Social Security Scotland Digital and Technology Strategy - Chief Digital Officer Division (Social Security) - The Scottish Government

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Social Security Scotland Digital and Technology Strategy - Chief Digital Officer Division (Social Security) - The Scottish Government
Social Security Scotland
Digital and Technology Strategy
                                  Safe
                                  Secure       Interactive
2018 – 2021                       Innovative    document

Social Security Scotland
Digital and Technology Strategy
Chief Digital Officer Division
(Social Security)

2018-2021
Social Security Scotland Digital and Technology Strategy - Chief Digital Officer Division (Social Security) - The Scottish Government
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Foreword

My intention with the Social Security Scotland              The opportunity that comes with developing the
Digital and Technology Strategy 2018-2021 is to             digital and technology that drives the completely
set out the approach and direction we are taking            new public service for the 1.4 million people who will
to develop the high level architecture and solution         rely on getting the amount of money they expect,
design to support the new agency, Social Security           when they expect it, is exciting and a privilege.
Scotland, which is based in Dundee, in delivering
Scotland’s first devolved welfare system.

11 benefits are being wholly transferred, and the
transition of these is challenging and complex
– especially when there is a huge amount of
interdependency between what is being transferred
and what is remaining a UK Government
responsibility, but this is also an opportunity for us to
show people how the Scottish Government would
like to see public services designed and delivered
and that is with people rather than for people.

We are putting the citizen at the heart of all of our
planning and design, and will be adapting and
changing the technology we introduce to ensure we
meet their varying needs, whist treating them with
dignity, fairness and respect.                              Andy McClintock
                                                            Chief Digital Officer
The scale and intricacy involved in ensuring the            Social Security Directorate
safe and secure transition of these benefits into           Scottish Government
the new Social Security Scotland Agency cannot
be underestimated. It is a process that will happen
over the next few years, and will require us to take
an innovative, collaborative and flexible approach
as we set up the new public service, therefore this
document will change and be updated over time as
we evolve.
Social Security Scotland Digital and Technology Strategy - Chief Digital Officer Division (Social Security) - The Scottish Government
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Contents

                                  01 Executive summary                  4
                                  02 Background and introduction        5
                                  03 Key drivers                        6
                                  04 Digital principles                 7
                                  05 Secure by design                   8
                                  06 Solution pillars                   9
                                  07 Infrastructure                    10
                                  08 Key tenets                        11
                                  09 Architecture approach            13
                                      9.1 Logical view                 13
                                      9.2 Integration                  14
                                      9.3 Phased delivery              15
                                  10 Architectural principles          16
                                  11 Innovative                        19
                                  12 People and skills                 20
                                  13 Reference architecture            21
                                  14 Summary                           22
Social Security Scotland Digital and Technology Strategy - Chief Digital Officer Division (Social Security) - The Scottish Government
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01
Executive
summary
This document sets out the 2018-2021 Digital and       As we embark on this digital and technology
Technology Strategy (the Strategy) for supporting      journey we have the opportunity to benefit from
both the overall Programme (the Programme) that        a better starting place, not a blank canvas, but
will implement the 11 benefits being transferred       an opportunity to adopt approaches such as
from the UK Department for Work and Pensions           user research, user need, usability, accessibility,
(DWP), as well as the new Agency (the Agency)          safe and secure by design into the very fabric of
for Social Security in Scotland which is based in      our architecture, from the outset and not as an
Dundee.                                                afterthought.

The initial focus of the Strategy is to develop the    This is a multi-year journey that we cannot
high level architecture and solution design to         underestimate in terms of scale and complexity, but
support the programme in the delivery of wave one      also the real impact we will have on citizens if we
and subsequent deliverables, in particular the Low     deliver poor solutions or fail to pay people on time,
Income Benefits (LIB) phase of work.                   every time.

