Blacklight Software

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Combined Authorities

Blacklight work with Microsoft Dynamics 365 to allow combined authorities to improve customer service and operational efficiency by better managing stakeholder information and organisational processes such as employment, business and education support, grants and inward investment.

Features

• Organisational business processes in Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Integrations with third party line-of-business systems
• Migration of data from other systems
• All mobile device friendly - responsive design
• Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Marketing, Project Service Automation Modules
• Self-Serve Portals (Dynamics 365 and bespoke .NET)
• Instant reporting through User and System Dashboards
• Ongoing support for Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Integration with existing systems
• Generative AI

Benefits

• Business Analysis, Development, UAT, Testing, Training, Go-live
• Microsoft Gold Partner
• Combined Authority experience
• Up-skill of internal staff
• One version of the truth through bi-directional integrations
• Increase Customer Satisfaction
• Save costs and time through automation
• Integrations: EDRM, Finance Systems, line of business systems
• Generative AI enable existing services
• Enable multichannel chatbots

£78.10 a licence 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

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 Dylan.Hayes@blacklightsoftware.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

833706176048943

Contact

Dylan Hayes
01924640350
Dylan.Hayes@blacklightsoftware.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: Yes
• What software services is the service an extension to: Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement applications; Sales, Customer Insights, Project Operations, Customer Services
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: Service is specific to specific SaaS platform: Microsoft Dynamics 365
• System requirements: Required appropriate Microsoft licensing

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Support during UK office hours, with priority based triage dictating response time. Support Incidents are classified under the below levels depending on severity: Priority 1: Critical, Priority 2: Major, Priority 3: Significant, Priority 4: Minor. The levels have the following response and resolve times: Priority 1: 1 hour respond, 4 hours resolve; Priority 2: 4 hours respond, 8 hours resolve; Priority 3: 1 day respond, 5 days resolve; Priority 4: 5 days respond, 10 days resolve. Blacklight Help Desk operates between 8:00AM to 18:00PM Monday to Friday with 24/7 support available at extra cost.
• 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: 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: Portal uses Dynamics 365 Customer Service support portal which is WCAG compatible.
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Price on application, depending on service required, response time, location and hours. A technical account manager is provided.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Blacklight provide full transparency and in-depth communication through the life-cycle of the engagement. We provide on-site training and compliment this with further training documentation and training videos. Blacklight also prefer to be on-site for go-live to ensure a smooth transition to a business-as-usual system.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: Data can be exported from Dynamics 365 at any point. Blacklight provide training on how to export data and can provide further assistance if required.
• End-of-contract process: Upon culmination of the contract, Blacklight can continue to provide services or aid the customer in the extraction of data or migration to another supplier.

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: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: A separate mobile application is available in addition to mobile support in the browser version.
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 A
• Description of service interface: Dynamics offers an extremely rich set of API endpoints as well as other low code connectors.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.1 A
• Accessibility testing: The Dynamics 365 user interface complies with WCAG.
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: A separate mobile application is available in addition to mobile support in the browser version.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • HTML
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Dynamics 365 is extremely customisable. The interface, fields, entities and processes can all be customised.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Dynamics 365 is a cloud solution provided by Microsoft. Dynamics 365 solutions are hosted at secure Microsoft Azure Data Centers (Tier 5). Microsoft boast of an up time of 99.99%. The world-wide infrastructure of Microsoft Azure Data Centers ensure that usage is not affected by other users of Microsoft's services

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Dynamics 365 provides various reports and analytics for monitoring usage metrics.
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: Microsoft

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

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: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: Less than once a year
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: No
• Equipment disposal approach: In-house destruction process

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Data can be exported from any time from Dynamics 365 by making use of the standard export functionality. Data held within Dynamics 365 can be exported to Excel (and in CSV format), as well as being able to be replicated in a SQL Azure instance.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • ODF
  • Other
• Other data export formats: Integrations to other systems
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • ODF
  • Other
• Other data import formats:
  • Integrations from other systems
  • Excel Upload
  • CSV Upload

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: Data is encrypted while in transit and also while at rest.
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Microsoft guarantee 99.9% availability for Dynamics 365. This is financially guaranteed by Microsoft who offer service credits if the Service Level is breached within a given month. These service credits are passed on to the customer by Blacklight.
• Approach to resilience: Microsoft ensure that resiliency and recoverability are built into their applications. Full information can be found here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/business-continuity-disaster-recovery
• Outage reporting: Service outages are reported within Dynamics in the Admin Center. Within the Admin Center, users can view any planned maintenance and the service health of their application. API, email alerts are also available.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Dynamics 365 provides granular user roles and security permissions. Administrator roles can be assigned to relevant users to restrict access to areas of the system.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• 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: 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: User-defined

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: No
• Other security certifications: No

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: No
• Security governance approach: We prioritise cybersecurity to protect our assets and sensitive information. Our approach involves setting clear rules, creating a game plan, following those rules diligently, addressing any problems promptly, and continuously improving our security measures.
• Information security policies and processes: Blacklight use security policies inline with ISO9001. This ensures that information security risk is controlled. The reporting structure follows the hierarchy to the board member responsible for security and governance.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Microsoft uses formal standard operating procedures (SOPs) governing the change management process. These SOPs cover both software development and hardware change and release management, and are consistent with ISO 27001, SOC 1 / SOC 2, NIST 800-53, and others. Blacklight uses ISO9001 configuration and change management procedures. Blacklight also utilise the ITIL framework and use tools such as DevOps for configuration and change management.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: Files in Dynamics 365 can be stored in SharePoint, where antivirus software is used to ensure protection from any malicious software. Microsoft continually monitor the threat landscape to look for new and emerging threats, and ensure the service is protected against these. In response to specific threats Microsoft may make changes to the service to address critical vulnerabilities outside of the usual bi-yearly update cadence. Microsoft provide access to the Microsoft Security Response Center that provides information to customers using Microsoft products.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: The Power Platform proactively monitors the performance of applications against acceptable service performance. Warnings are also generated when an irregular event occurs.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Blacklight provide a managed service desk that provides reporting and updates to the customer regarding incidents.

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: Yes
• Connected networks:
  • Public Services Network (PSN)
  • NHS Network (N3)
  • Joint Academic Network (JANET)

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity

  Tackling economic inequality

  We engage with local schools and colleges to provide careers advice to encourage underrepresented groups to consider IT careers. We engage with local schools and colleges to support the provision of IT curriculum topics.

  Equal opportunity

  We encourage the creation of a diverse workforce in our organisation which fully represents the diversity of the areas we are based in.

Pricing

• Price: £78.10 a licence a month
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: Microsoft offer a free trial of Dynamics 365. Blacklight can help customers who wish to make use of Microsoft's free trial of Dynamics 365.
• Link to free trial: https://trials.dynamics.com/

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  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 Dylan.Hayes@blacklightsoftware.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.