Torchbox Ltd

Technical Discovery

Our Technical Discovery evaluates your current technical setup, systems, tools, data structure, infrastructure and integrations to map out as-is and to-be architecture that is reliable, secure, scalable, and meet your user and business needs. We follow GOV.UK Service Standard and Technology Code of Practice to meet public sector requirements.

Features

• Over 20 years of experience in technology and software engineering
• Comprehensive analysis of technical requirements, system architecture and data model
• Evaluation of business processes and workflows
• Recommendations for systems integration and optimisation
• Security assessment to identify potential vulnerabilities and risk areas
• Review of compliance with industry standards
• Strategy development for digital transformation
• Detailed reporting with actionable insights
• Ongoing support and guidance for implementation
• Technology evaluation integrated into wider user Discovery

Benefits

• Benefit from the expertise of our globally recognised technology experts
• Understand your technical setup, opportunities, dependencies and constraints
• Ensure alignment of technology with business goals
• Improve the performance of your systems and tools
• Enhance efficiency and security, and mitigate risks
• Compy with Technology Code of Practice and public sector requirements
• Drive digital transformation, innovation and future growth
• Take action with clear, evidence-based recommendations
• Ensure successful technology implementation and integration
• Get rounded insights, making sure technology meets user needs

£500 to £1,500 a unit a day

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  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 business@torchbox.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

141409138764529

Contact

Paul Vetch
07976297092
business@torchbox.com

Planning

• Planning service: Yes
• How the planning service works: Torchbox operates across the full digital service lifecycle from Discovery, Alpha, Beta through to Live: we'll run a kick-off meeting, tailor our planning and onboarding activity to suit the relevant phase(s) of work on your cloud-based service. If required, a Torchbox Delivery Manager will set up the agile environment and lead mobilisation workshops to recap/agree on roles & responsibilities and ways of working, create or refine project schedules, and develop a shared understanding of the project goals and vision.
• Planning service works with specific services: No

Training

• Training service provided: Yes
• How the training service works: Torchbox is committed to enabling effective knowledge transfer throughout the project lifecycle to build and reinforce the capabilities of the teams we partner with, leaving you and your team self-sufficient. We aim to form a unified, collaborative service team with our clients, working in the open and fostering a ‘one team’ culture. We model, and embed, best practices for working in a user-centred way. We reinforce this with clear, comprehensive, and open documentation which is shared and co-created from the outset. This ensures seamless handover at the end of a project - and eliminates the risk of knowledge holds. We offer fully customised individual coaching, as well as structured programmes of training for individuals or teams where there’s a need to achieve specific learning or skill development outcomes. Learning materials we create as part of this process are yours to reuse internally as you see fit. We use a range of formats that suit different learning styles and pre-existing levels of competence. We can tailor training resources to suit different audiences including product/service owners (particularly those inexperienced with running digital projects); policy makers; delivery managers; user researchers; service designers; content designers; interaction designers; technical architects; data architects; and developers.
• Training is tied to specific services: No

Setup and migration

• Setup or migration service available: Yes
• How the setup or migration service works: Torchbox has over 20 years of experience supporting public sector and not-for-profit clients in migrating data, platforms, and complex digital services from existing/legacy systems to new solutions in the cloud. We have a proven track record of delivering successful migrations where we’ve been required to meet challenging tolerances around downtime, business rules, data integrity & security, and GDPR compliance. We’re also able to plan to assure uninterrupted continuity of analytics and SEO during a migration process. We begin by working with you to learn (or create) the goals for your new service, along with key considerations such as your users, their needs, and any technical, policy and legal constraints that need to be considered. We’ll then work with you to create a comprehensive plan for the migration of your service, including detailed cutover roadmap with rollback procedures and risk mitigation criteria. Our migration process typically includes defining key performance indicators to establish target metrics that can be used both to establish a baseline and also to demonstrate impact and improvement outcomes - for example, ensuring no loss in domain authority; achieving a lower target for annual running costs; or reducing the number of lines of code in a service’s codebase.
• Setup or migration service is for specific cloud services: No

Quality assurance and performance testing

• Quality assurance and performance testing service: Yes
• How the quality assurance and performance testing works: Torchbox is ISO27001 certified and complies fully with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). We employ Agile methodology and our working practices are aligned with the Technology Code of Practice. We follow strict development practices throughout the lifespan of a development cycle, ensuring the quality, accessibility and performance of the services and applications we develop from the outset. These practices include technical approaches (e.g. comprehensive unit test coverage for any code which manipulates data), processes (e.g. no code can be committed until all tests pass and changes have been reviewed by a technical architect; pair programming) and policies (e.g. each member of the team commits to QA checklists before work starts). Our QA framework incorporates best practices for sustaining and assuring the deployment of high quality code in the longer term, including continuous integration (code builds and tests), continuous delivery (code release and deployment) and monitoring (performance, end user experience). In addition to applying procedural QA best practices, our standard Discovery and/or project inception process includes defining a range of key performance indicators for an individual service, ranging from metrics such as minimum acceptable performance during periods of high demand, to achieving a specific carbon intensity / hosting emissions target.

Security testing

• Security services: No

Ongoing support

• Ongoing support service: No

Service scope

• Service constraints: Standard support is offered within UK office hours excluding bank holidays. Customised support packages are available.

