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SOLSUS Ltd

Solsus - Commercial Team Toolkit

An integrated suite of online tools to help you successfully plan and implement commercial team activities. Core service consists of the project management and category management toolset. Additional services include 'Critical Friend' review of outputs, coached delivery and activity health-checks, as well as outsourced delivery options.

Features

  • Tailored toolkit for managing commercial programmes and projects
  • Best practice methodology templates aligned to government guidelines
  • Commercial Strategy, Project Initiation and Control, Market Analysis, Resource Planning
  • Benefits Realisation (Forecasting, Traceability and Tracking), Stakeholder Management
  • Integrated links between project templates, supporting efficiency, consistency and reporting
  • Management reporting, drillable down to individual team member deliverable status
  • Controlled data entry to ensure consistent usage across projects
  • Online coaching support available to aid use and improve skills
  • 'Critical Friend' review of user outputs using the 'Postbox' service
  • Online outsource option to cover skill gaps or accelerate delivery

Benefits

  • Consistent application of methodology across whole programmes/portfolios
  • Framework for knowledge transfer and lower reliance on external specialists
  • Tools that support best practice application without expensive training
  • Targeted support for staff where and when it is required
  • Online outsourcing options can cover skill gaps and accelerate delivery
  • Individual activity reports integrated to a consolidated programme/portfolio level
  • 24/7 access for managers to check delivery status and quality
  • Secure online access for multiple users using two factor authentication
  • Methodology framework to direct best practice without requiring constant oversight
  • Team performance reporting that flags gaps in application of methodology

Pricing

£50 to £120 a licence a month

  • Free trial available

Service documents

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

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

5 8 7 1 7 0 9 3 7 8 4 5 4 2 4

Contact

SOLSUS Ltd James Gooding
Telephone: 0845 5085215
Email: jwg@solsus.com

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
Public cloud
Service constraints
There are no service constraints connected with this service.
System requirements
Browser based service. Client to providing hardware and internet connection.

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Within 24 hours
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
No
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
High  - Our highest Service Level response is reserved for complete Service Outage. It is expected that the reporter will communicate directly via Email or Telephone for this type of outage. Our service desk will respond within 1 hour and provide subsequent updates every 1 hour (if required). The escalation level is immediate and the target fix is as soon as possible (same day aspiration).
Medium - Our second highest Service Level response is reserved for partial outages or interruptions. It is expected that reporter will communicate directly via Email or Telephone for this type of outage. Our service desk will respond within 4 hours and provide subsequent updates every 4 hours (if required).The escalation level is after the initial target fix time and the target fix is within 8 working hours.
Low - Our third Service Level response covers enquiries, minor issues and change requests. It is expected that the reporter will communicate directly via Email for this type of issue. Our service desk will respond within 5 working days (if required) the target fix date will be the next schedule release for agreed upon change requests).
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
Access can be provided within 24 hours following a request for user access. When first contracted by a new client, an initial training workshop is provided free of charge to support access, navigation and toolkit usage. Following this, requests for further on-site or remote training and support can be ordered on-line if required at additional cost.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
User artefacts can be downloaded at any time by users and stored locally. At the point of contract end, users can submit an email request to have their account and all associated data extracted and/or deleted.
End-of-contract process
When customers are off-boarding with us, we agree the format for data to be returned and the approach for deletion of data held by us.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
The mobile service is view only on Apple iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia (Symbian OS) and Android hardware. Edit view is possible on Windows phones, Microsoft Surface tablets and Apple iPads.
Service interface
Yes
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 A
Description of service interface
Users log into an online service access screen from which they can select and use online tools and request additional services. Artifacts are stored in the cloud and can be either shared online or downloaded as copies.
Accessibility standards
WCAG 2.1 A
Accessibility testing
Documentation is available that sets out the findings of accessibility assessments of the platform and can be provided to customers on request.
API
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
The range of tools available in the toolkit can be reduced to simplify the user experience. This would be implemented by Solsus as part of the service set-up process. Any reduction in range can be reversed at a later point if required.

Scaling

Independence of resources
The on-line service is cloud hosted and has the capacity to support a high number of users and activity. The hosting arrangements allow for rapid up-scaling of capacity if required.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Monthly totals of enabled, active, first-time users, and the cumulative active users.
User level information about activities performed (number of files interacted with).
Reporting types
Reports on request

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
Up to Security Clearance (SC)

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
In-house
Protecting data at rest
Physical access control, complying with another standard
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach
A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
User artefacts can be downloaded at any time by users and stored locally. At the point of contract end, users can submit an email request to have their account and all associated data extracted and/or deleted.
Data export formats
  • ODF
  • Other
Other data export formats
ODS
Data import formats
  • ODF
  • Other
Other data import formats
ODS

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
We guarantee 97% service availability. Clients will be compensated on a pro rata licence refund basis for any lack of availability.
Approach to resilience
Our hosting provider operates a three-phase process. It begins with an Assessment phase to identify critical processes and objectives that should be included in the business continuity program. The Assessment phase also requires a Business Impact Analysis (BIA). The Planning phase focuses on developing and implementing resilience and recovery strategies and documenting them in official business continuity plans. Finally, Capability Validation tests business continuity plans and their implementations to verify effectiveness and identify potential improvements.

Our hosting provider's online services business continuity strategies use hardware, network, and datacenter redundancy. Data replication between datacenters provides high availability and reliability during a catastrophic incident. It also increases resilience to mundane incidents such as isolated hardware failure or data corruption.

