DIGITAL SCIENCE UK LIMITED

Symplectic Elements

Symplectic Elements is a Research Information Management System (also known as a Current Research Information System, or CRIS) for higher education institutions to collect and showcase scholarly information and outputs, build rich researcher profiles for external discovery, manage open access workflows, capture impact and prepare REF submissions.

Features

• Collect, collate and connect scholarly information organisation-wide
• Intelligent automated data harvesting from diverse data sources
• Capture publications, grants, citations, metrics and scholarly activities
• Showcase researchers, outputs and institutional equipment via public profiles
• Capture comprehensive evidence to demonstrate wider research impact
• Manage and track open access compliance with configurable workflows
• Bi-directional integration with institutional repositories for deposit and harvest
• Prepare REF submissions and conduct regular stocktake assessments
• Configurable reporting to track and analyse quantitative, qualitative metrics
• Use AI to automate data capture and reduce researcher burden

Benefits

• “Always reuse, never rekey” reduces burden and improves researcher uptake
• Configurable workflows and approvals streamline assessments and validate data
• Drive compliance with government and institutional mandates and exercises
• User-friendly interface designed with deep domain expertise
• See trends and track progress for actionable reporting insights
• Single source of truth ensures complete, consistent data
• Open, interoperable platform enables easy third-party integrations
• Drive innovation and collaboration on campus and beyond
• Increase research visibility to attract quality candidates and funding
• Regularly updated with new features and functionality

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

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 rfp@digital-science.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

110078049538340

Contact

Deb Shepherd
07731475389
rfp@digital-science.com

About your service

• Service categories:

  Applications

  Content workflow and management

  • Document
  • EDiscovery and forensics

  Content services

  • Enterprise Content Management Applications
  • Content Sharing and Collaboration Applications

  Enterprise portals and digital workspaces

  • Multi-Audience Portals
  • Integrated Employee Workspaces
• Multi cloud support: Yes

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: The Symplectic Elements Service Level Agreement includes a mandatory weekly 2-hour maintenance window of scheduled downtime. This occurs between 12 am and 9 am local client time for security, availability, and disaster recovery maintenance. Symplectic determines the exact schedule and may change it with reasonable notice. This scheduled downtime affects all Elements components except the Discovery Module. Clients are responsible for maintaining any custom API integrations, SSRS Reports, Dashboards, Custom Reporting Database indexes, views, or tables.
• System requirements:
  • Browser
  • Optional (free) Microsoft Report Builder for admins

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Symplectic will provide responses to support requests raised through the Symplectic support website during normal office hours in the Client’s region, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays). All support requests representing a support request will receive an initial response within the timescales set out below. Urgent - within 4hrs; High - within 8hrs; Normal - within 16hrs; Low - within 24hrs. Average First Response actual time is as follows: Urgent - within 1.5h; High - within 2hrs; Normal - within 3hrs; Low - within 4hrs.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: No
• Web chat support: Yes
• Web chat support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web chat support is accessible: Our support site utilises Freshdesk Messaging, which is WCAG 2.1 Level compliant and accessible to visually impaired users and differently-abled users.
• Web chat accessibility testing: Our support site utilises Freshdesk Messaging. Freshdesk and its web chat feature have undergone accessibility testing using assistive technologies.
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: We have highly-trained, senior support personnel located in the UK, Germany, US and Australia. Our Head of Support is based in our London office and manages the support team and our technical help desk. Our support team is also responsible for maintaining our product documentation and is available to conduct expert training for our clients. Standard support is included in the annual licence and is governed by our SLA. Our SLA also provides clear guidance on what constitutes chargeable support and the response time is determined by the ticket priority. First Response SLA time is as follows: Urgent - within 4hrs; High - within 8hrs; Normal - within 16hrs; Low - within 24hrs. Average First Response actual time is as follows: Urgent - within 1.5h; High - within 2hrs; Normal - within 3hrs; Low - within 4hrs. We provide a clear escalation path for issue resolution which includes escalation to our VP Client Services and then to the Symplectic CEO. Should clients require chargeable support outside of that provided within the SLA, Symplectic will provide estimates of time, and track actual time spent.
• Support available to third parties: Yes
• AI chatbot: No

