POLARIS SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS LIMITED

Polaris FastForm Online Bookings (FOBS)

FastForm Online Bookings is a web-based course management
solution that is used by local authorities, police forces and safety
camera partnerships to streamline the delivery of driver
offender retraining and road safety awareness schemes. FastForm also provides online booking and payment facilities for course participants and service providers (call centres).

Features

• Create and manage an unlimited number of course types
• Schedule an unlimited number of course occurrences
• Allocate trainers and venues to scheduled courses
• Manage trainer availability, competencies and invoices
• Manage venue availability, capacities and contracts
• Clients can book and pay for courses online
• Offer flexible payment plans and secure payment telephony
• Validate client eligibility to attend courses
• Track booking, payment and attendance and generate critical action alerts
• Integrate dynamically with national DORS+ client management system

Benefits

• Allow clients to book courses online at any time
• Minimise call centre traffic by channelling bookings through the website
• Improve road safety by offering more courses and course types
• Improve efficiency through intuitive process-driven interfaces
• Maximise online bookings by offering intuitive touch-friendly interfaces
• Use a self-service approach for trainer availability management
• Process rules automate governance (course capacity and trainer competence).
• Maximise course attendance by providing SMS and email reminders
• Intuitive interfaces and responsive designs improve customer service
• Enhance call centre PCI compliance with secure telephone payments

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

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

236965890690001

Contact

Richard Gorringe
441295273000
tenders@polarissoftware.com

About your service

• Service categories:

  Applications

  Production and operations

  Service industry and public sector operations

  • Police
• Multi cloud support: Yes

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Private cloud
• Service constraints: Polaris offer a fully comprehensive support and maintenance package which includes:; • All upgrades and updates during the contract period; • Unlimited telephone and email support between the hours of 08:30 and 17:00 UK time, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.; • Access to a self-help web portal for online support case logging and tracking of open support cases.
• System requirements:
  • Internet connectivity
  • Access to a web browser

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Support response times are based on priority. For Example:; ; High Priority - 60 minutes; Medium Priority - 120 minutes; Low Priority - 240 minutes"
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• 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: We offer a fully comprehensive support and maintenance package which includes:; • All upgrades and updates during the contract period; • Unlimited telephone and email support between the hours of 08:30 and 17:00 UK time; • Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. These hours can be extended at an additional ; cost.; • Access to a self-help web portal for online support case logging and tracking of open support ; cases; Our Support process includes:; • Answering questions related to the use of the software; • Logging calls, incidents and faults ; • Identifying and verifying the causes of suspected errors; • Providing workarounds, when available, for verified errors; • Escalating issues which are not resolved to meet agreed response targets; Customer accounts will be managed by a customer success manager who will ultimately be the point of contact for the customer to raise issues outside of the service desk. Any professional service work will be costed separately.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: A detailed implementation plan will be agreed which includes details and timescales for implementing ; the software, carrying out any appropriate testing and training all users. Training of the system will consist of onsite training accompanied by relevant online training videos and documentation. A training and test environment is included in the setup for users to complete training and testing before Go-Live.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • ODF
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: Our support team will provide support when the contract ends to allow users to extract data from the system using CSV format.
• End-of-contract process: Off-boarding is simply a case of the customer providing enough notice, followed by both parties jointly agreeing the retirement schedule of their service and associated data. All data will be returned to the customer after which it will be permanently deleted. This is included in the contractual cost. Anything outside of exporting data from the system in CSV format will be at an additional cost.
• Documentation accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the documentation is accessible: We focus on clear design, simple language, good colour contrast, and legible fonts. We also support the use of screen readers.

