ASTUN TECHNOLOGY LIMITED

Astun Clarity for Metadata Management and Data Discoverability

Astun Clarity is a cloud based metadata service that provides both internal metadata maintenance and discovery services with a workflow for quality approval and subsequent publication of a subset of records to data.gov.uk or another standards compliant portal.

Features

• Gemini 2.3 and INSPIRE compliant service
• Automatic validation of metadata against schema
• Support for custom schemas
• QA and Approval for Publication workflows
• Serve metadata via an OGC CSW to the data.gov.uk portal
• Organisational and departmental hierarchy
• Separate internal and public metadata
• Internal and Public discovery services
• No need to implement any additional technology locally
• Enterprise Grade Support

Benefits

• Custom cloud based metadata service
• Uses GeoNetwork like most of the world's spatial data infrastructures
• Full support for UK GEMINI metadata standards
• Metadata Publishing provides full UK Location Programme compatibility
• Ensures that data is managed and discoverable across your organisation
• Provides real business value and business efficiency
• Multiple catalogs for both internal-facing and external-facing metadata
• Serve metadata to data.gov.uk and other standards compliant portals
• Automated Metadata Creation and Update, saving time and resources

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

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

688650192284900

Contact

Astun Technology Sales Team
01372 744009
sales@astuntechnology.com

About your service

• Service categories:

  Application Development and Deployment

  Data management

  Data integration and intelligence

  • Metadata Management Software
• Multi cloud support: No

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Private cloud
• Service constraints: Most planned maintenance will be undertaken without interrupting service availability, however in the event that this is not possible downtime will be scheduled and customers notified in advance.
• System requirements:
  • Compliant with OGC WMS 1.1.1, 1.3.0
  • Compliant with OGC WFS 1.0.0, 1.1.0
  • Compliant with OGC CSW 2.0.2

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Our guaranteed response time, during working hours, is under 2 hours for all ticket classifications.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: IShare in the Cloud Application Support is included within an iShare in the Cloud Open Enterprise Agreement.; ; Astun provide the following iShare in the Cloud Support as standard:; 1. Advice on maintaining iShare in the Cloud.; 2. Access to official iShare in the Cloud and community forums.; 3. Advice on configuring and extending iShare in the Cloud.; 4. Instructions on how to remedy common faults.; 5. Resolution of issues related directly to a serious flaw in iShare in the Cloud.; 6. The Customer may obtain iShare in the Cloud Application support by logging a request on Astun’s Support Portal.; ; First line support is provided via a permanently staffed Service Desk with second and third line support by consultancy and development teams for fault diagnosis and resolution. Customer access to web based Service Desk provides real time ticket management and correspondence on all customer tickets.; ; For support conditions, support processes, the service level agreement and escalation procedures are detailed in the accompanying document - Astun Platform Terms & Conditions
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: On receipt of a purchase order Astun Technology will: Issue Project Initiation Documents and host kick off call / meeting; Set up Astun Clarity server within customer Virtual Private Cloud; Configure Astun Clarity. Liaise with customer on configuration options; Commence delivery of additional configuration and consultancy services. Astun provide onsite training for administrators and user documentation.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: In the event that the customer terminates the service they can download their data from the service in a standard file format or as a database export/backup. Customers should extract a copy of their data before their contract expires.
• End-of-contract process: On receipt of a written request to terminate the Astun Clarity service and subject to there being no unpaid charges outstanding, Astun will delete the hosted environment including all servers, datasets, user details and customer specific configuration stored within Astun Clarity. Any further "Off-boarding" assistance is chargeable in accordance with Astun's rate card.
• Documentation accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 AA

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA
• Description of service interface: Full details of the service interfaces can be found in the Service Definition.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.2 AA
• Accessibility testing: None.
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: You can integrate with Clarity using the underlying GeoNetwork API for things like:; Creating/updating/deleting metadata records; Searching and exporting metadata (often as XML/JSON); Bulk operations (e.g. via scripts in Python, as mentioned in training notes)
• API documentation: No
• API sandbox or test environment: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Customisation by agreement and/or with the purchase of Call-Off Consultancy service days. Customisation options include: Custom styling, custom filters, support for custom schemas, custom validation error messages and schematron rules and custom reports.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Customers have their own dedicated virtual private cloud.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Customers can obtain metrics using Google Analytics.
• Resource tagging: No
• FOCUS resource tagging: No

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations:
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CREST-approved service provider
• Protecting data at rest: Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed / Cryptographic Erasure

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: The administration console can be used to export data in a wide variety of formats.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats:
  • All common data formats as supported by GDAL/OGR
  • OGC Web Services
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats:
  • All common data formats as supported by GDAL/OGR
  • OGC Web Services

