The future of UKGov IT

Posted on by January 22, 2014

What is the future of UKGov IT?

Like a new-born foal, UKGov IT is getting shakily to its feet, wobbling around a bit, flopping back down and trying all over again. Sooner or later, it has to get things right. So what is the future for UKGov IT?

Data

According to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, data is the future. Gathering it, storing it and mining it. In a statement reminiscent of Francis Maude’s recent rather blowsy claims about the truly awesome standards of UKGov IT, the report states that the UK:

“has the potential to lead of the defining developments of the 21st century”

However, it also says that

“the UK needs to act now to build the capability within the UK to be at the forefront of extracting knowledge and value from data for the benefit of citizens, business, academia and government.”

Given the recent history of UKGov IT, if the UK has to “act now” to build something right first time, best not hold your breath.

Connectivity

Quite rightly, the report identifies that to make the most of the vast reserves of data that it identifies the UK holds already, broadband coverage is key.  Apparently the existing government targets for 4G and superfast broadband will be the way to achieve this, but as is well-documented, many people are going to be waiting quite some time for anything approaching broadband.

A recent survey carried out on behalf of the Institute of Engineering and Technology reported that almost half of the UK population identifies superfast broadband as more economically beneficial than extra runways or railways. This supports the calls from technology industry experts to prioritise broadband over transport. Clearly, the research demonstrates that there is an overwhelming importance to be placed on improving connectivity if the future of UKGov is to come close to being realised.

Trust

Perhaps surprisingly, considering what an embarrassing muddle has been made of recent UKGov IT projects, the public places its trust in government data systems such as that of the NHS and HMRC, believing it will look after the data and use it responsibly. In a report commissioned by Ernst & Young, UKGov systems came out better for public trust than energy companies, financial institutions and supermarkets. It’s reassuring to see the low level of trust the public places in social media, search engine and mobile apps.

As Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group says,

“People can understand the reason for handing over [data] to their doctor or the tax authorities because of what they get out of the service.”

The future of UKGov IT, then, rests in putting into place the infrastructure to use the data it gathers and that is given by a trusting populace that recognises the benefit it will receive from increasingly digitised services. The government should hold fast to the words of the Dept of Business’ report:

“This is a real opportunity for the UK. We have some of the best universities in the world, and some truly innovative small businesses,”

…so let’s hope with fervour that UKGov puts in place what’s needed.

UKGov IT problems

Posted on by May 30, 2017

UKGov IT problems – tediously predictable

UKGov is trying to improve its digital offerings through increased use of open source and improved functionality, but it’s far from plain sailing. Why do UKGov IT problems occur so often, and how do they occur?

It comes down to three major elements: lack of accountability, failed project management and the old issue of legacy systems (both technical and cultural).

Accountability and metrics

In the good old days, MegaCorp signed the contract, provided a service of sorts, and sat back to watch the money roll in. UKGov has been slammed time and again by the National Audit Office for being unable to analyse the effectiveness and ROI of these contracts. Joe Harley, ex-government CIO, pointed out himself how key this is in managing UKGov IT projects:

“Metrics is key in all of government IT and if we can’t measure it, we can’t manage it.

…though he goes on in the interview quoted to say that though there is still work to be done, he believes good progress is being made, in direct disagreement with Bill McCluggage’s opinion on the matter. However, Harley does feel that people within government should be more accountable for their actions, rather than anonymising everything to the level of departments and committees. An ex-DWP employee goes further and claims the government should be firing the big companies that fail to deliver, something which at the moment is, apparently, rarely done.

Project management

Arguably, this is the most significant element of UKGov IT problems. As we’ve seen time and again, change of the magnitude involved in government IT projects needs to be properly managed (the contrasting fortunes of Munich and Freiburg open source adoption were directly attributable to change management, or not), whether in the context of migrating from package A to package B, or designing a whole new system.

