Ninth Wave Ltd.

SmartCore

SmartCore provides immediate, practical, business benefits by delivering scalable, integrated, low risk and rapid-payback applications in less time than it normally takes to document requirements. SmartCore meets all your project and programme management software needs whether you are looking for “off the shelf” management tools or bespoke management software.

Features

• Investment planning, benefits mapping, portfolio construction and what-if scenarios
• Supply and demand management across the organisation with built-in collaboration
• Benefit delivery and KPI tracking linked to strategic plans
• Forecast resource demand, impacts and budgets
• Planning and execution of programmes, projects and work packages
• Time recording, financials, risk, document management and status reporting
• Fully configurable structures, audiences, screens, security, help, wikis and workflow
• Complete visibility of data through user defined dashboards and reporting
• Flexible interfacing through REST and SQL
• Integrates with Microsoft Project, Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Benefits

• A single solution for all your PPM needs
• Clear responsibilities, full audit and a single source for data
• Programmatically determine, highlight and escalate issues and exceptions
• Automatic aggregation of data, including powerful summarisers and metrics
• A shared environment supporting thousands of users across the internet
• Single view of the portfolio for visibility and informed decision-making
• Roll out best practice, governance and process across the portfolio
• Align strategy, cost benefit, financials and resources
• Allows top down and bottom up planning of the portfolio
• A scalable, zero impact solution that can be deployed rapidly

£4.50 to £150.00 a user a month

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 partners@ninthwave.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

323935778637608

Contact

Jon Lewis
0207 403 4433
partners@ninthwave.co.uk

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Private cloud
• Service constraints: None
• System requirements: A compatible web-browser and internet connection

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: We respond to issues raised by customers within one working hour. ; Our working hours are from 09:00 to 17:30 UK time, from Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays in England.
• 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: Telephone and email support is provided from 09:00 to 17:30 UK time, from Monday to Friday excluding public holidays in England. Out of hours voice messages are emailed to our support team. Ninth Wave will register and allocate a priority within one working hour of the customer’s call or email. For critical problems Ninth Wave will attempt to generate a fix as soon as possible. For non-critical problems Ninth Wave will attempt to generate a fix for incorporation in the next release of the software.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Ninth Wave provides implementation support to our SmartCore customers. This includes reviewing requirements, configuring SmartCore to meet those requirements and assistance with data loading, training and documentation if required. ; Our SmartCore implementation approach involves stakeholders reviewing the application in very short iterative cycles. We have found that our customers find it easier to review a working model than it is to discuss a paper specification. Feedback from the frequent reviews can be immediately incorporated into the application, which builds confidence in the user community as they feel involved in the process with their inputs having a concrete effect on the application.; The nature of our implementation process mitigates the risks inherent with traditional software development as users are involved early and frequently in the configuration process. Evolving requirements can be prototyped, implemented and changed as required and rolled out in such a way that suits the customer.
• Service documentation: No
• End-of-contract data extraction: Prior to their access to SmartCore being disabled at the end of the contract, customer users can export their data from SmartCore to PDF and/or MS-Excel formats.
• End-of-contract process: At the end of the contract access to the customer's SmartCore system will be disabled and all customer data erased from Ninth Wave's systems. ; Should additional support be needed from Ninth Wave with offboarding this should be agreed before the end of the contract and will be charged for at our implementation day rate.

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: Dashboards may be accessed via the web browser. More complex functions will need a PC or laptop with a larger screen.
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Description of service interface: Authorised customer and Ninth Wave staff have administrator access to customer SmartCore systems.; ; Changes and issues with Ninth Wave systems are logged and tracked by authorised customer staff using our online Work Management System (WMS).
• Accessibility standards: None or don’t know
• Description of accessibility: The core SmartCore functionality is W3C accessibility compliant. Some complex view types, such as the Gantt chart, will not be compliant, but SmartCore dialogs can be used if required to facilitate access using screen readers.
• Accessibility testing: We have tested the solution and have customer users accessing the solution using assistive technology.
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: SmartCore uses a REST API for interfacing with third-party solutions.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: PDF
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: SmartCore is a highly configurable solution. It provides fully configurable audiences, data structures, help, reports, screens, security, reports, wikis and workflows.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Each customer SmartCore system is hosted in a separate Virtual Machine accessing a separate database. Sufficient server and network capacity is provided to meet peaks in customer demand.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: SmartCore maintains an audit trail of all user access to the system and of all updates by end users. This audit trail is accessible online by system admin users. Specific service usage metrics and reporting can be configured on request.
• Reporting types: Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

