Clerkswell

Managed Azure Cloud

Fully managed service for design, build and support of the Microsoft Azure Cloud suite of solutions. Services may include project management, technical design and architecture, Azure cloud hosting with support, testing, training and reporting.

Features

• Technical architecture & consultancy
• Database Management & Administration Support
• Umbraco SaaS managed service available
• Managed Support for Azure Services
• Guidance and best practice for hybrid scenarios
• Integrated monitoring for IaaS, PaaS using Microsoft Operations Management Suite

Benefits

• Certified platform experts from a UK based team
• Customer centric approach and intensive customer support
• Established On-boarding framework
• Tier support levels
• Dedicated technical consultancy
• Enterprise cloud architects
• 99.5% up time
• Follow Government Digital Service (GDS) Standard
• Architectural guidance and code review
• Automatic scaling to cope with high traffic volumes

£750 to £1,100 a unit a day

• 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 hello@clerkswell.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

409791981827442

Contact

Olivia Brookhouse
02076898800
hello@clerkswell.com

Service scope

• Service constraints: As a reseller and manager of the Umbraco and Sitecore cloud offering there are certain limitations to our offering in terms of guarantees we can provide. We are unable for example to make fundamental changes to the products. We can make modifications and build to your requirements in most cases but in some rare cases it will not be possible. When this happens we manage, prioritise and log change requests with Umbraco and Sitecore and the changes come in a later release or they advise us on a way around the issue.
• System requirements: Microsoft Azure

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: • Urgent items- Immediate; • High items- 2 hours; • Medium- 16 hours; • Low – agreed on a case by case basis; ; • Support will be available from 9am – 6pm, Monday to Friday (excluding any UK public or bank holidays).; • Support can be provided for out of hours’ deployments. These must be pre-arranged.; • Any request for services on a 24/7 basis can be provided with prior agreement on level of emergency and will be covered at a specific rate outside of this SLA.
• 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: Onsite support
• Support levels: Our support offering is very flexible and completely tailored to our customers’ requirements. We have clearly delineated support levels based on the priority rating of the issues (this is decided by the customer). ; Our support costs are dictated by the hours required and are based on our standard day rate. If 24/7, weekend support, or simply an extension of our standard 9-5 support hours we will arrange this based on the individual requirement of the customer.; ; • Support will be available from 9am – 6pm, Monday to Friday (excluding any UK public or bank holidays).; • Support can be provided for out of hours’ deployments. These must be pre-arranged.; • Any request for services on a 24/7 basis can be provided with prior agreement on level of emergency and will be covered at a specific rate outside of this SLA.; ; Every project has a project team composed of an Account Manager, Project Manager, Digital consultant, and Technical Lead.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: ClerksWell provide a full on-boarding service with supported online training supporting user documentation.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
  • Other
• Other documentation formats: Microsoft Word
• End-of-contract data extraction: Everything which we build belongs to the user. We claim no ownership over the code or data.
• End-of-contract process: We require three months’ notice to change or end a contract.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: Web-based Control Panel to view cloud services and an online tool to raise, track and report on support tickets.
• Web interface accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web interface is accessible: We have made some alterations to make certain tasks accessibility compliant. Many of the websites we build on Azure are WCAG 2.0 AA or EN 301 549 compliant for end users/website visitors. ; We make sure colours, fonts, video controls, images and captions are fully compliant and compatible with WCAG 2.0 AA.
• Web interface accessibility testing: We have not done any testing at this point.
• API: No
• Command line interface: No

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type:
  • Automatic
  • Manual
• Independence of resources: The Microsoft Azure infrastructure underlying the content management system handles resource balancing. Based on the particular types of virtual machine deployed and their internal algorithms for traffic routing and site isolation, the datacentre systems Azure provide ensure that sites remain independent.
• Usage notifications: Yes
• Usage reporting: Email

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • HTTP request and response status
  • Memory
  • Network
• Reporting types:
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

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

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Staff screening not performed
• Government security clearance: Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: European Economic Area (EEA)
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest: Physical access control, complying with another standard
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
  • Hardware containing data is completely destroyed
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Backup and recovery

• Backup and recovery: Yes
• What’s backed up:
  • All aspects of the system can be backed up.
  • Code and content deployed to Sitecore or Umbraco
  • Databases, virtual machines and file storage
• Backup controls: We agree this with our client depending on their requirements.; Any backups which are performed via the Azure portal . Infrastructure level backups will be configured to run automatically, to strike a sensible balance between the costs of storage and maintenance they incur, and the client’s requirements for disaster recovery and support budgets.
• Datacentre setup: Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery
• Scheduling backups: Users schedule backups through a web interface
• Backup recovery:
  • Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface
  • Users contact the support team

