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Civica UK Limited

Civica Chatbot Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Service (Standard)

Rapid deployment of Microsoft language studio making complex frequently asked questions (FAQ) documentation readily accessible for up to 100 concurrent Chatbot users over embeddable web interface. Includes advice to curate content sources to maximise value from Microsoft Bot Framework and Azure App Services.

Features

  • Based upon Microsoft language studio Cognitive Service
  • Scaled for up to 100 concurrent users
  • Microsoft Azure Bot Framework adaptations
  • Natural Language matching with Microsoft Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Services
  • Good practices to load initial FAQ content effectively
  • Experience configuring reporting capabilities to extract usage statistics
  • Expertise and advice to refine content
  • Enhanced, accessible WebChat window with configurable branding feature
  • NuGet package deployment of WebChat client
  • Automated content curation with LLM (Optional)

Benefits

  • Automates the answering of mundane, repetitive enquiries
  • Reduces cost to serve by freeing-up employees for other tasks
  • Quickly connects users to consistent information
  • Improves customer experience
  • Increases digital engagement, driving channel shift
  • Accessible 24 x 7, across multiple channels
  • Skills transfer of frequently asked questions (FAQ) curation, promoting self-sufficiency
  • Reduced time to develop and improve effectiveness of Q&A pairs

Pricing

£1,030 a licence a month

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 g-cloud@civica.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

9 2 9 3 1 9 3 9 9 8 0 2 7 3 2

Contact

Civica UK Limited Civica UK Limited
Telephone: +44 (0) 3333 214 914
Email: g-cloud@civica.co.uk

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
The service can be integrated into existing website and mobile apps.
Cloud deployment model
Public cloud
Service constraints
None.
System requirements
Microsoft Azure license

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Civica offers three service levels: Core, Extended and Bespoke each with variable service hours ranging from 09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday excluding English public holidays to full 24x7x365. Our Core service response and resolution times depend on the severity of the incident and are as follows:
a) Priority Level 1 (Critical): 1-hour to respond, 1 day to resolve
b) Priority Level 2 (Major): 2-hours to respond, 2 days to resolve
c) Priority Level 3 (Intermediate): 2-hours to respond, 8 days to resolve
d) Priority Level 4 (Minor): 2-hours to respond, 20 days to resolve
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
No
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
1) Core: 09:00 to 17:00 Mon-Fri excluding English Public holidays; suitable for most business-critical applications.
2) Extended: 08:00 to 18:00 Mon-Fri excluding English Public holidays.
3) 24x7: full 24x7x365 support.
4) Bespoke: customised set of service hours that meets unique business requirements.

Different business needs require flexibility in response and resolution times:
1) Core: resolution times are P1: 1 day, P2: 2 days, P3: 8 days and P4: 20 days.
2) Enhanced: resolution times are P1: 4 hours, P2: 8 hours, P3: 4 days and P4: 10 days.
3) Bespoke: a customised set of response and resolution times that meets your unique business requirements.

Severity Levels for Incidents are defined as follows:
a) Priority Level 1 (Critical) - reported problem causes a halt to the client’s core business processes and no work-around is available.
b) Priority Level 2 (Major) - reported problem causes degradation of the client’s core business processes and no reasonable work-around exists.
c) Priority Level 3 (Intermediate) - reported problem impacts the client’s operational environment; it does not affect core business processes; a work-around is available.
d) Priority Level 4 (Minor) - a non-critical problem causing some disruption with little or no impact on client operation.
Support available to third parties
No

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
See Service Definition Document.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
All question and answer pairs can be extracted under the standard Microsoft toolset. Civica will clear down any usage data.
End-of-contract process
The service will be shut down and all question and answer pairs will be extracted and provided to the client.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
NA
Service interface
No
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 A
API
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
Users can upload and refine question and answers pairs for the Chatbot.

Scaling

Independence of resources
This is managed by MS Azure tools.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Civica will provide guidance on how to use standard QnA Maker reporting facilities.
Reporting types
Reports on request

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
Up to Security Clearance (SC)

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 another standard
Data sanitisation process
No
Equipment disposal approach
A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
This is achieved via the standard Microsoft client software (MS QnA Maker Portal Tool).
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
Data protection within supplier network
Other
Other protection within supplier network
Please contact Civica for details.

