Placecube Ltd

Liferay Digital Experience Platform

Industry leading (Gartner) open source, Digital Experience Platform from Liferay. Used by organisations, worldwide, to transform service outcomes and engagement with citizens. As a Liferay Platinum Service Partner, Placecube’s accredited services enable you to accelerate your digital transformation program and optimise return on investment.

Features

  • Feature-rich, highly flexible and interoperable Digital Experience Platform
  • Fully responsive, out-of-the-box
  • Integrated CMS, enterprise Forms builder and Workflow engine
  • Case Management, CRM, Intranet, Extranet and ‘as a platform’ capability
  • Personalisation through audience targeting and segmentation
  • Includes Elasticsearch or Solr search tier options
  • Headless API
  • Low code functionality
  • Native App Builder and create microsites in a few clicks
  • Optional E-commerce and Analytics Cloud functionality

Benefits

  • Accelerate your transformation with feature rich, proven, Digital Experience Platform
  • Secure. Trusted by the public sector. DPA and GDPR compliant
  • Mobile ready and fully responsive to drive citizen engagement
  • Reduce service delivery costs whilst improving service outcomes
  • Flexible; select the features that deliver your user requirements
  • Graphical workflow designer to build processes and workflow, low-code
  • Open APIs to extend capability across your organisation
  • Unified document repository integrations with Sharepoint, Documentum and Alfresco
  • Hosted in our UK public sector cloud, built to scale
  • Delivered by Placecube Liferay’s premier Service Partner in UK

Pricing

£70,000 an instance a year

  • Education pricing available

Service documents

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 jenny.dias@placecube.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

8 7 9 0 1 5 8 2 0 2 0 1 3 0 4

Contact

Placecube Ltd Jenny Dias
Telephone: 020 8895 6756
Email: jenny.dias@placecube.com

Service scope

Service constraints
NONE
System requirements
  • Computer with a browser
  • Internet Connection

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Support response times

Support response times Acknowledge Receipt 08:00 –18:00 Priority Level 1 - 1 clock hour Priority Level 2 - 2 business hours Priority Level 3 - 2 business hours Priority Level 4 - 24 business hours
24/7 Support available on request
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
24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
We provide a dedicated web-based support desk, available from 09.00-17.00, normal business days as standard. Telephone, on-site or 24/7 extended support service can be made available at extra cost. Our support team consists of highly skilled, experienced professionals, who can help troubleshoot any problems.
We also have an expert technical and content team who will optimise your Directory and build your in-house skills. Additional training beyond the standard described above is available at extra cost.
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
We provide a 1 day workshop, either on site or via webconferencing to provide basic training and administration of the service.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
By request, all relational data and file content is provided in encrypted zip format.
End-of-contract process
Should the Customer choose not to renew the Contract with Placecube:
Placecube will provide the following:

• A full encrypted export of all data held in the customer's Digital Place instances (both Production and Non-Production). This will consist of a relational database, and a file system archive.
• Key or credentials to decrypt the data export.
• A list of the deployed Digital Place modules and their version numbers.
• A source code export of any modules or customisations developed specifically for the customer.
• The exact version number of any underlying open source software (e.g. Liferay DXP, Elasticsearch).
• A set of written instructions for how to build and restore the customer's environment(s).

The customer will need to:

• Update any customer-controlled DNS records that point to Digital Place
• Terminate any site-to-site VPN connections to the Digital Place infrastructure

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Using the web interface
Use all the features of the service. Deploy customisations.
Web interface accessibility standard
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Web interface accessibility testing
WAVE accessibility testing on all user interface components.
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
Create/update/delete users/sites/content.
API automation tools
  • Ansible
  • Chef
  • OpenStack
  • SaltStack
  • Terraform
  • Puppet
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
Command line interface
No

Scaling

Scaling available
No
Independence of resources
Services are monitored continously, with alerting to the support team. Components are sized with adequate peak headroom.
Usage notifications
Yes
Usage reporting
Email

Analytics

Infrastructure or application metrics
Yes
Metrics types
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • HTTP request and response status
  • Memory
  • Network
  • Number of active instances
Reporting types
  • API access
  • Reports on request

Resellers

Supplier type
Reseller providing extra features and support
Organisation whose services are being resold
Liferay, Amazon Web Services, G1ANT Robotics

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
No
Datacentre security standards
Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
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
  • Encryption of all physical media
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach
In-house destruction process

Backup and recovery

Backup and recovery
Yes
What’s backed up
Server volumes and all client data
Backup controls
Default backup schedule can be adjusted on request
Datacentre setup
Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery
Scheduling backups
Users contact the support team to schedule backups
Backup recovery
Users contact the support team

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
Data protection within supplier network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
We aim to provide at least a 99.9% uptime service availability level. The service is fully resilient, with no single points of failure throughout the technology stack. The service comes with a 4-hour recovery time objective (RTO) and a 1-hour recovery point objective (RPO). This means that in the event of a major loss of infrastructure, the service would be available again within 4 hours, with a data loss of no more than 1 hour.
Availability excludes agreed scheduled maintenance events, customer-caused or third party-caused outages or disruptions, or outages or disruptions attributable in whole or in part to force majeure events. Any service-impacting planned maintenance work is always performed outside of UK business hours, with adequate notification to our clients.
We take nightly backups of all operating system and user data, with a 35-day backup retention as standard.
Approach to resilience
Redundancy across all application tiers, spread across multiple physical data centers.
Outage reporting
Service outages are reported on the Placecube Support platform where customers are added to the ticket and emailed the details.

