Invotra

1. Open Source at Home Office
Document Name: Open Source - Intranet
Author: Yeu Chung Lee (HOT )
Date: 09/06/2014
Intranet project

2. Business Drivers
● The Home Office intranet platform was approaching end of
support and needed a tech refresh of hardware and software
● Existing contract due to expire with less than a year to
realise benefits of investments
● Current tools were difficult to use and didn’t meet business
needs (e.g. Can’t insert hyperlinks in body of webpage)
● Current implementation was not well understood by suppliers
and any change was risky and expensive.
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3. Project Objective
1. Preserve existing capabilities
2. Align with Cabinet Office’s Open Source policy
3. Align with Cabinet Office’s CloudFirst agenda
4. Avoid vendor lock-in
5. Save money
6. Improve services
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4. Delivering against objectives
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Objective Activity
1. Preserve existing capabilities Requirements analysis
2. Align with Cabinet Office’s Open
Source policy
Evaluate Web Content Management
System market and consider Open
Source products
3. Align with Cabinet Office’s CloudFirst
policy
Procure from G-Cloud framework
4. Avoid vendor lock-in Consider products based on Open
Standards
5. Save money Develop business case to model costs
6. Improve services Select supplier that can deliver against
the Service Requirements

5. Outcomes
● Selected Drupal Software as a Service (SaaS) from G-Cloud
● SaaS provider are responsible for the components that make up the
service (e.g. Hosting, Security, Service Management)
– simplifies the service, customers manage single supplier
● Commodity based model (pay for what we consume) – based on per
user per month
● Short term contracts – Purchase Orders valid for up to 2 years
● No licencing costs with Open Source products
– saving over £350K pa in licencing costs
– additional modules are free
● Built on Open Standards
– supplier may change the technology stack with minimal effort
– customers may to export their content to another provider with minimal
effort
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6. Outcomes
● Selected Drupal Software as a Service (SaaS) from G-Cloud
● SaaS provider are responsible for the components that make up the
service (e.g. Hosting, Security, Service Management)
– simplifies the service, customers manage single supplier
● Commodity based model (pay for what we consume) – based on per
user per month
● Short term contracts – Purchase Orders valid for up to 2 years
● No licencing costs with Open Source products
– saving over £350K pa in licencing costs
– additional modules are free
● Built on Open Standards
– supplier may change the technology stack with minimal effort
– customers may to export their content to another provider with minimal
effort
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