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
Please see MS Azure Public Cloud SLA.
Approach to resilience
Please see standard MS Azure Public Cloud details.
Outage reporting
Please see standard MS Azure Public Cloud details.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Only authorised support staff will have access to the system. Civica support staff do not access customer data as a matter of course. Only in rare cases of support or maintenance, after explicit permission granted by the customer, will support staff log in to customers applications or look at customer data. All case access (even when read only) through the application is audited. All direct database access by support staff must be authorised by a support manager. Access privileges are revoked when such access is no longer relevant.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least once a year
Management access authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
No audit information available
Access to supplier activity audit information
No audit information available
How long system logs are stored for
Less than 1 month

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
Alcumus ISOQAR
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
09/11/2020
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
N/A
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
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
Civica has a fully audited and tested Information Security Management System which underpins our ISO27001:2013 certificate. The policies and procedures have been independently audited and practices are audited by external auditors. New staff are inducted into the ISMS when they start; other staff are regularly reminded about their responsibilities and managers are required to ensure that their staff adhere to the policies. Staff are advised when policies are updated. The senior management of the company owns the ISMS and the Information Security Management Representative delivers day-to-day management of the system. All staff are reminded that they are individually responsible for security. The data security theme is delivered through staff / team meetings, training sessions, shared documents and via email. Continuous improvement in the delivery of security is encouraged. Risk assessments are regularly carried out and the competency of the delivery of the ISMS is measured though internal auditing and management review.

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
All significant, non-routine changes to Organisational information processing facilities (hardware and software) are subject to change control. A procedure (from our ISMS) ensures that segregation of duties in in place for the requesting, authorizing and implementation of a change. All changes should be applied first to a test platform, and a "recover position" is defined for each change. Changes are tracked and documented within the company. At all times the security of our infrastructure and customer data are at the forefront of any consideration of a change request and our Information Security Manager is responsible for the process.
Vulnerability management type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Vulnerability management approach
We have a qualitative approach to risk management. This covers (a) the categorisation of assets across six major headings including information assets (and these include client data), software assets (these include application software) and physical assets (these include networks); (b) the identification of assets within each category at a level appropriate to risk assessment; and (c) the assessment of possible threats to and vulnerabilities of each asset and its likelihood and impact on the business either directly or indirectly. The risk assessment is carried out at least annually and is reviewed when changes are processed through the Change Control process.
Protective monitoring type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Protective monitoring approach
Daily checklists are in place to monitor malicious activities like failed login attempts, attempts to access the system from an unknown IP etc. We also have automatic monitoring tools in place to warn of issues.
The Information Security Manager gets advice from qualified technical staff and the Top Management, as necessary, to analyse and understand any incidents and to identify appropriate actions to contain it and to implement contingency plans. A request will then be made to take appropriate actions to recover from the incident, and to implement contingency plans.
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
There is a specific procedure for responding to security event in our ISMS. We are committed to sharing information about any such breaches; most of our customers specify their requirements for notification times to be detailed in contractual arrangements. Our starting point is to alert the customer as soon as is possible after such a breach has been confirmed.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Social Value

Social Value

Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

Fighting climate change

As a company, we’ve made an ambitious commitment to achieve Net Zero Carbon emissions by 2040 (or sooner) by supporting our customers net zero ambitions, creating software with inbuilt sustainability and reducing our own impact.

Our Carbon Reduction Plan demonstrates our ambition to become industry leaders in reducing our environmental impact in support of the UK’s Net Zero Target. Underlining this ambition, we are focusing not only on our direct emissions sources, but actively engaging with our supply chain to understand, measure and develop meaningful emissions reductions targets in line with our Net Zero Target.

We are accredited to ISO14001 Standard and to support delivery of our commitment our Environment, Social Value and Governance provides clear focus for the ongoing development of our environmental policy.

• We develop innovative software-based services that reduce power requirements.
• We help customers opt for more sustainable choices, through digital platforms/apps which remove paper, support flexible/agile working, all underpinned by cloud-based services employing energy efficient technology.
• We support carbon neutrality with workforces/facilities to reduce carbon consumption over the next 10-years.
• We prioritise the use of green energy in Civica owned facilities within the next 10 years.
• We promote recycling through our ‘Zero to Landfill’ and ‘Zero Print’ schemes.

Our commitment to continue to promote with employees and customers a much greater responsibility and leadership in eliminating unnecessary single-use plastics; we will continue to look to make more innovative and systematic changes to further reduce our use of single-use plastics across the organisation and to openly share our outcomes and learnings.

We undertake SECR Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting on our environmental footprint and the progress we are making to becoming Net Zero.

Our commitment to fighting climate change will help deliver the policy outcomes for fighting climate change under PPN 06/20.

Tackling economic inequality

Civica is committed to building an inclusive and diverse culture that tackles inequality in employment, skills and pay. We promote equal opportunity through all our activities and ensure rights for all employees are always protected. We are listed as a 2020 Financial Times Diversity Leader and we are a ‘Gold’ Investors in People company.

