ITadviser Winter 2009 25
ITDA
Services Michael Dean said, "iGroup and
North Wales Police are deserving
recipients of the National Computing
Centre's IT Department Accreditation.
The level of strategic thinking, the
delivery and implementation mechanism
as well as the exploitation of inherent
benefits in creating new capability is a
stunning achievement".
Tameside Metropolitan
Borough Council
"Although we have many accreditations
already, the ITDA gave us an objective
assessment and impartial appraisal of
where we stand across all service
departments"
Tameside MBC (TMBC) is one of ten
metropolitan boroughs that comprise
Greater Manchester and serves
approximately 215,000 citizens. The 100
strong ICT Service is headed up by
Norman Crawford, Assistant Executive
Director � ICT Services.
Norman is supported by his deputy
Julie Hayes, Service Unit Manager, who
heads up the Development, Technical and
Support Services Department.
Julie commented, "Although we have
many accreditations already, especially
in the educational field, we lacked an
objective assessment of how our ICT
Service was doing as a whole. The ITDA
has provided us with an impartial
appraisal of where we stand across all of
the service lines. We passed which was
great news, but the ITDA also
highlighted some areas where greater
alignment to best practice will help us.
This is especially useful as we are now
refreshing our Service Excellence
Strategy and need to establish priorities
for investment. Sometimes, internally, it
is difficult to see the wood for the trees,
but the ITDA has given us objective
clarity.
"The Orientation Visit was a great way
to start the accreditation, and enabled us
to fully understand what evidence we
needed to provide. The structured format
used for gathering evidence and during
the assessment visit meant that only a
day was needed for the assessor to
gather evidence in order to make his
recommendation. Although we needed
to back up our claims, the ITDA isn't
about reams of paper and weeks of
assessment, it was a team effort with all
managers contributing to the evidence
and getting involved on the assessment
day. They all found the process valuable
as it allowed them to see where
improvements could be made but more
importantly they saw how well we are
doing."
Norman identified another benefit of
the ITDA, "There is nothing like external
endorsement to motivate the internal
team, and the Action Plan delivered as
part of the ITDA process gives everybody
something positive to focus on and
stimulates discussion on topics that are
very important, but often get lost in day-
to-day operations".
"Overall I recommend others to go
through the ITDA, it's a fantastic
endorsement of what your team does
well, and a route map to improvement."
Lancashire Constabulary
"We provide services to external
customers and need to be seen as, and be,
a quality and efficient provider to paying
customers � the ITDA helps us achieve
this"
Lancashire Constabulary have a
reputation for excellence. Along with
Surrey, they are one of the top
performing Forces in England and
Wales. They are the 8th largest force in
the country with over 1.5 million
citizens and employing approx 8,000
staff of which 4,500 are Police Officers
and Police Community Support
Officers.
The ICT Department, which is 85
strong, has achieved an Excellent
grading in the last two HMIC
assessments. Headed up by Stuart
Fillingham, the ICT department has a
strong culture of excellence in
supporting police officers via in-house
developments. A team of 24 is dedicated
to product development, and the
Department generates over �1m in
external revenue by selling products and
services to other Forces such as Cumbria
and Durham and even to suppliers such
as Motorola.
Stuart said, "We were attracted to the
NCC's IT Department Accreditation
Scheme because we felt it would help us
achieve our ambitions. Although we are
certified to ISO 9001, we needed a
broader arena for assessment and we
need to keep our ambitions alive and
under review and the ITDA helps us
achieve both of these aims".
He continued, "With the demise of the
HMIC ICT assessment process, we
lacked a reference to an independent
and qualified source of assessment
against best in class, especially in other
business areas, and broader than just
the police environment � the ITDA now
gives us the capability to do this, with
an independent and objective
perspective." Stuart was also attracted by
the ITDA's business improvement
programme, which provides a
structured framework for continuous
business improvement, "The ITDA's
Action Plan will help us focus on
service improvement and the annual
review will keep us on track. The
process has also been very useful in
helping us prepare for other
accreditations and the Operational
Support Reviews � we see ITDA as
complementary".
Staff reaction has been really
positive too � they found the ITDA
process challenging but also
rewarding. "The Assessor's approach
was just right, providing input and
stimulation as well as assessment. We
learned some things about ourselves
too, and that's extremely helpful in
our drive for excellence" enthused
Stuart.
The Standard specifies a set of
requirements in five key
business areas:
1. Business Management
How well does the department
manage itself and its personnel?
2. Business Direction
How well has the department planned
its strategy? And is the strategy being
realised?
3. Business Generation
How well does the department
encourage its business to ask for new
services, or take up its current
services?
4. Delivery and Operations
How well does the department
carry out its responsibilities for
delivery?
5. Customer Relationships
How well does the department work
with its customers? And how well do
the customers perceive the IT
department?
To apply call NCC on 0161 242 2121,
email info@ncc.co.uk or see
www.ncc.co.uk and complete the online
application form.

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