NEC SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS UK LIMITED

NEC Revenues and Benefits

NEC Revenues and Benefits is a web service, on a relational person and property database, ensuring core information is held once and shared across all relevant records. It is open for integration, with integral workflow management. It is configurable and accommodates large/small administrations and shared services.

Features

• Council Tax: Maintains all aspects of Council Tax.
• Business Rates: Maintains all aspects of Business Rates.
• Housing Benefit: Full administration of Housing Benefit.
• Local Council Tax Reduction: Administration of Council Tax Reduction.
• People, Company, Property Maintenance: Centralised, consistent person/property management.
• Calculation, Billing, Collection and Recovery: Maximises collection of Tax.
• Claims Processing and Benefits Calculation: New claims and COC.
• Payments and Overpayments Administration: Payment through multiple mechanisms.
• Notifications and Letters: Production of customer facing documentation.
• Production of Government Returns/Management Information: Comprehensive reporting.

Benefits

• Fully legislatively compliant for CT, BR, HB and Local CTR.
• Browser based, deployable on any device.
• Internal workflow: Allows proactive management of all processes.
• End User Focus.
• Active User Community: National and regional user groups.
• Highly Performant: On average, clients outperform national performance indicators.
• Relational Database.
• Innovative: Financial modelling, performance management, links to internet tools.
• Integration: Open standards, integration, APIs for main processes.
• Management Information: Standard reports, government returns, adhoc reporting.

£8,325.00 a unit a month

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

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

853881009718588

Contact

NEC Frameworks Team
07852 936231
frameworks@necsws.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Community cloud
• Service constraints: The service is available 24/7, except for planned and emergency maintenance and with 99.5% availability. We will provide at least 24 hours advance notice of any planned maintenance and schedule the work outside Normal Business Hours.; Where necessary, planned maintenance of NEC infrastructure shall take place between the hours of 17:30 and 09:00 (UK local time) on a Business Day and/or between the hours of 08:00 and 12:00 (UK local time) on a non-Business Day (for example, weekends and public holidays).
• System requirements:
  • Browser Based. Internet access via HTTPS over Virtual Private Network
  • NEC will provide a URL link to NEC SaaS
  • Access via browser supporting Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Safari 9+

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Upon receiving a Support Request, but in any event within four working hours during Normal Business Hours, the Service Desk will prioritise the call in accordance with the Service Levels process set out in the NEC SaaS Service Description.
• 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: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: No
• Support levels: Service is available 24x7, except for planned/emergency maintenance. Support response is available 09:00 and 17:30 each Business Day. NEC SaaS typically achieves 99.5% availability. This service is included in pricing.; A Client Services Manager will be allocated to manage the on-going relationship. Cloud support engineers are allocated as appropriate to resolve technical issues.; The NEC SaaS Administrator can log a call 24x7 online. Upon receiving a Support Request, but within 4 working hours during Normal Business Hours, the call will be prioritised:; P1 (Critical): service unavailable to Authorised Users.; P2 (Medium): important business function unavailable for Authorised Users.; P3 (Low): important business function affecting proportion of Authorised Users; P4: advice, or problems affecting 1 or 2 Authorised Users; The Service Desk will contact the NEC SaaS Administrator to try and resolve issues. Where this is not possible, the issue will be escalated to a technical team.; NEC will use reasonable commercial endeavours to provide identification and resolution, obviation and/or mitigation of operational bugs or errors reported by the client in NEC SaaS in accordance with the following estimated target timescales:; P1 - 4 working hours.; P2- 12 working hours.; P3 - 24 working hours.; P4 - 72 working hours.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: The process for onboarding will be:; • Client places order.; • NEC acknowledges receipt of order. ; • Client completes NEC SaaS Registration Form and returns to NEC.; • NEC, at the appropriate time, issues a welcome pack to the client’s NEC SaaS Administrator together with access to NEC SaaS and electronic training materials.; • We will contact the NEC SaaS Administrator to plan specific onboarding activities including local data requirements and training schedule.; For new clients adopting the standard SaaS offering, the following onboarding services are provided:; • System Administrator access to your pre-configured environment.; • Access to an appropriate environment ; • Configuration services.; • Personalisation.; • Data services.; • Training services.; For new clients opting for the Private Cloud offering, the following onboarding services are provided:; • Configuration services.; • Personalisation.; • Data services.; • Training services.; As part of the onboarding process:; • Client’s NEC SaaS Administrator verifies access and defines initial parameter options.; • Client’s NEC SaaS Administrator sets up the authorised users and confirms list to NEC.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: All data relating to the organisation, as well as any NEC SaaS data, will (unless agreed otherwise with you) be permanently deleted from the live NEC SaaS no less than ten working days from termination or expiry and in accordance with the legal requirement for data destruction. ; Throughout the duration of the contract you can extract a variety of business data by use of the standard reporting suite within NEC SaaS. ; However, if you would like to extract your data in a different manner outside of the standard reporting suite, then you must give us at least two months written notice prior to termination or expiry. We will then carry out a one day scoping study to agree the scope of the data to be extracted, together with the format. Following the one day scoping study we will provide a fixed price for the extraction of the data based on the SFIA rate card.
• End-of-contract process: All data relating to the organisation, as well as any NEC SaaS data, will (unless agreed otherwise with you) be permanently deleted from the live NEC SaaS no less than ten working days from termination or expiry and in accordance with the legal requirement for data destruction. ; Throughout the duration of the contract you can extract a variety of business data by use of the standard reporting suite within NEC SaaS. ; However, if you would like to extract your data in a different manner outside of the standard reporting suite, then you must give us at least two months written notice prior to termination or expiry. We will then carry out a one day scoping study to agree the scope of the data to be extracted, together with the format. Following the one day scoping study we will provide a fixed price for the extraction of the data based on the SFIA rate card.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: NEC provides a full catalogue of open business APIs that can be used to emulate and replicate any of the core R+B processes. These are maintained in line with the core application and its web based user interface. These can be used to support system integration and interaction with third party apps, web forms and interfaces.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: PDF
• API sandbox or test environment: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Significant parts of the software application forming the core part of our service offering can be customised to suit the needs of the business. This is achieved in a variety of ways including the selection of a wide range of system parameters, customisation of fields/field labels and configuration of drop down lists and legislative change. Customisation of this nature can be undertaken by systems administrators.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: The number of users is proportional to the size of the service. Each client instance is allocated its own computer resources (processing power, memory and storage) in accordance with the size of the organisation. This is sized to enable users to undertake normal operational activities without affecting other users.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Monthly service reports are provided and show metrics, such as service availability, number of calls raised, closed and outstanding, and time to resolution.
• Reporting types: Regular reports