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: All client booking screens are responsive and the interfaces adapt automatically to suit the device being used.
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Description of service interface: Dedicated sets of user interfaces are provided for business users (administrators and call takers), trainers, partners and clients who wish to book courses. All interfaces can be accessed using any standard internet browser and they are all mobile friendly.; Business users can create course types, schedule course occurrences, allocate venues and trainers, process telephone bookings and payments and monitor bookings, payments and attendance.; Clients can review available courses, book and pay for courses online, access course information and modify booking details.; Trainers can declare their availability, monitor allocation, access registers, record attendances and submit invoices.; Partners can monitor course activities.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.2 A
• Accessibility testing: N/A
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: FastForm includes an API that provides the following functionality:; - Add document (the ability to add a document for an instructor, venue or booking).; - Retrieve report (the ability to retrieve report data from FastForm by passing the name of the report and associated date parameters); - Add note (the ability to add a note to a client booking).; The FastForm API is used to manage interaction with the national police system for driver offender retraining (DORS+). Users can utilise this API to create new course types and adjust associated course parameters.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: Open API (also known as Swagger)
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Users can select from an extensive range of functional configuration options in order to adapt the solution to support preferred working practices.; Business users (Course Administrators) are invited to participate in requirements clarification workshops, which are used to identify customisation preferences that are configured by Polaris prior to initial go-live. Authorised Course Administrators can subsequently implement changes directly, using the Fastform Administration Interface. Course Administrators can also request configuration changes through the Polaris Help Desk.; ; Client interface configuration options include:; • URL; • Number of courses displayed on screen; • Contact Us details; • Allow clients to add special requirements during booking; • Allow clients to cancel booking; • Allow clients to rebook; • Allow Payment Plans; • Email reminder period; • Use SMS reminders; • Email From address; • SMS Sender ID; • SMS Text; • Address Lookup; • Expiry Date Booking Period; • Book Automatic Car; • Timeout; Customers can also apply their own corporate branding to the client booking site, utilising a creative design that matches their own corporate website.; Administration interface configuration options include:; • URL; • Available course types; • Data anonymisation period; • Data retention period; • Password expiry; • Administration email address

Scaling

• Independence of resources: We continuously monitor capacity and automatically scale out our compute layer when load increases, so additional demand from one customer is handled by additional infrastructure rather than slowing down others.; We also enforce per-tenant rate limits and use independent resource pools for critical services so that no single customer can monopolise CPU, memory, or database capacity. Combined with 24/7 monitoring and alerting, this ensures that one customer’s traffic does not negatively impact another’s performance.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: BOOKING STATISTICS, encompassing course types, time periods, client profiles and a breakdown of online versus call centre bookings.; PAYMENT STATISTICS, including a breakdown of payment methods, full payments versus payment plans and client numbers with "booked not paid" status.; BUSINESS USER STATISTICS, including numbers of named users performing defined roles over specified time periods.; ANOMALIES, including client email bounce-backs.; SERVICE PERFORMANCE, including system availability, support requests and response activities.
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request
• Resource tagging: No
• FOCUS resource tagging: No

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• 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 CREST-approved service provider
• Protecting data at rest: Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v4.0
• 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: Users can generate reports covering all data stored in the solution and they can choose to export reports in a wide range of common file formats.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • ODF
  • Other
• Other data export formats:
  • XML
  • XLSX
  • PDF
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats: XLSX

Data-in-transit protection

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

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Service Levels and Availability; The service is designed and operated to support high availability using industry-standard cloud infrastructure and operational practices. Service availability targets, where applicable, are defined in the service documentation or agreed contractually.; Availability is monitored continuously, and incidents are managed in accordance with agreed support and incident management processes.; ; Service Credits and Refunds; We do not provide service credits, refunds, or financial compensation linked to service availability or uptime.; If availability targets are not met, we will investigate the issue, restore service as quickly as possible, and take appropriate corrective actions to prevent recurrence. Any customer remedies are governed by the applicable contract terms.
• Approach to resilience: Polaris chosen hosting provider is certified to ISO27001 and operates a Tier IV data centre (the highest classification, with an expected 99.999% uptime and a maximum of 0.8 hours of downtime per year).; Tier IV data centres feature 2N and 2N+1, fully redundant infrastructure, with a completely mirrored system on standby, independent of the primary system.; ; FastForm includes a management dashboard, which alerts authorised business users dynamically when there are outages. Email alerts are also sent to designated customer contacts.
• Outage reporting: Availability and outage statistics are included in monthly management reports, which are issued to customers.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Other user authentication: Business users are added by a nominated System Administrator.; Business users are required to provide a user name and password when they log in.; Clients (i.e. members of the public) are required to log in to the national DORS+ portal, using credentials provided by the referring police force before they can access FOBS. Following a successful login they are redirected to FOBS.
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Business users are added by a nominated System Administrator and they are assigned to pre-defined roles within FastForm, including System Administrator, Course Administrator and Call Taker.; An email is sent to each new business user with a system generated password after a new account has been created. The role allocated to the user determines which system functions are available to them.; Business Users are given a different URL from clients, which they use to log on with the password from the email and access features associated with their role. Logged in business users are able to change their password.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication: Username or password

