Simple Innovation Associates

Azure Automation and Implementation through DEVOps

The service automates the deployment, configuration and maintenance of infrastructure, systems and services in the cloud, including virtual machines, networks, storage, key vaults, databases, backup and monitoring. We are experts in the following methodologies: Azure DEVOps, terraform, Ancible, recipes, Playbooks, Cookbooks and pipelines.

Features

• End to end DEVOps implementation from development to production
• Strategy definition for Azure architectures, development and rollout
• Solution design within your exiting Azure policies
• Transparent quality gateways with test reporting and authorisations
• Automated maintenance, backup, DR design and Implementation
• Creation of managed deployments for third party software
• Handover of processes and maintenance for BAU staff
• Assured deployments with managed business impact
• Idempotent deployments to allow servers to change state at will
• Using and enhancing the DEVOps reports for comprehensive auditing

Benefits

• Reduces time to deploy systems significantly
• Ensures accurate, reliable, repeatable, deployment.
• Know who did what, when and how. Fully audited deployments.
• Increases compliance and stability by detecting and rectifying non-compliant assets
• Reduces cost by automating regular tasks: e.g. backups, certificate renewals
• Increases awareness of software estate through deployment version reports
• Decreased time to automatically repair and restore servers after disaster
• Scale resources automatically to meet demand and maintain performance.
• Anticipate problems before they happen by use of monitoring dashboards
• Allocate cost to relevant costcentres through accurate reporting

£450 to £1,500 a unit a day

Service documents

• Pricing document

  ODT

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  ODT

• Service definition document

  ODT

• Terms and conditions

  ODT

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 sales@simpleinnovation.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

402394001296106

Contact

Gina Holden
07976 358140
sales@simpleinnovation.co.uk

Planning

• Planning service: Yes
• How the planning service works: Moving services to the cloud can be complex. We will walk the client through the process and agree a way forward as appropriate. In general, however, the following actions are generally required. ; ; Requirements, signoff and quality gateways and processes are established. These generally cover defining Infrastructure, Platform, Services and Software needed and establish the correct set of technologies, e.g. ARM Templates, Terraform, to automate their implementation. ; ; We work with you to define the environments, security boundaries and architecture needed to allow Development, test and rollout, along with the support needed internally to ensure success of the project. We will agree and scale each environment so they have enough resources within acceptable cost. This may mean working as part of your internal team to deploy, train or handover to.; ; We will work with you to assess impact to the business alongside the technology e.g. do we need to migrate out of hours? Can we deploy during the day? Do we need comms, training? We will help you be ready to move the system into Business As Usual, ensuring you have the support, either in house or externally, that you need.
• Planning service works with specific services: No

Training

• Training service provided: Yes
• How the training service works: We can transfer skills in automating cloud platforms to allow management at scale. Training takes the form of small group skill transfer.
• Training is tied to specific services: Yes
• Services the training service works with: Azure

Setup and migration

• Setup or migration service available: Yes
• How the setup or migration service works: We have assisted large public sector users to move services, software and content into the Cloud. This can include content repositories of over 10Tb, utilising techniques to ensure all data is moved safely, without data loss or compromising access.; We have moved and upgraded on premise software, such as DMSs or Tracking Databases, into the Cloud, helping clients understand the impact of doing this both on their technical staff and their users. Any system migration usually entails some sort of Azure infrastructure change and we both design and implement this on your systems, ensuring best practice is maintained.
• Setup or migration service is for specific cloud services: Yes
• List of supported services:
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Office365

Quality assurance and performance testing

• Quality assurance and performance testing service: Yes
• How the quality assurance and performance testing works: By working with the business we identify realistic quantifiable functional and and non-functional, e.g. performance, availability, reliability and scalability requirements. We then formalise these requirements into repeatable tests. This gives confidence that the business understands what is being tested, why it is being tested and what the results mean so they can be sure of the level of quality the system actually supports. An example might be testing that loss of a number of servers does not impact availability of functionality and whilst it decreases the overall performance this is still above a known and acceptable threshold. Where data is being migrated as part of the process then mechanical reconciliation will be used to verify that the data has been migrated and modified correctly.

Security testing

• Security services: No

Ongoing support

• Ongoing support service: Yes
• Types of service supported:
  • Buyer hosting or software
  • Hosting or software provided by your organisation
  • Hosting or software provided by a third-party organisation
• How the support service works: Azure Services including Active Directory, Backup, Key Vaults, Recovery, SQL Databases, Networks, Storage, Virtual Machines; ; OpenText Content Server; ; Second Line UK support .; Hours: 9-17:30 Monday to Friday. ; 4-hour initial response, fault logging and tracking for up to 2 nominated individuals within the organization.

Service scope

• Service constraints: None

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support response times: 4 Hour Initial Response, 09:00-17:30 Monday to Friday
• 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: No
• Support levels: Second Line UK support ; Hours: 9-17:30 Monday to Friday. ; 4-hour initial response, fault logging and tracking for up to 2 nominated individuals within the organization.; ; A cloud support engineer can be provided at extra cost.

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Staff screening not performed
• Government security clearance: Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

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: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  We have actively supplied training to our staff and encourage all our teams to engage with good practice, including being aware of our carbon footprint and making steps to change. We work remotely where possible, keeping our carbon footprint due to travel to a minimum. Company cars are 100% electric. We no longer have server farms but have adopted cloud computing as a shared resource for all our work.

  Covid-19 recovery

  We understand that budgets have been tight following Covid-19 in the public sector, therefore we endeavour to work with departments to ensure that we can work in pragmatic ways to keep costs lower. We prefer to work remotely and expect this to be the case with most projects, unless there is a particular need to be on site, to ensure that expenses are lower and work collaboratively as far as possible to work with your own in-house teams rather than supply duplicate resource. We support staff who are recovering from Covid-19, allowing them to work remotely if they can, or providing support if they are not well enough.

  Tackling economic inequality

  We endeavour to employ suitably qualified young people to train with us and this currently constitutes 10% of our workforce, with plans to grow proportionally with our growth over the next 18 months. Our remote working policy has also meant that staff do not have to be in London to work with our primarily London based customer base and we now have consultants based in York, Newcastle and other areas of the UK.

  Equal opportunity

  We are committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our workforce, and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. We are also committed against unlawful discrimination of customers or the public. We provide equality, fairness and respect for all regardless of gender, race, nationality, disability or religion in terms of both respect, terms and conditions and pay. We always take seriously complaints of bullying, harassment, victimisation and unlawful discrimination by fellow employees, customers, suppliers, visitors, the public and any others in the course of the organisation's work activities.

  Wellbeing

  We do not expect any of our employees to work long hours and expect them to maintain a work/life balance. Although some projects do demand out of hours working, we do have policies in place to ensure staff do not do this regularly and get adequate days out to make up for this. Overtime is shared among everyone. All are encouraged to take lunch and holidays and we take our duty of care to the people who work with us seriously. We try to get regular “face to face” events in the year to ensure the team works together happily and feels important to the company.

Pricing

• Price: £450 to £1,500 a unit a day
• Discount for educational organisations: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  ODT

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  ODT

• Service definition document

  ODT

• Terms and conditions

  ODT

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