Essential Computing

HubStar Connect

HubStar Connect (formerly Smartway2) provides next-generation scheduling for booking meeting rooms, desks, parking, lockers. Boost attendance, collaboration and employee experience with hybrid working tools, including return to office (RTO), key events, visitor management, utilisation analytics, sensors and space management. Works with Outlook, mobile, Teams. ISO and WCAG 2.1AA accessibility compliant.

Features

• Book rooms, desks, parking or any other type of space
• Access via web portal, Outlook or mobile app.
• Integration with M365 and Entra ID
• Place orders for catering and services alongside bookings.
• Locate colleagues and plan collaboration based on who is in.
• Web-based administration console and reporting.
• Advanced BI analytics.
• Plug and play integrations with third party systems.
• Advanced policies to automatically enforce booking rules.
• Digital devices for rooms & desks.

Benefits

• Gives staff a self-service method of booking spaces.
• Reduce no-shows and eradicate waste.
• Simple access to system via Entra ID credentials using SSO.
• Two-way synchronization with Outlook calendars.
• Automated workflow so that everyone sees latest information.
• Full reporting suite with ability to customize to requirements.
• Detailed management information using BI dashboards.
• Intuitive interfaces for easy adoption.
• Low total cost of ownership.

£5 a licence a year

• Education pricing available
• Free trial available

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

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

367927490183797

Contact

Clare Knight
01275 343199
info@essential.co.uk

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Private cloud
• Service constraints: None.
• System requirements:
  • Internet Access
  • Via any supported browser.
  • Any version of Outlook 2016+

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Within 1 hour, Monday to Friday UK office hours.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• 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: There are three levels of priority:; ; Urgent - an error that:; • Prevents the Services from processing a time-critical business process.; • Completely prevents one or more users from accessing Customer Data or putting new Customer Data into the Services.; • Causes loss or corruption of Customer Data. Examples:; • Cannot save any changes.; • Cannot open any Service Request.; ; Medium - an error that hinders a business process but is not necessarily time critical.; Examples:; • Unable to generate a standard report for a non-time critical business process (and Customer Data not available via other means).; • Room panel is off-line.; ; Low - an error that affects an important function of Services, but not vital for it to be resolved in the short term and/or where a reasonable work-around is available.; Examples:; • Unable to generate a standard report, but the Customer Data is available via another report; ; This is the vendor's standard SLA and it forms part of the clients normal subscription package, at no additional cost.; ; A Technical Account resource who has product knowledge will address the problem directly with the customer.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Essential provide a complete onboarding service, designed to leave our customers ready and equipped to go live.; ; An outline of the process is below:; ; Planning workshop with dedicated consultant/s:; • Review requirements, priorities and scope of implemention; • Define workflow for booking process; • Identify the key users & roles; • Specify Rules and Restrictions required to meet business needs; • Discuss integration with EntraID, SSO and M365 with IT representatives.; ; Data Collection Phase; Templates are provided to our customers, to support capture of key information such as resource names, numbers, hours of operation, user roles and groups. We'll also discuss branding requirements to suit organisational branding.; ; Remote Configuration by Essential including:; • Remote configuration of database; • Population of resource data from templates; • Configuration of Business Rules & notifications; • Catering & other services; • Approval Process; ; Validation and Testing; • Demonstrate configured system to stakeholders; • Make final adjustments; • Gain acceptance of configured system; • Training – Admin / Users; • Plan Go-Live; • Post On-Boarding Check Up; Training Services; • Training services are provided remotely via Teams and recorded for reference.; • Customer Success will check in periodically throughout the subscription period.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: An authorised user can export all information into Excel format.; ; Any data remaining on the service will be deleted 30 days after subscription ends.
• End-of-contract process: Customers can gain access to their data and export it via the reporting tool before the end of the subscription period. Once the subscription lapses access will be removed to the customer. ; ; Data remains available from termination for 30 days upon which access to the client’s data can still be made available upon request. Data will be removed from the servers within 30 days.; ; Our support team can assist and advise during the process.