Building on the Agile Discovery engagements in         We cannot, and will not, do this alone or become
late 2016 and early 2017 with the support from         too reliant on the commercial sector to deliver and
the Scottish Government Procurement and Digital        sustain a technology estate for the Social Security
Directorates, the Chief Digital Officer Division was   Agency. We will be mindful of the legacy of people
established and has commenced detailed technical       and systems costs as we move through programme
analysis with programme, digital, and policy           delivery into long term agency operations.
colleagues to explore the most achievable solution
outcomes to meet Ministerial commitments and           Our own digital and technology staff will learn from
ensure that transfer of powers is smooth and not       both suppliers and technology specialists who will
detrimental to the people of Scotland.                 be with us only for as long as necessary. To achieve
                                                       this we have to recognise the competitive digital
Through the engagement of experienced                  skills market, particularly in Scotland and we will
market resources and extensive dialogue with           create an environment which encourages innovative
the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP),             and enthusiastic professionals to spend part of their
significant work has been undertaken to determine      career in the most challenging and exciting area of
the complexity of the legacy UK welfare systems        government transformation for many years.
that stems back decades, and consider potential
solutions to deliver the 11 benefits to the citizens   Finally, we will create an overall architecture which
of Scotland based on a user focused approach           will have loosely coupled components that can
and with dignity and respect embedded into our         be interchanged as technology evolves with the
delivery model.                                        involvement of multiple solutions and suppliers,
                                                       reducing vendor control which could restrict our
                                                       future platform and product choices.
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02
Background
and introduction
The Scotland Act 2016 devolves a wide range of                             This document is the 2018-2021 Digital and
powers, most notably powers over welfare benefits                          Technology Strategy (the Strategy) supporting the
and employment support. These powers currently                             Social Security Directorate (SSD) in the delivery
cover around 1.4 million people and amount to                              of the programme to support the 11 devolving
around £3.3 billion.1                                                      benefits and the establishment of the new Agency
                                                                           for Social Security (the Agency) in Scotland. It
The Scottish Government has announced the                                  will also consider technical operational support
creation of a new Agency to deliver social security                        arrangements post implementation.
to the Scottish people, based in Dundee with
a second location in Glasgow. It will be one of                            It is vital that we have the right approach to
the largest executive agencies of the Scottish                             considering, designing and implementing technical
Government and will employ at least 1,500 staff by                         solutions to enable the safe and secure transition of
the time all devolved benefits are being delivered.                        the welfare benefits from the UK Government to the
                                                                           Scottish Government.
The scale of this undertaking requires significant
investment and deployment of resource in terms                             The history, legacy and inter-dependency of the
of people, time, funding, knowledge, systems and                           existing benefit systems currently used by the UK
services. This is reflected in the Minister for Social                     Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) cannot
Security, Jeane Freeman, MSP, statement to the                             be ignored. We will have an ongoing requirement
Scottish Parliament on 27 April 2017:                                      to work alongside their systems as they cannot
                                                                           administer reserved benefits and we cannot
“This is a challenging time. It is, as Audit Scotland                      administer devolved benefits in isolation.
said, an ‘exceptionally complex task’.2
                                                                           The ability to exchange information with DWP
This is an exciting and complex opportunity which                          about benefit entitlement is not short, medium or
will require an innovative, flexible and collaborative                     long term, it has no end point as long as social
approach to deliver a world class service.                                 security responsibilities are split between the
                                                                           two governments. This is a constraint that both
                                                                           social security and DWP have to accept and work
                                                                           with, but equally it will allow both organisations to
                                                                           manage their welfare obligations effectively.

1 https://news.gov.scot/news/final-vote-on-social-security-scotland-bill
2 https://news.gov.scot/speeches-and-briefings/social-security-agency
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03
Key drivers

The safe and secure transition of the 11 devolved       Through our continuous working with policy,
benefits to Scotland, through the programme and         programme and agency colleagues, we will
into the remit of the new Social Security Agency, is    maintain an awareness and adaptive approach to
one of the primary drivers that will influence what     changing the technology we introduce, with the
level of technology is deployed initially.              varying needs of the citizen at the forefront of our
                                                        planning and design.
Secure by design will be at the heart of all digital
and technology solutions that we introduce and          The technology required to build and sustain the
maintain. By embedding security and cyber               payment of benefits is on a scale that has not been
protection into the fabric of our architecture and      attempted previously in Scotland. Learning from
design we will seek to gain the confidence of           other major ICT initiatives in recent times our focus
citizens, and their trust in the Scottish Government,   will be on Reuse, before Buy, before Build as we
to deliver the devolved benefits with payments          consider the most cost effective approach and
made on time, every time.                               lower risk to technology implementation.

