GDS/CDDO - Beta Phase service
Slalom has experience in completing Beta projects to GDS/CDDO standards. We take the user designed solution from Discovery and Alpha and commence build of the public-facing product/service. We rigorously test and refine the solution in Private Beta with users before planning the public launch and transition to live in detail.
Features
- Fully collaborative approach to design and solution build.
- Agile ceremonies to manage velocity and quality of delivery.
- Data and accessibility features designed and built-in to solution.
- Regular cadence of retrospectives to test and review progress.
- Aligns with requirements for PaaS or IaaS requirements.
- Change management skills to understand user/employee experience.
- Delivery schedule and prioritised backlog maintains focus on value.
- Hybrid working using multiple collaboration tools eg Jira, GitHub.
- Coding skills: REACT, JSON , Python, Django, Java8, VueJS.
- Use IAC, CI/CD and DevOps best practices for automation.
Benefits
- GDS and CDDO compliant approach to Beta projects.
- Able to achieve organisation and GDS/CDDO approvals.
- Clear audit trail from problem statement to solution.
- Relentless focus on user and employee experience.
- Considers data and user-based insights to drive service improvement.
- Clear plans to launch Public Beta with confidence.
- Organisational impacts considered alongside solution development.
- Platinum/Gold partner to AWS, Microsoft, Google, Tableau, Snowflake.
- Able to access technology partners funding to reduce cost.
- Beta Reports that meet Technology Code of Practice principles.
Pricing
£636 to £1,980 a unit a day
Service documents
Request an accessible format
Framework
G-Cloud 14
Service ID
4 6 2 7 4 2 7 3 0 3 8 8 9 2 0
Contact
Slalom Consulting
Rob Woodstock
Telephone: 020 3771 1140
Email: ukipresales@slalom.com
Planning
- Planning service
- Yes
- How the planning service works
-
Our planning approach is tailored to a client's specific needs and is consistent across our full portfolio of services. We begin by establishing a comprehensive view of your desired outcomes, understanding your current and target-state architecture designs, and your preferred ways of working (whether waterfall or agile). We typically leverage an agile approach, co-designing work plans with our client and 3rd party teams, which then flows through into how we work, with an emphasis on co-creation and partnering.
Key features include:
• Where feasible, we begin with planning pre-engagement mobilisation to understand current working practices, methodologies and the skills and experiences of the assigned client team. This helps us define the optimal approach and fine-tune our team composition to better complement the client team.
• We collaboratively define and clarify key outcomes desired as well as any specific milestones and dependencies.
• Next is defining and executing the delivery plan, with consideration for the required review and approvals processes, incorporating additional design and refinement as necessary during delivery
• Our standard delivery methodology is based on agile practices, with daily ceremonies and weekly retrospectives, allowing for changes to the plan and a consistent focus on value released. - Planning service works with specific services
- No
Training
- Training service provided
- Yes
- How the training service works
-
Slalom has a scaled approach to accelerating capability development, that is modular and designed to adapt or, expand to maximise impact. Our approach balances building technical or functional skills or certifications, breadth of relevant general knowledge, and understanding different personality types that affect team dynamics. We tailor our training solutions beginning with developing an understanding of the skills, ways of working, and roles of the current team.
Key features of our methodology:
• Establishing a clear and agreed baseline of current performance.
• Understanding the needs of current and future projects to determine skill requirements.
• Using agreed career pathways and role expectations to establish the capability uplifts required along with a tailored plan to deliver those improvements.
• Adopting a mix of qualitative and quantitative measures to track progress and effectiveness of training and support.
• Flexible techniques including 1:1 coaching, formal learning and education, and work shadowing.
• Progress underpinned by regular, constructive feedback.
Our training approach is designed to adapt across our full portfolio of services. It can be applied to techniques such as agile and data science, or in preparation for formal accreditation in technologies such as AWS, Azure, Python, REACT, Ui Path, etc. - Training is tied to specific services
- No
Setup and migration
- Setup or migration service available
- Yes
- How the setup or migration service works
-
Slalom’s proven approach for setup and migration to the cloud, and across clouds, leverages best practice built on decades of experience with global operators such as AWS, Microsoft, Google, Snowflake and more. Our holistic approach addresses technical concerns, such as infrastructure, applications and data, in addition to business concerns, such as operational processes, roles and responsibilities, and change management considerations.
We emphasise co-design and co-delivery with client teams to accelerate delivery, knowledge, and skills transfer. This ensures our clients are setup for lasting success, even after the migration is complete. The key components of our setup and migration approach include:
• Reviewing your Cloud Strategy and Operating Model to understand strategic business objectives and help ensure that the programme objectives considers all necessary elements of people, process, and technology
• Perform Cloud Readiness Assessments, to create a gap analysis and determine likely success factors.
• Strategy, Cloud, Data and DevOps experts dive deep to understand the current business and technical landscape to support designing a tailored migration approach, building the core foundation and automation for the new platform, and executing the migration strategy.