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 user experience is the same across devices.
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: HubStar delivers a fully documented JSON Web Services API, complete with Code Examples.; ; The API provides a speedy method of integrating with other systems and services, such as Video Conferencing, Catering, Visitor Management , HR and Accounting systems, Sensors, and Business Intelligence Analytics.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • HTML
  • PDF
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: HubStar Connect has an admin console allowing authorised users to Create or Modify; • Custom Fields and Custom Forms • Business rules • Email and In-app notifications • Reports • Approval Workflows • Services and Lead-times • Meeting Categories and Colours, branding and look and feel • Look and Feel (Branding) • Hierarchy • Access Rights and Group Policy • Resource Types • Floor Plans. The customer has access to all of the same configuration tools that we would use to initially configure the system. Training will be provided to make the customer as self sufficient as possible. In addition, the Customer has access to the entire data log and can extract data at anytime. Lastly the customer is in full control of their integrations, so can sever connections, or make changes as and when necessary.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: The application is hosted internationally by Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides load balancing and auto scaling services in order to compensate for variable levels of demand.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Access to metrics is made available in two forms.; Dashboard Reporting; • ‘Just’ dashboards deliver insights on rooms, desks and parking usage, user activity and performance; • ‘Think’ dashboards provide insights on multiple space scheduling elements, focusing on occupancy and utilisation; Service Reports; • Services, Quantities and Costs; • No-Shows; • Inventory; • Requests and Approvals ; • Booking requests; • Audit Log; • Attendance Report; • Live Availability ; • Live Reservations ; • Location Usage; • Reservations Awaiting Approval; The end user can create their own custom reports.
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: HubStar Systems Limited

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• 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
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• 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:
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: Data is stored in an encrypted RDS instance in AWS to AES-256 standard.; Databases and PII within the data is also encrypted.
• Data sanitisation process: No
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Data can be easily exported out to a standard Microsoft Excel format, provided they have the appropriate role/permissions within the system, or using the API.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats: Excel
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats: Excel

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: The client systems are in commercial (AWS) datacentre environments. The systems are designed to provide a high level of reliability and recoverability. This includes failover, redundant power, redundant network, data backup and disaster recovery.; Globally Amazon Web Services (AWS) are used for both production and DR.; DR testing for both environments should be performed annually.; Minimum system uptime for Production Systems is 99.5%, measured monthly.; Systems are also generally available outside business hours, with the exception of scheduled maintenance. Scheduled maintenance is carried out after giving clients at least one week’s notice.; A DR event, such as a major disaster is treated outside of the production systems availability SLA, but has a maximum outage time (RTO) of 8 hours.
• Approach to resilience: We provide load balancing architecture - details can be made available upon request.; The application leverages AWS load balancing and dynamic routing components to ensure lowest latency and highest availability.; Application servers are split between two (at least) availability zones within each region to ensure continuity of service should one availability zone become unavailable.; Elastic load balancers distribute the traffic across the available servers.; Servers are grouped under auto scaling groups which allows for the increase in processing capability if the application is put under stress.
• Outage reporting: Email alerts will be sent for Planned Maintenance Works. Email alerts are sent to Client Administrators and Technical contacts, to advise of plans, remedies and general communications. If the client has an outage, a ticket will be raised following an email, portal log or telephone call

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Access is controlled as follows;; • Multi-factor authentication for named admin users to the hosted environment; • Support Portal - dedicated client users with username and password; • An email alert goes to the support agent with a unique ID; • Access levels are reviewed periodically
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • 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 contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: British Assessment Bureau
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 07/09/2022
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: The ISO/IEC 27001 certification covers the Smartway2 by HubStar Workspace Management System.
• 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: SOC2 compliance Q2 2024

