Ctrl O

LinkSpace

LinkSpace helps you optimise and manage business processes that involve large numbers of people continuously contributing, tracking or viewing data. A reliable and secure productivity and collaboration tool with role based permissions. It is simple to deploy and easily customised by your staff, as standards, policies or legislation evolve.

Features

• Easy-to-use and highly versatile data management platform
• Low-cost and rapid deployment of business analytics and data management
• Manages any data-driven business processes
• Full audit-trail of data and user activity: meets compliance needs
• Data visualisation, easy to configure graphs, individual data views
• Agile configuration, intuitive interface; reports, workflow, dashboards and alerts
• Economic for small teams; fully-scalable for large, distributed organisations
• Open source, low-code business process management (BPM) platform
• Flexible data-analysis tools, calendar, time-line and sync-matrix data view
• One-step migration alternative to spreadsheets and spreadsheet-based ad-hoc process management

Benefits

• Acheive consistent good practise with improved visibility of information
• Digitise manual systems, saving hours compiling spreadsheets and data
• COTS data management platform means low-risk deployment and fully customisable
• Personal dashboards and live data inform decision and drive pace
• Highly granular access-control, users see what they are permitted to
• Full audit trail ensures compliance with legislation, process and standards
• Work anywhere and collaborate with suppliers, partners and service users.
• Licence model supports multiple business requirements, offering great value-for-money
• Integrates into any data-driven collaborative business processes
• Achieve digital transformation goals quickly, implement interim or replacement services

£0.24 to £11.20 a user a month

• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

• Modern Slavery statement

  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 j.hayden@ctrlo.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

627525433782338

Contact

John Hayden
020 3474 1212
j.hayden@ctrlo.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model:
  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
  • Community cloud
• Service constraints: Our principal infrastructure sub-contractor is UKCloud enabling us to provide a highly-resilient Tier 3 hosting environment. The availability of LinkSpace is 99.95% per year. MAINTENANCE WINDOWS | Emergency Maintenance will take place between the hours of 00:00 and 06:00 (UK local time) Monday to Friday or between the hours of Saturday 00:00 to 06:00 (UK local time) on Monday, (including bank holidays) unless there is an identified and demonstrable immediate risk to customer environment(s). We will consider alternative strategies by request, see our Service Definition for additional detail.
• System requirements:
  • Internet connection
  • Standard browser on desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Additional to the Service Levels detailed further below our typical response times are as follows:; ; First response is within 1 hour, 24/7 and usually immediate by telephone.; ; Customers also have access to Ctrl O Account Managers by telephone and email during core business hours
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: SERVICE LEVELS | Ctrl O provides a Response Time Service Level Agreement(SLA). PREMIUM SUPPORT | is included as standard in the G-Cloud per-user subscription price. CUSTOM ENHANCED SUPPORT | can be provided at rates based on the SFIA rate card. Our experience indicates all customers are satisfied with our Premium Support offering.; ; RESPONSE TIME | The response time depends on the priority of the incident, as follows:; ▶ P1 and P2 (no alternative or no acceptable alternative): 1 hour.; ▶ P3 (unusable non-critical function having operational impact, workaround available) 24 hours.; ▶ P4 (function unusable, workaround available) 24 hours.; ; TECHNICAL ACCOUNT MANAGER | A technical account manager is allocated to every customer. ; CLOUD SUPPORT ENGINEER | Cloud support engineers are pooled and accessed through the help-desk.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: USER-TRAINING | LinkSpace is intuitive and easy to use. We provide a number of training and familiarisation modalities to satisfy all needs. The comprehensive user guide is available on-line or as a PDF. The application has context-sensitive help for each view and feature. As the system is configured, help screens and pop-ups are also configured to provide specific end-user guidance. Onsite classroom training for user-administrators, train-the-trainer and end-users is provided as a Cloud Support Service by Ctrl O. ONBOARDING | Simple migration of existing data is achieved by bulk upload of a CSV file, this can be done by Ctrl O (see Service Definition for details) or a user-administrator. A popular approach to onboarding LinkSpace is to take a user requirement (a business process) and work with Ctrl O consultants as a Cloud Support Service to train user-administrators and end users as we jointly configure and deploy the application. Full details of Planning, Setup and Migration, Training and Ongoing Support services provided by Ctrl O are provided in Lot 3 "Cloud Support".
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: OFFBOARDING AND DATA EXTRACTION | Migration from the service is easy using our zero-cost offboarding service. If you decide to leave the service you can download your data in a standard format, such as CSV and move it to another product. OPEN SOURCE | As LinkSpace is open source a customer on a single-tenant instance of LinkSpace (only free-trial instances are multi-tenanted) can arrange with us to be provided a complete system of their instance, including all business logic, audit trail and the ability to look back at historical views of the data at any chosen date and time. (Historical views will not show user-deleted records as these are purged in conformance with data privacy policies. Users may elect to archive non-personal data as an alternative to deletion to preserve this powerful historical audit feature.)
• End-of-contract process: TERMINATION | Termination can be ordered by the customer in accordance with the relevant terms of the Call-off Contract which typically have been at the discretion of the customer on providing 30 days' notice. At the point of termination, all consumer data, accounts and access will be permanently deleted, and will not be able to be subsequently recovered or restored. Data will be provided to the customer in accordance with the offboarding procedure. There is no charge over and above the normal subscription for this offboarding service. Exceptionally, additional exit Migration and Planning services may be procured from Ctrl O under Lot 3 "Cloud Support".