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

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: No
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: In-house destruction process

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Data can be exported from SmartCore in MS-Excel, XML, csv, plain text, PDF and MS-Project formats. ; Reports can be configured in MS-Excel, XML, PDF, MS-Word and MS-PowerPoint formats. ; Interfaces can be configured to any SQL Data Source (for which a JDBC driver exists), using http request/response and email.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats:
  • MS-Excel
  • PDF
  • MS-Word
  • MS-PowerPoint
  • MS-Project
  • XML
• Data import formats: Other
• Other data import formats:
  • MS-Excel
  • MS-Project
  • XML

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: Ninth Wave uses all reasonable endeavours to ensure that access to the customer’s SmartCore system is available at an uptime level of 99% during UK working hours and 95% overall, monitored at the hosting site.; ; In more than 19 years of providing software services Ninth Wave has never failed to meet the service levels we’ve committed to.
• Approach to resilience: Two independently owned and geographically separate data centres with each data centre providing the backup and disaster recovery site for the other. Each data centre has redundancy in power supplies and network connections, firewalls, web and application servers and disk arrays. The server infrastructure is covered by a 4-hour ‘repair or replace’ support agreement.
• Outage reporting: In the event of an outage, this would be reported to customers by email.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Other user authentication: Users access SmartCore using their unique username and password. IP restrictions can be applied to limit the IP ranges from which a customer's SmartCore system can be accessed.
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: We use a number of methods, including 2-Factor authentication, VPN links, and unique usernames and passwords.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • 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: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time 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

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications:
  • Colocation (data centre) providers are certified to ISO 27001
  • Ninth Wave is accredited for Cyber Essentials

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: Ninth Wave holds the Cyber Essentials certfication.; Our colocation data centre providers are certified to ISO 27001.
• Information security policies and processes: Ninth Wave's Information Security Policy was initiated by and is supported by its directors. This Information Security Policy covers all computers and systems owned by or administered by Ninth Wave.; ; All suspected policy violations, system intrusions, virus infestations and other conditions that might jeopardise Ninth Wave's or our customers' information or information systems must be immediately reported to the Directors.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Ninth Wave procedures and systems provide for the controlled release of new functionality (both core and customer specific configuration) from development to test and on to production environments.; Ninth Wave’s own Work Management System (WMS), configured in SmartCore, provides us and our customers with a repository of configuration and release management information.; Operational and application change management controls include the identification and recording of changes, an impact assessment for changes (including potential security impacts), comprehensive testing of changes, a formal approval/acceptance process and roll-back plans.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: Ninth Wave has a standard build for our servers with changes controlled by our WMS build management system. Non-standard software may not be installed. Critical vulnerabilities are rectified / patched as a priority.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: Potential compromises and critical vulnerabilities are rectified as a priority. We monitor access to our systems and have a tested process for incident communication and management.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Incidents can be reported by customers by telephone and email or logged directly on our WMS incident management system. The WMS system provides real-time reporting of incident status to customers and the Ninth Wave team.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Social Value

• Fighting climate change:

