Dublin City Council

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Dublin City Council

The Challenge

Dublin City Council provides services to over 450,000 citizens, employs 2000 office staff and covers a number of regional offices, service depots, local offices and 26 libraries, all linked to a central network. The organisation’s IT portfolio had grown and proliferated over a number of years as new technology was added to meet changing needs. The Council was keen to outsource the day-to-day management of its wide range of different systems, from mainframe computer to departmental servers, stand alone PCs and even the laptops issued to all councillors.

The Solution

Dublin City Council bought into InfraCare™ services, which saw Fujitsu Services become an extension of the Council’s own IT department. The contract covered mainframe services, Unix platforms, Novell servers and PCs as well as workstations, printers and networks. Calls to the Fujitsu Services help-desk are initiated from the Council’s own IT help desk. This means that user calls are screened and simple problems can be solved before the main help desk is called upon. A monthly meeting is held to analyse calls to the help desk, regular quarterly planning meetings then evaluate the overall project and performance levels and consider future policy issues.

The Benefits

The Infracare service is carefully structured and designed to manage customer implementations that include a variety of hardware and software suppliers, as is usually the case in a modern public authority environment. The one-stop-shop approach allows Dublin City Council to call in expertise rather than have to retain it in-house and ensures the delivery of reliable, efficient services to the citizens of Dublin. The majority of suppliers have reached an agreement with Fujitsu with regard to service management and trouble shooting. The result is a streamlined service that works well for the Council. Life in the IT department is made considerably easier by the simple fact that whatever goes wrong with the system, there is only one company to contact – Fujitsu.

The Implementation

In 1995 Dublin City Council (DCC) reviewed its total IT estate. It had a substantial number of items of IT equipment, software and networks. DCC decided that a comprehensive support service from a major supplier would enable the council to focus its skilled resources on strategic projects while ensuring that a reliable infrastructure was maintained. Following an EU public tender procedure Fujitsu Services was chosen. In 1998 a further EU tender process resulted in Fujitsu Services again being successful.

The Expertise

Fujitsu Services was chosen because, as a major service provider, it was able to undertake complete responsibility for all IT components within the council. Managing several other suppliers such as network providers, server suppliers, desktop providers, Fujitsu Services delivers a seamless service to Dublin City Council. The service covers all of the council’s IT estate, and with a single phone call, Fujitsu Services will respond with an appropriate service to meet the specific needs of the council. Regular review meetings monitor ongoing performance and a quarterly ‘service forum’ helps plan for the future. With Fujitsu InfraCare™ Dublin City Council has access to all the services it needs and can extend its service cover as and when required. InfraCare™ services can meet all of the council’s demands from fixing a single PC through monitoring the network to a complete managed service.