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: We provide email-based online ticketing support UK office hours Mon-Fri as standard and our typical response times are 4 hours. More rapid response times, coverage over weekends or public holidays, and 24/7 support can be provided optionally.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: Web chat
• Web chat support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Web chat accessibility testing: We provide web chat via Slack, which features a highly inclusive design including comprehensive support for users who depend on assistive technologies.
• Support levels: Our standard response time SLA for p1 and p2 issues is 4 hours

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: QMS International Ltd
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 18th October 2021
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: N/A
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  regulations that align our activities to benefit all people, communities and the environment. This way of thinking is baked into our approach, practices and general ways of working. In 2019 we became the first UK agency to transition ownership in full to its employees, and we base our decisions on what is best for our people, society and the planet. Our Impact Report details the ways in which we approach work, and the impact it has. We have joined the UN’s Race to Zero via the SME Climate Commitment, making a commitment to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieving Net-Zero emissions by 2050. We are in the process of creating a NetZero strategy that we intend to get verified by the SBTi. We’re actively taking proactive steps to reduce our carbon footprint, by reducing carbon generating activities that form part of our operations as well as with work we carry out with clients. We’ve invested in creating our own Digital Emissions Methodologies to ensure we effectively measure the carbon emissions of the websites we host and support. Alongside these reduction strategies, we’ve also committed to compensating for 52 tonnes of carbon with Klimate.co carbon removal programmes, the details of which can be viewed here: Torchbox Climate Projects. We have a set of Voice Groups that many of our team members are part of. Each group carries out different activities that support or impact a set of themes we value. We currently have groups based around the environment, our local communities, as well as inclusion and diversity. Activities have included doing team beach cleans, building sleeping pods for homeless people, sponsored bike rides and volunteering.

  Tackling economic inequality

  We are committed to tackling economic inequality by creating new employment opportunities and focusing on professional development for the whole team. We have recently launched the Torchbox Academy providing the opportunity for junior/entry-level people to join the team who might not usually have the opportunity to apply and with no specific qualifications required. We’re currently recruiting junior python developers and digital marketing executives who will contribute to live client projects with expert advice and guidance from our experienced mentors, leading to a full-time role at Torchbox: https://torchbox.com/blog/join-the-torchbox-academy/ Our developers contribute to Coders of Colour, Google Summer of Code, and Django Girls (which we also sponsor) to help underrepresented groups pursue a career in tech, which has led to some recent hires to our team. We also partnered with a Bristol-based social enterprise that supports under-represented young people in Bristol to find new career opportunities. We gave on-the-job training and have since taken an intern on as a permanent member of the team: https://torchbox.com/blog/jennys-experience-as-an-intern-at-torchbox/ Every team member has a professional development plan (PDP), which they develop with their manager. This plan helps to give clarity on the direction they're heading, work towards long and short-term career goals, provide a better understanding of areas to focus on improving, and plan potential development and training opportunities. This is supported by a training and conference budget, to help accelerate development. To increase supply chain resilience and capacity, in 2020/21, we successfully reviewed our supply chain management polices to ensure that our suppliers trade ethically, and manage their cyber security risk so we can comply with ISO 27001. We are constantly reviewing our supply chain and moving to the most environmentally efficient suppliers where possible in order for us to achieve our goals of hitting net zero.

  Equal opportunity

  Our diversity and inclusion voice group works alongside HR and our SMT to drive our diversity and inclusion mission. We want to learn, educate and make positive changes, which result in a diverse and inclusive environment for employees, clients and people in the tech industry. We monitor the make-up of the workforce regarding information such as age, sex, ethnic background, sexual orientation, religion or belief, and disability, encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion. To reduce the disability employment gap, we have: Delivered training to the team on topics ranging from neurodiversity to understanding gender identity and pronouns. Reviewed our processes - starting with recruitment - to identify ways to embed diversity and inclusion, for example trialling a ‘no CV’ hiring process. Created wellbeing rooms at our offices that people can use for things such as prayer, breastfeeding, or some quiet time out. To tackle workforce inequality we have: Adopted a transparent approach to pay and published pay bands for all roles at Torchbox. Published our diversity commitment on every job posting, welcoming applications from underrepresented groups and making it easy to access support in the application process for individuals who might need it. Published our Anti-Discrimination Policy on our staff directory. Published our modern slavery statement: https://torchbox.com/anti-slavery-and-human-trafficking-policy/

  Wellbeing

  Employee wellbeing has always been a priority but the Covid-19 pandemic has given even greater consideration for ways to boost wellbeing at Torchbox. We have a Wellbeing Voice Group that works on behalf of the whole Torchbox team, listens to their needs, wants and ideas, and advocates for improvements. We have: Encouraged and paid for multiple staff members to undertake external mental health first aider training. Arranged free access to Headspace for anyone at Torchbox that would like to use it, as well as sharing the benefits of the app and how to use it. Provided SAD lamps to employees who requested them. Given comprehensive guidance and support on things such as tips for working from home. Set up daily gentle reminders on our staff messaging platform to encourage everyone to log off and wind down at 6pm. Organised virtual meditation and yoga workshops for everyone to take part in. Worked with the Diversity and Inclusion group to set up wellbeing rooms in both offices. Encouraged staff to create and share a “working with me” manual to share communication preferences, strengths, and weaknesses with colleagues so that we can work better together and in a way that recognises individual need. Supported the recent Mental Health Awareness week campaign with a week of structured sharing of resources and tips

Pricing

• Price: £500 to £1,500 a unit a day
• Discount for educational organisations: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  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 business@torchbox.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.