  Fighting climate change

  A key benefit of SmartCore is that it enables thousands of users within and between organisations to share information and communicate from many different locations. Many of our clients are large organisations and our system has had a significant impact in improving the way they can securely share information internally without having to organise expensive meetings and workshops, and reducing the amount of business travel they need to undertake. As well as being able to collaborate with staff inside an organisation, SmartCore allows communication with external customers and service providers in a secure environment, which again reduces travel and saves time. As a software solution providing online dashboards and real-time reporting, SmartCore has reduced paper and printer usage. ; ; Whilst Ninth Wave’s services have little environmental impact, as all of our operations are digital and can all be delivered remotely, we are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our operations further where we can. For example, we are signed up to Cyclescheme, a provider of tax free bikes for work, and we repurpose or recycle all of our IT equipment once it has been properly cleaned of any business or customer data and files. Our IT infrastructure is hosted in two UK based data centres, which were carefully selected, not only for their security and performance credentials, but also for their environmental credentials in the efficient use of energy and their advanced green and carbon-neutral technologies - with server resources being shared between customers, this provides for a cleaner and energy saving system with minimal impact on the environment.
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  Throughout the whole COVID-19 pandemic Ninth Wave was able to operate fully, using SmartCore to help facilitate home working and continue to deliver the excellent service levels that our customers are accustomed to. In the same way, as organisations return to a new normal, SmartCore, which provides a reliable, secure, collaborative web and cloud-based solution, can help organisations adapt to the new challenges that project and programme managers are having to respond to, whether they are short or long term, with the move to more remote working and changing business environments. This may include the establishment of new processes for the management and governance of changes in project scope and effective and sustainable project delivery, maintaining engagement and relationships with teams, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders, and even a requirement for a differing approach to the selection of projects as a result of new strategic directions in response to the pandemic. How organisations adapt to challenges will always differ, but whatever the situation, with the utilisation of SmartCore, a comprehensive collaboration and project portfolio management solution, they can improve their efficiency and effectiveness in managing projects and programmes and related activities, supporting a virtual PMO with a flexible tool to suit their specific requirements.
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  SmartCore is developed and delivered entirely by Ninth Wave’s own in-house, homegrown team in the UK. Whilst relatively small, we are proud to be a British company and, with SmartCore users worldwide, we believe we are helping to put the UK on the map as a centre of excellence for digital skills, creativity and innovation on the world stage through the development of our unique technology and by delivering a first-class product and service to all of our customers. This has been enabled by significant investment in both training in project management qualifications and technical skills and in the development and evolution of SmartCore, which was recognised when being awarded the distinguished Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation in 2020. Whilst the team is highly-experienced, Ninth Wave supports continuous improvement for all staff and new contracts are seen as opportunities for learning in the areas of consulting, technology and design and employees are encouraged to gain as much as possible from the experience to help support further business creation, new product innovations and economic growth.; ; With regard to managing cyber security risk, Ninth Wave holds the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Essentials Certification demonstrating our commitment to ensuring that our IT is secure against cyber-attack and to the continued adoption of good practice.
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  Ninth Wave affords all employees an environment that is free from physical, psychological and verbal harassment or other abusive conduct and ensures that all employees receive equal treatment regardless of age, sex, marital status, religion, colour, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation and disability and actively embrace diversity, and respect and promote the exchange of ideas and knowledge from all. We also champion neurodiversity, a viewpoint that there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning and behaving.; ; Whilst Ninth Wave does not have a legal obligation to produce a Modern Slavery Statement, we unreservedly condemn the practices of modern slavery and human trafficking and such practices have no place, and will find no support of any kind, within our organization. We comply with all legal obligations in relation to our own staff and we expect our suppliers and customers to do the same.; ; In 2021 Ninth Wave transitioned to become an employee-owned business with the company now owned by the Ninth Wave Employee Ownership Trust on behalf of all staff, in order to provide long-term stability for the company, staff and customers.
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  Ninth Wave recognises that the wellbeing of its staff is the cornerstone of a successful business and that this is influenced by a company’s culture and values, which should not only guide the organisation towards future growth and innovation but also create happy, loyal and motivated employees. At Ninth Wave we believe we promote values that achieve this, such as respect, recognition and openness - with our customers, suppliers and each other. Ninth Wave encourages its employees to use their initiative, to offer their opinions and make decisions. This creates a positive environment, in which our staff flourish and are inspired do their best and be fully committed to providing an excellent product and service.; ; Additionally, to improve employees’ mental health, well-being and work-life balance we organise company social events twice a month to assist with such issues as stress management and ensure that nobody feels alone - as well as to just have some fun! Activities include go-karting, archery, theatre and cinema trips, pub quizzes and escape rooms. These also include charity fundraising events as part of Ninth Wave’s charitable engagement within the local community and with national organisations.

Pricing

• Price: £4.50 to £150.00 a user a month
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

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 partners@ninthwave.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.