About Project
Background
COVID has transformed the way that many people work and Moray Council is no exception. Pre COVID there was a daily average of around 30 to 50 members of staff that worked from home. That has now risen to between 600 and 700 on a daily basis. This has brought many benefits and possible efficiencies that can assist the Council in the coming years. But it has also highlighted the need for a new set of collaborative tools that allow greater flexibility in communication and collaboration.
Why
The Moray Council rapidly rolled out MS Teams as a video conferencing solution to allow the Council to continue providing services during a difficult time. It is now time to look at providing greater functionality, and put together a standard set of tools which can be made available to all staff.
What will we get
The Council is licenced for specific parts of M365 which can be used without additional cost as well as other applications that must be paid for when used.
Phase One applications are listed below. Additional applications may be added to the lists as we go through the early stages of the project and trial.
Mobile phone only users
- Accessibility Bot – Helps improve application accessibility.
- Audio conferencing – Call into Teams meetings.
- Delve – Manage M365 profile and centralise information of interest.
- Exchange Online – Access to email via the cloud.
- Manual retention labels – Assist with data retention.
- Microsoft 365 Groups – Share resources within teams.
- Microsoft Forms – Create surveys, quizzes and polls.
- Microsoft Lists – Track information, organise work.
- Microsoft Planner – Visual way to organise teamwork.
- Microsoft Shifts – Schedule management tool.
- Microsoft Teams – Group chat
- Microsoft To-Do – To do list maker
- Microsoft Viva Connections – Bring together relevant news, conversations, and resources.
- Office for mobile apps- e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote mobile Apps.
- Office for the web – Use Office in your browser.
- Visio for the web – Draw diagrams that communicate complex information at a glance.
Laptop/Desktop users - Applications listed above plus
- Desktop client apps- Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access (Laptop/PC only), and Publisher (Laptop/PC only).
- Microsoft Bookings – Online booking/scheduling.
- Microsoft Editor – Spelling/grammar checker.
- Outlook desktop client – Outlook for Laptop/PC.
All applications associated with productivity will be enabled. Other applications covered by the licence, but not allocated during phase one will need to be requested by line managers, accompanied by a business case detailing why access is required. The table above may change as we move through the project.
If on day one you don’t have access to an application which you need to carry out your job, please speak to your line manager and ask them to raise a support call using the online form. This is in line with the current requirements regarding Internet access.
Phase two will see:
- Applications requested, but not implemented during phase one, going through cost-benefit analysis to avoid unnecessary budget pressure. Areas to be considered include but are not limited to those listed below:
- Is there a cheaper product that will do the same job?
- Is there a current product that will do the same job?
- What is the training requirement?
- Will the licence\maintenance cost be less than the cost of time saved?
- Automated application deployment.
- Move to Microsoft Autopilot. This will enable remote build and rebuild of laptops.
What needs to be done
Below is a high-level list of activities that need to be completed as part of the M365. This is not a comprehensive list:
- Core backend policies and settings need to be researched and applied to create an environment that adheres to National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guidelines, along with data loss prevention (DLP) requirements.
- Office 365 alone has over 1,300 individual policy settings available. This does not include Azure Active Directory authentication, device protection and many other security related policies that need to be investigated, configured and tested.
- Audit reporting to highlight unusual security/access related activity.
- Backup software researched, procured, installed and tested.
- Exchange hybrid environment configured to allow the use of Exchange Online for email.
- Mobile device management configured to allow for remote management of both mobile phones and laptops.
- A trial will be conducted with a sample group of staff, which will enable feedback regarding functionality and accessibility. The trial will also help us to assess security settings applied and network bandwidth requirement for larger numbers of staff to use M365.
- Migrate TMC staff in a phased manner.
- Data protection impact assessment (DPIA) for M365. This needs to cover potential processes and data sharing.
- M365 user policy.
How long will it take
The project started in January 2022 and is set to last two years. Departmental trials are scheduled to start in the 3rd quarter of 2022. The trial will last for 6 months. This will give us the opportunity to test ease of access and available functionality along with security settings.
Moving to M365 will create additional bandwidth requirements. These will be assessed in parallel with this project.
Information regarding the start of phase two will be made available during staff migration and Internet connection assessment.
How will I know how to use these new Tools
ICT will be working with the Organisational Development and the Digital Champions Network to provide documentation and training on all of the new tools. This seems an opportune moment to thank Organisational Development for their help during the Microsoft Teams project, with a special shout out to Glen Dunn for suffering all of those meetings.
For more information on M365? Please visit:
http://interchange.moray.gov.uk/int_standard/Page_142376.html