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Civica UK Limited

Civica Citizen Portal

Civica Citizen Portal is a public-facing website that links directly with modules in the Regulatory Services platform. Citizens can apply online for licences and log service requests. It supports the upload of attachments and integrates with your payment engine. Forms submitted via the portal auto-populate the back-office module.

Features

  • Available for licence applications and Service requests
  • Workflows for consistency of outcomes and automation of processes
  • Supports the upload of attachments including: mp4/pdf/jpeg
  • Communications engine supporting letter, email and SMS
  • Cloud optimised design enabling agile and remote access
  • Comprehensive management and on-demand reporting
  • Pre-packaged components such as forms and workflows
  • Includes Shopping Basket functionality
  • Intelligent case linking to increase awareness and reduce duplication
  • Supports digital signatures

Benefits

  • Create your own webforms and publish them instantly
  • 24/7 access for Citizens
  • Links directly with your payment engine
  • Mandatory fields ensure only valid applications are accepted
  • No more re-keying as directly populates Cx back office
  • Tangible savings through digital automation
  • Rapid deployment time and fast initial user adoption
  • Supports your digital strategy and channel shift strategies
  • Citizens can save partially completed forms
  • Add company branding with colour schemes and logos

Pricing

£2,402 a unit a month

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 g-cloud@civica.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

7 3 7 5 1 2 1 8 5 9 5 1 6 3 2

Contact

Civica UK Limited Civica UK Limited
Telephone: +44 (0) 3333 214 914
Email: g-cloud@civica.co.uk

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
Yes
What software services is the service an extension to
The Citizens portal is an add-on to Cvica Cx Regulatory Services suite of case management solutions. The Portal can be used by citizens to apply for licences or log service requests.
Cloud deployment model
Public cloud
Service constraints
Some down time is required for scheduled maintenance and upgrades
System requirements
  • SMS and Twitter integrations require relevant licensed services
  • Browser enabled devices
  • Addressing web service integration requires licences
  • Local gazetteer integration requires local service installation
  • EDM integration requires local service installation

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Each call is allocated a priority as follows:
1. Business Critical impact - 1 working day
2. Major operational impact - 2-5 working days
3. Minor operational impact - 3-30 working days
4. Minor operational inconvenience - 4-60 working days
5. System operation not impeded - Case by cases basis. Available 9-5 Monday - Friday
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support
Web chat
Web chat support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support accessibility standard
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Web chat accessibility testing
NA
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
The Civica Support Desk follows ITIL principles of Incident, Problem and Request for Service and is available for both technical and/or application support assistance.

Incidents and Requests for Service can be reported by a nominated application system administrator and/or trained users of the system via the Civica Customer Support Portal or via the telephone during standard business hours.
Each reported incident upon logging is allocated a level of priority between 1 and 4 depending upon its Business Impact and Urgency and is investigated in line with the agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA) by a team of highly knowledgeable analysts who together have over a combined 120 years’ worth of experience supporting Civica products.
The cost of standard support is included within the pricing matrix, however Civica is always more than happy to talk to customers who require an alternative level of support. This can range from a lesser Service Level Agreement (SLA) through to an enhanced SLA.

