POLICY PARTNERS PROJECT LTD

Policy Partners Project

Provides online policies, procedures and practice guidance portals for adult social care, safeguarding adult boards and private providers, incorporating relevant legislation, statutory guidance and best practice.

Features

• Online policies, procedures and guidance
• Extensive linked resources for adult social care sector
• Accessible and responsive design
• Quick reads and audio guides
• Flexibility in design for each customer
• Content Management System areas
• Epractice quizzes to test understanding
• General open access, but some areas can be password protected
• Extensive hyperlinked glossary
• Chapter reading confirmation to track staff engagement

Benefits

• Saving staff time and resources
• Everyone using the same version; archiving of old versions
• Saves environmental resources and costs
• Additional tools to embed policy and procedure into practice
• Amendments summary sent each time site is updated
• Supports professional development
• Supports ASC customers with CQC inspections
• Customers have access to CMS areas for local changes
• Contents updated re legislation and statutory guidance
• Easy and quick to navigate

£1,750 to £17,500 a unit

• Free trial available

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 Angie.Heal@policypartnersproject.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

859669417572467

Contact

Angie Heal
+447812665226
Angie.Heal@policypartnersproject.co.uk

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: Customers do not have user access to make changes to the chapters in the main content area themselves. They send their local information to us for upload in this area, in order to maintain formatting style and terminology standards. They have content management system access which allows them to upload their local information. There are regular planned maintenance updates which are always conducted out of office hours.
• System requirements: APPP portals are accessed via a web browser

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: We respond as soon as we receive the email query. We maintain contact with our customers throughout the query.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Onsite support
• Support levels: Company personnel (currently company directors) work closely together to provide dedicated support to each customer, working in partnership and flexibly to support them in the delivery and maintenance of their individual policies and procedures individual site. Support is provided via online meetings, email and telephone. Onsite meetings can be attended if required. IT design and support is delivered by our third party provider, with whom we work very closely and who is available 24/7. All support is part of the contract.
• Support available to third parties: No

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: We offer three different models of site: customised, format and review and essentials, depending on what the customer requires. Therefore the way we help customers to begin using our service varies according to which one they contract for. For customised contracts, a draft site and all the chapters in Word are sent to the customer within a week of the contract being signed, for them to review and localise for their local authority / organisation. They are sent documents and plans to assist in the process. Their changes and local links are formatted into the site. We hold regular online meetings including staff launches.; For format and review contracts, the customer will send us all the documents they want formatting into our site, and we will conduct a review of their information and provide feedback about anything missing / out of date etc. We hold regular online meetings including launches.; For essential contracts, the customer will receive the site with branding within one week. Guidance will also be provided for uploading their information to the CMS area. One online launch will be provided to staff.; For any contract we are available to answer queries at any point.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: If the buyer ends the contract, we will send all chapters in Word. They are responsible for downloading all the information they have uploaded into CMS areas managed by them.
• End-of-contract process: When the contract ends, we will remove the site and any related data from our server. An archived copy of the site and its database will be available should the customer need information in the case of a safeguarding adults review or complaint for example, made in future years. There are no additional costs for this service.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: When used on a mobile phone, the site immediately converts into a mobile phone friendly version, where the main navigation sits behind a menu button and content is presented vertically. In addition, if the phone or tablet has a reader option, users can use that to further simply the content.
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• API: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Customers' corporate colours and logos are added to their site. They are able to change the number and title / content of home page tiles. They can change the order of the main contents list and titles of sections. They can add new sections. They can have an extra tab for content. They can have a number of CMS areas, including the additional tab. These will vary from customer to customer, depending on their requirements. We work closely with our customers to make these changes as they request. They can make changes to their CMS areas as they require.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Our dedicated and scalable resources are powered, controlled and maintained by UKFast - an industry leading host with 100% network uptime guarantee, with multiple data centres supported 24/7/365 by a dedicated team of engineers.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: We use Google Analytics to track the usage of site users who opt in via a cookie banner. Each customer site has its own login to view their data.; ; They can access the full range of metrics, though in our guidance to customers we focus on content (which pages are most viewed and how long they're read) and users (are people returning, and how long do they stay on the site).