We will introduce technology solutions that are         We live in an evolving digital world and will ensure
designed and implemented with user centred focus        that the Digital First Standard is at the forefront of
at their core. Through the engagement of users          our strategic thinking and solution designs. The
from the Experience Panels, we will involve those       early engagement with the Scottish Government
with real experience of previous welfare systems        Digital Directorate that helped shape the initial user
in the design, usability and testing of systems that    research and usability approaches, will continue
will underpin the operations of the benefits being      through the life of the programme and throughout
delivered by the Agency.                                the duration of this strategy.

We recognise that citizens will require options and     There is an aspiration to create an integrated benefit
choices for how they interact with the Agency and       solution where information is captured once and
we will pursue a multi-channel approach to ensure       processed many times.
that those who cannot, or choose not to adopt
digital methods will not become isolated through
technology.
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Digital principles

We will pursue alignment with the Digital First         In line with the Scottish Government Digital
Standard in all the technology solutions we adopt or    Strategy, we will adopt a Cloud First approach
introduce.                                              and store our data within secure UK facilities
                                                        in line with our risk appetite. Working with our
Through engagement with the Scottish Government         delivery partners, we will ensure that the data of
Digital Directorate, we will ensure our approach of     our clients is protected at all times in line with
‘Digital as Appropriate’ is underpinned by a focus      government information security requirements
on user needs and services that are both accessible     and industry best practice.
and usable.
                                                        With a focus on reuse where appropriate, we will
As the programme to deliver the transition of the 11    seek to both consume existing services or digital
benefits progresses, skilled user research resources    assets and share our own components with other
will be embedded into the teams that are focused        parts of the public sector where there is interest
on service design and service delivery.                 and alignment. Our focus will be on components,
                                                        services, and contracts that are available in both
When solutions are fully tested with citizen            Scotland and the wider UK landscape.
involvement, we will seek regular feedback on their
suitability and fitness for purpose. Our technology     Our approach to data driven services will be in
will change over time and it is important that we       line with those set out in the Digital First standard
continue to engage citizens on this journey so that     and we will use this evidence to evaluate the
we do not lose sight of the user need or impact of      performance and effectiveness of the solutions
technology evolution.                                   we deploy, seeking to continuously improve the
                                                        end product for the citizen within the realms of
As the new Agency comes into operation and              affordability and sustainability.
solutions are deployed to help citizens, we will need
to remain sensitive to potential legislative changes    The teams within the remit of the Chief Digital
that will require technology to adapt whilst still      Officer will have a combination of skills and
needing to be user focused and responsive to the        experience to support the ongoing operational
varying needs of citizens.                              lifecycle of technology in what will be a multi-
                                                        vendor environment. They will draw on experience
                                                        and expertise from the wider digital profession
                                                        in Scotland and share their own knowledge with
                                                        others.

                                                        All of our expenditure in technology will be
                                                        underpinned with appropriate investment cases
                                                        proportionate to the spend value and any
                                                        commercial commitment.
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Secure
by design
Our solutions will adopt a secure by design ethos.        The understanding and use of such techniques and
One of our service design principles states that          how they are employed in a system’s production will
“security will be a critical element of the new service   significantly decrease our chances of exposure.
– we will hold information safely, and we will ensure
that the people who work in the agency and the            Our solutions will throughout their entire lifecycle
people who use it are safe.”                              be subject to security assessment at every stage.
                                                          Security will be built into the fabric of the social
The design phase of software development or               security systems in Scotland, from design and
customisation provides the foundation for secure          development, through testing and continuous
software, minimising the security risks within            improvement, to operationally live through to
systems. Our emphasis on building security into our       eventual decommissioning – security will be a key
solution addresses the tendency for security to be        factor at every stage.
an afterthought in the development of ICT solutions.
                                                          We will work in partnership with the UK National
Our approach to developing the social security            Cyber Security Centre, the national technical
solution is to ensure that the technology                 authority for cyber security, to ensure that our risk
components, software and hardware, that make              managed approach to solution development aligns
up the solution, are as free of vulnerabilities and       with current thinking and the modern approach to
resilient to attack as possible and we will employ a      the government security policy and practice.
number of measures to achieve that aim, such as:

• Implementing secure software development
  processes;
• Ensuring continuous testing;
• Aligning with both government and industry best
  practice;
• Conducting threat analysis;
• Deploying static and dynamic source code
  scanning tools;
• Utilising penetration testing and vulnerability
  assessment skills.
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Solution
pillars
Our solutions will be built around the principles of     Underpinning all of the above are a combination of
tackling poverty and inequality through treating         people, processes, and systems which will support
citizens with dignity and respect.                       the programme initially and then agency operations
                                                         in the longer term.
As we focus on the safe and secure transition of 11
benefits to Scotland, we will ensure that secure by
design is integrated to the fabric of our architecture
from the outset with the digital first standard
alignment clearly in our sights at all times.

