Ofqual Ofqual Supporting a Cloud-First Programme Client Testimonial 2017 CoreAzure Limited. All rights reserved. This document is provided "as-is". Information and views expressed in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, are subject to change at any time and without prior notice. This document, and the information contained within it, is for informational purposes only. CoreAzure makes no warranties, express or implied. CoreAzure is a registered trademark in the United Kingdom. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Introduction Ofqual (The Office of Qualification and Examinations Regulation) regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland, maintaining standards and confidence in the following qualifications: GCSE s, A levels, AS levels and vocational qualifications. It is responsible for ensuring that regulated qualifications reliably indicate the knowledge, skills and understanding students have demonstrated, providing confidence in the qualifications and assessment process and providing information on the full range of qualifications which are regulated. We have contracted CoreAzure for several projects over the last few years. If you re looking for a professional, trustworthy and conscientious partner to assist you in your IT business goals, then look no further. Tony Clayburn, Infrastructure Support Manager, Ofqual Overview The IT Services function at Ofqual supports in excess of 250 internal users and over 200 Awarding Organisations (AO). Operating from a single site based in Coventry, Ofqual provide all IT services via an in-house IT function. When CoreAzure first met with Ofqual, they were undergoing a radical programme of reform to support a new range of regulatory functions that required Ofqual to adopt a more investigative and data-led approach to inspection and intervention. Ofqual were seeking partner to migrate their critical business systems, increase the mobility of staff, enhance their data analytics capabilities and to design and implement a new Hybrid Cloud architecture and strategic data platform based upon Microsoft Azure IaaS and Office365, to replace an ageing and increasingly ineffective on premise IT and data platform.
The Challenge Ofqual made the decision to transition to cloud with the aim to become infrastructure-free within 18 months, and set about finding a partner that would enable them to deliver such an ambitious undertaking and work at the pace required within the strict timescales for the project. Faced with an ageing infrastructure and living with the operational challenges of delivering data centre services via a single make-shift room within the building at Coventry HQ, Ofqual realised that in order to mitigate a number of critical risks they would require a significant amount of capital investment. The Cloud-first programme was born with the intention of reducing capital expenditure, and creating a more resilient IT platform. After extensive searching, Ofqual engaged CoreAzure as their Microsoft Partner of choice to deliver their Cloud- First programme. Staffordshire University had suffered from minimal investment in its core infrastructure that had resulted in its own IT provision operating over multiple, single points The University s aim was simple. They needed to meet the challenges of delivering a flexible, dynamic, and cost effective IT service, whilst doing so sustainably with minimal risk, business disruption and satisfying the ever-growing demands of end-users. Delivery Methods After an initial scoping exercise, it was quite clear that due to the number of legacy Line of Business (LoB) applications run by Ofqual, that it wasn t going to be possible to transition fully to the cloud. Therefore, CoreAzure designed and implemented a Hybrid-Cloud infrastructure that maximised the potential of the Microsoft Azure, Office365 and the StorSimple Platform to provide an off-premise compute, collaboration, storage and recovery capability combined with an on-premise infrastructure designed to support those applications that were currently not fit-for-purpose to run in the Cloud. This hybrid architecture would progressively underpin the application review and replacement programme which would underpin Ofqual s ongoing BPR programme.
The Solution The project was delivered using agile methodologies and very much designed and delivered with close collaboration with the Ofqual intelligent client IT function. Due to Public Sector budgetary constraints this deliverable was time-boxed into a 3 month window through dedicated and diligent project management, CoreAzure were able to deliver this full programme on time and within budget. Ofqual were further enhanced by the implementation of the MS Enterprise Mobility Suite which established ubiquitous end user and partner access from a range of devices and aligned to the organisation s new estates strategy to encourage remote working via a range of MS technologies including RDS, Direct Access and EMS. Ofqual are now presented with a resilient and scalable IT infrastructure based on Azure and Office365, that has the potential to leverage the latest Microsoft technologies.
About CoreAzure CoreAzure is an established Microsoft Gold Partner providing leading edge technical consulting, design, build and support services to help our customers maximise their investment in Microsoft technologies. We specialise in a full range of Microsoft technologies including Azure and we pride ourselves on being experts in our chosen field. We ensure that our customers receive the highest levels of expertise to deliver solutions that accelerate business productivity. We are part of the Methods Group. Our Services CoreAzure provide a full range of Cloud and infrastructure services. We are organised into 5 expert practices, including; Architecture and Security Cloud Deployment and Data Centre Migration Hybrid Cloud services Consulting services Managed services A full copy of our Service Catalogues are available on the UK Government s Digital Marketplace. As a leading Microsoft Gold Partner, all our staff are Microsoft Certified Professionals but in addition hold many other industry recognised accreditations from vendors such as Cisco, VMWare, Citrix, and Oracle.
zzz Contact us Tony Dawson Email: tony.dawson@coreazure.com Call: 0788 400 1241