• Identify and catalogue future opportunities for optimisation and modernisation that support business objectives. - Setup or migration service is for specific cloud services
- No
Quality assurance and performance testing
- Quality assurance and performance testing service
- Yes
- How the quality assurance and performance testing works
-
Slalom’s approach to quality assurance is to “pull left” quality engineering, ensuring that everyone in the team understands their role to play in assurance. We deploy “quality engineers” to be accountable for the quality strategy, to develop comprehensive test automation, and to support the whole team in the application of testing good practices. A well-balanced Agile test pyramid is maintained, and we employ an automation-first mindset to ensure that tests are automated effectively and executed as part of the continuous integration approach.
Testing covers both functionality and non-functional requirements, including but not limited to performance, scale, resilience, security, and accessibility. Non-functional testing is also automated where possible and executed on a regular basis on appropriate cloud environments.
Our approach to quality assurance also ensures that we enable and upskill our client team members. We will share our knowledge of good practices and how we approach quality engineering with the client team, by working closely together as well as through more formal knowledge sharing sessions if required.
Security testing
- Security services
- Yes
- Security services type
-
- Security strategy
- Security design
- Cyber security consultancy
Ongoing support
- Ongoing support service
- Yes
- Types of service supported
- Hosting or software provided by your organisation
- How the support service works
- Slalom are not a managed services provider, however we do provide third-line support for software solutions, built by us through an “Enhance and Operate” model. This is similar to a “you build it, you run it” approach, whereby we employ Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principals, including high levels of automation and observability. The same team who operate the live system, are also employed to continue developing the software with new features and enhancements. Using this approach our teams can provide full support during working hours with an option for on-call emergency support outside of working hours.
Service scope
- Service constraints
- Please see our response to "ongoing support" for context. Slalom do not provide L1 or L2 support. Nor do Slalom provide out of hours, or on call support. All Slalom support will be at L3 or higher and during standard UK business hours.
User support
- Email or online ticketing support
- No
- Phone support
- No
- Web chat support
- No
- Support levels
- As per our response to 'ongoing support', Slalom provides an enhance and operate 3rd line support model. Support is offered as standard during working hours with an option for on-call emergency support outside of standard working hours. Slalom operate on a fixed term allocation basis: an agreed team allocation for a fixed timeframe, e.g. like a project staffing approach. The client will prioritise tickets for the support team to complete. Team members are fixed, and work is billed on a time and materials basis. A technical account manager and or cloud support engineer can be provided as necessary. A dedicated Client Partner will be provided to focus on ensuring value and satisfaction for the client.
Resellers
- Supplier type
- Not a reseller
Staff security
- Staff security clearance
- Other security clearance
- Government security clearance
- Up to Security Clearance (SC)
Standards and certifications
- ISO/IEC 27001 certification
- Yes
- Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
- Coalfire is the third party who accredited our ISO certification
- ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
- 26/07/2023
- What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
-
Slalom does not host or store client data. Slalom's ISO 27001 certification covers core infrastructure supporting all markets, with the exception of physical security, which applies solely to our Seattle, WA and London, UK physical locations.
Link to cert: https://coalfirecertification.com/Certificates/Slalom-ISO-27001-Certificate-Award_7-26-2023.pdf - ISO 28000:2007 certification
- No
- CSA STAR certification
- No
- PCI certification
- No
- Cyber essentials
- Yes
- Cyber essentials plus
- Yes
- Other security certifications
- Yes
- Any other security certifications
- SOC 2 type report
Social Value
- Social Value
-
Social Value
- Fighting climate change
- Covid-19 recovery
- Equal opportunity
- Wellbeing
Fighting climate change
Slalom is first and foremost a client services firm. The majority of our time is spent solutioning, innovating, and bringing ideas to life with our customers and partners. We approach our role as a strategic advisor with humility, recognising our responsibility to help customers realise their business goals, while fighting climate change together. To track and measure our impact, we have piloted frameworks and tools (aligned to the UN SDGs), to capture our work with our customers in a measurable way.
Tracking and reporting carbon via Salesforce’s Net Zero Cloud - provides a single source of truth to make informed decisions. Since 2022, we have opened more offices globally, which led to an expected increase in emissions. We are focused on reducing our emissions through operational changes, before offsetting, progress includes:
• Maintaining our same percentage of renewable energy (2%), even though our overall energy consumption increased with office expansions
• Maintaining our status as an active member of the Climate Pledge
• Continuing to disclose our impact through our annual Impact Report and assessments including CDP and EcoVadis
• Increasing our offices who offer composting programmes by 10% since 2021 (32% to 42%).
• Offering recycling at 100% of our physical office spaces.
Accelerating joint efforts through Impact Excellence Framework - tracks our key metrics of Planet, People and Performance. We tailor the dashboard with our customers and partners, to track and measure our combined progress throughout the delivery of contracts, to support environmental protection and improvement. We work with our alliance partners to offer impactful solutions to our joint customers, that will promote systematic change, such as environmental sustainability data collection, tracking tools, machine learning and statistical algorithms for predicting current energy use. This helps us to create transparency, trust and leave the world in a better place.Covid-19 recovery
As Slalom emerged from the pandemic, we faced economic softening, an uncertain job market, and postponement of projects. We recognised the need to evolve to meet changing needs of our customers, people and communities.