                                  Dignity,               Tackling
                                  fairness               poverty &
                                  & respect              inequality

                       Safe & secure           Secure                 Digital
                       transition              by design              first

           People                          Process                       Systems
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Infrastructure

As we support the delivery of the programme and then the operational status of the agency, we will make
use of existing infrastructure and services that already exist in both Scotland and the wider UK public
sector.

 Desktop                                            We aim to make use of SCOTS Connect desktop
                                                    services, as they already provide accredited

 services                                           connectivity to the Public Sector Network (PSN)
                                                    through a range of components including secure
                                                    managed devices and mobile connectivity. We
                                                    will consume this as a shared services customer
                                                    through the Scottish Government Digital
                                                    Directorate.

 PSN                                                The PSN offers a UK wide accredited network
                                                    which we will adopt for cross government
                                                    communications and data exchange in a secure
                                                    manner.

 SWAN                                               The Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN) is
                                                    available across the country and offers us the ability
                                                    to build resilient connectivity between both agency
                                                    locations in Dundee, and Glasgow, as well as a
                                                    secure communication reach into other delivery
                                                    partners, including Local Authorities and Health via
                                                    existing infrastructure.
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08
Key tenets

 User centric                      We will focus on user needs, whether that is a
                                   citizen or an internal user.

 Commodity                         Increasing elements of IT are commoditised. The
                                   use of commodity enables value to be delivered

 first                             early and frees up resources to be focused
                                   on value add activities. We will adopt a Cloud
                                   First approach and design our data hosting
                                   requirements in line with our risk appetite.

 Loosely                           We will design and implement a loosely coupled
                                   and component based architecture which

 coupled                           will allow us to respond quickly to change in
                                   technologies and organisational needs over time.

 Open                              We will consider the use of interoperable open
                                   standards to promote openness and portability,

 standards                         reducing vendor lock-in. It will provide us
                                   with greater choice around tools, people and
                                   processes. This should help to lower risk and
                                   increase innovation.

 Automated                         Manual processes and interventions add time,
                                   cost and risk. We will embrace automation to
                                   allow for repeatable builds of software defined
                                   environments from templates, automation
                                   scripts, frequent release cycles and support for
                                   continuous delivery.

 Self-healing                      We will introduce solutions that automatically
                                   detect and recover from failure with minimal
                                   manual intervention. Errors will be handled in a
                                   controlled fashion, allowing systems to continue
                                   to operate normally (graceful degradation). We will
                                   implement best practice ‘design for availability’
                                   patterns.
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08
Key tenets
(continued)

 Auto-scaling                      We will make use of auto-scaling to enable our
                                   solutions to scale capacity up to meet demand
                                   spikes and back down when not needed. Cloud
                                   hosting of our infrastructure will support us in this
                                   domain and we will only pay for what we use.

 Resilient                         We will build solutions that do not have single
                                   points of failure.

 Real-time                         We will build solutions that handle requests in
                                   real-time, reducing the need for batch-based
                                   processes.

 API first                         We will use an Application Program Interface (API)
                                   approach for the reuse of other governments
                                   systems, such as those in DWP to further
                                   endorse our loosely coupled architecture. We
                                   will expose our services and data using standard
                                   APIs to allow wider government to develop
                                   new services on top of ours, compliant with the
                                   General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

 User services                     We will provide online services as part of a wider,
                                   user-focused service offering. As we encourage
                                   this channel shift we will be mindful of citizens
                                   who cannot or do not always wish to use digital
                                   channels.
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Architecture
                                               9.1 Logical View
                                               The IT solution will be based on a number of loosely
                                               coupled business services. These services will be
                                               delivered by supporting IT components that will
                                               evolve over time. Flexibility to decouple and ease of

approach                                       replacement will be key factors in the selection of IT
                                               solutions.

