G-Cloud 11 services are suspended on Digital Marketplace

If you have an ongoing procurement on G-Cloud 11, you must complete it by 18 December 2020. Existing contracts with This is Focus Ltd are still valid.
This is Focus Ltd

Care Leavers App

The Care Leavers App is already being used by local authorities to communicate with their care leavers. As well as publishing a Local Offer, leaving care teams can now engage effectively with young people through secure, private messaging.

Features

  • Customisable by each local authority
  • Secure, private messaging between care leavers and leaving care teams
  • Updateable pages of information, advice and guidance
  • Searchable listings of events and local services
  • Translation of content into over 100 languages
  • Reporting and analytics on app usage
  • Mini address book for storing contact details
  • Browseable without wifi / internet connection
  • Favourites listings.

Benefits

  • Meet duties from Children and Social Work Act
  • Publish a Local Offer for care leavers
  • ISO9001:2015 certified
  • Provides care leavers with information and advice 24/7 basis
  • Available for iOS and Android devices
  • No limits on users, downloads or admin users
  • Already in use by local authorities across the UK
  • Engage and communicate with young people through messaging

Pricing

£8,000 to £16,000 a unit

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at simon.newing@thisisfocus.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 11

Service ID

1 4 6 0 6 1 4 3 9 7 2 3 0 8 1

Contact

This is Focus Ltd Simon Newing
Telephone: 01179498008
Email: simon.newing@thisisfocus.co.uk

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
Public cloud
Service constraints
The Care Leavers App is available for iOS and Android platforms.
System requirements
  • IOS v6+
  • Android v4+
  • Internet / wifi for App install and setup

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Support queries are generally acknowledged same day, during UK business hours.
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
Onsite support
Support levels
Technical support is available:
Monday to Thursday 9am to 5.30pm
Friday 9am to 5pm.

Weekend, out of hours and support during bank holidays is not available.

Support is provided to local authority administration teams, rather than App end users.

Urgent support enquiries that prevent our software from operating (and are within our control) are responded to within four business hours and as priority over other tasks. Other non-urgent support queries are
responded to within two working days but usually much quicker.

Support can be raised through email or phone through our account management team. All queries are logged, tracked and audited through our internal project and task management system and following our ISO9001 processes.

Technical support forms part of our annual account management package which is priced £4000 annually.
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
The main elements required to start the service are training and content and data loading.

Some content is available for local authorities to use through our syndicated partners.

A single training session for the web-based administration system is included with all new contracts and can take place on-site, at our Bristol office or remotely across the internet. In our experience training usually takes around one half day.

Alongside training, several other sources of help are available. All administration systems are supplied with a library of screencasts - short videos that take users through every day tasks ‘step by step’ - and printed documentation and user guides. We also have an account management team ready to provide help, assistance and answers to any questions.

We can also assist with content and data loading.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
Data is available for export through the administration system. Other data can be exported on request by our support team.
End-of-contract process
Clients can choose to continue to use the service. Ongoing costs that cover technical support and account management apply whilst the service is being used.

Any data that requires extraction and returning to the client will be done so on request.

Clients are granted a licence to use our software rather than owning any software, IPR or copyright and that licence, along with any associated services, ends when the contract does. Content will be removed at end of contract and although Apps may remain installed and functional on end devices, there will be no content served.

Using the service

Web browser interface
No
Application to install
Yes
Compatible operating systems
  • Android
  • IOS
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
The App is designed to work on mobile smartphones and tablets, rather than desktop
Service interface
No
API
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
The 'look and feel' of the Care Leavers App, including the name, can be customised in line with any branding or corporate requirements.

All content within the App can be customised by each local authority.

Any customisation is usually discussed with the account management team to assess implications on cost and timescales.

Scaling

Independence of resources
Not applicable to App-based service.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Analytics on App downloads and usage are available through the administration dashboard and monthly reports. Statistics include number of downloads, popular areas of content, average time spent using the App, language counts and average number of pages viewed per session.
Reporting types
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Staff screening not performed
Government security clearance
None

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
United Kingdom
User control over data storage and processing locations
No
Datacentre security standards
Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
Penetration testing frequency
Less than once a year
Penetration testing approach
In-house
Protecting data at rest
Encryption of all physical media
Data sanitisation process
No
Equipment disposal approach
A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
Data is available for export through the administration system. Other data can be exported on request by our support team.
Data export formats
CSV
Data import formats
CSV

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
TLS (version 1.2 or above)
Data protection within supplier network
TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
Generally availability of Apps depends on individuals devices and third parties such as Apple's App Store and Google Play.
Approach to resilience
Not applicable to Apps.
Outage reporting
Outages are generally dependent on the individuals device and third party vendors such as Apple and Google.

Any service-wide outages, including those that might affect the web-based administration area, are reported to our technical team via email and SMS text messaging.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
No
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Management interfaces are accessed only by authorised account holders with appropriate login details. All login attempts are logged and suspicious logins investigated.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
No
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Other security certifications
No

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
No
Security governance approach
Largely the responsibility of external parties hosting the App, such as Apple and Google
Information security policies and processes
Largely the responsibility of external parties who host the App, such as Apple and Google.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Changes are managed using our ISO9001:2015 accredited processes.

App development is version controlled and managed using GIT. All code is peer reviewed by senior technical staff before deployment and automated tests are used to spot code errors or any code that could compromise security.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
Vulnerability management are controlled by third parties such as technology vendors (Apple, Google etc).
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
Automated tests are used to identify potential compromises along with peer review of code by senior members of the technical team.

Any compromises are addressed immediately.
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
Incident management forms part of our ISO9001:2015 business processes including Disaster, Business Recovery and Back-Up Policies.

Incidents can be reported direct to the team through phone or email.

Any lessons learned are discussed for inclusion in ISO policy.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Conforms to a recognised standard, but self-assessed

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Pricing

Price
£8,000 to £16,000 a unit
Discount for educational organisations
No
Free trial available
No

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at simon.newing@thisisfocus.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.