IT departments are never short of
challenges: delivering upon ever-
evolving business requirements;
deciding when and how to adopt new
technologies; managing internal and
outsourced relationships; ensuring
appropriate compliance and
governance and, delivering
continuous improvement and best
value.
In such a complex environment, how
do you show your activities match good
practice?
Four members of the National
Computing Centre are able to do just
that after receiving inaugural awards
for being the first to be awarded The
National Computing Centre's (NCC's)
IT Department Accreditation (ITDA) �
a new standard with some familiar
facets.
Dickinson Dees LLP
"We learnt from the ITDA and it also
provided re-assurance by confirming
established good practice"
24 ITadviser Winter 2009
ITDA
Dickinson Dees LLP is a leading
full service law firm that provides
legal services for clients across the
UK. With an annual turnover in
excess of �50 million and 700 staff, the
firm is heavily reliant upon its IT
services.
Director of IT, Simon Earnshaw,
welcomed the introduction of NCC's IT
Department Accreditation Scheme,
"Rather than being just an
accreditation process for a single
service element, the NCC's ITDA came
with a practical approach to
continuous improvement across all
elements of IT service delivery."
"The structure of this approach is
ideal for us as it allows us to
continually strive to improve
customer experiences, both internal
and external, whilst delivering upon
our firm wide objectives as a
business."
He continued, "The ITDA process gives
equal weight to all of the service
elements, and backs this up with an
overall Action Plan and on-going
continuous review."
The assessment process was also a
morale boost for the IT team � the ITDA
enabled them to see the progress they
had made over the years and the award
gives them recognition for a job well
done.
"Most IT organisations are dealing
with scarce resources and we are no
different. The benefit of the ITDA for
Dickinson Dees is that we have an
objective view of the performance of IT
as a whole, including valuable
customer feedback and the action
plan will enable us to deploy our
resources to the best effect," concluded
Simon.
North Wales Police
"We aim to deliver a service that stands
business scrutiny and this award
confirms this unequivocally"
North Wales Police (NWP) serves the
675,000 residents of Anglesey, Conwy,
Gwynedd, Wrexham, Flintshire, and
Denbighshire. Covering an area of 80 x
70 miles, NWP has more than 1600
police officers supported by a further
900 police staff. As top performers in
terms of crime reduction and detection,
NWP are also one of the most forward
thinking Forces, especially when it
comes to IT.
Geoff Bradley, Director of NWP's
iGroup, wanted to ensure that the IT
services delivered were effective, efficient
and joined-up. Geoff also wanted to
demonstrate to the Force's management
team that whilst IT was innovative,
(most Forces deploy in-house IT), they
were using good practice, had the
appropriate governance in place and
initiatives were providing a tangible
return on investment. The answer to
these issues came with the NCC's ITDA.
"The ITDA has enabled us to get a
clear view of our overall performance,
the things we do well and those that
could be better aligned to good practice.
The whole process of accreditation was
very straight forward, and because a
significant element is self-assessment,
we could choose when to allocate the
time to collating the evidence we
needed. The assessment itself took just
one day and the consultative approach
meant that the team really engaged with
the ITDA and they are proud to be one of
the first organisations to receive the
award", said Geoff.
Recognising that everyone has the
potential to improve, all applicants for
accreditation receive a bespoke Action
Plan following the assessment, whether
they pass or fail. The Action Plan helps
IT departments prioritise where they
devote their energies, whilst the annual
review keeps a check on performance
and helps drive continuous
improvement.
Reflecting on the successful
application, NCC's Director of Advisory
IT Department
Accreditation
A new Standard and an
Accreditation scheme from the
National Computing Centre
First successful IT Departments receive their
ITDA awards at the NCC Annual Conference
2009.

Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20Page 21Page 22Page 23Page 24Page 25Page 26Page 27Page 28Page 29Page 30Page 31Page 32Page 33Page 34Page 35Page 36Page 37Page 38Page 39Page 40Page 41Page 42Page 43Page 44Page 45Page 46Page 47Page 48Page 49Page 50 Produced by PageSuite