Employee initiatives and client work, to manage and recover:
• Unlimited private medical plan for mental health treatment, including virtual GP sessions.
• Invested >£300k in THRIVE personal fund vouchers to improve physical, emotional, financial and social well-being
• Backup care programme, to provide care workers and nannies to those who needed extra help with elderly and child dependents.
• NHS nutritionists-led sessions to encourage healthy practices.
• ‘Supporting supporters’ workshop for our leaders to equip them in challenging times.
• Working with Greater London Authority to understand the impacts of Covid-19 on the business health of London and its residents. Our solution helped determine whether SME businesses were more exposed and less likely to survive, as well as the impacts on specific economic groups such as High Streets, Night-Time Economy and the Arts.
• Led the rapid deployment of the Vulnerable Shielding Service (a contact center reaching 1.5m ‘at risk’). Enabling vulnerable citizens to access the medicine and care they needed quickly.
Awards and scores
• Awarded/nominated by Best Places to Work, Business Culture Awards, Working Families and North West Business Masters Awards in 2021. Each recognition specifically referenced our ‘people-first’ response during and post-pandemic.
• Our Employee Engagement scores rose during that period to 93%, which is another testament to how our pandemic response worked!
Today, our customers and partners are embracing a hybrid approach to work that prioritises in-person collaboration. Many of our current team members joined Slalom at a time when we couldn’t be together in person, we are now nurturing a sense of culture, collaboration, and community across teams.Equal opportunity
Our people goals align with the UN SDGs focus on reducing inequalities, gender equality, quality education, creating sustainable cities and communities, equitable health and wellbeing.
Tackling workforce inequality activities:
• Creating a shared dashboard on client engagements, with key metrics including;
• Staffing diverse teams with a minimum of 30% representation from disadvantaged and minority groups including vetting our partner companies.
• Upskilling ~20 staff from disadvantaged and minority groups, on digital skills that will help them with their workforce participation and access to opportunities.
• Sharing our best-practices and trainings on anti-racism, engaging with ~20 staff; to help them understand what they can do to drive racial justice and equity and help team members engage in inclusive behaviours.
• Investing nearly 1,000 volunteer days per year. Volunteer days offered to all Slalom team members are billable days, resulting in almost £1m per year of potential billable revenue, being invested into supporting local communicates and non-profit organisaions.
• Partnering with Supermums, Women in Data, Veterans Networks and TechUK, to create career coaching programmes’. We have helped hundreds of people in disadvantaged, or minority groups by upskilling them in technology and supporting their move to higher-paid work.
• Partnering with Ethical Angels, an online training marketplace. We provide pro-bono strategy, advice, training and research for projects. Helping learners save a minimum £900 on average, whilst developing skills in a real-world environment and make an impact.
• Providing guidance for 150 line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition.
• Creating three mentoring opportunities with Ada College, West London Free School and EY Foundation.
• Representing the voices of the disabled, neurodiverse and mental health communities through ‘Horizons’ an Employee Resource Group. Horizons realises its mission through educational programming, accessibility initiatives, policy reform, recruiting intersectional allyship.Wellbeing
We think of health and well-being in a holistic way— emotional/mental, physical, financial, and social. Offering a full range of life, health, wellness, disability, leave, retirement, and voluntary benefit programmes and services.
Activities to improve health and wellbeing
• Invested >£300k in THRIVE personal fund vouchers for all UKI staff.
• Hosted charity events; employees who participated in Miles for Mind exercised 951+ miles and raised £2,392 for Mind. Employees, family and friends joined the Slalom Relay, collectively completing the distance of LEJOG and back (1,700 miles) raising £1,789.
• As part of STEPtember, nearly 2,600 team members across global Slalom traveled 291,979 miles and completed 6,385 guided meditation sessions during the challenge.
• Participating in national campaigns: Three Peaks, Tough Mudder 10km, London to Brighton Cycle and London Marathon.
• Awareness campaigns led by dedicated Employee Resource Groups e.g., National Stress Awareness Day & World Mental Health Day.
• >20% of UK employees are trained in Active Listening and line managers complete Mental Health First Aid training. We can offer wellness classes to clients though this network and coach them to lead difficult conversations around mental wellbeing within their departments.
Awards
• UK’s Best Workplaces (2022-2024)
• UK’s Best Workplaces for Women (2023)
• UK’s Best Workplaces for Wellbeing (2022)
• Working Families Membership from 2022, receiving nominations and wins for flexible working and wellbeing categories.
• Business Culture Awards, Leading with Purpose (2022)
Our 2023 annual Slalom Engagement Survey (SES) results, reflects how our ongoing investments are creating a positive culture;
People leadership: 93% of our respondents believe their people leader “communicates openly and honestly with me,” “actively supports my work-life integration,” and “is accessible and responsive.” 91% are “comfortable seeking the feedback I need to improve my performance” and feel “encouraged to share my thoughts and ideas.”
Pricing
- Price
- £636 to £1,980 a unit a day
- Discount for educational organisations
- No