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CDS

Strategy Cloud

Strategy Cloud is a secure, cloud-based management information and business intelligence solution designed for the public sector. Delivered through a simple per-user subscription, it provides trusted insight and actionable analytics via intuitive dashboards, enabling granular reporting, data visualisation, and evidence-based decision-making that drives measurable organisational change.

Features

  • No upfront investment or infrastructure required
  • Secure hosted environment ISO27001 certified
  • Create responsive, device-agnostic solutions
  • Support via ITIL and ISO20000 compliant Service Desk
  • Quick and cost-effective deployment
  • Expert training by MicroStrategy specialists
  • Access to onboarding experts to support deployment
  • Dedicated testing team certified to ISO20000 service management
  • Hosting via tier 1 provider with 99.9% availability per month

Benefits

  • Access to MicroStrategy's entire BI platform
  • In-depth analysis from the world’s leading BI software
  • Designed to empower non-technical users to explore data
  • Designed to deliver actionable analytics to drive change
  • Scalable based on user and business needs
  • Easy and intuitive to use
  • Secure handling of sensitive or personal data is assured
  • Accessed via browser, tablet and mobile
  • Quickly see return on investment

Pricing

Service documents

Request an accessible format
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Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

7 3 1 4 4 2 2 0 6 0 5 5 9 7 5

Contact

CDS Jonathan Astin
Telephone: 07904570073
Email: bidteam@cds.co.uk

About your service

Service categories

Application Development and Deployment

Analytics and business intelligence

  • Business Intelligence
  • Advanced and predictive analytics
  • Location and geospatial data management and analytics
Multi cloud support
Yes

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
Private cloud
Service constraints
None
System requirements
The solution requires Microstrategy for mobile (app) or web installed

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Yes
Support response times
9am-5pm Monday to Friday as standard; up to 24x7x365 by arrangement. SLAs vary by contract
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
Yes
Online ticketing support accessibility
WCAG 2.2 AA
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
Our service model is designed to provide comprehensive, proactive support that operates to ISO20000:2018 Service Management and ITIL best practices, covering the full-service management lifecycle.  

We deliver a fully managed service that encompasses application support, platform maintenance, incident management, problem management, change management, supplier management, and out-of-hours support for major incidents. This approach ensures that business-critical systems remain operational and performant whilst maximising customer value through continuous service improvement. 

All CDS Service Delivery team are ITIL-certified.

We offer three service levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold) each providing:

Online Service Desk Portal available 24x7 for logging and tracking incidents and requests.    

Telephone support via a dedicated helpline available from 9am to 5pm Monday – Friday (excluding English Bank Holidays).  

Highly skilled service desk team who manage and resolve incidents and requests in accordance with the agreed SLA.   

Ongoing maintenance including application of security patches.    

Structured change management to ensure updates are properly assessed, approved and implemented.   

Monthly performance report to provide visibility of service levels and operational metrics.
Support available to third parties
No

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
On boarding of data will involve an analysis phase. Working with the customer, we will identify the data sources the customer has or wishes to access as part of the proposed solution. Once agreed, CDS will work with the customer to extract data from the identified sources into a number of staging data sources. Based on the required metrics, CDS will create a series of dynamic dashboard reports that will allow the user to gain visual actionable insight.
Training
To support the transition to Cloud based BI solution, CDS and Microstrategy are able to provide a range of training courses.
Introductory training is offered free of charge at Microstrategy’s premises in West London. This is based on joining a “public” training course with other customers.
CDS is also able to provide bespoke training to help support the deployment. All training is “hands-on”, delivered by one of CDS’ experienced BI experts. Training sessions can be delivered either on-site or at one of CDS’ offices in Leeds, Cheltenham or London.
Professionally written user documentation can be provided at an additional cost which will include step-by-step instructions and screenshots of your delivered system.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
Ownership of the data contained in the solution belongs and rests with the client/customer. As the service is decommissioned the data will be extracted in its native format and transferred to the client via trusted hand.
End-of-contract process
The service will cease on the agreed date/time and users will be denied access. All data will be returned to the client in accordance with the specific client contract.
Documentation accessibility standard
WCAG 2.2 AA

Using the service

Web browser interface
No
Application to install
Yes
Compatible operating systems
  • Android
  • IOS
  • MacOS
  • Windows
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
Native app functionality that uses touch, swipe & pinch features are mirrored as closely as possible in the browser version.
Service interface
No
User support accessibility
None or don’t know
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
The API does not allow for setup of the service, however it supports features including: authentication, folder browsing, filtering data, searching, retrieving data from the Intelligence Server (referred to as the JSON Data API), uploading external data (referred to as the Push Data API), and manage attributes, relationships, facts, user hierarchies, tables, filters, prompts, derived elements, consolidations, custom groups, and security filters through the Modeling service.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
HTML
API sandbox or test environment
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
With the necessary skills, dashboards can be created and customised using Microstrategy.

