Public Sector ICT will focus on virtualisation.

This Live Meeting explores the Microsoft technologies that enable Public Sector organisations to reduce the overall cost of their ICT operations and maximise the productive use of current investment in ICT.  During this Live Meeting our experts will provide you with an overview on: 

·        Microsoft technologies for virtualisation of infrastructure (Hyper-V) and applications (App-V)

·        Microsoft System Center for simplified management of virtualised environments

·        Microsoft customers and the benefits they are realising from their virtual environments

Our experts will demonstrate, with practical examples from Public Sector organisations, how Microsoft’s comprehensive portfolio of virtualisation solutions can help you to deliver more dynamic ICT and enable you to provide the resources users need at a moment’s notice and make your organisation’s more agile, responsive and carbon friendly.

 What the Live Meeting will cover:

11:00   Opening remarks and Live Meeting guidance

11:05   Microsoft approach to virtualisation

            Customer implementations of Microsoft virtualisation

11:55   Questions and answers

12:00   More information and next steps

When the Live Meeting takes place:

Friday March 13, 2009: 11:00 – 12:00

How to take part:

Simply click on the link below for more information and to register to take part. You will automatically be sent your access details to connect to the Live Meeting on Friday March 13^th at 11:00:

Microsoft and virtualisation from desktop to datacentre

All we need is 1-hour of your time at your desk, in front of your PC/web browser and Microsoft experts will explain how you can get more out of your investment in Microsoft technology by implementing flexible and mobile working solutions that improve information access and increase staff productivity.

Posted by Ian

From Hansard – Thin Client doesn’t equal energy efficient

I like “They Work for You”, a website which tracks things which go on in Parliament. I use the RSS feeds of ministers to keep an eye on news I’ve missed, such as new statistics published, or progress on big programmes, (and I’ve also used it personally to contact my local MP about an approaching vote on transport). It has to be said, a lot of what is published is quite dull, but every now and again there’s a nugget.

Like last Monday, when Jane Kennedy (who is Minister of State for Farming and the Environment at DEFRA) was asked in a written question “What steps the Department is taking to encourage (a) thin computing and (b) environmentally-friendly computing practices in the public sector.”

And the answer is:

“DEFRA carefully considered the promotion of 'thin' clients, which are centrally managed computers with most of the function of the system located in a central server room. However, evidence to date has shown that the increased electricity consumption of these server rooms (e.g. through the air conditioning needed to cool the room) renders this technology less attractive than previously thought from an energy efficiency perspective.

The Government's "Greening ICT Strategy" published last year sets out a strategy for reducing the environmental impact of Government's computer systems. One of their main aims is to make the energy consumption of our ICT systems carbon neutral by 2012. We also mandated a set of minimum environmental standards for commonly-purchased products, including ICT.”

Read it yourself here. Just in case DEFRA is new to you, the “E” stands for “Environment”, so they’ve definitely got credentials!

Live Meeting (Webcast): Flexible and Mobile Working – Friday February 27th

The third in our series of Live Meetings (webcasts) on how Microsoft technology can help Public Sector organisations improve the overall economy, efficiency and effectiveness of their operations will focus on flexible and mobile working.

The Live Meeting will provide guidance and practical examples:

·        How to implement integrated communications to enable more productive use of voice, email and instant messaging throughout an organisation

·        How to improve collaboration and secure document sharing between public sector organisations  (inter-agency working) and project teams 

·        How Wakefield Council is using flexible and remote working to increase productivity and reduce their overall cost of operations with their Worksmart programme

The Live Meeting also provides you with the opportunity to question our experts on any aspect of how Microsoft technology and our partner solutions can help you with implementing flexible and mobile working securely throughout your organisation.

When the Live Meeting takes place:

Friday February 27^th, 11:00 -12:00

How to take part:

Simply click on the link below for more information and to register to take part.  You will automatically be sent your access details to connect to the Live Meeting on Friday February 27^th at 11:00AM:

Live Meeting: Flexible and Mobile Working in the Public Sector

All we need is one hour of your time at your desk, in front of your PC/web browser and Microsoft experts and customers will explain how you can get more out of your investment in Microsoft technology for flexible and remote working.

Posted by Ian

ICT in the Credit Crisis: Focus on Cost Optimisation

Gartner has just published an interesting report on ICT in the current economic crisis.  The Gartner perspective is that organisations need to focus on cost optimisation not cost cutting in their ICT. What’s the difference? Cost cutting focuses on spending less on ICT procurement and in reducing baseline ICT costs, while cost optimisation focuses on longer-term process improvement to enable organisational restructuring and innovation.

The Gartner cost optimisation framework comprises four levels:

·        ICT procurement – Each year ICT organisations spend billions on hardware, software, IT and telecommunication services.  The manner in which ICT organisations approach procurement will affect how much they can reduce spending to meet business goals.

·        Cost savings within ICT – A priority for many ICT organisations will be to identify opportunities to reduce baseline ICT costs, not just move them to another budget.