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: FULL ACCESS to all features is available on tablets and smartphones. Data is presented to users through a feature called VIEWS which are individually configurable by individual users either for themselves, teams or all users (subject to the grant of appropriate permissions). Users may configure their views to optimise the user-experience on their chosen device.
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Description of service interface: The service interface is accessed via the standard software interface, but with elevated privileges.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Accessibility testing: Worked with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that the software works well with a variety of users of assistive technology.
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: The LinkSpace API is available to all LinkSpace customers. It provides access to all the data viewing and editing functionality of LinkSpace, including: editing records, viewing records, viewing a record's history, and viewing reports. Because LinkSpace is a software application with which the majority of interaction is expected to be its extensive data management features, the API does not offer any provisioning or configuration of LinkSpace. The API uses HTTPS to create a secure interface, using OAuth2 for authentication. JSON is used to encode the data throughout the API.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: LinkSpace has been designed so that users, with appropriate permissions, can configure every aspect of the application. This enables teams to evolve the way data is collected and managed as the business process evolves, without calling-in a consultant or IT department. Eliminating costly and lengthy contractual change-control procedures and putting those who fully understand the desired outcomes in control of the system. Full audit trail, constant backup and historical views of the system together with rigorous permissions controlling who can make changes support user-defined procedures for approving change. This fosters progressive innovation, a key objective of digital transformation. ACCESS CONTROL | LinkSpace can be extensively configured to control who has access to what data and features. Create groups, add members to groups, and then define what a group can do. As access to features supporting the powerful customisation facility of LinkSpace are governed by this access control, the owner of the business process can define who is responsible for making changes which can be user-tested in a sandbox environment before deployment.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: LinkSpace for Government is deployed using a single-tenanted virtual environment from UKCloud. In order to guarantee that customers in one VPS are not affected by the demands from customers in another VPS, UKCloud use resource reservations and shares such as internet bandwidth shaping. The UKCloud capacity planning team ensure that usage in terms of all resources are constantly monitored and increased accordingly relating to user demand. LinkSpace itself is very light, using minimal bandwidth for each page displayed.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: FORENSIC AUDIT TRAIL | All users and user-administrators with the appropriate permission have access to full audit trail in real-time. This can be filtered (say) by user or activity and downloaded. USAGE METRICS | Monthly usage reports are provided automatically.
• Reporting types: Regular reports