Data-in-transit protection

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

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Astun Clarity is hosted on a high availability cloud infrastructure with a failover backup to at least three independent data centres for maximum resilience. Internal availability testing indicates availability in excess of 99.6% Response times for map rendering are typically less than 1 second at the server. The services are continually monitored with automated messages sent to several staff in the event of a deterioration or failure.
• Approach to resilience: Astun Clarity is hosted within the Amazon Web Services environment (AWS). The entire cloud environment is backed up to at least three independent data centres to provide additional resilience in the unlikely event that the primary availability zone becomes unavailable.
• Outage reporting: Astun set up a series of alarms to monitor the customer's cloud service. These alarms are triggered if any pre-set limits to system resources are reached (e.g. disk space). This enables Astun to address the majority of issues before any potential outage. We also use our GeoHealth check system to monitor servers and ensure they are up and working. The customer is informed of any potential problems by email or phone.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Access to management interfaces are restricted to login in via remote desktop over a dedicated VPN between customer network estate and the virtual private cloud environment dedicated to the customer. Access by Astun is also over VPN.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication: Dedicated link (for example VPN)

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

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: No
• Security governance approach: Astun has a formal Information Security Policy that provides a framework for the management of information security within our business processes.
• Information security policies and processes: In addition to our Information Security Policy we are also Cyber Essentials Plus accredited. Astun Clarity is hosted on Amazon Web Services (which is ISO 27001 accredited). Users should make appropriate decisions regarding what data to deploy within Astun Clarity.
• Software Security Code of Practice: Yes

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Changes to all Astun components are managed and tracked through their lifetime via a centralised bug-tracking, issue-tracking and project-management software application (JIRA) and associated private code repository (BitBucket) managed under source control. The software is built through a repeatable build process and after passing formally defined test cases is tagged to a specific version number at the point of release. Only released software is deployed to the customer virtual private cloud environments. Potential security impacts are assessed via a process of peer review.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: Information on potential threats is continuously assessed through review of key online resources (release notes, security articles etc) for all third party components (operating systems, databases, frameworks etc). Penetration testing of the full system (including Astun components) is undertaken by independent third parties on all significant software releases. Whilst patch releases are routinely issued on a monthly basis, key security vulnerabilities are patched and released as soon as Astun become aware of them, irrespective of the stage in the release cycle.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: All cloud servers are set up with alarms that monitor key system resources on the server itself allowing the detection of compromises such as denial of service attacks. In addition external monitoring services are set up to make routine periodic requests to the servers (typically every 15 mins), to check that they remain responsive, and send out alerts if any servers are unavailable. Incidents are responded to as soon as we become aware of them. Logging is enabled on the servers to provide an audit trail of potential compromises for subsequent investigation.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Security related incidents are categorised as a Priority 1 within our Service Desk system, and allocated to third line support personnel (developer) for immediate investigation and resolution. Users are able to report such incidents via the Service Desk (phone, email and web form), which is routinely monitored throughout the working day by first line support staff. Contemporaneous notes are taken during the incident and recorded against the service desk ticket, which provides a detailed report of the incident itself. Key performance indicators are also published from the Service Desk System and routinely reviewed by management on a weekly basis.
• Post-quantum cryptography secure: Yes

Secure development

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

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Pricing

• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: The scope of the trial will be by agreement. The customer may be required to pay for the services required to set up the trial.

Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)

• Less than £250,000: 0%
• Between £250,000 and £500,000: 2%
• Between £500,001 and £1,000,000: 5%
• Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000: 10%
• Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000: 10%
• Over £5,000,001: 10%

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: No
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Certificate Number: 4a22f9be-2434-4332-b30e-325709b17072
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Plus Certificate Number: 73eeab73-0e12-4943-b337-3d2c0a37d3d2
• Other security certifications: No

Social value

• Section B - Commitment for Future: Delivery:

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority

    • Providing opportunities for, and measuring and monitoring of, staff workforce conditions over time, including employee engagement, involvement in decision-making and satisfaction and adapting to any changes in the results, with clear processes for acting on issues identified
    • Plans to engage the contract workforce in deciding the most important workplace issues to address
    • Monitoring of employee engagement rates (by protected characteristic) and, where necessary, the development of actions to ensure all voices are heard across the diversity of the workforce
    • Employment contracts that reflect actual hours worked; steps taken to ensure employees understand their contracts and have the ability to review and adjust them if actual hours regularly exceed contracted hours
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about, and feel empowered to, address their physical wellbeing
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
    • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
    • Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Volunteering opportunities for staff

  • Mission: Make Britain a clean energy superpower: To cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero

    Policy Outcome 4: Sustainable procurement practices: Reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.

    • Understanding of opportunities for additional environmental benefits delivery in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Delivery of additional environmental benefits through the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies

  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 6: Employment and training: For those who face barriers to employment

    • Understanding of the issues affecting inequality in employment, skills and pay in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors. Measures to tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce
    • Inclusive and accessible development practices, including guidance for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition

  • Mission: Build an NHS fit for the future: That is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.

    Policy Outcome 8: Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: In the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.

    • Understanding of issues relating to health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
    • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, development practices and retention policies that support-focused activities including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing which support people with a disability or health condition
    • Actions to invest in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the contract workforce

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