COMMUNITY BRANDS UK LIMITED

Groupcall Messenger

Messenger is a cloud-based system that allows schools to send personalised SMS (text), voice or email messages and even tweets (via Twitter), and push messages to a companion smartphone app, instantly to parents, staff, students or other contacts in a variety of languages for a low annual subscription fee.

Features

• SMS (Text) messaging with auto-translate (100+ languages)
• Email messaging including mail-merge letters, documents & certificates
• Mobile app with free push notifications and history timeline
• Voice messaging
• Twitter integration
• Bi-directional messaging
• Online payments module
• Online Parents Evening Booking System
• Online school forms and surveys module
• Optional parental access to school reports, timetables and exam timetables

Benefits

• Efficient, rapid communication via SMS, email, voice and push notiifcations
• Improves the safety and security of pupils
• Proven to reduce unauthorised absences
• Saves administration time and reduces costs
• Multi-lingual - improves communication with non-English speaking families
• Send messages immediately or at any future scheduled date/time
• Full automated integration with all major UK MIS
• Simple user interface means very little training required
• No advance text block purchases required
• No long term commitment required

£1.00 to £1.50 a person a year

• Education pricing available
• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

• Modern Slavery statement

  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 jagrajj.atwal@communitybrands.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

856056447448072

Contact

Jagrajj Atwal
0208 506 6100
jagrajj.atwal@communitybrands.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: Supports the following browsers:; • Internet Explorer 10+; • Microsoft Edge (latest version); • Firefox (latest version); • Chrome (latest version); • Safari (latest version)
• System requirements: Browser based

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Immediate automated response with confirmation of support case being accepted together with unique reference number.; Follow up support from technician usually within 1 hour and often sooner.
• 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: None
• Onsite support: No
• Support levels: Support is included without additional cost offering email, telephone and live web chat support during normal UK business hours plus emergency support outside these hours.; Critical - A problem which must be resolved before the end user can continue normal business operations. Response within four (4) working hours of receiving notice of a critical problem being reported. ; Serious - A problem which significantly inhibits production but does not prevent operations. Response within within eight (8) working hours of receiving notice of a serious problem being reported. ; Moderate - Requirements which do not impede productive use of the Software. Response within seventy two (72) working hours of a moderate problem being reported. ; Minor - Cosmetic production problems and general test system problems that do not affect availability of the production system. Response within two (2) working weeks of a minor problem being reported, or if relevant in the next version release. An example of a minor issue, may be an enhancement request or notification of a incorrectly spelt word
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Online training, telephone training and, where required, onsite training is made available to new users. Online documentation, FAQs and training videos are provided also.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: On request we can provide copies of their data in suitable formats. All data is securely deleted from our systems following the termination of the contract.; Full Subject Access Requests can also be obtained by administrator users at any time
• End-of-contract process: There are no additional costs at the end of the contract at all. Upon termination of the contract the services are closed down. Data can be provided in a suitable format should the user request it.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Chrome
  • Safari
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: Reduced feature set on mobile devices. All main features work however advanced features require desktop access
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 A
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Authorised administrator users can configure their own software to send SMS, Push and Email messages with attachments through our APIs on behalf of their organisation. The API does not provide functionality to make configuration changes as this is not its purpose
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: PDF
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Authorised administrators can set permission levels for other users, restrict access and functionality for users, enforce specific password policies and strengths etc.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: The solution is a cloud delivered, multi-tenancy platform hosted in Microsoft Azure North Europe and West Europe regions, delivered as ‘Software-as-a-Service’ (SaaS) and is designed specifically for UK education customers. The service has a ‘high availability’ modular architecture with no single points of failure and uses advanced cloud hosting features including auto-scale and auto-heal. The whole solution is tuned to deliver extremely high performance even to devices on narrowband and congested networks.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Full usage history, number of messages sent, units used, delivery statuses for all messages, analysis of responses etc.
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• 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: European Economic Area (EEA)
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest: Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • 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: The system allows users to download their data in .csv file format should they require it.
• 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: 99.95% availability under our SLA
• Approach to resilience: The technical infrastructure is provided by Microsoft. This includes the physical data centre, Internet connectivity, firewalls, security systems, Local Area Networks and subnets, Load Balancing, Virtual Servers, Web Roles, Worker Roles, Data Disks, Service Queues, Web Application Pools, auto-scaling NoSQL storage, and Elastic SQL collections. This is provided as a ‘Platform-as-a-Service’ upon which we develop and deploy our in-house created and managed software components. The solution is resilient to Azure availability across both European datacentres. Duplicate infrastructure is deployed separately for testing, and separately for pre-production.
• Outage reporting: Email alerts to authorised users

