Placecube Ltd

Digital Place for Communities

A secure, scalable, responsive, knowledge exchange, collaboration and integration solution based on Liferay’s Digital Experience Platform (DXP), offering you the next generation of intranet/extranet. Drive engagement and harness collective knowledge in communities with a proven experience that works across boundaries, bringing people and knowledge together in one place.

Features

  • Easy: create communities, teams, users with a few clicks.
  • Global: works across platforms, integrates with Microsoft, Google, Active Directory.
  • Flexible: mobile responsive, scalable for hundreds of thousand users.
  • Smart: configurable enterprise search, recommendations, tagging, categorisation, indexing.
  • User management: personal profile, account, flexible permissions, distributed roles.
  • Group, community and network management: role-based access controls, services.
  • Collaboration tools: blogs, discussions, libraries, real-time document collaboration, polls.
  • Communication tools: direct messaging, email notifications and announcements.
  • Quick access to content: activity streams, easy-to-navigate web pages.
  • System admin: content management system, activity reporting, platform analytics.

Benefits

  • Easily integrated: based on Liferay’s open source Digital Experience Platform.
  • Increase productivity: easily share knowledge across systems, teams and networks.
  • Connect people and knowledge: across locations, organisations, geographies, languages.
  • Gather knowledge assets: cross-boundary sharing; contextual search; remove silos.
  • Knowledge streamlining: relevant, authoritative content proactively surfaced and recommended.
  • Efficient: save time and money actively reusing valuable knowledge assets.
  • Fast: ready to deploy, quick setup, no additional development required.
  • Improved communication: single interface, multi-faceted methods, channels, reduce email.
  • Better engagement: between individuals, groups, communities, employees, partners and suppliers.
  • Build communities: expert community management support options to improve engagement.

Pricing

£6,000 a licence a year

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 jenny.dias@placecube.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

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

Contact

Placecube Ltd Jenny Dias
Telephone: 020 8895 6756
Email: jenny.dias@placecube.com

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
Private cloud
Service constraints
None
System requirements
Computer with a browser

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Priority
Level Acknowledge Receipt (2)
1 08:00 –18:00 1 clock hour
2 08:00 –18:00 2 business hours
3 08:00 –18:00 2 business hours
4 08:00 –18:00 24 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
Level 1 Support
Level 2 Support
Level 3 Support
Level 4 Support
We provide a dedicated web-based support desk, available from 09.00-17.00, normal business days as standard. Telephone, on-site or 24/7 extended support service can be made available at extra cost. Our support team consists of highly skilled, experienced professionals, who can help troubleshoot any problems.
We also have an expert technical and content team who will optimise your Directory and build your in-house skills. Additional training beyond the standard described above is available at extra cost.
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
Upon initiation of the service, Placecube consultants will work with you to discuss your specific on-boarding needs and solution requirements. An initial on-boarding assessment will be conducted using virtual meeting facilities, and further discussions can take place either virtually or in-person, as required. The on-boarding session will include a walk-through of the service, demonstrating the various administrative and end-user interfaces.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
HTML
End-of-contract data extraction
In the event that you no longer wish to use the service, Placecube can provide an encrypted archive of all client-owned data stored within the platform.
End-of-contract process
Should the Customer choose not to renew the contract with Placecube:
Placecube can provide the following:

• A full encrypted export of all data held in the customer's Digital Place instances (both Production and Non-Production). This will consist of a relational database, and a file system archive.
• Key or credentials to decrypt the data export.
• A list of the deployed Digital Place modules and their version numbers.
• A source code export of any modules or customisations developed specifically for the customer.
• The exact version number of any underlying open source software (e.g. Liferay DXP, Elasticsearch).
• A set of written instructions for how to build and restore the customer's environment(s).

The customer will need to:

• Update any customer-controlled DNS records that point to Digital Place
• Terminate any site-to-site VPN connections to the Digital Place infrastructure

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
Additional quick access menu on mobile view for even easier mobile use.
Service interface
Yes
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Description of service interface
Access through web browser over the internet
Accessibility standards
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Accessibility testing
Third party testing, customer testing, internal testing
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
Through the API, users can view, create, edit and delete any entity their user account has permissions to perform those actions on.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
HTML
API sandbox or test environment
Yes
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
Colour scheme, logos, pages, navigation, features, forms, and content can be customised by system administrator via control panel.

