S2, E9 (Week 02, TSLT blog 04)

Wow, has it only been a few days since the holidays?! Except for Tracy (no jealousy here as she holidays… 🛳️ 🏝️) we all feel knackered!

Highlights and reflections on the week just gone, and key decisions we’ve taken:

• Announcements and change It’s been a week of announcements and change! We’ve got time set aside to talk about that next week and for now are looking forward to some quiet time to digest and reflect over the weekend.
• End user device pilot We have finalised the procurement of devices with 4 vendors taking part in the pilot (Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft). The pilot will start next.
• Firewall replacement Following the work on our firewall replacement last weekend we had a guest WiFi authentication issue which was resolved on Wednesday. Investigations also uncovered network infrastructure errors (non-service affecting but resilience impacting) which will be remediated under routine operational maintenance.
• M365 tenancy review The report on our M365 tenancy was shared with colleagues across TS. It highlighted positives in terms of the security of our base configuration and identified some changes that we can make to improve user experience and management of the product. This includes changes to our conditional access policies and approach to Teams site creation. We’ll be rolling out these changes across the tenancy.
• Network consultancy procurement We’ve been evaluating bids for the network consultancy requirement in readiness for the panel consensus meeting next week. We’ve also welcomed a new programme manager to the team: welcome Rafik Alana!
• Oracle Alongside HR and Finance colleagues, we met with Oracle to kick off a more strategic relationship, initially focusing on how can make the most of our existing product deployment and how Oracle can be more proactive in supporting us with that.
• Recruitment We are advertising for an interim solutions architect to support us with the technology roadmap work. Please share this opportunity across your networks and with anyone who may be interested in joining us on a temporary basis.
• The Technology and Architecture leadership team spent some valuable in-person time together sharing and developing our thinking about purpose and direction and exploring opportunities to try some new ways of working.

Priorities and focus for the week coming:

• Essex Digital Service We’re looking forward to our face-to-face meeting on 18 January with Service Transformation and Technology Services colleagues. We’ll be sharing details of the case for change and look forward to discussing next steps and hearing your thoughts and reflections.
• Meetings We’ve reviewed our regular meetings and invitations have been sent out based on feedback from colleagues and TSLT reflections. We’ll keep refining the approach to make sure that we make the best use of time and make time to connect and work as joined-up as we can.
• Network consultancy procurement Moderation of tenders will be keeping a few of us busy next week, and we’re looking forward to the successful partner joining us later in the month as work around our network replacement cranks-up.
• Whole Council Transformation Work is kicking off and we’re starting to reflect on how we report against the new WCT portfolios (Effective Organisation and Modern Digital Council are the portfolios that we are most directly involved in). The EDs are all pulling together colleagues to shape up ‘transition state 2’ deliverables for us to plan and resource too.

Looking at the weather app, it’s going to be a cold week! For those of you supporting outdoor sports at the weekend: wrap up warm! Have a great weekend and see you all on Thursday!