A nominated account manager will be the primary contact for the customer and will act as the point of contact for any escalation or commercial discussions.
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
Civica offers a complete range of training services Civica Cx and will conduct a Training Needs Analysis with new customers prior to commencing the training programme. Training is provided on-site at the customer premises with the equipment agreed in advance. All training documentation is provided by Civica . Staff are trained to enable them to update, change and build the solution implemented using the tool sets provided. The specific methods to be used are agreed at the outset of the project including: Classroom training held at the customers premises or in one of Civica's dedicated training facilities. Use of customised training environment, configuration and data set to allow the training to be based on the customer's specific implementation of the solution. Some e-learning materials distributed using external media or the internet. Shorter training course can be delivered via Skype or WebEx
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
HTML
End-of-contract data extraction
All service customer data and citizen user accounts are stored in an industry standard proprietary relational database on a storage platform appropriate to the impact level of the solution. All service customer generated data is returned to the customer. This is held in three possible places of the system within the Live databases and active directory, back up on the primary site, secondary disaster recovery database and active directory. All service customer data and user accounts shall be supplied to the customer using the export format of the industry standard proprietary relational database. Where data is held within active directory of the solution this is exported as a csv file. These files of data are compressed and transferred via a secure courier using either removable disk or optical media (encrypted as appropriate) to the customers primary admin contact address which must be in the UK. The costs for this are determined on a case by case basis and shall be dependant upon the amount of data, media extracted to and security level required. Civica shall destroy all live backup copies of the data within our control and provide written confirmation to the customer that this has been performed.
End-of-contract process
In order to ensure that a smooth and effective handover is possible at the end of the contract or on early termination, a framework needs to be agreed prior to the contract commencement that provides both parties with a clear indication of the areas for which they will be responsible when the contract ceases. To provide both parties with the necessary assurance that a successful handover can be achieved within the provisions of the contract, this framework should identify all the main areas in which detailed arrangements need to be made in advance, as some issues will be dependant on the circumstances at the time, these will need to be agreed following notification of termination. Civica's price contains provision for discharging these responsibilities comprehensively in the event of the termination / expiry of the contract, which is based on our experience as a long standing service provider to the public sector.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
Application to install
Yes
Compatible operating systems
  • Android
  • IOS
  • Windows
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
The solution is inherently mobile through design, meaning that full system access is achievable on tablet devices. The user interface can be customised via role permissions, to give mobile workers a more appropriate view of the system, i.e. access only to the areas pertinent to their role.
Service interface
Yes
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Description of service interface
The Civica Citizen Portal is a public facing website. It allows the public to create an account and login using a username and password. Users can then submit applications and log requests for service using webforms created within the solution.
Accessibility standards
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Accessibility testing
NA
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
The API can be used to create and populate data records within Cx, for example creating and updating licence cases. It can also be used to query the system for information related to specified entities.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
  • PDF
  • Other
API sandbox or test environment
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
Administrators can define user defined fields on most entities within the system, can control levels of access including customisation on tab presentation. Users can customise dashboards, views of tabular data, the colour theme of Cx and the initial presentation of core entities.

Scaling

Independence of resources
Underlying hardware is dynamically allocated and balanced using VMware Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS). DRS ensures virtual servers are allocated the appropriate physical hardware resources at all times. DRS also enables virtual servers to be migrated to different physical hardware so system availability is maintained during planned or unplanned maintenance. Storage is allocated via a flash storage array capable of maintaining high IOPS throughput.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
NA

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

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
Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
Penetration testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Penetration testing approach
In-house
Protecting data at rest
Encryption of all physical media
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 can be exported in agreed formats. Data volumes over 50GB will require an individual extraction plan including agreement on extract media. Data can be exported into CSV files from grids managed with the system.
Data export formats
CSV
Data import formats
CSV

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
Civica’s standard core hours are 7am-7pm, Monday to Friday (excluding UK Bank holidays). Access to the service (remote access to data centre, domain names, network connections, IP addresses, hosted software and equipment) during core hours will have an uptime availability of 99.99%
Approach to resilience
Available on request.
Outage reporting
Infrastructure related scheduled maintenance will not occur between 07:00 and 19:00 Monday to Friday excluding English Bank Holidays. Maintenance will be arranged with a minimum of 3 working days’ notice, and will include a detailed description of the planned works, planned outcomes, and a detailed back-out plan, unless otherwise stated.
Unplanned outages will be notified via the Civica Service Desk.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
NA
Access restriction testing frequency
At least once a year
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • 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
At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
ISOQAR
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
06/12/2017
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
NA
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
No
Cyber essentials plus
Yes
Other security certifications
Yes
Any other security certifications
ISO 22301

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
Yes
Security governance standards
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
Other security governance standards
Cyber Essentials Plus
ISO22301
Information security policies and processes
In order to provide a wide range of services to public and private sector organisations, Civica maintains an active information security programme. This programme requires regular internal and external audit inspection of both physical and logical data protection structures. The policies and procedures are aligned to ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus certifications.

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
All hosted assets metadata is stored in a Configuration Management Data Base. This data base is access controlled to authorised staff only. The CMDB provides information essential to the secure hosting of client critical services.
Civica's Change Management process ensures that all changes are considered and planned, and appropriate, and that there is a clear audit trail of all changes.
Vulnerability management type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Vulnerability management approach
NA
Protective monitoring type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Protective monitoring approach
Civica take a proactive approach to information security through a process of continual monitoring and review. As part of a documented risk assessment methodology to identify and manage information security risks a dedicated security team update the risk register monthly.
Civica has a network monitoring solution in place ‘OpsView’ as well as a full antivirus and anti-malware solution. These technologies check the hosted services for errors, infections and unexpected network traffic and are support by Cisco IPS/IDS at the perimeter layer. This monitoring service provides defence in depth, against compromise, by detecting infections and suspicious networking activity within the environment.
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
Civica have developed an Incident Management process (PRM07) under ISO 20000 standards which details both the Incident and Service Request Management processes.
The Civica Service Desk manages end user Service Requests, Incidents and Requests for Change (RFCs) which can be logged by e-mail, telephone and web portal.
Monthly customer reports will detail incident information.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Conforms to a recognised standard, but self-assessed