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: Physical access control, complying with another standard
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
• 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: Clients can extract a variety of business data by use of the standard reporting suite within NEC SaaS.
• Data export formats: CSV
• Data import formats: CSV

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: Private MPLS circuits or equivalent.
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: The service is available 24/7, except for planned and emergency maintenance, with support response available between 09:00 and 17:30 each Business Day.; NEC SaaS is typically provided at 99.5% availability.
• Approach to resilience: NEC has dual data centres in two separate geographical locations, so if one datacentre is affected we can failover to our secondary data centre. More information is available on request.
• Outage reporting: Outages will be treated as a Major Incident (MI) and managed by the ISO20000:2022 certified process. A named user will receive an email and an SMS message notifying them of the status of the MI until resolution. The incident will also be logged on the Service Desk system where the status is also visible to the user.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Separate networks are used for users, and for support and management purposes. These are logically separated using vlans and firewalls. All management and support staff have access via the management network and end users are excluded.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • 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 receive audit information on a regular basis
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• 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: BSI
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 07/06/2024
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: The NEC Information Security Management System (ISMS) is registered to ISO 27001:2022 and therefore audited by BSI at least annually. All NEC staff are required to comply with the ISMS.
• 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:
  • Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus
  • Business Continuity Management ISO22301:2019
  • Environmental Management ISO14001:2015
  • Information Security Management ISO27001:2022
  • Service Management ISO20000:2018
  • Quality Management ISO9001:2015

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: The NEC Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) operates at board level and has overall responsibility and accountability for all aspect of security governance. The SIRO is supported by an Information Security Steering Group (ISSG) which is headed by the Security Director and has representatives from all areas within the organisation. The ISSG is responsible for agreeing policies with the SIRO and ensuring they are implemented across the business. An operational Security Working Group (SWG) is responsible for managing any incidents that may occur and in an advisory capacity to provide advice and guidance to the organisation.