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure provides at least 99.9% guarantees for the infrastructure and services it provides. The uptime guarantees are managed automatically by the Azure infrastructure. It provides automatic replication (and optionally geo-replication) of all stored data to prevent downtime from hardware failures, and the infrastructure fabric can silently switch between locations for data if issues are detected.; Services deployed using PaaS techniques can be configured to automatically swap in and out instances which are not behaving optimally. This allows a guarantee of 99.95% for availability.; Deployment via IaaS techniques, where the service is deployed into multiple “availability groups” is guaranteed to have 99.95% uptime for virtual machines.; For some Azure services, clients can opt to pay for a higher availability tier if they wish. This is commonly 99.95% but may vary depending on the services in question.; Any deployment built on top of Azure (IaaS, PaaS for Sitecore or UaaS) takes advantage of these features. However these guarantees apply to the underlying infrastructure only – the software running on top of the infrastructure (ie Sitecore or Umbraco) is not directly guaranteed by Microsoft .
• Approach to resilience: Microsoft Azure’s infrastructure has been built specifically with resilience in mind. The “Azure Fabric” services which manage the system have a variety of features built in which work to ensure that the services provided by Azure are as resilient as possible.; ; All data in Azure’s storage layer is replicated in triplicate in a data centre. This ensures that the loss of individual drives or racks does not cause the loss of data. When a deployment is configured, it is also possible to add geo-replication of data. This ensures that all data is kept in triplicate in a second physical data centre as well.; ; When infrastructure such as virtual machines is deployed, they can be configured in “availability groups” where multiple VMs serve the same site. This allows the failure of one machine to be covered by the remaining machines until errors are addressed.; ; With platform-as-a-service deployments, the individual “workers” in a deployment are effectively disposable. The infrastructure underlying the service is able to create and destroy them as necessary. This means that if a hardware or software failure causes some to stop working correctly they can be replaced from Azure’s pool of free resources automatically and quickly.
• Outage reporting: Email alerts

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: The Azure infrastructure, and deployments of Sitecore and Umbraco on top of it, support role-based security. Administrators can define in granular terms which features and resources a particular authenticated user is allowed access too. Groups can be defined to standardise the application of collections of roles if required.; For Azure the roles control all aspects of the management process – what functions can be performed and what resources can be accessed for a particular subscription.; Umbraco and Sitecore provide security in their content management UIs, which can restrict users to particular regions of content or particular management functions.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Devices users manage the service through:
  • Dedicated device on a segregated network (providers own provision)
  • Dedicated device on a government network (for example PSN)
  • Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get 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: User-defined

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

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: Owners are designated for all critical components. These systems and assets are fully documented and have defined security requirements around change management. These include an audit trail and a reporting structure through each business unit to the board where risks are discussed before any production changes. Employees are held accountable to breaches of these agreed procedures.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: Our change management processes are in line with ISO27001 control A.12.2. All code in development is held securely within a version controlled source control system (Visual Studio Team Services). All code goes through an internal review process before being released to a quality assurance environment. Once there is it subjected to further review and security testing before release to the production environment.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: The product is built on the Microsoft and Azure platforms and ClerksWell actively monitors official and unofficial channels for threats to those platforms and the protocols around them. When a threat is assessed that impacts the website, patches can be deployed as soon as a mitigation is available.
• Protective monitoring type: Undisclosed
• Protective monitoring approach: Potential compromises would be detected via the built-in monitoring technology for the systems involved. Unexpected increases in load on servers, unexpected errors in log files, unexpected audit data or files on disk and site performance decreases are all indications that we would follow-up on. In all cases our response will be a detailed examination, to determine the cause, ensure we understand what follow-up is required and report back to the client. Response times will follow our agreed SLA with the client.
• Incident management type: Undisclosed
• Incident management approach: Defined processes exist for responses to outages and compromises (real or suspected). These processes are rehearsed on a regular basis. Users report incidents via a helpdesk or direct communication with a named customer services representative depending on the severity of the problem. Customer incident reports are provided via the helpdesk.

Secure development

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

Separation between users

• Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: Yes
• Who implements virtualisation: Supplier
• Virtualisation technologies used: VMware
• How shared infrastructure is kept separate: The Azure Fabric services ensure separation between tenants on their infrastructure. It uses a variety of technologies:; ; • Authentication and role-based security is required for all access to the management portal its APIs and the Azure resources you own.; ; • Data encryption keys are specific to individual Azure accounts.; ; • Networking Virtual prevents network traffic from one account reaching resources in another.; ; • Hardware Virtualisation security prevents resources running on a server from interacting.

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
• Description of energy efficient datacentres: Customers may request or provide a list of Code of Conduct Practices implemented in the relevant data centre to assist in procurement of services that meet their environmental or sustainability standards.

Social Value

• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  ClerksWell is committed to promoting a supportive and inclusive culture for all of our employees and customers. We aim to ensure that no job applicant, employee or customer experiences less favourable treatment on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, religion, ethnic or national origin, age, gender reassignment or parental/marital status, sexual orientation or disability. By integrating individual strengths, we will maximise efficiency and creativity, and deliver greater customer service.; ; Aims:; ClerksWell will work to ensure that employees are:; •Treated fairly and without discrimination during their employment, commencing with the recruitment process and have access to promotions when available based on merit.; •Fairly appraised and rewarded for personal contributions to the organisation, taking into account internal and external comparisons and affordability.; •Able to work in a healthy and safe environment free from hazards.; •Able to access opportunities for training and development to develop to their full potential.; •Supported in balancing work and home life commitments and have requests considered objectively.; •Treated with dignity and respect in a fair and consistent manner in an environment where inappropriate behaviour is not acceptable.

Pricing

• Price: £750 to £1,100 a unit a day
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: Provision up to 14 virtual machines, 40 SQL databases or 8 TB of storage for a month Build web, mobile and API apps that use Redis Cache, Search or Content Delivery Network Harness big data with Machine Learning, Streaming Analytics and Hadoop.
• Link to free trial: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/free/

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