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 Simple Innovation Associates are still valid.
Simple Innovation Associates

Simple Intelligence BOT

Easy to use bot to guide your users through a variety of applications, from SharePoint help to your own application. Uses might include updating user profiles, creating policy, search the intranet etc.

Features

  • Out of the box Bot Service
  • Regular release of new content packs
  • Natural language understanding built in
  • Query answering service for common user queries
  • Brandable interface
  • Multiple client support including websites, SharePoint, MS Teams
  • Usage reporting to inform better service and content for users
  • Question and answer Import facility

Benefits

  • Fuly managed service, no infrastructure to buy
  • Quick delivery to users
  • No need for developers. You can input your own content
  • Plugs into your existing SharePoint, Website or MS Teams
  • Lower cost than in-house or third party development

Pricing

£1 a user a month

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 sales@simpleinnovation.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

6 7 3 6 6 2 1 8 8 3 4 5 9 5 1

Contact

Simple Innovation Associates Gina Holden
Telephone: 07976 358140
Email: sales@simpleinnovation.co.uk

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
Yes
What software services is the service an extension to
Primarily for SharePoint but can be used with other web front ends, including websites.

Engine runs in shared Azure instance. Content stored in separate Azure resource group per client.
Cloud deployment model
Public cloud
Service constraints
Requires either Internet Explorer 11, Edge, Chrome, Safari

Constraints as defined in the Service Definition document.
System requirements
  • Compatible Browser
  • Internet Access

User support

Email or online ticketing support
No
Phone support
No
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
No
Support levels
Second Line UK support Hours: 9-17:30 Monday to Friday. 4 hour initial response, fault logging and tracking for up to 2 nominated individuals within the organization.

Note is available at additional cost as defined in our support services.
Support available to third parties
No

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
To support the install of the product into your environment, we provide consultancy at additional cost to determine the configuration of the application with supporting content to ensure correct configuration of the product and we are happy to work with you to install the product and ensure connectivity with your application.
We also provide training and handover for your support and admin people.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
HTML
End-of-contract data extraction
Data can be extracted by download or extracted to hard disks. The data is owned and hosted by the client using suitable external cloud services, e.g. Azure data Services
End-of-contract process
• Clients must provide 1 months notice of termination before the end of the licensing period and complete service termination form.
• Licensing will be continued until the end of the licensing period.
• Clients should make arrangements to extract their data from the cloud service. We can help you with this is required.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari 9+
  • Opera
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
No
Service interface
No
API
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
Purpose of the Bot can be customised along with questions and answers. We will train users in the process and do the initial setup on-site.

Scaling

Independence of resources
Microsoft Azure is scaled to support millions of organisations and billions of users. Each organisation uses its own Site Collection for its content to ensure isolation from other users.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Successful and unsuccessful queries. This is provided through a interface within the portal through which access the queries at your convenience.
Reporting types
Real-time dashboards

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Staff screening not performed
Government security clearance
Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • EU-US Privacy Shield agreement locations
  • Other locations
User control over data storage and processing locations
Yes
Datacentre security standards
Managed by a third party
Penetration testing frequency
Never
Protecting data at rest
Other
Other data at rest protection approach
The CCM corresponds to industry-accepted security standards, regulations, and control frameworks such as ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, AICPA SOC 2, NERC CIP, FedRAMP, NIST, and many more. For the most current list, visit the CSA website.
Data sanitisation process
No
Equipment disposal approach
In-house destruction process

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
PowerShell scripts allow export of all data within the system. It is suggested that where this is large it is exported first to Azure and then via collected via disk shipping.
Data export formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data export formats
  • XML
  • JSON
Data import formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data import formats
  • XML
  • JSON

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
SLA is determined by Microsoft. They guarantee a 99.9% uptime with a 25% rebate if not achieved. Simple Innovation Associates do not provide a separate SLA and do not offer a rebate.
Approach to resilience
Available from Microsoft on request
Outage reporting
Microsoft Azure functionality is used to monitor and report outages

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
This is handled by the hosting provider: i.e. Microsoft
Access restriction testing frequency
Never
Management access authentication
Other
Description of management access authentication
Users are authenticated using Office365's authentication, which can include, depending on your configuration, multi-factor authentication, VPN and username and password.

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users have access to real-time audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users have access to real-time audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
Between 1 month and 6 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
Security governance approach
Microsoft provides full security governance for the underlying cloud platform. The service itself is checked using automated security testing techniques. The audit trails are held in a separate append only data store.
Information security policies and processes
These are supplied by Microsoft Compliance centre.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
All source is managed via an online source control system with integrated project management that tracks all components. All code is scanned for security vulnerabilities by static analysis tools before check in is permitted.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
We use the Microsoft Security and Compliance center to monitor web sites and data sources but the deployment and patching of infrastructure is managed directly by Microsoft. In the event of an urgent patch we can release once the automated unit and integration tests are complete and a manual verification check has been performed. This process typically requires an hour after a patch has been released.
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
This is handled by the Microsoft Azure Platform.
Incident management type
Undisclosed
Incident management approach
4 hour initial response, fault logging and tracking for up to 2 nominated individuals within the organization if support is purchased.

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
£1 a user a month
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 sales@simpleinnovation.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.