We have increased our focus and commitment to ensure we proactively implement equal and non-discriminatory treatment to all our workers. We have implemented a Diversity & Inclusion Strategy and have a Diversity and Inclusion Lead to drive the implementation of this strategy. This aims to tackle inequality in recruitment practices, team development, skills and pay through the following actions:

• We are a Living Wage accredited employer.
• We recruit locally to where services are delivered.
• We are committed to developing the skills of young people near our client’s businesses e.g., for a local authority, we have developed a programme of engagement workshops for young people with the potential for digital work experience.
• Our staff act as mentors for Youth Enterprise schemes in schools/universities.
• We are a member of the 5% club, an industry-led initiative focused on creating momentum behind the recruitment of apprentices into the UK workplace.
• Over 2.5% of our workplace is made up of apprentices or graduates and we intend to increase this to 5% by the end of 2025.
• We provide our own apprenticeship programme for managers, giving them access to training and development that may not be accessible outside the workplace.

Our commitment to building an inclusive and diverse culture will help deliver the policy outcomes for tackling economic inequality under PPN 06/20 and will dramatically improve job prospects and increase earning potential for the young and job seeking communities.

Equal opportunity

Civica is committed to providing equal opportunities and building an inclusive and diverse culture. The more diverse our workforce, the more informed the decisions we can make for our customers, supporting the communities in which we work.

We are proud to have been ranked as one of the top European companies for workforce diversity and equality, as chosen by in the Financial Times in 2020.

We are committed to building and maintaining an inclusive and supportive culture where diversity thrives:

• To ensure our recruitment practices support the attraction and hiring of diverse candidates, all vacancies are advertised on multiple Diversity & Inclusion platforms.
• We run attraction campaigns targeting females and BAME applicants. We use a process of anonymised applications, competency-based questions and scoring to remove bias. We also use decoders to ensure job advertisements use gender and culturally neutral language. We also ensure mixed panel interviewing.
• We advertise vacancies on https://disabilityjob.co.uk/ and share diversity statements on all job adverts.
• We have made training on diversity and inclusion mandatory.
• We aim to ensure increased diversity of new starters in technology/sales/leadership roles by 10% per annum over the next 3 years.
• We aim to ensure that at least 50% of shortlisted people are being considered from a diverse background for roles above £35k.
• We promote affinity groups within the company who represent a group of people linked by a common characteristic, often underrepresented, or historically excluded, which acts as a ‘safe space’ for such individuals. This identity could be related to race, gender, sexual orientation, language, nationality, physical or mental ability, socioeconomic class, family structure, religion, amongst others.

Our commitment to providing equality of opportunity will support the delivery of the policy outcomes for equal opportunity under PPN 06/20.

Wellbeing

Civica actively promote a mentally healthy workplace and workforce integrating mental health and general wellbeing in all that we do from recruitment, appraisals to strategic management.

Through our Health and Wellbeing Policy (HWP) and 40+ Mental Health Champions we encourage a flexible and realistic work/life balance. These provide a foundation to support the mental and physical health of our staff through:

• Employee Assistance Programme and online Wellbeing Hub, which provides 24/7 access to websites, e-mail, phone, face-to-face counselling on all personal issues.
• Aviva DigiCare+ Workplace App providing external mental health consultancy.
• Mental Health Champions who support colleagues’ wellbeing in the workplace.
• RedArc Personal nurse service.
• Management Coaching - managers are trained in GROW (Goals, Reality, Options and Will) and in being Health and Wellbeing Advisors, supporting employees with mental/physical health needs.
• Health assessments/advice aimed at improving physical health.
• Cycle to Work scheme to aid physical and mental health.
• Weekly fruit drop for offices, encouraging a healthier diet.
• Free eye tests for all VDU users, encourage staff to take advantage of NHS flu vaccinations services, and support people wishing to use the NHS Stop Smoking Service.

We also support our customers’ and communities’ through The Civica Foundation, our home for all charity, community, volunteering and social value. Our Days of Difference initiative gives every Civica employee 3 days a year to make a difference to charitable or community causes. Our employee’s can use this individually, join up as a team or take part in Civica coordinated events.

Suppliers/subcontractors are subject to Civica’s Sub-contractor Selection Process as defined in our ISO9001 Quality Management System, which includes criteria for assessing health and wellbeing policies.

Our commitment to providing equality of opportunity will support the delivery of the policy outcomes for Wellbeing under PPN 06/20.

Pricing

Price
£1,030 a licence a month
Discount for educational organisations
No
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 g-cloud@civica.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.