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• 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: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest: Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: DATA EXTRACTION APPROACH | It is a standard feature of LinkSpace that all or part of data can be downloaded in CSV format by anyone who has been given appropriate permissions by the user-administrator (a member of the customer team). This download can be made at any time and as frequently as needed. Powerful boolean filters can be employed in the selection of sub-sets of data to enable users to export only the data they want. OPEN SOURCE | We will work with a customer to clone a single-tenant instance of LinkSpace with all their data, if requested.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats: LinkSpace code is open source, a clone may be created
• Data import formats: CSV

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network: TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: The minimum availability of LinkSpace is 99.95% per year. This excludes planned maintenance, which will only take place out of normal business hours at times agreed by the customer. Sometimes maintenance will be required on the UKCloud servers at times outside of our control. If these; times are unacceptable, a customer’s LinkSpace instance can be moved to another unaffected server beforehand. A move will require approximately 1 hour of downtime. STANDARD SLA: A Service Level non-conformance event ("SLNC") happens if the service level falls below the stated availability percentage (excluding Planned and Emergency maintenance periods). Consumers will be eligible for service credits on affected services only. Service credits will be calculated as a percentage of the fees for the affected services for the monthly billing period during which the SLNC occurred (to be applied at the end of the billing cycle). Service credit is 5% of the monthly spend. SLNCs directly or indirectly arising from the same cause, event or sequence of events within 72 hours of the earlier SLNC represent a single instance of Service Level non-conformance.
• Approach to resilience: An hourly differential backup and a daily full snapshot are encrypted and stored in a physically separate data centre provided by an independent provider (Serverhouse). Daily backups are each stored for 4 months, full monthly backups are stored for 12 months. In the event of server failure, this allows for virtually no data loss and fast reversion to an alternative server (within 1 hour).
• Outage reporting: Ctrl O maintains a very close relationship with each customer. In the event of an outage, a customer will be contacted directly to inform them of the issue, provide details and expected times of the rectification, and provide any assistance to mitigate the outage with the customer.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Ctrl O management interfaces for LinkSpace are only accessible using indirect bastion hosts, to reduce the external attack vector. Support channels for LinkSpace are restricted to only known customers.
• 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 have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time 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: BM Trada
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Certification first awarded in 04/06/2014, latest certificate dated 05/01/2022
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: All the services provided are covered by the certification
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: Yes
• CSA STAR accreditation date: 07/09/2017
• CSA STAR certification level: Level 1: CSA STAR Self-Assessment
• What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: None
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: Cyber Essentials Plus

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • CSA CCM version 3.0
  • ISO/IEC 27001
• Information security policies and processes: Ctrl O has been built from the day it was incorporated on the fundamental principles of ISO27001. These form the core of everything the company and its employees do. Ctrl O's ISO27001 certification has been independently assessed and certified by BM Trada, a UKAS accredited audit body. Ctrl O is governed by an integrated suite of information security policies. Under the top level Information Security Policy itself are second-level documents with specific focuses, including acceptable use, protection against malicious software, system monitoring, secure development, supply chain management and many others.

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: Ctrl O has documented configuration and change management policies and processes, which have been implemented, maintained and assessed in accordance with the guidance from ISO27001. Formal configuration management processes are integrated within all Ctrl O's activities, as part of its ISMS policies. A robust, established process for the formal submission of change requests is mandated to ensure that a formal audit trail is maintained.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: Ctrl O has a documented vulnerability management policy and process, which has been implemented, maintained and assessed in accordance with its ISO27001 certification. Ctrl O subscribes to vulnerability notifications for all software it operates, assessing each notification, and depending on its severity either deploying during routine updates or at much shorter notice if deemed necessary.
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: Ctrl O's approach to protective monitoring aligns with the Protective Monitoring Controls (PMC 1-12) outlined in CESG document GPG13 (Protective Monitoring for HMG ICT Systems). It includes checks on time sources, cross-boundary traffic, suspicious activities at a boundary, network connections and the status of backups, amongst many others. All alerts are notified to Ctrl O staff for prompt investigation.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: Ctrl O has a documented incident management policy and process, which has been implemented, maintained and assessed in accordance with its ISO27001 certification. This activity is responsible for the progression of alerts generated by automated monitoring systems, issues identified by Ctrl O personnel, and incidents identified and reported to Ctrl O by its customers. All incidents are promptly reported into a central ticketing system, which ensures that each is promptly assigned to an appropriate resource, and its progress tracked (and escalated, as required) to resolution.