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: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: User-defined

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • CSA CSM version 4.0
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: ISO 9001, Cyber Essentials Plus
• Information security policies and processes: We maintain a mature security governance framework built around ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus, and NCSC Cloud Security Principles.; Our structured reporting hierarchy, lead by our CTO and Director of Information Security, ensures accountability from operational teams through to executive leadership.; Policies are enforced using a combination of training, technical controls, monitoring, audits, and continuous improvement practices.
• Software Security Code of Practice: Yes

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Changes conform to our ISO 27001 procedures. Each change is scored against our risk criteria and changes that are classified as high risk are added to our risk register as required.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: We continuously monitor our systems using automated vulnerability scanners, review threat intelligence, and conduct regular security testing. Identified vulnerabilities are evaluated based on severity, exploitability, and impact to prioritise remediation.; ; We follow a severity-based SLA:; Critical vulnerabilities: patched as quickly as possible (often within 24–72 hours).; High severity: typically within 1 week.; Lower severity: scheduled in routine maintenance cycles.; ; We use multiple sources to gather information about potential threats through vendor advisories, CVE recommendations, threat intelligence services and internal monitoring tools to stay informed about emerging risks.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: We use continuous monitoring, log analysis, intrusion detection, and threat intelligence to detect suspicious or abnormal activity.; We follow a structured incident response process: investigate, contain, eradicate the threat, recover systems, and document the incident.; Critical incidents are addressed immediately (24/7), with all other incidents handled according to defined severity-based response times.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Our Information Security Incident Management policy defines processes for reporting, responding to, and managing security events that compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. It mandates prompt reporting via our ticketing systems, communication channels, local processes, or email. Our processes outline personal data breach handling, evidence maintenance, awareness training, and root cause analysis for continuous improvement. We can share our incident handling policy upon request.
• 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: 30%
• Between £250,000 and £500,000: 32.5%
• Between £500,001 and £1,000,000: 35%
• Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000: 37.5%
• Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000: 40%
• Over £5,000,001: 42.5%

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: LRQA
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Monday 2 September 2024
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Our ISO certifications cover all operational, technical and organisational processes.
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO 9001 certification: LRQA
• ISO 9001 accreditation date: Saturday 11 March 2023
• What the ISO 9001 doesn’t cover: Our ISO certifications cover all operational, technical and organisational processes.
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: Yes
• Who accredited the PCI DSS certification: Securious Limited
• PCI DSS accreditation date: Wednesday 2 April 2025
• What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover: Polaris Software has demonstrated compliance with all PCI DSS ; requirements.
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Certificate Number: Db8897c3-145d-4e0d-8989-c6ab205acb84
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Plus Certificate Number: 96a86d54-db53-4ee5-8245-0d6fe29b7579
• 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

    • New or retained jobs on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b, 1c and 1d
    • 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
    • Ensuring new workers are informed of their right to join a trade union
    • 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
    • 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
    • Activities to cascade good practice on fair working conditions throughout the supply chain
    • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
    • 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
    • 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
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • 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
    • Measures to identify, mitigate and manage modern slavery risks relating to the contract and how these will be implemented
    • 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
    • How to ensure business decisions re: price/cost, short lead times, payment timescales do not create modern slavery risks in the supply chain
    • Means of influencing staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders with respect to modern slavery risks relating to the contract

  • 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

    • Activities that demonstrate a collaborative way to work with a diverse range of businesses as part of the supply chain

  • 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
    • 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

    • 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
    • Other measures to provide equality of opportunity for disabled people and those with health conditions into employment, including becoming a Disability Confident employer and inclusion of supported businesses in the contract supply chain
    • Inclusive and accessible development practices, including guidance for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition

  • 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
    • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, development practices and retention policies that support-focused activities including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing which support people with a disability or health condition
    • Actions to invest in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of 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 tenders@polarissoftware.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.