                          Channels             Domains

                          Customer       Trace customer

                            Digital            Screening

    Citizen               Telephony     Evidence capture                                 Citizen

                            Paper      Benefit assessment

                                                                         Payments
                                       Payment calculation

                                                                       Notifications
                                       Claim management
                            Users
                                                                           Files
                           Office       Common services
                           access
                                                                        Messages
     SSA                              ID & V       Validation                             SSA
     users                  Mobile                  services                              users
                                                                         Reports
                                           Document
                                          management
                           Partners
                                       Debt management
                             API
    Other                  services                                                       Other
 government                            Fraud                Audit                      government
 department                            & error              & MI                       department
                             File
    Local                  services                                                       Local
  authority                             Make payments                                   authority
  External                                                                              External
   partner                            Output management                                  partner
   Banks                                                                                 Banks
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Architecture
approach
9.2 Integration                                             In the short-to-medium term, there will be a
                                                            requirement to deliver a number of complex,
The target solution will be comprised of a number           scalable and secure interfaces to external
of distinct benefit processing applications, a              organisations, particularly the DWP.
Case Management System and a number of
related support components. These solutions                 The integration solution will require a consistent and
may be distributed across a number of hosting               secure mechanism for file and message integration.
environments.
                                                            The diagram below is a logical overview of
                                                            an integration platform that will be developed
                                                            independently from the benefit solutions and will
                                                            support integration from any Scottish Government
                                                            source to and from any external organisations.

                     SG SSA Enterprise

                                                                                                    DWP
                        Data             Certificate/Key
                   Transformation         Management

                                                                                                   HMRC
          CMS                                                             PSN

                                  Messaging       PSN                                              Other
                                   Gateway        DMZ                                           Government
                                                                                                Departments
                       Adaptor

                                  Secure FT                                                        Local
                                  Gateway                                                        authorities

                                    API
                                  Gateway        Internet
                                                   DMZ                                             Health

                                                                         Internet

                                                                                                 Commercial
         SG Data
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Architecture
                                                      9.3 Phased Delivery
                                                      The devolution of benefits will transform the delivery
                                                      organisation and IT from the baseline DWP solution to
                                                      a target Scottish Government delivery model.

                                                      The diagram below outlines the interim steps that
                                                      will be considered on a case-by-case basis to de-
                                                      risk delivery while meeting the key business drivers.

approach
                                                      Interim steps are optional but will be considered
                                                      where appropriate.

                                                                                                               Devolution Roadmap

                          Baseline                         SG Accounting                     SG Business                  SG Operations               SG Core IT                     Target
                                                                                             Change

 Business                 • All benefits                    • All benefits                    • All benefits              • Devolved benefits         • Devolved benefits            • Devolved benefits
                            administered                      administered                      administered                administered by the         administered by the            administered by the
                            by the DWP                        by the DWP                        by the DWP                  Scottish Government         Scottish Government            Scottish Government
                            operational teams                 operational teams                 operational teams           Social Security Agency      Social Security Agency         Social Security Agency

 Applications             • Applications are hosted         • Applications are hosted         • Applications are hosted   • Applications are hosted   • Core benefit applications    • All benefit applications
                            & managed by the DWP              & managed by the DWP              & managed by the DWP        & managed by the DWP        are hosted & managed by        and supporting services
                                                                                                                                                        the Scottish Government        are hosted & managed by
                          • No special requirements         • Scottish payments made          • Scottish payments         • Scottish payments
                                                                                                                                                                                       the Scottish Government
                            for Scotland or                   via CPS and accounted             made via CPS and            made via CPS and          • Continued re-use of
                            Scottish cases                    for separately from DWP           accounted for               accounted for               shared services hosted       • Payments made using
                                                                                                separately from DWP         separately from DWP         by DWP, e.g. CIS, CPS for      SG strategic payments
                                                                                                                                                        payments, DRS etc.             platform
                                                                                              • Scottish benefit rule     • Scottish benefit rule
                                                                                                changes are embedded        changes are embedded                                     • Minimal DWP interaction,
                                                                                                in DWP systems              in DWP systems                                             e.g. to report change
                                                                                                                                                                                       of country

 Data                     • All Scottish customers          • All Scottish customers          • All Scottish customers    • All Scottish customers    • All Scottish customers and   • All Scottish customers and
                            and claims managed via            and claims managed via            and claims managed via      and claims managed via      claims managed by Scottish     claims managed by Scottish
                            DWP systems                       DWP systems                       DWP systems                 DWP systems                 Government Systems             Government Systems
                                                                                                                                                                                     • Personal details mastered
                                                                                                                                                      • Personal details mastered
                                                                                                                                                                                       by the Scottish Government
                                                                                                                                                        by the DWP
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Architectural
                                  The Digital and Technology Strategy is underpinned
                                  by a set of technology architecture principles, that
                                  will provide more detailed guidance as we move

principles                        beyond the first wave of deliverables under the
                                  programme.