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: Yes
• Connected networks:
  • Public Services Network (PSN)
  • Police National Network (PNN)
  • NHS Network (N3)
  • Joint Academic Network (JANET)
  • Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)
  • Other
• Other public sector networks: RLI (MODNET)

Social Value

• Fighting climate change:

  Fighting climate change

  Ctrl O as a micro SME delivers cloud services enabling increased online collaboration for customers and owing to small numbers of staff is able to operate with a very low impact on the environment. ; ; Ctrl O has Corporate and Social Responsibility and Environmental policies stating that we are committed to continually review our impact and reduce and minimise where possible. And recognise that as staff and supplier numbers grow these policies and associated plans and actions will need greater formalisation and monitoring to ensure a positive impact.; ; Additionally, and as a matter of course, Ctrl O senior management individually subscribe to minimising and reducing environmental impact and foster awareness and understanding in all employees, suppliers and customers. Lead by example staff are encouraged to cycle and walk in favour of public transport or take the train over using a car.
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  COVID-19 had a revolutionary impact on work practices and the need for technology solutions to support many of those changes. Ctrl O is proud to offer their software, LinkSpace, as one solution that is capable of supporting organisations and businesses where new ways of working are needed to deliver services. ; ; Ctrl O is eager to work with organisations improving workplace conditions and supporting the COVID-19 recovery effort through supporting business process to enable effective social distancing, remote working and sustainable travel solutions. ; ; LinkSpace enables staff to collaborate remotely, to share data securely and relevant to the user and purpose without the need to physically communicate or travel. Ctrl O recognises that LinkSpace cannot answer all business needs and as an open source, cloud based solution it does integrate quickly and easily into any environment and will make a difference.
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  As a micro SME Ctrl O is well placed to have a direct impact in tackling economic inequality. The company is able to ensure that all its expenditure goes into other UK SMEs, all of which are chosen for their own social values. This ensures that a pound spent with Ctrl O is a pound that goes directly into the UK economy in areas where it is most needed. As Ctrl O grows we plan to recruit, develop and empower junior staff for exactly this reason.
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  Ctrl O is an equal opportunity company and as a micro SME with ambitions to grow we have taken an office in the South West with the intention of recruiting staff that are able to grow with the company. ; ; The CEO and COO are both ex-military service and keen to support opportunities for fellow ex-military service personnel should they become available.; ; Our company (and personal) values are captured in our policies including recruitment, supplier and modern slavery statement.
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  Owing to the size of Ctrl O the staff are fortunate that the company are able to operate an informal approach to wellbeing that is based on values and a culture of wellbeing, both mentally and physically.; ; Ctrl O staff operate in an open and collaborative way with due consideration to a healthy work life balance while still maintaining a focus on customer service. ; ; Ctrl O has taken an office in a business park in Yeovil to enable work from home (WFH) staff to have a place to work and interact with other local community members. Recognising that WFH is not sustainable for all people and the value of ensuring staff have the option to collaborate in person or work in a space outside their home is worth the cost.

Pricing

• Price: £0.24 to £11.20 a user a month
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: INCLUDED | All features of LinkSpace are included in the free trial. EXCLUDED |Single-tenant instances of LinkSpace are not provided automatically in the free trial period but will be considered on request. TIME PERIOD | The standard free trial period is 30 days.
• Link to free trial: https://www.ctrlo.com

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

• Modern Slavery statement

  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 j.hayden@ctrlo.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.