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: During your Symplectic Elements implementation, you will be provided with 3 to 4 Knowledge Transfer sessions for administrators, which can be tailored to suit your requirements. We employ a train-the-trainer methodology. Documentation to help familiarise administrators with all aspects of Elements is available via our online support site. Training is delivered via webinar sessions that last 1-1.5 hours. On-site training can be provided at an additional cost. By default, Elements includes a quick start guide for your users. You can also annotate the help pages to include your own guides, or reuse the content of the Symplectic support site for training materials.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: At the end of the contractual term, we provide you with a backup of your Elements SQL Reporting Database. The .bak file may then be restored to a SQL database, giving you full access to all data captured in Elements.
• End-of-contract process: In the event of termination of the contract, Symplectic’s exit plan involves taking a full backup of the client’s production reporting database on the final day of the client’s Elements license validity (or as agreed), and locating this on a secure FTP server for retrieval at the client’s convenience (within 30 days). Once restored, the backup (provided as an MS SQL .bak file) provides full access to all client data within Elements, including custom fields and types, and detailing all relationships between all data types in the system. It is a technically straightforward exercise to transform the data in the SQL backup file to any other desired format. Having taken the snapshot and confirmed with the client that they have successfully retrieved the file from the FTP site, Symplectic will either decommission or securely erase the Elements server(s) on which the client’s data had been residing, thereby irretrievably destroying it. AWS S3 buckets containing (encrypted) client data backups are deleted, permanently deleting all objects they contain; and finally, the backup file on the FTP server is itself deleted.
• Documentation accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the documentation is accessible: The Symplectic Support site, built on the Freshdesk customer service platform, is designed for instant self-service, enabling users to quickly find the information they need. It serves as a central resource for documentation, including onboarding and offboarding guides.; Freshdesk is committed to adhering to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standard for its products and websites. If users require information from the Symplectic Support site in an alternative format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, or audio recording, they should contact us at support@symplectic.co.uk.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: The public-facing profiles of Elements, called Discovery, are designed to fully support mobile devices. The backend administrative and management interfaces are not designed to be fully mobile responsive but can be used on mobile devices for straightforward tasks such as claiming publications. However for multi-step tasks like completing an Assessment exercise or depositing a full text file, we recommend using a desktop or laptop computer.
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Description of service interface: Elements is often complimented on its modern and fresh design with intuitive user features and navigation, created and updated using the latest web-design principles. Interactive features include home page research outputs by year graph with drill through to view outputs for a specific year; My Actions carousel/list with links to direct user to relevant workflow to complete the action; drillable analytic dashboards (stock and custom); ability to complete forms and workflows, especially emphasising key information needed and a static menu frame with quick links to commonly used pages such as Homepage, Reporting Hub, and a researcher's external Discovery profile page.
• Accessibility standards: None or don’t know
• Description of accessibility: Symplectic fully appreciates the importance of ensuring that Elements is as accessible as possible, and we are committed to its continuous improvement in relation to accessibility. We endeavour to ensure that all new features added to Elements conform with accessibility standards, and to assist with this, accessibility checks in line with WCAG 2.1 are already part of our development processes. However, Elements is a large and complicated system - comprising over 200 complex screens - which has been developed over more than 15 years and we continue to work towards conformance with WCAG 2.1 AA standards across the system.
• Accessibility testing: We perform accessibility testing on Elements using the following tools: Axe Accessibility (https://www.deque.com/axe/) WAVE (https://wave.webaim.org/extension/) WCAG Color contrast checker (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/wcag-contrast-checker/) NVDA screen reader (https://www.nvaccess.org/) Windows built-in accessibility features (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows) Manual keyboard checks
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: The Symplectic Elements API is a secure REST XML API. It provides search, harvesting, update, import and other standard interface operations against the application. All client data in Elements can be exported via the API in XML format. The API is frequently used by clients, for example, to populate other institutional systems such as content management systems. Clients are also welcome to perform data integrations themselves using the API. Comprehensive documentation is provided on the Symplectic support site covering both the API and the reporting database.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• API sandbox or test environment: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Symplectic Elements is designed to be a highly configurable system which allows areas of the system to be tailored to meet an institution’s specific needs. Elements provides Administration Modules within the user interface for use by suitably privileged users, to enable institutions to make configuration changes. For example, Elements allow administrators with appropriate permission to: - Apply institutional branding - Configure guidance and help text - Creating/modifying data types and fields - Configuring/modifying assessment exercises - Registering custom reports - Creating custom dashboards - Configuring an institutional OA policy

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Early automated resource usage alerts provide advance warning of any approaching capacity issues with hosted instances of Elements, allowing for proactive capacity planning by the Infrastructure Team.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: One of Elements' strengths is its ability to retrieve metadata from multiple data sources, including metrics data. Elements captures and provides metrics including citations, relative citation metrics, Altmetric scores, h-index and journal metrics. These metrics can be used in Elements reporting and custom reports and dashboard visualisations can be built to compare faculty and publication metrics. Additional custom service metrics reports can be created if required.
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Reports on request
• Resource tagging: No
• FOCUS resource tagging: No

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: European Economic Area (EEA)
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 4.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v4.0
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: Symplectic uses a wide range of potections for data at rest. This includes firewalling, authentication, authorisation, encryption at rest (optional for Elements core module), encryption in transit, integrity checking, backups, use of antivirus, penetration testing, secure change management processes, secure supply chain management processes, secure infrastructure configuration, and many others.
• 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: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed / Cryptographic Erasure

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Each user has the ability to export their own data either for all or select records in multiple formats including Excel (CSV), Word or PDF, and in addition for Publications BibTeX, RIS formats are available. Elements also provides a Stock Curriculum Vitae (CV) template so that users can export their CV data in either Word or PDF format, which can be supplemented with customised versions, or dashboards to suit your organisation.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats:
  • BibTeX
  • RIS
• Data import formats: CSV

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: TLS certificates provide server authentication capabiltiies. Services are protected by authentication and authorisation. Firewalls use a deny-by-default approach, with minimum ports opened for required connections.
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: Encryption, Firewalls, IDS and SIEM capabilities are all used.