Our hosting provider's policy stipulates that all business continuity and disaster recovery plans must be tested, updated, and reviewed on an annual basis.

Regular capacity planning is required as part of the Business Continuity Management (BCM) lifecycle.

Online services achieve service resilience through redundant architecture, data replication, and automated integrity checking.
Outage reporting
Our third party provider provides us with a public dashboard that is available to customer, however we will notify customers immediately via email if we become aware of an outage issue.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
The service is a web portal so user privileges are very low, with access only to basic user information and functionality within their own account. Nevertheless, access to user accounts is through a secure web page with two factor authentication.

Client management interfaces rest within the platform as user tools, resulting in low privileges. Platform administration is only possible by Solsus employees.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least once a year
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password

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
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
Between 1 month and 6 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
No

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
Yes
Security governance standards
Other
Other security governance standards
Cyber Essentials
Information security policies and processes
We are Cyber Essentials Basic certified.
Security governance within our company is the responsibility of a single board director who has final responsibility for oversight, authorising decision rights, enacting policy, accountability, strategic planning and resource allocation. Considerations in the development of these area are as follows;

It is a company-wide issue,
directors are accountable,
It is viewed as a cost of doing business,
It is risk-based,
Roles, responsibilities and segregation of duties are defined,
Staff are aware and trained,
It is planned and measured,
It is reviewed and audited.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Configuration and Change Management processes are based upon ITIL best practices and consists of a set of documents, processes and routines that form part of organisational IT Service Management. In summary:
1. A change is submitted;
2. The change is reviewed for impact and feasibility;
3. The change is escalated for approval;
4. Once approved, a change is scheduled with any impacted customer;
5. In a suitable window, the change is enacted;
6. The change is monitored for impact;
7. The change request is closed.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
We receive threat information and explore threat resolutions from our hosting provider's Security Response Center.

Regular internal and external vulnerability assessments tests are performed.

Risk methodology based on NIST standards.
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
We are Cyber Essential Basic certified.
Protective monitoring of our platform is supplied by a third party to industry standard.
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
Incident management processes are based upon ITIL best practices and consists of a set of documents, processes and routines that form part of organisational IT service management

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Social Value

Social Value

Social Value

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

Fighting climate change

Solsus Limited is committed to taking effective steps to in minimising the impact of its activities on the environment. The key points our strategy are as follows: 1 Solsus commits to achieving Net Zero by 2050 by; o Minimise waste by evaluating operations and ensuring they are as efficient as possible; o Minimise toxic emissions through the sourcing of its power requirement; o Actively promote recycling both internally and amongst its customers and suppliers; o Meeting or exceeding all the environmental legislation that relates to the company; o Using an accredited program to offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated by our activities. 2 The scope of our commitment covers all Solsus activity, both in terms of direct client delivery, back office operations, head office locations, client locations and remote working locations. 3 We will report on performance against this commitment inline with the requirements of PPN 06/21 and according to any additional client requirements, as agreed between the parties. Completed and continuing activities include: • The installation of a photo-voltaic system at the head office location, which in 2021 generated 22% of the electricity used at the site; • Where power at the head office location is not provided by the photo-voltaic system, 100% of additional gas and electric power is sourced from providers that maximise the use of green energy and that provide a 100% offset to greenhouse gas emissions for non-green energy sources, where there are no alternatives; • The implementation of a ‘no print’ policy; • The use of on-line methods for all government related financial submissions; • Employee policies that require remote working and meeting arrangements, unless a physical presence is required that necessitates travel • Activities to reduce scope 3 emissions, such as consolidated deliveries and additional offset arrangements.

Covid-19 recovery

Covid-19 recovery - During the COVID period, following a risk assessment relating to employee welfare and service quality, we allowed and enabled workers to work 100% from their home location, where it was their decision. This new policy was implemented within two weeks of approval. We have since allowed employee led hybrid working when permitted by the needs of assignments. Where on-site support is an option with clients (e.g. training), we have worked closely with clients to create as much flexibility to delivery services remotely. Solsus Benefit: Improved employee wellbeing Client Benefit: Greater client stakeholder flexibility on engagement and reduced travel impact.

Tackling economic inequality

Tackling economic inequality - Our salary structure has always ensured 100% equality of pay scales for equivalent positions. Where roles are the same, pay structure is identical. Solsus Benefit: Employee equality Client Benefit: Compliance with client objectives relating to supplier equality.

Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity - Solsus has always been an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. In order to support equality (particularly between male and female workers, workers with and without children and workers with and without care dependencies). As part of our on-going objectives in this area, in 2021, we implemented a fully flexible work arrangement with regard to days and hours. As long as commitments are covered with regard to fixed client interactions, our workers have full independence to choose the days and times within which they carry out their work. We believe this supports wellbeing as well as equality. It also supports those workers who's religious commitments influence their working hours preferences. Solsus Benefit: Employee equality Client Benefit: Compliance with client objectives relating to supplier equality.

Wellbeing

Wellbeing - During 2022/23, we instigated and implemented programme wellbeing sessions with one client that allowed non formal team interactions that improve morale, reduce stress and improve communication. Solsus Benefit: Employee wellbeing and client relationship improvement Client Benefit: Employee wellbeing and client relationship improvement.

Pricing

Price
£50 to £120 a licence a month
Discount for educational organisations
No
Free trial available
Yes
Description of free trial
14 day period of evaluation. More information is available on request.

Service documents

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