Scaling

Independence of resources
Each customer site receives its own dedicated virtual infrastructure which is logically firewalled from that of other customers.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
User activity. Login date, Login count, activity, job & sessions run etc.
Reporting types
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request
Resource tagging
No
FOCUS resource tagging
No

Resellers

Supplier type
Reseller providing extra features and support
Organisation whose services are being resold
MicroStrategy

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
User control over data storage and processing locations
Yes
Datacentre security standards
Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 4.0)
Penetration testing frequency
At least once a year
Penetration testing approach
‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
Protecting data at rest
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v4.0
  • Encryption of all physical media
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Equipment disposal approach
Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001
Data sanitisation type
Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation / Secure Erase

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
The software allows for data to be extracted from the desktop solution.
Data export formats
  • CSV
  • ODF
Data import formats
  • CSV
  • ODF
  • Other
Other data import formats
Json

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
Data protection within supplier network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
99% to 99.9% on a clustered environment.
Service credits of between 1% and 7% if not met.
Approach to resilience
Available on request
Outage reporting
Public dashboard and email alert via Account Manager channels

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Customers can raise and update support tickets using our interactive online portal and/or email. Access to our portal is by invitation only, and requires a username and password. Interaction by email can be restricted to specific domains, email addresses, or disabled altogether. We also offer access by telephone for urgent requests, and will always attempt to verify the identity of the caller, either using our standard procedure, or one agreed with the customer.
Access to management interfaces are only available from the CDS network.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least once a year
Management access authentication
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
Between 1 month and 6 months

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
Yes
Security governance standards
ISO/IEC 27001
Information security policies and processes
CDS is certificated to BS EN ISO27001 – Information Security Management System and registered under the Data Protection Act 1998. (DPA No. Z5255664), and is Cyber Essentials Plus certified. CDS ensures client information is securely maintained through our audited processes and procedures. These are detailed in our SYSOPS which form part of our ISO27001 accreditation which is independently audited twice yearly. Our SYSOPS cover personnel and IT security requirements. All staff are BPSS cleared at minimum. CDS endeavours to ensure that personal data is kept secure against unauthorised or unlawful loss or disclosure. CDS employs a dedicated Security manager (ITSM).
Software Security Code of Practice
Yes

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
Configuration and change management approach
CDS operate a mature Change Management process, which is certified to the ISO 20000 standard. We ensure that all configuration or service changes are put through a controlled Change Management process, to ensure that impact and risk are managed, quality is maintained, and that changes are planned, documented and approved. Impact and risk assessment includes security considerations.
Our Change Register is underpinned by a Configuration Management toolset and process, which charts the lifecycle of configuration items, and allows for them to be linked to service transactions, such as incidents and changes.
Vulnerability management type
Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
Vulnerability management approach
CDS undertake periodic independent pen and vulnerability scanning of our networks and network services. This forms part of our ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation.
CDS also undertake vulnerability scanning of client solutions during development and at the point of release.
Nessus scans of the whole environment are performed weekly.
Any identified vulnerabilities are assessed based upon the threat type and business risk. Those issues requiring attention form part of a remediation plan. The individual items are logged and assigned a priority based upon severity and tracked through our ITIL service desk.
Protective monitoring type
Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
Protective monitoring approach
Our perimeter networks are protected with DDoS mitigation layer which is further reinforced with threat detection and response as part of every ingress/egress point. IDS and IPS are in place on all firewalls and all suspicious activity is logged and alerted to a central location. Additionally all firewalls and networks are registered with the NCSC Early Warning service. Infrastructure device logs are reported to a centralised SIEM solution with profiling in place to detect malicious activities such as repeated, failed administrator login attempts as well as more sophisticated events indicating exfiltration attempts.
Incident management type
Complies with a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v4.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
Incident management approach
CDS operate a mature Incident and Service Request Management process, certified to the ISO 20000 standard. The process is operated by our Service Management tool, which is interactive and can be configured to support the ticket workflow and metrics agreed with customers. Customers can report and update incidents via our interactive portal, email and telephone. Though we operate a core Incident Management policy and process, these can be tailored within customers Service Level Agreements to support common incidents and events. We operate a separate Major Incident Management process, which can provide incident reports, post-mortems etc., when criteria are triggered.
Post-quantum cryptography secure
Yes

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v4.0)

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Pricing

Discount for educational organisations
No
Free trial available
No

Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)

Less than £250,000
0%
Between £250,000 and £500,000
0%
Between £500,001 and £1,000,000
0%
Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000
0%
Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000
0%
Over £5,000,001
0%