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001
• Information security policies and processes: HubStar is committed to the establishment and maintenance of the Information Security Management System (ISMS) described in our Information Security Policy and implemented by Smartway2 to meet the requirements of ISO 27001:2022.; ; All members of Smartway2 staff within the ISMS impacted business areas shall strictly adhere to the policies and security procedures, which support the Information Security Policy.; The objectives of the ISMS are to:; • Meet legislative and regulatory requirements; • Design, develop and run secure resilient applications; • Identify and manage Information Security and Cyber Risks; • Identify and manage risks within the supply chain Smartway2; ; These intrinsically include:; • Continual review and improvement of the ISMS and Controls; • Comply with Customer security requirements; • Report on the effectiveness of the ISMS and controls to the CEO; • Provide assurance that Information Security is inherent within Business as usual activities

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: HubStar operate a thorough Change Request Process, and once a change request has been raised, it is documented and discussed as part of weekly triage. The request is placed on our CR system. The enhancement is addressed as follows;; • Evaluation; • Development; • Code Review; • Quality Assurance; • Deploy; ; Security needs to be considered at various stages. This translates into security gates throughout the process, at follows;; • Secure Requirement Review; • Risk Test Planning; • Secure Design Review; • Code Review; • Penetration testing; Changes are deployed as part of our normal deployment methodology.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: Security and event monitoring is in place on the hosted environment to capture all privileged activity, in addition to the automated alerts that are configured.; ; When a vulnerability is identified, the issues will be weighed according to the rules outlined in the Risk test planning section.; Based on the Exposure obtained from this classification, the vulnerability or risk will be ranked.; ; Tests will be designed to be integrated to the regression tests (either automated or manual depending on the case) for future iterations.; ; Patch deployment - Not critical - within next maintenance window; Critical within 30 days following successful testing.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: Automated alerts go to relevant parties. In the case of an availability or performance metric alert, the support team will be notified. In the case of an intrusion or intrusion attempt, the security officer and team will be notified. A triage will take place to classify, prioritise and assign the incident. Classification will fall into one of four categories.; Critical, Significant, Minor, Negligible.; Checks are performed automatically on the application, and automated alerts are dispatched to the team in case of availability events.; Not critical are patched within next maintenance window. Critical within 30 days following successful testing.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Application Issue -; For every incident a ticket is always raised via the Portal, Email or Telephone. These tickets are categorised – Critical, Medium or Low. The issue is addressed as per our SLA. A Root cause analysis is carried out for critical issues and communicated back to the customer; ; Hardware Issues -; Hardware supplied by HubStar will be covered by their subscription plan. Faulty units should be returned for assessment. Where appropriate, replacements will be returned to client within 5 working days of receipt of faulty unit, subject to availability.

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 v3.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  We are committed to reducing our environmental impact as part of how we operate as a digital business.; As a digital services provider, we enable our customers to realise sustainable hybrid workplaces for positive wellbeing and environmental impact through the technology solutions we provide, and through the way we collaborate to implement the solutions for long term success.; Our focus is on reducing energy and resource usage, reducing the need to travel where possible, and enabling team communications and education to support these objectives. We proactively support our customers, and vendors to do the same by delivering projects in a way which considers environmental factors at the planning stage. ; In recent years, we have reduced our office footprint to support hybrid working, minimising travel requirements for our teams. Our services are delivered fully remotely to customers, to pass on the same benefits.

  Equal opportunity

  We provide technology solutions which help level the playing field for people across the workforce. Accessibility is a key consideration, and we work with solutions which integrate with Microsoft’s advanced accessibility capabilities wherever possible.

  Wellbeing

  The solutions we provide are aimed at making day to day working life better for the people using it, by enabling them to achieve more from within their Microsoft365 applications, reducing digital friction.; Doing the right thing is a core value of our business. This starts with commitment to our team, to be a responsible, fair and supportive employer, by offering a safe and welcoming environment to do their best work and providing development pathways where possible.; Our belief is that if our people are supported well, they can do the best they can for our customers.; Underpinning all the above, is the choice to work with vendors with aligned values in terms of their positive impact on their people, teams, partners, and customers.

Pricing

• Price: £5 a licence a year
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: We offer trials from 2 weeks to 1 month.; Access to all parts of Room and Desk Booking are provided.
• Link to free trial: We offer a Proof of Concept for eligible opportunities

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