Automation Consultants

Service Discovery and Latency Modelling Tool

Automation Consultants’ OpsWave is a software suite of data centre migration tools created to make awkward, large-scale IT change simpler and more intuitive. Its features employ intelligent assessment of network trace data to resolve problems commonly associated with data centre migrations.

Features

• OpsWave shows geographical locations where applications will be most efficient
• OpsWave removes pains of incomplete application interface documentation
• Opswave shows application server locations, configurations and associations
• OpsWave discovers application interdependencies, identifies network traffic between devices
• OpsWave helps with firewall configurations
• OpsWave enables users to predict and assess latency issues
• OpsWave provides user identification on applications

Benefits

• OpsWave cuts IT expenditure on costly test equipment
• OpsWave reduces time spent on application migration testing
• OpsWave limits downtime
• Agentless. No risks or potential operational costs associated with agents
• OpsWave removes pains of incomplete application interface documentation
• Latency predictions prevent disruption before it becomes an issue
• Inbuilt automated diagnostic tool capable of anticipating issues

£10 a virtual machine a day

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 info@automation-consultants.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

821979182894766

Contact

Francis Miers
+44 01189323001
info@automation-consultants.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Private cloud
• Service constraints: None
• System requirements: Web server and database server

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: SLAs are bespoke and can be tailored to individual customers' needs. Our highest tier of support offers a 15 minute time to response for Level 1 incidents.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Support is bespoke based on customer requirements.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: TestWave has an easy to use interface that users can get the hang of almost immediately. However, if required Automation Consultants can provide further consultancy or training to make sure customers get up and running as effectively as possible.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • PDF
  • Other
• Other documentation formats:
  • Microsoft Word
  • Microsoft Excel
• End-of-contract data extraction: AC will provide a CSV file containing all customer data.
• End-of-contract process: A csv file containing all customer data will be provided on request at the end of the service. Any additional activities required of Automation Consultants may be charged for.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: No
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Description of service interface: Custom queries can be executed on the service's SQL server or using the application API.
• Accessibility standards: None or don’t know
• Description of accessibility: This is not an end-user application and would not be necessarily relevant. The interface would only be accessed by individual experts.
• Accessibility testing: N/A
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: The application exposes a REST API. The documentation to the API is held by Automation Consultants and made available to suitable requestors. The API permits most operations available through the user interface.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: Other
• API sandbox or test environment: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Defects have a status to reflect the stage to which their handling has progressed, such as ‘New’, ‘Fixed’ or ‘Closed’. The available status may be customised to reflect the desired workflow. Defect fields may be also customised. New user-defined fields may be added and made compulsory as required.; A wide range of privileges can be granted to TestWave users, allowing fine control over who may do what. Privileges may be assigned, for example, to view and modify Defects and change their status; to view and modify Releases, Requirements and Tests; and to customise and perform administrative tasks.; Custom fields may be added to defects and other entities. The user may choose the type and name of any custom field created, and the custom fields may be included in reports and searches.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Automation Consultants monitors resource utilisation on its servers. If resources are close to maximum utilisation, the resources are increased. Slow performance due to unmet resource requirements stemming from volume of utilisation has not been a problem to date.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: No

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• 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: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Supplier-defined controls
• Penetration testing frequency: Less than once a year
• Penetration testing approach: In-house
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: All data stored within encrypted SAN. Access to production servers and data store limited to core team.
• 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 may export any TestWave report in CSV format, which can readily be imported to a wide range of other tools. Reports may also be produced in viewer friendly formats such as HTML. On request, a CSV report of an entire TestWave instance may be produced.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats: HTML
• 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)
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: Controlled access to data network

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Typical uptime is 99.9%. There are no set compensation arrangements for outages.
• Approach to resilience: Twin application and database layer nodes. Virtual Machines running within a high availability virtualisation solution. Offsite backup in case of disaster.
• Outage reporting: Public dashboard and client alerting available. All applications systems have monitoring in place with alerts passed automatically to AC staff.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Other user authentication: VPN or IP filtering available
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: At an application level, privileged access is allowed to users who are designated as managers on particular projects. For access to infrastructure level settings, access is restricted to a small number of named individuals. Two-factor authentication is required to access these resources.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication: 2-factor authentication

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: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: Credit card transactions are performed via Stripe

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: No
• Security governance approach: The Chief Technology Officer, reporting to the board, co-ordinates security. Security decisions are taken by the CTO in consultation with the board.
• Information security policies and processes: A set of security policies documented internally is followed, based on industry best practice. The policy is administered day to day by the CTO. Major decisions are taken by the CTO in consultation with the board.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Major changes must be approved by the board and documented. All changes are reviewed for security among other factors. The application documentation is used to track components through their lifetime.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: Threats are assessed by internal analysis and by monitoring user feedback. So far no vulnerabilities have been reported by users.; Patches are deployed overnight if it is considered by the board that there is a security vulnerability to be fixed.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: Monitoring for potential compromises is performed through logs and alerts. On finding a potential compromise, the evidence is assessed by the CTO and other relevant staff to determine whether a compromise really occurred or not. If a potential security compromise is identified, A patch is normally put in place within 24 hours.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: A common process is followed for most events. Users may report incidents by email, telephone or the company's JIRA-based service desk. Incident reports are provided ad hoc and on demand.

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

  Fighting climate change

  Automation Consultants’ Cloud services facilitate and promote means of remote working, helping our customers to connect with teams across great distances and remove the need to for unnecessary travel. Tangible reductions in carbon emissions can be traced through use of the tools we support, for instance Atlassian Jira Software or monday.com, which allow teams to work together remotely without face-to-face interaction. The cloud hosting of the software systems and solutions that Automation Consultants provides also contribute to an overall reduction in carbon footprint. This can be seen through the more efficient storage of data on Cloud hosting suppliers such as AWS and MS Azure when compared to local hosting solutions and in-house data centres. Within our own organisation, staff still work remotely most of the time. Many of our projects that would have once been on-site are now performed remotely including internal projects. This has resulted in a net-reduction of thousands of miles of weekly travel through commuting and off-site visits. Automation Consultants also has a Carbon Reduction plan which commits AC to net zero by 2035. This extends to our services. A copy of this policy can be shared upon request.

Pricing

• Price: £10 a virtual machine a day
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

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 info@automation-consultants.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.