davidjamesstone / project

All project information related to the Staff Alerts project.

Staff Alerts - Proposal

• Recent updates
• Background
• Goals
• Objectives
  • Additional non MVP
• Benefits
• Timeline
• Team
  • Subject Matter Experts

Recent updates

• Week 0 - beginning 7th September
• Week 1 - beginning 14th September

Background

The Staff Alerts service will provide a centralised facility which can rapidly inform Environment Agency (EA) staff of notifiable events via text message. These alerts will protect the safety of staff within the organisation and limit loss of staff productivity. Key communications are time critical to business delivery, thus consistent and rapid delivery is fundamental.

The intention is for this service to potentially replace the existing EA Text Alerts service which is hard to maintain and manage. The currently in progress "Defra Single Group Text Alert Service" project does not intend to replace the existing EA Text Alerts service.

Goals

• To build a service to notify staff about incidents affecting EA sites and 16 operational areas
• To create a quick, user-friendly and low-cost service
• To allow staff to “self-manage” their details
• To design a service that can be re-used by others

Objectives

1. Identify and implement a way to securely obtain, maintain and store the necessary staff data across the organisation - following GDPR requirements

2. Identify and implement a way to allow staff to securely register, maintain and remove their own data from the service - following GDPR requirements

3. Create an accessible and intuitive internal interface that:

   1. has a secure user login mechanism
   2. allows for the selection of (multiple) locations
   3. allows for the creation of various messages types
   4. allows for the use of message templates
   5. allows for "approval" of messages before sending
   6. allows for the issuing of messages

4. Identify and implement a way to send text messages to relevant staff using GOV.UK Notify

5. Fully document the approach, design, implementation and next steps for full service implementation

6. Handover for future management and delivery to Internal Digital Services

Additional non MVP

1. Create an accessible and intuitive internal interface that:

   1. allows for basic staff data maintenance
   2. allows for the creation and maintenance of message templates
   3. allows for the creation and maintenance of locations
   4. provides a simple message history
   5. provides a simple contact history
   6. provides a simple audit log

2. Identify and implement a way to monitor the success of the text messages issued

3. Identify and implement a way to remove duplicate messages before they are issued

Benefits

• Provides a better service for users with lower overheads
• We can better meet the user needs we have seen and have had through feedback
• Substantially reduces the maintenance overhead from the External Digital Services team
• Lower cost (current contract ~ around £40k - does not include staff time and overheads)
• Ability to re-use components from XWS (NeXt Warning System) development
• Ability to open source our work for re-use by Defra or others without restriction
• Provide a seamless transition to Internal Digital Services for future management

Timeline

• 14 Sep - 25 Sep: Disco/Planning/UR/Backlog refinement - 2 weeks
• 28 Sep - 09 Oct: Alpha build - 2 weeks
• 12 Oct - 16 Oct: Iteration and user testing - 1 week
• 19 Oct - 23 Oct: Iteration and user testing - 1 week
• 26 Oct - 30 Oct: Contingency week
• November: Initial release

Team

See here

Subject Matter Experts

• Internal Digital Services - Sharon Sawyer
• Incident Communication Service - Steph Turner, Lisa Matthews
• Business Continuity Incident Management – Chris Strong, Catherine Braun and Mel Cox