·        Joint business and ICT cost savings – Consider that the average ICT budget is 3% of turnover, while total operating costs are 80-90% of turnover.  If any organisation is looking to reduce costs in 2009, ICT managers should try to join ICT more effectively with the business to reduce costs in overall business operating expense – this may entail spending more on ICT.

·        Enabling innovation and business restructuring – As economic uncertain passes, cost optimisation will refocus on efforts to implement long-term process improvement and enable business restructuring and innovation.

The public sector is certainly not immune from the economic crisis.  We know that the cashable efficiency savings target for the public sector has been increased from £30 to £35 billion in the current investment cycle through to 2011.

Microsoft fully recognises the need to prove the value of investment in ICT.  That is why we have launched a Public Sector value initiative to help you identify the potential for cost optimisation through more effective use of ICT in such areas of operation as:

·        Travel, training and telephony

·        ICT power and space

·        ICT strategy optimisation

·        Data and performance management

·        Strategic partnerships with ICT vendors

As well as the information on the dedicated Microsoft Public Sector value website, we are also running a series of interactive Live Meetings (webcasts) with industry experts and customers on a range of ICT cost optimisation topics. 

The first Live Meeting on Wednesday February 18^th, between 10:00 -11:00 AM, explores the Microsoft technologies that enable Public Sector organisations to reduce their overall cost of operations. David Wood, a former local authority Deputy Chief Executive who now acts as a strategic advisor and executive coach in the Public Sector, will be the keynote presenter on this Live Meeting. He will share his experience and outline how he sees the role of technology in supporting the drive for economy and improvement.

Posted by Ian

Live Meeting (Webcast): Microsoft and Government Connect - Friday January 23rd

The first in our new series of Microsoft Live Meetings for the Public Sector will provide you with information and guidance on how Microsoft can help local authorities and central Government departments prepare for Government Connect (GC).  During this Live Meeting we shall provide practical guidance on:

·        achieving GC Code of Connection (CoCo) compliance

·        configuring secure email using Microsoft Exchange Server

·        securing remote and mobile workers with strong two-factor authentication

·        overall security and management of your Government Connect implementation

You will also have the opportunity to question our experts on any aspect of how Microsoft can help you be ready for Government Connect

What the Live Meeting will cover:

11:00     Opening remarks and Live Meeting guidance

11:05     GC objectives and programme status                  Lee Grafton, Commercial Manager, DWP

11:15     How Microsoft can help with CoCo compliance    Gary Kelly, Microsoft

11:30     Identity management and authentication for GC   Nigel Tilley, Microsoft

11:45     Securing & managing your GC implementation    David Hipwell, Microsoft

11:55     Questions and answers                                      All

12:00     More information and next steps

When the Live Meeting takes place:

Friday January 23, 2009: 11:00 – 12:00

How to take part:

Simply click on the link below for more information and to register to take part. You will automatically be sent your access details to connect to the Live Meeting on Friday January 23rd at 11:00:

Microsoft and Government Connect

Economy, Efficiency, Effectiveness in the Public Sector

We are running a series of Live Meetings (webcasts) during January – April 2009 to provide an insight into how Public Sector organisations can achieve greater value from their investment in Microsoft technology.  The Live Meeting series covers seven areas where Microsoft technology can help Public Sector organisations to achieve these outcomes:

–       Economy: Deliver more with your current Microsoft ICT investment

–       Efficiency: Achieve measurable productivity improvements from your Microsoft ICT

–       Effectiveness: Improve quality and impact of public services using Microsoft ICT

Each Live Meeting includes short business presentations from Microsoft subject matter experts, demonstrations and relevant customer examples from across the Public Sector:

Friday 23-01-09: 11:00 – 12:00 Microsoft and Government Connect

Friday 06-02-09: 11:00 – 12:00 Deploying Windows Vista and Office 2007

Friday 27-02-09: 11:00 – 12:00 Mobile and collaborative working in the Public Sector

Friday 13-03-09: 11:00 – 12:00 Virtualisation from desktop to datacentre

Friday 20-03-09: 11:00 – 12:00 Information governance and assurance

Friday 27-03-09: 11:00 – 12:00 Performance management in the Public Sector

Friday 03-04-09: 11:00 – 12:00 Improving citizen services with technology

Simply click on the title for each Live Meeting for more information and to register to take part.

All we need is 1-hour of your time at your desk, in front of your PC/web browser and Microsoft experts will explain how you can get more out of your investment in Microsoft technology.

 We hope you will join us for one or more of these Microsoft Public Sector Live Meetings on Economy, Efficiency, Effectiveness: Get more from your investment in Microsoft.

Posted by Ian 

Windows for Submarines Part 2

My original blog posting on Windows for Submarines seems to have caused a bit of a stramash in the blogsphere.  The comments vary from Victor Meldrew ‘I don’t believe it’ incredulity about the potential for the blue screen of death (that’s the way the commentators put it, not me) to the recognition that it makes sense to use commercial off-the-shelf software where it is fit for purpose and cost-effective.

As I indicated in the original blog posting, Windows for Submarines is one of many project areas where the UK MOD has the opportunity to input to the features and functionality of Microsoft products through close interaction with the relevant product development teams.