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Service Availability is measured per month as a percentage of time (excluding Scheduled Downtime) in which users can log in to the Elements user interface. Unscheduled Downtime is measured from the moment an unplanned outage occurs.; At the time of writing, the Symplectic Elements Service Level Agreement provides for an availability service level of 99.5%, with a Recovery Point Objective of 24 hours, and a Recovery Time Objective of 6 hours.; The Symplectic Elements Disaster Recovery plan is regularly tested to ensure it meets the RTO/RPO requirements above. Regular backup processes do not interfere with the availability of the service.
• Approach to resilience: Available on request.
• Outage reporting: The schedule of regular planned maintenance outages is determined by and subject to change by Symplectic with reasonable notice of alterations always given directly to the registered representative of the client institution via the Symplectic support site.; The client is notified similarly should an ad-hoc planned outage become necessary.; In the event of unscheduled downtime, notification is made to the client’s key contact via the Symplectic support site (email alerts) in accordance with the Symplectic Elements Security Incident Response Plan.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Other user authentication: Elements supports several standard authentication integrations. Typically, a production instance of Elements would be securely integrated with a customer-owned 3rd party authentication system, such as Shibboleth, to which authentication is fully delegated. This provides support for a wide range of authentication patterns and features.
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Access restrictions for users (including administrative users) of Elements are subject to Role-Based Access Controls. Report viewers, administrators, reviewers and approvers must explicitly be given access by higher level users with the appropriate access. Access to the Symplectic support site for Symplectic Elements administrators and ‘view all’ tickets access requires approval by the client business owner.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Description of management access authentication: Elements supports several standard authentication integrations. Typically, a production instance of Elements would be securely integrated with a customer-owned 3rd party authentication system, such as Shibboleth, to which authentication is fully delegated. This provides support for a wide range of authentication patterns and features.

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time 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: At least 12 months

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: Other security governance standards we comply with are:; ISO 27002; National Cyber Security Centre - Cyber Assessment Framework (NCSC CAF A1)
• Information security policies and processes: Our information security policies, and the objectives, measures and targets that support them, are maintained and controlled by our ISO 27001 management system and its associated committee (ISPMC). Reporting structures include escalation via line managers, heads of department, information security teams and the ISPMC as well as the use of regular forums for various aspects of security. We ensure team members are following policies by means of annual verified training, internally-circulated policy documents, regular awareness briefings, various review processes and internal & external information security audits.
• Software Security Code of Practice: No

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: System changes such as upgrades of client instances are managed using a ticket-based change management workflow, and implemented wherever possible using automated scripts/Infrastructure as Code/Configuration as Code technologies such as Powershell DSC and Ansible, with configuration changes subject to code review and other formal approvals as appropriate.
• Vulnerability management type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: Symplectic maintains several avenues for discovering security vulnerabilities, including client feedback, automated code analysis, regular penetration testing and network vulnerability scanning, use of antivirus solutions, and subscriptions to relevant notification services. Ad-hoc suspected vulnerabilities go through a standard ticket-based tracking/resolution workflow, and are subject to severity-dependent resolution targets. Regular patching is applied to test and then production servers on a monthly basis, unless critical issues demand out of band patching.
• Protective monitoring type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: SIEM and IDS capabilities as well as manual reviews are used to identify potential compromises. Symplectic's Information Security Incident Response Plan is invoked where a potential compromise has been detected.
• 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: Symplectic implements the Digital Science Information Security Incident Management Policy, which contains a large set of controls implementing the incident-related parts of the ISO 27001 standard. Symplectic's Information Security Incident Plan covers some predefined actions for common events. Users can report incidents via the Symplectic support site. Formal incident reports are provided directly to the primary client contact, where appropriate, via the Symplectic support site.
• 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: 5%
• Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000: 10%
• Over £5,000,001: 15%

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: National Quality Assurance, U.S.A.
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Wednesday 4 January 2023
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Digital Science Statement of Applicability includes all controls except A.14.2.7 (27001)/A.6.11.2.7 (27701) - Outsourced Development. This is on the basis that Digital Science does not outsource development.
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: No
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber Essentials Alternative: In relation to the services you do not have a current and valid Cyber Essentials certificate which has been awarded by one of the government approved Cyber Essentials accreditation bodies but you are working towards gaining it, and will be in a position to confirm that you have been awarded a current and valid Cyber Essentials certificate by one of the government approved accreditation bodies within 12 months of the date of award.
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Cyber Essentials Alternative: None of the criteria
• 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
    • Monitoring of employee engagement rates (by protected characteristic) and, where necessary, the development of actions to ensure all voices are heard across the diversity of the workforce
    • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
    • 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

  • 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

  • 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 the issues affecting the representation of disabled people in the workforce in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • 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: 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

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

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 rfp@digital-science.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.