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Social Value

Fighting climate change

Fighting climate change

Civica’s Environment and Social Governance (ESG) committee provides focus for ongoing development and implementation of our environmental policy, supported by our ISO 14001 standard. We commit to working with staff, customers, suppliers, contractors and partners to recognise and reduce our environmental impact. Simultaneously we’re optimising our services to support environmental and community initiatives.

We support fighting climate change by:
- Helping employees reduce their environmental footprint at work. Initiatives include: recycling facilities across our offices, single use plastic reduction, timer switches for office devices, cistern water saving devices, installing LED lighting when refreshing offices, WEEE recycling all hardware, print reduction, phone and printer cartridge recycling, FSC certified paper; weekly employee communications encouraging and advising employees on positive approaches to reduce carbon. Employees have carbon saving benefits such as cycle to work scheme.
- Socially responsible purchasing, sustainable procurement, reduced consumption.
- Selecting suppliers, goods and services that demonstrate sustainable, socially responsible, ethically sound standards.
- Leading by example via activities such as: reducing single use plastic consumption by 70% within the next 5 years; prioritising use of green energy; promoting recycling through ‘Zero to Landfill’ and ‘Zero Print’ schemes; working towards carbon neutrality with workforces and facilities over the next 10-years.
- Creating software with sustainability in built in; net-zero is a key theme in our product roadmaps.
- Partnering customers to co-create public services fit for the future. Civica's NorthStar innovation lab creates physical and virtual opportunities to jointly explore trends and technologies supporting customers Net Zero ambitions.
- Meeting/exceeding environmental legislation through ISO audits.

We have a Carbon Reduction Plan and commitment to achieve Net Zero by 2040 (latest). We are reviewing our energy mix, materials we use and working with partners to begin to plant a ‘Civica Forest’ whilst maintaining awareness of the Greenwashing issue.
Covid-19 recovery

Covid-19 recovery

In the spring of 2020, Civica were an early signatory to the C-19 Business Pledge. We focused on safeguarding our people and communities and ensuring the successful ongoing provision of our business-critical software and services.

Supporting customers: Alongside business as usual for our customers, we have worked hard to support the national and local level response through practical, innovative and updated software capability. We have delivered a range of new capabilities quickly, such as those listed below, and continue to provide system advice, configuration and data insights to ensure effective action.
- COVID-19 App (the first of its kind in the UK and Ireland) was developed and launched with the Northern Ireland Department of Health, and helped reduce the pressure on the 111 helpline.
- Developed local track and trace solution for London Borough of Redbridge, enabling it to support localised contact tracing/escalations.
- Community Helper software - built on the iCasework platform to help local authorities co-ordinate rapid support for vulnerable people while minimising safeguarding risks.
- Our Trac e-recruitment software was used to help NHS recruiters get the right candidates into posts quickly and fast-track DBS checks.
- Supporting social housing tenants - assisted teams to re-focus resources and provide vital support to tenants.
- Supporting Revenues and Benefits teams - software solutions for the two largest UK government measures, Business Rates Grant fund and the Council Tax Hardship fund.

Supporting employees: We proactively provide guidance and support for our people, from keeping remote workers engaged, to our mental health champions and free-to-access Employee Assistance programme. We have adopted a blended working model enabling colleagues to work safely and flexibly at various locations and hub offices, enhanced how we communicate, and continue to look for new ways to share ideas and inspiration.
Tackling economic inequality

Tackling economic inequality

Create opportunities for entrepreneurship and help organisations to grow. Civica is committed to working with its customers to deliver value into the community by supporting young people, developing skills and mentoring businesses to attract inward investment and growth that brings with it employment and skills.

We support innovation through our NorthStar innovation lab, a company-wide initiative focused on enhanced client outcomes by applying fresh ideas on data, automation and new technologies. We work with our customers to co-create public services that are fit for today and for the future. Our Civica NorthStar innovation lab creates physical and virtual opportunities for us to jointly explore trends and technologies.