   Long-term                         Technology solutions will be based on
                                     strategic intent not on short-term aims,
   focus                             although solutions will evolve from Minimum
                                     Viable Product (MVP) to full strategic
                                     implementation.

   Technology                        Technical diversity will be managed through a
                                     Design Authority in order to control complexity
                                     and cost.

   Commodity                         Where business requirements allow,
                                     commodity solutions will be our preferred
   first solutions                   option, including reuse where possible.

   Simple                            Technical solutions will be as simple as
                                     possible. Where technical complexity exists
   solutions                         it will be self-contained and hidden whenever
                                     possible and economically viable.

   Flexible                          Solutions will be loosely coupled and
                                     component based by design in order to
   by design                         provide flexibility, scalability, and future
                                     adoption of emerging technologies.
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Architectural
principles
(continued)

   Exploit metrics                   Application & Technology Services, Processes
                                     and Components will be measured to enable
                                     appropriate monitoring, cost calculation and
                                     informed decision making.

   Reusable                          Solutions should provide and/or consume
                                     services that are reusable across the agency.
   services
   Automated                         Processes will be automated end-to-end
                                     including integrations with delivery partners
   processes                         wherever possible.

   User-centric                      Services will be built focused on the needs of
                                     the users consuming the service. This covers
                                     citizens, third-party partners and internal
                                     agency staff.

   Data relevance                    Data must be business relevant and managed
                                     in accordance with current legislation.

   Data                              Data definitions and vocabularies will be
                                     consistent throughout the Agency.
   vocabulary
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Architectural
principles
(continued)

   Master data                       All data will have a master copy providing a
                                     ‘single source of truth’.

   Secure                            Security will be embedded into business
                                     requirements, business logic, application, data
   by design                         and technology.

   Non-functional                    Non-functional requirements should be
                                     treated with the same level of importance as
   requirements                      functional requirements.

   Continuous                        Infrastructure and applications will be
                                     designed to support continuous and
   deployment                        automated deployment.
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Innovative

As the strategy progresses and we start to deliver    With the potential for a significant number of mobile
the initial wave of benefits, we will work closely    staff, we will work closely with all stakeholders to
with key agency staff and representatives from        consider what equipment, connectivity, and working
the Experience Panels to explore where we can         methods can be explored, but always within the
introduce innovation into both our solutions and      scope of ‘safe and secure’.
our operations.
                                                      As part of business continuity planning, we need to
Recognising that for some, a digital only approach    consider the most resilient options and measures
for engagement may not be possible or acceptable.     that can be invoked rapidly, in the event of a serious
We will continue to evaluate what we can do           incident or business impact to one of the agency
through multi-channel options to improve the          key locations.
experience for citizens, our delivery partners, and
the agency operations.
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People
and skills
Our Digital and Technology Strategy will rely heavily      The challenge of delivering the devolved benefits
on internal skills and capability. We already know         and building new technology platforms will have a
that the availability of digital skills in the UK public   significant impact on the number and types of jobs
sector are in short supply, high demand and the            we need, the skills our people require and on other
particular situation is no different in Scotland.          things like grade mix. We want to maximise the
                                                           potential of the people we already have and grow
The programme to deliver the 11 devolved benefits          our own internal capability through investment in
represents a major career opportunity for digital and      them.
ICT professionals to join the Social Security journey
and spend part of their developing career with us.         We will create a blend of technical and commercial
We are creating an environment where the scale             capabilities within our people to manage a
and pace of technology delivery will appeal to many        technology environment, which is likely to involve
professionals from within and outside the public           numerous suppliers and solutions.
sector.
                                                           To manage this landscape and have a lower
As we continue to recruit staff in line with the           dependence on vendors, we will bring in people
programme schedule, we will be mindful of the              who can understand technology and long-term
talent pool from which we are drawing and look             contract management, working closely with
to minimise the impact on other public sector              procurement colleagues. Commercial acumen
organisations, who lose staff that are attracted to        combined with technical expertise is a necessary
our opportunities.                                         skill that we must develop within the agency.

