Microlink PC (UK) Ltd

Microlink Assistive Technology Self-Assessment Tool

AI-driven Virtual Work Place assessor, developed by Microlink to provide remote workplace adjustment assessments and recommendations for training, equipment and technology support for disabled employees. Generates actionable recommendations based on self-service input by the user/Line Manager/supervisor, and provides extensive management information for AT/health providers and AT suppliers/authorities.

Features

• Outputs actionable recommendations for training and supporting technology services
• Automated escalation to in-person assessment where required
• Developed by Microlink specifically for Education and Workplace Adjustment needs
• Direct interaction with Microlink's Disability & Workplace Adjustment Support Tool
• Supports assessments for Ergonomics, Furniture, Software/Devices, Applications, Assistive Technology
• Directly links recommendations to Microlink's online Assistive Technology e-commerce site
• Flexible licensing & pricing including enterprise licensing
• Cloud based, Accessible online via website or by direct invitation
• Pan-disability participants: mobility, visual, hearing, mobility, cognitive impairments
• Identifies environmental impacts and barriers to different disabilities

Benefits

• Provides quick, comprehensive and accurate AT/workplace assessments
• One-stop-Shop solution provider for technology and physical equipment recommendations
• Supported by accredited workplace disability assessors
• Enables end-to-end case management- Assess, Supply, Train, report
• Provides 'real world' assessment of the workplace accessibility
• Enhanced staff/student productivity
• Contributes to compliance with disability in workplace regulations
• Significant time and cost saving benefit through use of AI
• Deployed on Microsoft Azure - fully secure, readily available accessibility
• 25+ years experience developing disability & assistive technology

£1 to £10 a person a year

• Education pricing available
• 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 sam@microlinkpc.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

916101240229761

Contact

Hazel Knights
02380240300
sam@microlinkpc.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
• What software services is the service an extension to: Office 365 and other services
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: No service constraints - the platform configures extensively and has multiple integration options
• System requirements: Late-release internet browser

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: 9-5 Monday to Friday - 2 hours
• 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: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Microlink works with each of our individual clients to agree upon an appropriate support structure for the service in scope of that contract. Support services are aligned to meet unique needs and preferences as Microlink recognises that each client will be different.
• Support available to third parties: No

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Implementation is project-driven, starting with requirements gathering via web session or in-person, and them managed via project team between Microlink and the organisation. is set up. ; ; Onsite and online training is packaged as part of the project and tailored to specific requirements.
• Service documentation: No
• End-of-contract data extraction: On request by email at any time or at end of contract. Microlink will ask the organisation to specify any format extract required and usually supplies data outputs in .csv format.
• End-of-contract process: Upon end/termination of contracts, and platform extensions and API's, plus user accounts, are automatically de-activated and the user is notified via email or other means as selected by the user. Any user-specific application data within the platform (note this excludes personal/sensitive data) will be only be retained in accordance with our data retention policy to facilitate any specific requirements for extraction of data.

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: The service is fully responsive on Mobile devices and the functionality is similar.
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AAA
• Description of service interface: Various options depending on the user existing systems and requirements
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.1 AAA
• Accessibility testing: None
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: The API is used for transfer of data to and from the platform. There is no Adminstrator accessibility for setup of the system via API
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • Other
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: There is extensive configuration that is implemented by Microlink at user level during set up. Certain customisation will always be accessible by the user, examples include workflow configuration, report output preferences, display preferences, communication/alerting (SMS, Email, etc..)

Scaling

• Independence of resources: The platform is hosted in the Microsoft Azure cloud and benefits from their latest platform and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offerings. This allows us to monitor service demand in real time, and to effect additional system or user resources accordingly. The platform itself has been designed around a modular architecture, facilitating platform performance management at modular level, which in turn allows dynamic scaling up (or down) of user-specifics within the platform.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: No

Resellers

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

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: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Penetration testing approach: In-house
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
• Equipment disposal approach: In-house destruction process

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: By email request to us under a pre-approved procedure for this. We will arrange a secure File Transfer of the data.
• 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)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Our hosting provider ids Microsoft (Azure Platform). Full details of their SLA's are available at www.microsoft.com/azure.
• Approach to resilience: Resilience is underwritten by our service provider, Microsoft Azure.
• Outage reporting: Any outage is reported by dynamic email alerting. Outage alerts are sent to pre-registered user(s) at the client by the support desk