Scaling

Independence of resources
Proactive monitoring and auto-scaling

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
All login requests and end user contribution activity.
Reporting types
API access

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
Supplier-defined controls
Penetration testing frequency
At least once a year
Penetration testing approach
‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
Protecting data at rest
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Other
Other data at rest protection approach
All data encrypted at rest using AES-256.
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach
In-house destruction process

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
The platform provides built-in export tools for users to download a compressed archive of data.
Data export formats
Other
Other data export formats
LAR (ZIP)
Data import formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data import formats
LAR (ZIP)

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 aim to provide at least a 99.9% uptime service availability level. The service is fully resilient, with no single points of failure throughout the technology stack. The service comes with a 4-hour recovery time objective (RTO) and a 1-hour recovery point objective (RPO). This means that in the event of a major loss of infrastructure, the service would be available again within 4 hours, with a data loss of no more than 1 hour.
Availability excludes agreed scheduled maintenance events, customer-caused or third party-caused outages or disruptions, or outages or disruptions attributable in whole or in part to force majeure events. Any service-impacting planned maintenance work is always performed outside of UK business hours, with adequate notification to our clients.
We take nightly backups of all operating system and user data, with a 35-day backup retention as standard.
Approach to resilience
Redundancy across all application tiers, spread across multiple physical data centers.
Outage reporting
Support platform where service outages are reported and customers are added to the ticket and emailed the details.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Role-based access control
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • 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
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users have access to real-time 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
UKAS by Bureau Veritas
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
13/07/2020
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
Physical location, which is covered by Hosting Partner
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
ISO/IEC 27001
Information security policies and processes
We follow ISMS standards and processes. Placecube have a policy and manual set that all staff must accept sign and adhere to.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Change Control Policy and Procedure – Specifies the scope and process for change control of our organisation’s information processing facilities for hardware, software and devices.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
All components within the stack (infrastructure and software) are continuously tested for vulnerabilities. Placecube are alerted of any detected vulnerabilities by third party suppliers, and take action on a timescale commensurate with the severity.
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
Services are monitored continuously, with alerting to the support team. The support team will assess the potential compromise and undertake corrective action according to the severity threat level.
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
Managed through our support desk. The CSO and ISO ensure appropriate action taken in accordance with ISO27001 Incident management policy.

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
No

Social Value

Fighting climate change

Fighting climate change

Placecube will be Net Zero by 2030.

All employees and associates/contractors work from home, eliminating the need to travel to and from work. Travel to attend face to face meetings is undertaken only when absolutely necessary and journeys made via public transport, unless impractical to do so.

We use technology and digital tools to conduct our business, reducing the use of paper and printing. Supplies are procured from environmentally friendly sources. In an effort to tackle economic inequality we recycle computer equipment and mobile devices to benefit those most in need.

We encourage employees to adopt environmentally sustainable working practices and to contribute ideas as to how we improve.

We have ceased the use of ‘branded goodies’ at conferences and are exploring more environmentally friendly approaches
Covid-19 recovery

Covid-19 recovery

Minimal impact due to virtual working
Tackling economic inequality

Tackling economic inequality

We work collaboratively and ensure that our clients never pay twice for the same development, actively promoting re-use, and repeatable services.

Digital Place is open-source, and non-proprietary, meaning that our customers can choose to resource new digital projects internally, or through local supply chains. Our promotion of local economic opportunities extends beyond the confines of the Authority, for we actively encourage collaboration by making the platform free to use for partner organisations and community groups. The product can be shared at no additional cost - delivering real economic gain for the public purse.

Supporting the development of strong integrated communities, through the use of the Digital Place Platform delivers a meaningful impact on local employment and economy – benefiting the wellbeing of those communities.

In an effort to tackle economic inequality we recycle computer equipment and mobile devices to benefit those most in need.
Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity

Placecube embraces diversity, inclusion, and equality through our people. Our actions, supported by our various policies and processes enable this. We are committed to the Living Wage movement, are Disability Confident, and support the Armed Forces Covenant.
We recognise that the social value of place-based, connected, local public service can transform the lives of the most vulnerable in communities and make best use of the public purse, so that ever tightening resources can be focused on priorities and not duplication.
We contribute to the public sector and the not-for-profit sector through our free-to-use open knowledge exchange platform. Through Knowledge Hub, we contribute to best practice sharing and collaboration, supporting sector-led improvement, knowledge retention and skills development.

Our product, Digital Place, facilitates and promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing across communities, without location restraints. Our commercial model is designed to remove barriers to growth, so that our customers feel empowered to engage the communities they serve. For example, multi-agency use is part of our standard subscription in order to remove limits on users, enabling collaboration without additional cost.
Wellbeing

Wellbeing

The company and its leadership team are focused on the mental health and wellbeing of all our employees, clients, customers, partners, and suppliers, which has a positive impact on productivity and wellbeing. We have appointed a Mental Health First Aider to support our objectives

Pricing

Price
£6,000 a licence a year
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 jenny.dias@placecube.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.