Beyond the life of the programme, technology               As the strategy progresses we will make use of all
development and operations will transfer into the          available recruitment channels and opportunities
agency and we will be mindful of the legacy of             to bring in the correct expertise and skills to help
people that will be required in a different operating      us on the journey. This will involve a combination
model to that of the programme.                            of permanent, fixed-term, and interim resources
                                                           but always with public value in the forefront of our
We seek a working environment (people,                     minds.
management, processes, systems, tools, and
buildings) which supports the civil service values
and behaviours of today.

We will create an environment where an individual
can make a difference and where our people feel
valued. We want people to feel proud of being
part of Social Security in Scotland and focused on
providing an outstanding service to citizens.
Social Security Scotland                                 Safe                                         21
Digital and Technology Strategy                          Secure
2018 – 2021                                              Innovative

13
Reference
architecture
We will communicate and share our reference architecture across the agency.

                        Technology         Reference
                        strategy           architecture
   Corporate
   strategy

                                           Application     Technology      Technology
                                           patterns        patterns        principles

                                           Technology      Technology      Technology
                                           radar           catalogue       objectives

                        Horizon
                        scanning

• Reference architecture contains the building           • When we deploy our new services, we always
  blocks for solutions, providing consistency and          lay the foundation for our transformation and
  forming the basis for sound governance.                  new technology. Changes to the technology
                                                           estate are limited to legislative delivery (based on
• Reference architecture continually refined and           timescales), changes required for transformation
  maintained through the Technology Strategy and           or essential upgrades such as security
  Business Strategy, horizon scanning and feedback         compliance.
  from solution operations, ensuring it remains
  relevant, pragmatic and deliverable, and supports
  the needs of the organisation.
Social Security Scotland          Safe                                         22
Digital and Technology Strategy   Secure
2018 – 2021                       Innovative

14
Summary

   Key                               We will focus our immediate efforts, planning,
                                     and delivery in support of the safe and secure
   drivers                           transfer of the devolved benefits through the
                                     programme.

                                     Safe and secure will be at the heart of
                                     everything we architect, design and
                                     implement, either ourselves or with our
                                     delivery partners.

                                     User focus, usability and accessibility will drive
                                     the solutions that we introduce or implement.

                                     We will pursue alignment with the Digital
                                     First Standard throughout the duration of this
                                     strategy and its successor.

                                     Reuse, before Buy, before Build, will be
                                     our primary approach to the introduction of
                                     technology and solutions.

   Our                               A number of key tenets underpin how the
                                     Social Security systems and solutions will be
   systems                           created and implemented.

                                     Our target architecture is designed to for
                                     the reuse of services and maximum use
                                     of commodity technology. It consists of
                                     components that can be updated or replaced
                                     over time. Our Cloud first approach for
                                     systems that underpin the benefit operations
                                     of the agency will support high availability,
                                     scalability and a cost effective operating
                                     model, which will be driven on the actual
                                     processing and storage usage.
Social Security Scotland          Safe                                          23
Digital and Technology Strategy   Secure
2018 – 2021                       Innovative

14
Summary
(continued)

   Our                               We will create a professional digital
                                     environment that enables people to make a
   people                            difference and feel valued. Recognising the
                                     skills challenge, we will invest in up-skilling our
                                     staff to deliver the changes, whilst recruiting
                                     people with a focus on technical skills. All key
                                     solutions and components will be introduced
                                     and managed predominantly by our own staff.

   Our                               We will adopt the most appropriate process
                                     for delivering and supporting our solutions for
   process                           the agency as it evolves into a fully operational
                                     state. Our reference architecture will guide and
                                     inform new solutions and the enhancement
                                     of existing services. The Business Technical
                                     Design Authority governance processes will
                                     facilitate decision making and encourage
                                     innovation, whilst maintaining oversight and
                                     adherence to the core business and legislative
                                     drivers.
© Crown copyright 2018

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ISBN: 978-1-78781-075-4 (web only)

Published by The Scottish Government, September 2018
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PPDAS407426 (09/18)

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