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• 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: Access to the management interfaces is restricted by MS Azure using their IP address controls and additional user authentication as specified by them.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get 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: NQA
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 09/01/2018
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: No exclusions from NQA'a assessment
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: Yes
• Who accredited the PCI DSS certification: SEC-1 Ltd
• PCI DSS accreditation date: To answer
• What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover: No exclusions.
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: No

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: Microlink is ISO 27001:2013 certified and maintains information security policies accordingly. ; ; This includes the Business Management System Manual, which details the scope, the objectives, the responsibilities and the risk rating and management, as well as the mobile device policy, clear desk, access, teleworking and encryption management policy. ; ; Several other policies are also in force, including Change and Release procedure, document retention policy, incident management procedure, information classification and handling policy and the physical security policy. ; ; Finally, Microlink maintains a detailed Risk register for logging of events and triggering any preventative/remedial measures. There is a documented escalation path from operator level right through to our board with dynamic stakeholder alerting at each level.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: All changes to the production platform go through a change request process, overseen by our services delivery manager. This process ensures appropriate approvals are in place before changes are made. ; ; Configuration information is stored in a revision control system to track all changes made through the lifetime of the system
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: Through Microsoft Azure we have a number of systems in place including automated container vulnerability scanning, monthly patching of servers, and annual penetration testing of the service. ; ; We subscribe to relevant vendor security announcement lists in addition to monitoring the IT media for new vulnerabilities and threats.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: Our protective monitoring approach includes a monitoring system that provides real-time status information and alerting to our operations team. Logging is aggregated centrally to enable effective search and correlation of events to take place, and logs are mirrored to a remote location to prevent tampering.; In addition, we monitor and log all data access, log on activity and other metrics to highlight a potential compromise.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: We have an Incident Management Process that defined the process for reporting and handling incidents. Any incidents are logged on an internal issue tracking system.; ; This alerts appropriate members of staff to the incident so that they can prioritise and resolve the incident effectively as well as providing a log of such incidents. ; ; The procedure includes steps for initial investigation, containment, recovery and client notification as well as later analysis and remediation of the cause.

