APPENDIX 6
Memorandum from the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office
THE FCO'S
INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
(ICT)
1. INTRODUCTION
Recommendation 11 of the FAC report on the 1999
FCO Annual Report[3]
called for six-monthly reports on progress in setting up a modern
IT and communications system. The FCO response was:
"The FCO will include such an update on
its IT and communications strategy in all future departmental
reports. From Spring 2002 either a report or a plan will be submitted
to Parliament every six months. A separate report will be presented
in Autumn 2001 to cover the gap between the Departmental Report
in Spring 2001 and the Departmental Plan in April 2002."
This is the separate Autumn 2001 report. It
includes an assessment of costs and benefits for our major ICT
projects as recommended in the FAC Report on the 2000 FCO Annual
Report (see recommendation 6 in footnote[4]).
It also addresses in annex 1[5]
recommendation 7 (see footnote[6]).
2. THE FCO'S
ICT STRATEGY
2.1 The FCO's ICT strategy was agreed by
the Board of Management in March 2000. Its broad aim is to move
from hub and spoke to a global on-line arrangement. This means:
— establishing a common global FCO
ICT infrastructure; and
— delivering a set of applications
to run on that infrastructure for:
— more effective management of
resources;
— better public services, including
electronic service delivery; and
— better global access to information
2.2 To realise the aims of the strategy
four programmes have been established:
1. The Infrastructure Programme
This includes the Firecrest project for a common
desktop system using standard Microsoft software in all posts
abroad, as well as the FCO; linked by telecommunications supplied
and managed under a PFI contract by the international telecommunications
provider Global Crossing.
2. The Prism Programme
This programme will improve management of resources,
both financial and human. It involves a new IT system and new
working practices.
"Recommendation 6: We recommend that in its
regular update reports to our successor Committee on IT and communications
the FCO include a full cost-benefit analysis of the FTN, the new
management information system and any other major information
technology or communications project.
Agreed. The FCO will include an assessment of
costs against expected and achieved benefits for major Information
Communication and Technology (ICT) projects with our regular updates
to the Committee. However, many of the expected benefits will
be qualitative in nature and therefore may not be measurable.
Recommendation 7: We recommend that in its Autumn
2001 report on IT and communications to our successor Committee
the FCO include full information on the steps it is taking to
minimise downtime due to faults on desktop information systems
awaiting repair and on the extent to which it is meeting the half-day
target for repairing such faults.
Agreed. The FCO will include a full report on
our desktop support arrangements in our next Report".
3. The Public Services Programme
This programme addresses the modernisation of
services provided direct to the public. It includes improvements
to the FCO's web-site, and new systems to support Consular services
and electronic visa processing.
4. The Knowledge Programme
This programme will provide a new FCO Intranet
(a closed internal network based on Internet-technology) and document
management facilities, which together will improve access to information.
Further details can be obtained from "E-Diplomacy",
the FCO's e-business strategy, available from the FCO's web-site
(http://www.fco.gov.uk/directory/dynpage.asp?Page=575.)
3. PROGRESS IN
IMPLEMENTING THE
STRATEGY
Infrastructure Programme
Firecrest has been installed in 234 Posts overseas
and throughout the FCO in London. It has 11,105 users in all.
An upgrade to allow confidential working is now in 45 Posts and
the main London buildings, with delivery to other Posts due by
the start of 2003. FCO staff in Hanslope Park and Croydon will
receive Firecrest in the New Year. FTN services are now available
in 73 Posts, and the network should be complete in 2002.
Prism Programme
Following a procurement competition the FCO
aims to sign a contract shortly for an integrated personnel and
financial management system and related services. Implementation
of the new system is scheduled to begin in early 2003.
Public Services Programme
The Public Services Programme comprises three
sub-programmes. The Public Diplomacy sub-programme, funded
in part by the Treasury's Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF), involves
a major upgrade to the FCO's web-site and centralised management
of the content of the main web-site and of a number of overseas
embassy web-sites. The new system is scheduled to go live in early
2002. The Entry Clearance sub-programme involves streamlining
the whole entry-clearance process. Again, funded in part through
the CMF, it is being run by the Joint Entry Clearance Unit (owned
jointly by the FCO and the Home Office) and will integrate back-office
systems as well as electronic transactions with the visa applicant.