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: NEC is certified for ISO20000:2018 for Service Management, which covers both our Configuration Management and Change Management processes. This is audited both internally by our Data Protection Officer (DPO) and Head of the Compliance, Risk and Audit team, and externally by the UKAS accredited audit body British Standards Institute, (BSI). NEC follows an ITIL-based approach, and the NEC service desk personnel have undergone the relevant ITIL qualifications for their roles. Our CMDB is updated accordingly throughout the lifetime of the asset, up to and including decommissioning and disposal.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: NEC has entered into security knowledge sharing partnerships to react to new and increasing threat levels. NEC are members of the NCSC Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership (CiSP) for early identification and advice on security threats, incidents and solutions. The NEC InfoSec team subscribes to a number of key suppliers and cyber security websites, which send daily alerts on the latest vulnerabilities. NEC are members of the Cyber Network Reporting Service (CNR) that helps the NCSC to rapidly notify organisations that might be affected by malicious software.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: NEC implements a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system which provides alerts and reports that enable log sources to be processed in accordance with GPG13. Custom rules can be defined to detect and alert on suspicious behaviour. The InfoSec team reviews the SIEM alerts and reports on a daily basis to check for any anomalous behaviour. The NEC security monitoring policies and practices are aligned with incident management policies and practices. Any significant security issues identified will result in the NEC InfoSec team raising a security incident in the NEC service management system to initiate the detailed analysis process.
• 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: Incident Management is part of our ISO27001:2022 certified Information Security Management system (ISMS). All incidents are handled within the same process. Users report incidents through the Service Desk, and a Security Incident is then raised on the ISMS. This is reviewed by the Security Team and is managed in accordance with the Security Incident Management Process. The security incident is kept updated, and once the Security Incident is closed a full report is produced which is used to identify any lessons learnt.