According to the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee, the government simply doesn’t possess the required project management skills to see through the grand projects it dreams up. Perhaps this comes down to mindset and perception of where risk lies. According to this Computing article, there’s a tendency to overstate the benefits of the project and understate the difficulties. Given the nightmarishness of working round legacy systems, projects often do need to be on a big scale and grand in vision, and there needs to be complete veracity about the time, money and work required to deliver these complex projects, with plenty of wiggle room. This is not the usual basis for government projects of any description.

Legacy systems

Hundreds of billions of pounds spent by government are reliant on outdated IT systems struggling to handle the demands placed on them in 2014. The complexities of getting these systems to work together are mind-boggling and result in an unstable network with a legacy system at its core. The system used by the Border Force is a prime example: it’s unstable and “at risk of collapse”, according to the Public Accounts Committee, but with no clear plan or timescale for replacing it.

Is politics the problem?

The ongoing saga of the Universal Credit system reveals the politics-with-a-small-p contributing to UKGov IT problems. We hear now that Francis Maude has pulled government IT experts from the project due to snowballing tension over the continued failure to deliver. This means the DWP (whose current site, incidentally, doesn’t work with most modern browsers) now has to look for alternative IT specialists, which means further delays and more expenditure. Contrast this with the collaborative and co-operative spirit of putting together an open source project, and perhaps you don’t have to look far to see where most UKGov IT problems come from.

UKGov digital strategy

Posted on by January 21, 2014

UKGov Digital Strategy vs reality

The UKGov Digital Strategy is hot news just now.The government is jumping up and down at the moment trying to attract our attention to just how great it is at adopting open source technologies and how it’s busily implementing them left, right and centre to international acclaim and quite fantastic service improvements. Francis Maude, poor bugger, has been tasked with spreading this great and marvellous message.

Haven’t we heard it all before?

Maude has been reported lately fessing up quite plainly to the government’s sorry record with IT projects. We’d really like to feel encouraged, but when you consider that in March 2011 – nearly THREE YEARS AGO – a similar message was being peddled about open source, and that’s hardly materialised, it’s not easy to take the UKGov digital strategy line seriously. However, with Maude making remarks such as:

“Back in 2010 our digital offering was limited at best and government IT was a by-word for disaster,”

…it seems he wasn’t under any illusions either.

Cost and efficiency savings

In this ITPro article Maude is quoted thus:

“[In the past] we spent more per capita on IT than any other country except perhaps Sweden and Switzerland, and to get Switzerland up there you have to include the cost of CERN.”

That’s a quite staggering state of affairs (and does beg the question of what exactly they’ve been up to in Sweden). No doubt situations such as the unaccountable sums paid to Capgemini made a significant contribution to this horrifying statistic.

However, looking on the bright side, this Computing article does give the impression that UKGov has taken on board the range of benefits of digitising services – saving money, improving service delivery, making more services available – but then with offerings such as the student loans service, any improvement would have dramatic consequences as it’s struggling to cope at the moment.

Slow progress

Of course we should be glad that the government has realized the benefit of both open source and increased digital services, and we can’t expect an improvement of the magnitude that’s required to happen overnight, but still, isn’t this comment by Francis Maude just a teeny weeny bit ambitious?

“We’ve gone from being a byword, being crap at this stuff to becoming recognised as a world leader.”

With the recent write-off of £140m on the Universal Credit system, particularly as contrasted with the excellent public administration systems being created on open source in Europe, I don’t think UKGov is in any position to be crowing just yet about its position as a world leader in IT projects. Referring to the ‘one year on’ report recently presented to the cabinet by Francis Maude, Computing details the 25 projects currently “transforming” UKgov digital strategy:

Aside from progress with GDS and GOV.UK, the ‘one year on’ report also says that the government has made an impact by transforming 25 services across government. Currently there is one service with live elements (the Student Loans Company), 15 in beta and six in alpha.

Please note the further reading to that Computing article, and weep…