Create employment and training opportunities
Civica is a member of the 5% Club, and aims to have 5% of its UK work force as either apprentices, graduates or work experience students by the end of 2025. We employ apprentices and graduates into a number of different disciplines and locations, with a focus on ensuring they are long term employees of Civica.

Support educational attainment
Learning and development is at the core of the Civica Quality Management Framework. We believe in investing in our people and are proud of our Investors in People Gold accreditation and in being a top rated Glassdoor Employer.

We run our own Civica Academy for employee development and skills enhancement, which delivered over 220,000 hours of training during 2021. We provide our own apprenticeship programme (team leader level 3) for our aspiring and current managers that are considered stars of the future.

We are working on building some new apprenticeship standards such as the UX degree apprenticeship. This will benefit not only Civica’s Digital Team but all companies and customers that need UX talent.
Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity

Civica is a 2022 Financial Times Diversity Leader and is ‘Gold’ Investors in People accredited, demonstrating our commitment to promoting equal opportunity by tackling inequality in employment, skills and pay in our workforce. We proactively implement equal opportunities for employment and personal development among diverse groups and local areas, and ensure rights for all staff are always protected. This is led by our Group Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) team, championed by our CEO who is also our Chief Diversity Sponsor. The strategy and policy manages:
- Interview training, focusing on unconscious bias/equal opportunity.
- Anonymising CVs and ensuring interview panels represent minority groups.
- Using a decoder to ensure job advertisements use gender and culturally neutral language.
- Attracting/recruiting from minority backgrounds/disadvantaged groups across the organisation, especially into under-represented areas.
- Advertising vacancies in a wide variety of places and diversity/disability portals (including; BME jobs, Disability jobs and LGBT job sites), to increase gender diversity and ethnicity.
- Company-wide Diversity & Inclusion network, including affinity groups relating to under-represented groups.
- Mandatory Diversity & Inclusion training for all staff.
- Pay equity reviews addressing inequality and UK gender pay gap.
- Flexible Working to encourage higher uptake for women, working parents and disabled groups.
- Partner with a social innovator company to help recruit and support employees with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

We gather and analyse data on our performance from regular surveys such as ENPS, IIP, Pulse survey, employee engagement surveys.

Our D&I team monitor the take-up, use and effectiveness of our measures, such as the number of new recruits from minority backgrounds, women, parents and diverse groups, and provide statistics for our Annual Review on performance against targets. For example, we report on the number of people attending training sessions and the split of male to female attendees.
Wellbeing

Wellbeing

Civica actively promote a mentally healthy workplace and workforce through our 40+ Mental Health Champions (MHC) and our ‘Health and Wellbeing’ policy, encouraging a flexible and realistic work/life balance. We integrate mental health and general wellbeing in all that we do from recruitment and ‘First Impressions’ to appraisals and strategic management.

Our ‘Health and Wellbeing’ policy and programme for all employees provide a foundation to support both the mental and physical health of our staff. Examples include:
- Employee Assistance Programme and online Wellbeing Hub, which provides 24/7 access to websites, e-mail, phone and face-to-face counselling on all personal issues.
- Aviva DigiCare+ Workplace App providing external mental health consultancy.
- Mental Health Champions who support colleagues’ wellbeing in the workplace.
- RedArc Personal nurse service.
- Management Coaching - managers are trained in GROW (Goals, Reality, Options and Will) and in being Health and Wellbeing Advisors, supporting employees with mental/physical health needs.
- Health assessments/advice aimed at improving physical health.
- Cycle to Work scheme to aid physical and mental health.
- Weekly fruit drop for offices, encouraging a healthier diet.
- We provide free eye tests for all VDU users, encourage staff to take advantage of NHS flu vaccinations services, and support people wishing to use the NHS Stop Smoking Service.

We also support our customers’ and communities’ physical and mental wellbeing through: Employee ‘Donate-a-Day’ to local charities; Local events organised through “Charity Champions”; Directors providing guidance to local community health and wellbeing projects; Supporting social housing tenants to re-focus resources and provide vital support to tenants.

Suppliers/subcontractors are subject to Civica’s Sub-contractor Selection Process as defined in our ISO9001 Quality Management System, which includes criteria for assessing health and wellbeing policies and their promotion.

Pricing

Price
£2,402 a unit a month
Discount for educational organisations
No
Free trial available
No

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 g-cloud@civica.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.