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

  Microlink has a published Carbon Reduction Plan available on our website. We are publicly committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050.; ; Approximately 80% of our employees are currently working in a hybrid manner which is reducing our impact on the environment due to the reduction in commuter miles.; We are currently working with our supply chain to produce a sustainability index on all catalogue items. This will enable our customers to purchase products and services with all the information they need to make an informed choice about the sustainability of those items. It will also encourage suppliers to improve their own sustainability index in comparison with any of their competitors.; ; We are reducing the use of plastic in our packaging, using cardboard, paper or wool instead and changing our delivery provider to a company committed to electric-only delivery vehicles by 2025. ; ; We have audits underway in our premises to monitor and reduce hearing lighting and cooling usage and plan to institute automatic monitoring and adjustment of heating and lighting to operate automatically when personnel are present and shut down when they are not. We also plan to implement a substitution of gas heating with heat-pumps and the installation of a solar panel array.; ; We are now working with our sub-contract partners to assist them with improvements in sustainability and carbon reduction plans in line with our own Carbon Reduction Plan published in November 2021.
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  Microlink’s products and services have enabled a quarter of a million people to alleviate their health conditions and disabilities, across both the education and employment sectors. This has never been more relevant than now in the post-COVID environment.; ; During the pandemic, we consulted with our employees and implemented a Safe Working Policy which affects every employee when they work or visit the building. Since the loosening of restrictions, our employees voted to retain the testing put in place. Typically, each Monday, those working in the building provide a negative LFT and we request any visitors to do the same in advance of their physical presence at our premises. Microlink supplies its staff, free of charge, the LFT testing kits.; ; If an employee tests positive, they are asked to work from home if they feel well enough to do so and we encourage the relevant isolation periods before returning to work in the building. We do not promote presenteeism. Only ten employees are unable to work from home. In addition, to avoid viruses from spreading, we advocate working from home if employees show symptoms or contract the common cold.; ; During lockdown, we adhered to guidance given by the Government regarding safe working and we still maintain an upstairs/downstairs approach when working in the building. We wear masks when leaving our desks to visit common areas. We distribute hand sanitiser for individuals to use alongside the hand sanitiser dispensers located throughout the building and we have provided cleaning products so employees can clean their workstations at the end of each working day. ; ; The company cleaner regularly wipes communal surfaces every day (e.g. stair rails) and the seating area in the canteen.
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  Microlink are an equal opportunities employer with a strict policy applied to employees; our processes are conducted on merit and suitability. Recruitment procedures and employment conditions are aligned to the Good Work Plan and our Equality and Diversity policy and regularly reviewed to ensure they remain non-discriminatory. ; Over 45% of Microlink’s current workforce are self-declared as being disabled. These staff members are at the forefront of our management team, our client-facing activities and our market leading research and development team. ; ; Microlink is a Disability Confident employer and look to assist other businesses to become Disability Confident. We have won a range of awards related to this, including the National Diversity Award 2015 and have been recognised as a Disability Champion by the Business Disability Forum.; ; As a business we value education greatly –three members of our Senior Management Team act as school governors in their local area. We strongly believe that the delivery of quality services is reliant on providing workplace opportunities to graduates to train into the levels of experience that our business requires. Therefore, it is important to us to give back and help younger people gain valuable experience within a technical and consultative environment such as ours. We are always open to accommodating graduates and provide work experience to local students.; ; We routinely maintain an innovation and research programme targeted at ensuring that the company’s knowledge and expertise is completely up to date and researching technology-based methods for enhancing our service. This entire programme encompasses evaluation, testing, trial and marketing of new innovative assistive technologies as they become market-ready. ; ; We also routinely host, participate in and attend various marketplace forums and events as speaker and panellist, and utilise learnings from these to underpin the research and innovation drive towards our overall service excellence.
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  Our vision is to create an inclusive society which embraces diversity and releases the potential to advance humanity. We are an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all groups of society. We regularly review remuneration surveys to ensure that pay is fair and relevant to location. ; ; We adhere to policies such as Employment Standards, Ethics, Equality & Diversity, Recruitment & Retention, Reasonable Adjustment and the Equality Act 2010.; ; Candidate CV’s received for any role are anonymised. The recruiter will review the qualifications and experience required to fulfil a role to remove unconscious bias. When inviting a candidate for interview, we are clear about its format, time, length, how many people will be on the panel and their roles. We typically do not publish the interview questions in advance but will forward to candidates if requested.; ; We use language that can be understood by all. We ask if we can make an adjustment for the interview itself and to share information about a disability, health condition or communication difference e.g additional time to respond to questions, BSL support or closed captioning (subtitles) if there is a hearing challenge for example.; ; DSE for all new employees and Access to Work applications are made within the first six weeks of employment. We supply the right tools to enable the individual to carry out their duties.; ; Career progression is available via on the job learning or gaining further qualifications. Mentoring and coaching is available. We accept students for work experience and have and will use apprenticeship initiatives. We give our employees every opportunity to succeed as they are the future of the company.; ; We value every contribution that our employees make. Employees succeed due to their individual performance efforts. Individuals undergo a monthly 1-1 to discuss their performance and identify any skill gaps.
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  The pandemic taught us that loneliness and social isolation has a devastating impact on our health and wellbeing. Microlink is an extension of an employee’s family, not just an employer. We listen and help in whatever way we can.; ; We strive for contentment and have a transparent relationship with employees. We are signed up to Mindful Employer and implement the 6 standards in the Mental Health at Work commitment including promoting an open culture around mental health, a systematic programme of activity and providing mental health tools. We use scientifically designed impact studies to build employee engagement and foster wellbeing in Microlink.; ; We encourage open discussions about what the problems may be via 1-1’s with line managers, HR and Mental Health Champions. We embrace wellbeing initiatives and we regularly train our line managers in how to begin conversations. For employees who need specialist 1-1 counselling, we signpost them to the Company Counsellor for confidential help and guidance.; ; We have a clear communication practice in place to advise staff . we do this weekly and our messages are recorded akin to daily news bulletins on the TV which are then subsequently circulated in an accessible video.; ; We take part in group activities. Bake off days and other events, for example. We volunteer to help local communities such as local colleges and schools by giving our time to undertake mock interviews or opening up our workplace for specific work experience. ; ; We are open to volunteering ventures to make the lives better for our local communities and have, in the past painted and gardened. We have raised money and donated to local charities.

Pricing

• Price: £1 to £10 a person a year
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: Free, time-specific full access to the service, subject to some pre-agreed criteria around the cost to set up and GDPR management between Microlink and the customer.

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