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

  NEC has committed to being Net Zero by 2030. We project our carbon emissions will reduce by 50% from our baseline by 2026. ; We have implemented a multitude of initiatives to support this:; • Appointing an Environmental Manager and Environmental Champions.; • Successfully obtaining certification for and implementing ISO14001:2015 Environmental Management System (EMS). ; • Developing a Carbon Reduction Plan, which is published on our website and an Environmental Strategy.; • Maintaining an Environmental Aspect and Impact Register (down to site level) through which to capture elements of our operating practices which could negatively impact the environment.; • Working with government accredited consultants to understand environmental impact and using outputs to inform future improvement activities.; • Collaborative activities to influence customers, supply chain partners and employees.; Specific initiatives applicable to our contract delivery approach include:; • Energy used on the contract will be from green energy sources.; Business travel will reduce where possible through utilisation of technology such as:; • Video conferencing.; • Sharing documents.; • Conference call facilities.; • Working from home/flexible working arrangements.; • Approval controls in place for commercial flights.; • Use of environmentally friendly data centres.; Our Environmental Policy objectives, relevant to the contract include:; • Meeting all relevant legal requirements and monitoring our compliance.; • Minimising our environmental impacts for the life cycle (including disposal) of work equipment and other physical assets under our control.; • Demonstrating efficient use of energy, water, and other natural resources.; • Maximising opportunities to minimise our waste by reusing or recycling waste, where practical.; • Ensuring our supply chain is aware of our environmental policy and our commitment to ensuring its effective implementation.; • Increasing environmental awareness and commitment amongst colleagues through training and briefings.; Continuing to identify opportunities to improve our environmental performance through clear objectives, plans and targets.
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  Since the emergence of Covid-19 as a global health crisis, we have supported our customers and the local communities they serve to adapt to the challenges posed by the pandemic. As a supplier of software and services to the public sector, this has included rapid development and deployment of software solutions to enable the efficient and effective delivery of new government schemes and changes in legislation, such as provision of Test and Trace Support Payments and new hospitality sector licensing requirements. ; Initiatives we have implemented to support the policy outcomes include:; • Increasing our pre-pandemic workforce numbers through recruitment of an additional 250 UK based roles, many of whom were unemployed following redundancy from other sectors such as hospitality.; • Re-training and redeploying temporarily displaced colleagues rather than imposing redundancies or taking advantage of the furlough scheme.; • Commitment to investing over £400,000 in training and apprenticeships.; • Working collaboratively with customers to introduce new ways of working.; • Delivering community based social value through donations in kind to voluntary sector organisations impacted by the pandemic. ; As part of our response to the pandemic we invested in and introduced several initiatives and workplace adaptations to protect employee health and safety, including:; • Introducing wider use of remote and flexible working, including making additional allowances for those caring for young children.; • Enhancing office safety, including installing sanitising stations, hygiene screens and digital thermometers.; • Increasing the frequency of colleague communications, with a focus on provision of mental health support and reducing the risks of isolation/loneliness.; • Providing all employees with free access to additional specialist resources, including 24x7 counselling and mental health services.
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  We recognise the expertise, innovation and value that can be gained from having a diverse supply chain and providing all suppliers with a fair and equal opportunity to become suppliers to us and our customers. We operate openly and transparently to enable this collaboration with third-party suppliers including large enterprises, sub-contractors, SMEs, VCSEs, mutuals and social enterprise organisations. ; Additionally, we are committed to nurturing new and existing talent and creating a sustainable learning and development culture, equipping our staff with the appropriate skills, knowledge and processes so the company continues to deliver innovative, industry leading solutions.; Processes and practices we have adopted to tackle economic inequality include:; • Using outcome-based specifications and co-design methods to encourage suppliers, communities, users and third sector organisations to collaborate and propose solutions based upon end user requirements, rather than being prescriptive.; • Advertising supply chain opportunities openly and always operating transparently. ; • Including modules covering anti-bribery and corruption, whistleblowing, equality and diversity in our all-colleague compulsory Annual Compliance Training.; • Having policies and operating practices that support effective supply chain relationships through fair selection and responsible management. For example, only flowing down appropriate contract terms. ; • Paying at least 95% of all invoices within agreed terms and agreeing to reduced payment terms for SMEs and subcontractors.; • Never deducting sums from payments as a charge for remaining on our supplier list. ; • Investing in new jobs and training opportunities through an active Apprenticeship scheme.; • Creating opportunities for career progression and investing in reward and recognition initiatives that support employee retention. ; • Following the foundational principles of the Good Work Plan in respect of employee satisfaction, fair pay, well-being and safety, career progression, voice, and autonomy.; • Having appropriate controls in place to mitigate cyber security risks.
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  We want to be an employer of choice for people of all backgrounds, regardless of sexuality, disability, nationality, race, gender or religion. We are committed to ensuring workers either directly employed or employed within our supply chains are treated fairly, humanely, and equitably.; To encourage a diverse and varied workforce our approach to equal opportunity includes:; • Ensuring job adverts reach a diverse audience, including utilising job sites which encourage interest from disadvantaged and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups.; • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, supporting candidates with disabilities through provision of supportive technology and/or changes to working practices.; • Collecting, analysing and senior reporting of equality and diversity data obtained during recruitment activities.; • Making appointments on the grounds of selecting the most suitable candidate for the post.; • Gender-neutral role definitions.; • Ensuring policies and employee communications promote respect and equality for all.; Other activities supporting equal opportunity within the workforce include:; • Tackling gender pay gap, through annual audits. Women now comprise over a third of our leadership team, including our Chief Executive. ; • Compliance with Modern Slavery Act 2015 and 9 core principles of Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code.; • Ensuring effective controls are in place to mitigate and manage risks of exploitation within the supply chain, including supplier questionnaires and evidence requirements.; • Provision of appropriate channels for colleagues to have an effective voice, such as our Employee Steering Group.; • Investment in workforce development and training, including an active Apprenticeship and Graduate Recruitment programme.; • No use of zero hours contracts or fire and rehire practices.; • Being a Real Living Wage Employer.; • Flexible working practices.; • Transparent and structured promotion, pay and reward processes.; • Senior level sponsorship at board level supporting and promoting equal opportunity beyond basic statutory requirements.
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  Physical Fitness and Mental Stability is one of our sustainable development goals.; Our approach to supporting good health and wellbeing which will be applicable to the contract workforce includes:; • Providing employees with free and confidential access to specialist resources 24x7, including counselling and mental health services through our Employee Assistance Programme. ; • Providing private healthcare cover for employees. Cover includes Doctor at Hand service to provide employees with fast and convenient access to advice, assistance and medical treatment, GP appointments anytime and anywhere.; • Maintaining compliance with the six standards of the Mental Health at Work commitment and a dedicated module to promote health and wellbeing as part of our all-colleague compulsory compliance training.; • Accommodating workplace adjustments, such as supportive technology for those with a disability or health condition.; • Encouraging good physical health by providing discounted corporate gym membership over 3,300 participating gyms through our employee GymFlex scheme.; We incorporate national health and wellbeing campaigns within our communications calendar, raising employee awareness and signpost to useful support pathways. Our 2022/23 calendar include raising awareness of the following nationally recognised campaigns:; • Stress Awareness Day.; • Mental Health Awareness week.; • World Menopause Day.; • National Eye Health week.; • World Diabetes Day.; • Stress Awareness Month.; • Suicide Prevention Day.; • Men's Health week.; Within one of our acquired businesses, we have Mental Health First Aiders who have trained to spot signs of mental ill health and provide early support for colleagues who may be developing a mental health issue. ; Supporting employee health and wellbeing is underpinned by clear action plans for improvement and several Human Resources policies, such as our:; • Health and Safety Policy; • Alcohol, Drugs & Solvent Abuse Policy; • Menopause Policy; • Absence Policy ; • Flexible Working Policy; • Gender Reassignment Policy.

Pricing

• Price: £8,325.00 a unit a month
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

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