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

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: No
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: Less than once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest: Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: All user data is stored digitally, accessibly only via protected devices, to ensure data is not available to unauthorised parties with physical access.
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: In-house destruction process

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: As the policies, procedures and practice guidance portals are designed to be online 'live' information, the main content is not intended to be exported. Users can print copies of pages, however these are only valid for for 72 hours from the date of printing.; ; There are aspects of the sites that do allow exporting of data, for example; downloadable documents, form submissions and ePractice results.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats:
  • PDF
  • Word
  • Excel
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats:
  • Word
  • Pdf
  • Excel

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: Our server solution, via UKFast, has an SLA for 24/7/365 availability and support provided by a dedicated team of Level Three Qualified technical engineers.
• Approach to resilience: UKFast, who supply, house and maintain our server, have purpose built, UK-based and fully owned data centres. Their network of Tier 3 standard data centres have concurrent maintainability to ensure 100% network uptime, operating N+1 configurations throughout, including UPS and standby generators.; ; There are daily backups of our server to allow for restoration of sites/data and a 24 hour recovery point objective. Backups are committed to a separate physical location than the data centre in which the server is located.
• Outage reporting: Outages are reported to staff directly via email and mobile notifications. Once the situation is assessed this can then be communicated to customers.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: No
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: User credentials are provided to customers by us, to access certain roles and abilities within any management interfaces. These roles are strictly limited to only have access to their necessary functions within the system.; ; Support channels, in a product control sense, would be limited to direct communication between Policy Partners Project and a customer's designated project liaison.; ; Other support channels, e.g. contact forms for users of a site, would connect directly to customers if applicable/requested.
• 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 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: Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance Limited
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 24 June 2019
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: This is the certification for, and covering, our hosting service UKFast.
• 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: PEN test performed by a CHECK service provider

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: All company files / emails / information are held on a cloud (not stored directly on computers). Access to these is restricted via log in / password with two step multi-factor authentication and monthly back-ups. Any paper records are stored securely in a locked cabinet. Information is only kept for as long as required. The company has a data protection policy and procedure (includes action to take in the event of a data breach); information sharing policy and procedure and information technology policy and procedure.

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: Technical components of the service, both within and those held externally at UKFast data centres, are regularly assessed for viability and suitability for use. Any changes are always assessed and considered with regards to impact on both security and business practice.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: In addition to our own monitoring of the industry, our hosting platform utilises various firewalls and software to monitor for threats in advance, backed by an industry-leading team of engineers, keeping up-to-date with the latest security trends. We are committed to keeping our sites and infrastructure, up to date via applied (and tested for compatibility) software updates and patches. Site updates are identified during routine maintenance, and are then rolled out to our testing environment. In that environment they are checked for compatibility issues, and then rolled out to live sites within one working day of successful testing.
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: Threats are mitigated by a robust firewall, and various forms of software-based protections, from both us and our hosting platform UKFast, defending against attack vectors. We utilise advanced monitoring - covering key elements of the server alerting us to potential issues before they've had the chance to impact the solution's performance.
• 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: We follow a multi-step process to log, categorise, assign, resolve and analyse (post-solution) any technical incidents. Customers are contacted at various points throughout this process, to notify them, keep them informed of impacts and timescales, and let them know the resolution. Customers can report issues directly to us via their designated project liaison. Site users can report any issues to customers via a Contact form.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Social Value

• Fighting climate change:

  Fighting climate change

  By using our online portals rather than paper copies, there are savings to the environment. Meetings are now invariably held online, but should attendance in person be required we always travel by public transport wherever possible. This approach keeps environmental costs to a minimum.
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  We have worked very closely with each of our customers, providing legislative, statutory and good practice information and resources for the adult social care sector during the pandemic. Whilst much of that has now been pared back, we continue to monitor the situation and make changes to the information as necessary. Our sites still contain links to key government guidance and other public bodies so customers still have continued easy access. All staff that either work for the company or are associates already worked from home prior to the pandemic. As the majority of customers are local authorities, the work of the company was uninterrupted by the pandemic and the business was not affected financially.
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  We offer a range of products with proportional costs for the different budgets of local authorities and providers. All our customers have been offered a guidance chapter regarding working with people experiencing poverty to highlight the issues and practical responses. Our directors have both been involved in local projects working with disadvantaged women.
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  As a micro enterprise we are firmly committed to equal opportunities and ensure that all the policy, procedure and practice information that we provide to our customers does not reflect adversely on any person or group identified within the Equalities Act. We are committed to reflecting the diverse society in which we live and all our customer websites contain images and text to support our approach.
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  As a micro enterprise we are strongly committed to staff wellbeing and of those working in our third party partner. We work flexibly across the week to ensure we have a good work / life balance and our holiday entitlement exceeds most organisations standards. We consult with each other on all relevant matters to ensure there is a consensus on action before implementation.

Pricing

• Price: £1,750 to £17,500 a unit
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: We provide free, no strings attached demonstrations of our products to adult social care, safeguarding adult boards and private providers. ; ; We can provide template sites for customers to access if required, although usually they visit current customer sites which are fully localised and operational.

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 Angie.Heal@policypartnersproject.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.