The precise scope of this sub-programme is being defined. The
Consular sub-programme involves a package of measures to
improve consular services to the public. A pilot of a new consular
database, which will deliver world-wide access to consular information,
is about to get under way. A new voice-recognition system (currently
undergoing testing) will extend the provision of telephone travel
advice, and complement the travel information already available
on the FCO web-site. New systems for the processing of passport
applications and production of digital passports are already in
place for the top 11 passport issuing Posts. There are plans to
extend the system to allow Posts with low volumes of passport
applications, where deploying a full systems cannot be justified
in terms of cost, to use the facilities remotely.
Knowledge Programme
A procurement competition has identified a preferred
supplier for new Intranet and document management facilities and
the FCO aims to sign a contract shortly.
4. COSTS AND
BENEFITS
4.1 The costs of our ICT programmes are
summarised in the table below.
| Programmes/Projects[7]
| Cost | Timescale
|
| Infrastructure |
| |
| Firecrest | £96.7m
| 1997-98-2001-02 |
| FTN | £200m[8]
| 2000-01-2009-10 |
| Public services |
| |
| Internet | £13.2m
| 1999-00-2001-02 |
Entry Clearance
Modernisation | £9.9m (£7.2m CMF)
| 2000-01-2003-04 |
| Digital Passports | £3.2m
| 1999-00-2002-03 |
| Consular Database | £2.0m
| 2001-02-2002-03 |
4.2 The four programmes within our ICT strategy depend
on one another to deliver the means to achieve the expected benefits.
The Prism programme depends on the ICT infrastructure provided
by the Infrastructure Programme; the Knowledge Programme depends
on the information which will be obtained via the Prism systems,
for example. It is not therefore possible to assign all expected
benefits to a single programme. The benefits we expect from the
strategy as a whole are summarised in the following paragraphs.
4.3 In parts of the world in which the local telecommunications
infrastructure is unreliable, FTN's high capacity on-line satellite
connections have brought major benefits to Posts, providing reliable
telephone access to the UK telephone network, instant e-mail connections,
and good Internet access. Posts are receiving new advanced digital
telephone switchboards, also provided as part of the FTN contract.
Firecrest provides a unified desktop system for FCO staff in the
two main buildings in London, at Hanslope Park, and at Posts overseas.
Some 3,000 staff in the UK and in 45 Posts overseas now use a
Confidential version of Firecrest, the world's first diplomatic
ICT system capable both of fully secure data processing with e-mail
and full access to the Internet. This is bringing efficiency benefits
and is a key step towards a modern, global on-line FCO.
4.4 The unified FCO infrastructure provided by FTN and
Firecrest is key to the benefits expected from the other three
programmes. In summary these are:
The Prism Programme
The new integrated resource management system will bring
better, more accurate and more timely information on resources.
This in turn, will reinforce accountability and control over resource
management of resources throughout the organisation. The system
will automate routine tasks, freeing staff from time-consuming
rekeying and checking operations.
The Public Services Programme
The new Internet facilities will concentrate at the centre
the management of the content of FCO web-sites around the world.
This will ensure that messages are consistent, and release for
other work some resources currently devoted to maintaining Posts'
web-sites. The Entry Clearance modernisation work will streamline
visa processing, providing a fast service to applicants. It will
progressively make available electronic means of applying for
and processing visas, making the service more convenient and more
efficient. The new consular database and the extension of telephone
travel advice will improve consular services to the public and
reduce our administrative overheads at the centre.
The Knowledge Programme
Ad advanced new secure Intranet and document management system
will enable the FCO to draw more effectively on the experience
and expertise of all our staff around the world. It will help
teams spread across the world to work together and allow individuals
to select the information they need. Combined with some strengthening
of the core UK network (due for completion early next year), it
will also give Posts overseas much better backup IT arrangements
in the event of local problems.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
December 2001
3
Fifth Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 1999-2000,
Annual Reports of Foreign and Commonwealth and British Trade
International 2000, HC 507. Back
4
Fifth Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 1999-2000,
Annual Reports of Foreign and Commonwealth and British Trade
International 2000, HC 507. Back
5
Ev 107. Back
6
Extract from FAC response to FCO departmental Report 2000, with
FCO replies: Back
7
The Prism and Knowledge Programmes are approaching the point
at which contracts will be signed. To avoid undermining negotiations
with prospective suppliers at this critical stage of the procurement
competitions the costs are classified Restricted Commercial and
cannot be included with this report. Back
8
Original contract value was £165 million covering 135 FCO
Posts. A subsequent decision to extend network coverage to 220
Posts has raised the contract value to £200 million, over
10 years. Back
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