Roll-out of Office 365

WQ.102/2020

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHIEF MINISTER BY DEPUTY I. GARDINER OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 9th MARCH 2020

Question

Will the Chief Minister advise –

1. whether Office 365 has been rolled out to all departments within the States and Government of Jersey and, if not all, why not and to which departments it has been rolled out;
2. what agreement was made with Microsoft in relation to the roll-out, what provision was made in any such agreement with respect to the anticipated cost and expected outcomes of the roll-out, and how many consultants from Microsoft, if any, were engaged in respect of the roll-out; and
3. what future investment is anticipated to ensure either completion of the roll-out to all departments or, if Office 365 cannot subsequently be rolled out to all departments, that all departments are nevertheless operating on a single system?

Answer

1. Office 365 has not been rolled out to all departments within the States and Government of Jersey. In 2019 a pilot roll out was undertaken with the objective of proving our ability to deploy Office 365 across Government, and to learn vital lessons that will support a wider roll out. In total 700 employees and States Members (14% of the applicable workforce) are using Office 365. The table below shows the departments and number of users:

2. In July 2018 GoJ signed a Fixed Price Agreement with Microsoft Consultancy Services for them to assist with the rollout of Office 365 to the pilot users. The basis of the agreement was that Microsoft would work alongside GoJ in providing the expertise and knowledge in the design and deployment of the pilot in order to upskill GoJ staff. The Microsoft assignment was delivered across five statements of work, and was resourced with relevant subject matter experts in the areas of Project Management, Consultancy, Architects and Change Managers, with resources working on site 4 days a week over a 16 week period. The engagement was fixed for the pilot, with no provision made for subsequent roll out. If Microsoft services or expertise is required then this will be contracted under a new agreement.

3. The further rollout of Office 365 will be delivered through the MS Foundation Programme which runs over 2020 and 2021. The funding for the programme was agreed in the Government Plan with £3.3m capital in 2020 and £5.7m capital in 2021. Revenue costs of £2.5m for 2020 and then £2.3m recurring per annum from 2021 are also included. It is not anticipated that any GoJ departments will be excluded from Office 365 rollout, however, should this be discovered through the planning and design phase of the programme then a solution will be identified that facilitates effective working in that department and across functions.

It is estimated that cashable savings of up to £800,000, in addition to non-cashable productivity gains, could be made through the move to Office 365, due to the changes in both working habits and the savings made on previous licence agreements