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
NQA
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
Friday 5 November 2004
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
N/A
ISO 28000:2022 certification
No
ISO 9001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO 9001 certification
NQA
ISO 9001 accreditation date
Friday 18 May 2001
What the ISO 9001 doesn’t cover
N/A
Quality management systems (QMS)
Yes
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
Yes
Please provide your Cyber Essentials Certificate Number
30590b83-9532-4856-b047-7e4d3cc128c9
Cyber essentials plus
Yes
Please provide your Cyber Essentials Plus Certificate Number
107e4854-eda7-403a-81ce-1cb3b4cf4d6c
Other security certifications
No

Social value

Section B - Commitment for Future: Delivery
  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority

    • Providing opportunities for, and measuring and monitoring of, staff workforce conditions over time, including employee engagement, involvement in decision-making and satisfaction and adapting to any changes in the results, with clear processes for acting on issues identified
    • Plans to engage the contract workforce in deciding the most important workplace issues to address
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about, and feel empowered to, address their physical wellbeing
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
    • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
    • Monitoring and reporting of gender and ethnicity pay gaps and plans to address them where necessary
    • Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
    • Understanding of in-work progression issues affecting the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Measures to support in-work progression to help people in the contract workforce, to move into higher paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract
    • Support for the contract workforce by providing career advice, and providing opportunities for staff working on the contract with in-work progression career development into known skills shortages or high growth areas
    • Volunteering opportunities for staff
    • Understanding of the modern slavery risks and issues affecting the market, industry, sector or country (of origin or of source) relevant to the contract, and the workforce in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key subcontractors
    • Outline policies and practices to be applied to or put in place for the contract to mitigate and manage modern slavery risks, including: Pre-employment checks, recruitment practices. Workplace conditions, safeguarding plans and processes in place and regular monitoring with relevant groups considered, which may include sampling
  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 2: Skills for growth: Supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gaps.

    • Understanding of employment and relevant skills issues, and of the education and training issues relating to the contract. Illustrative examples: demographics, skills shortages, new opportunities in high growth sectors, geographic/local community and skills/employment challenges
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Activities to support relevant sector related skills growth and sustainability in the contract workforce. Illustrative examples: careers talks, curriculum support, literacy support, safety talks and volunteering
  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 3: Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains: Support economic growth through enabling resilient businesses, opportunities for small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises

    • Understanding of the types of businesses in the market and the level of participation by new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
    • Activities to identify opportunities to open up sub-contracts under the prime contract to a diverse range of businesses, including new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
    • Plans for engaging a diverse range of businesses in engagement activities prior to appointing subcontractors (including activities prior to award of the main contract and during the contract term)
    • Structuring of the supply chain selection process to ensure fairness (e.g. anti-corruption) and encourages participation by a diverse range of businesses, including with regard to new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutual
    • Understanding of local demographics, needs and opportunities for the co-design of the goods, services and works to be delivered under the contract
    • Plans for positive actions with community groups.
    • Support for community-led initiatives relevant to the contract. Illustrative examples: improving transport links; reducing loneliness; helping with English language proficiency; and facilitating social mixing among people with different backgrounds
  • Mission: Make Britain a clean energy superpower: To cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero

    Policy Outcome 4: Sustainable procurement practices: Reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.

    • Understanding of opportunities for additional environmental benefits delivery in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Collaborative ways of working with the supply chain to deliver additional environmental benefits in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Delivery of additional environmental benefits through the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Understanding of how to influence staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders through the delivery of the contract to support climate and nature protection and improvement
    • Activities to reconnect people with the environment and increase awareness of ways to protect and enhance it
  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 6: Employment and training: For those who face barriers to employment

    • Understanding of employment and skills issues, and of the skills and employment shortages of high growth sectors relating to the contract
    • Delivery of training schemes and programmes to address any identified skills gaps and under-representation in the workforce for the contract (e.g. prison leavers, care leavers, kinship carers, disabled people)
    • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, and retention-focused activities, including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition
    • Working conditions which promote an inclusive working environment and promote retention and progression
    • Understanding of the issues affecting inequality in employment, skills and pay in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors. Measures to tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce
  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 7: Creating a pipeline of opportunities: For the contract workforce, reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups.

    • Understanding of the issues affecting the development of new skills by target cohort
    • Creation of outreach activities to create a pipeline of employees for the future contract delivery
    • Content of the outreach activity is designed to suit the target cohort
    • Advertising, promotional and outreach activities designed to raise awareness of the offer to reach the target cohort
  • Mission: Build an NHS fit for the future: That is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.

    Policy Outcome 8: Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: In the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.

    • Understanding of issues relating to health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
    • Understanding barriers to access to health and social care services or employment opportunities e.g. digital inclusion
    • Actions to invest in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the contract workforce

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at bidteam@cds.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.