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication: Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Access is restricted using permission based roles. Internally these are determined by management based on the function being provided (support, development, sales etc.) and permissions are restricted to an 'as necessary for the role' basis, ensuring no person is able to access data that they do not need to access in order to perform their role. Administrators at school level are also able to set permission levels for their additional users to restrict access to a granular level as required or desired.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication: 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 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: QMS
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Originally accredited March 2013. Annually audited and renewed each year since then
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: ISO/IEC 27001 covers entire company, all processes and all products and services
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: ISO 27001

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 are accredited to ISO/IEC 27001 and follow the policies and processes included within our Information Security Management System. The Groupcall Limited Information Security Policy applies to all business functions within the scope of the Information Security Management System and covers the information, information systems, networks, physical environment and people supporting these business functions. The objective of Information Security is to ensure business continuity and minimise business damage by preventing and minimising the impact of security incidents. In particular, information assets must be protected in order to ensure: 1. Confidentiality i.e. protection against unauthorised disclosure 2. Integrity i.e. protection against unauthorised or accidental modification 3. Availability as and when required in pursuance of the Organisation’s business objectives. 1. The Managing Director has approved the Information Security Policy. 2. Overall responsibility for Information Security rests with our Information Security Officer. Internal and external audits are performed every year to ensure policies and processes are being followed and complied with.

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: As part of our ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation, a change management/change recording system is in place. Adequate authorities are in place for the approval and acceptance of change, including risk assessment, and a path for regression is clearly identified.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: Risk Assessments and similar analyses of all of our activities that have been identified as relevant to the security of information, have been conducted and documented as part of our ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation and these are reviewed and updated regularly to identify new or changed risks and vulnerabilities. Appropriate patches are deployed as required and as soon as they become available and have been adequately tested. We monitor appropriate web services, subscribe to newsletters etc. to ensure we keep up to date on any perceived or identified threats.
• Protective monitoring type: Undisclosed
• Protective monitoring approach: Our ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation requires that we employ protective monitoring and this is audited internally and externally at least annually. We identify potential compromises through continual monitoring of our systems with alerts to warn of any potential issues. In addition, we ask all customers to immediately alert us to any potential issues they indentify. Upon identification of potential issues these are assessed and handled accordingly. Where the assessments indicate a potential threat, we take immediate action to put into place remedial actions to minimise risks and undertake a root cause investigation, enabling measures to be deployed to update systems accordingly.
• 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: Our incident management process is a key part of our ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation. We have pre-defined processes for common events which enable us to internally escalate any perceived or potential incidents swiftly, minimising risk and enabling us to deploy appropriate measures to resolve issues. Users are able to report incidents via email, telephone or live chat directly to our support team. Incident reports are compiled where required and these are communicated to management and to affected users as necessary.

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

• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  Groupcall are an equal opportunity employer, committed to being a successful, caring and welcoming place for all employees. We want to create a supportive and inclusive environment where our employees can reach their full potential, without prejudice and discrimination. We are committed to a culture where respect and understanding is fostered, and the diversity of people's backgrounds and circumstances will be positively valued. The policy aims to achieve equality by removing any potential discrimination in the way that our employees are treated by fellow employees or Community Brands, including: ; ; •people with disabilities; •people of different sexual orientations; •transgendered and transsexual people ; •people of different races ; •people on the grounds of their sex; •those of faith and of no faith ; •in relation to their age; •in relation to their social class or medical condition ; •people who work part-time ; •those who are married or in a civil partnership; •women who are pregnant, have recently given birth or are breastfeeding.; ; Discrimination can be either direct or indirect discrimination. Some of the above are protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 and discrimination is prohibited, unless there is a legal exception under the Equality Act.; ; Victimisation: ; ; This is not the same as the common meaning of victimisation but is specifically regarding treating someone less favourably because they have complained about or given information about discrimination or harassment, either regarding themselves or someone else.

Pricing

• Price: £1.00 to £1.50 a person a year
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: Full version free of charge for up to 6 weeks. Charges made for any text usage or voice usage during the trial period.

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

• Modern Slavery statement

  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 jagrajj.atwal@communitybrands.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.