Identity and authentication

User authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google apps)
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Users login with a username and password or sign in via federated authentication method, such as Google, Linkedin, or third-party OpenID Connect providers.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
Devices users manage the service through
  • Any device but through a bastion host (a bastion host is a server that provides access to a private network from an external network such as the internet)
  • Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

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 have access to real-time 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
UKAS by Bureau Veritas
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
14/07/2020
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
Physical location, which is covered by Hosting Provider
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
Yes
Cyber essentials plus
No
Other security certifications
Yes
Any other security certifications
Cyber Essentials

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
Placecube is ISO27001 certified and adhere to policies and procedures in accordance with the ISO standard.
Regular internal reviews and audits are conducted and an external audit annually.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Change Control Policy and Procedure – Specifies the scope and process for change control of our organisation’s information processing facilities for hardware, software and devices.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
All components within the stack (infrastructure and software) are continuously tested for vulnerabilities. Placecube are alerted of any detected vulnerabilities by third party suppliers, and take action on a timescale commensurate with the severity.
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
Services are monitored continuously, with alerting to the support team. The support team will assess the potential compromise and undertake corrective action according to the severity threat level.
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
Incidents are managed through our support desk. The CSO and ISO ensure appropriate action is taken in accordance with ISO27001 Incident management policy.

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)

Separation between users

Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart
Yes
Who implements virtualisation
Third-party
Third-party virtualisation provider
Citrix XenServer
How shared infrastructure is kept separate
Clients run in their own virtual private cloud (VPC), which isolates them from all other services.

Energy efficiency

Energy-efficient datacentres
Yes
Description of energy efficient datacentres
AWS is committed to running our business in the most environmentally friendly way possible. In addition to the environmental benefits inherently associated with running applications in the cloud, AWS has a long-term commitment to achieve 100% renewable energy usage for our global infrastructure footprint. We’ve made a lot of progress on this commitment. In January 2018, AWS achieved 50% renewable energy usage. To date, we have announced nine new renewable energy projects (three wind farms and six solar farms), and these projects will deliver a total of 2 million MWh of energy annually onto the electric grid powering AWS data centers located in the AWS US East (Ohio) and AWS US East (N. Virginia) Regions. The electricity produced from these projects is enough to power the equivalent of over 190,000 U.S. homes annually, which is approximately the size of the city of Atlanta, Georgia. More information is available on the AWS and Sustainability page. AWS introduced its first carbon-neutral region in 2011. Today, AWS offers customers five AWS Regions that are carbon-neutral: • US West (Oregon) • AWS GovCloud (US-West) • EU (Frankfurt) • EU (Ireland) • Canada (Central)

Social Value

Fighting climate change

Fighting climate change

Placecube will be Net Zero by 2030.

All employees and associates/contractors work from home, eliminating the need to travel to and from work. Travel to attend face to face meetings is undertaken only when absolutely necessary and journeys made via public transport, unless impractical to do so.

We use technology and digital tools to conduct our business, reducing the use of paper and printing. Supplies are procured from environmentally friendly sources. In an effort to tackle economic inequality we recycle computer equipment and mobile devices to benefit those most in need.

We encourage employees to adopt environmentally sustainable working practices and to contribute ideas as to how we improve.

We have ceased the use of ‘branded goodies’ at conferences and are exploring more environmentally friendly approaches.
Covid-19 recovery

Covid-19 recovery

Minimal Impact due to virtual working
Tackling economic inequality

Tackling economic inequality

We work collaboratively and ensure that our clients never pay twice for the same development, actively promoting re-use, and repeatable services.

Digital Place is open-source, and non-proprietary, meaning that our customers can choose to resource new digital projects internally, or through local supply chains. Our promotion of local economic opportunities extends beyond the confines of the Authority, for we actively encourage collaboration by making the platform free to use for partner organisations and community groups. The product can be shared at no additional cost - delivering real economic gain for the public purse.

Supporting the development of strong integrated communities, through the use of the Digital Place Platform delivers a meaningful impact on local employment and economy – benefiting the wellbeing of those communities.

In an effort to tackle economic inequality we recycle computer equipment and mobile devices to benefit those most in need.
Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity

Placecube embraces diversity, inclusion, and equality through our people. Our actions, supported by our various policies and processes enable this. We are committed to the Living Wage movement, are Disability Confident, and support the Armed Forces Covenant.
We recognise that the social value of place-based, connected, local public service can transform the lives of the most vulnerable in communities and make best use of the public purse, so that ever tightening resources can be focused on priorities and not duplication.
We contribute to the public sector and the not-for-profit sector through our free-to-use open knowledge exchange platform. Through Knowledge Hub, we contribute to best practice sharing and collaboration, supporting sector-led improvement, knowledge retention and skills development.

Our product, Digital Place, facilitates and promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing across communities, without location restraints. Our commercial model is designed to remove barriers to growth, so that our customers feel empowered to engage the communities they serve. For example, multi-agency use is part of our standard subscription in order to remove limits on users, enabling collaboration without additional cost.
Wellbeing

Wellbeing

The company and its leadership team are focused on the mental health and wellbeing of all our employees, clients, customers, partners, and suppliers, which has a positive impact on productivity and wellbeing. We have appointed a Mental Health First Aider to support our objectives

Pricing

Price
£70,000 an instance a year
Discount for educational organisations
Yes
Free trial available
No

Service documents

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 jenny.dias@placecube.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.