Arcus Building Control
Arcus Building Control is built in partnership with Building Control teams across the UK using the Salesforce platform. The solution provides both application processing and the wider needs of the service including, uniquely, marketing of the service and performance management. Supporting increased market share and client retention.
Features
- Integration with PlanningPortal for online submissions of building control applications
- Case Management of applications, enforcement cases and appeals
- Site inspections and visits including mobile technologies
- Custom to your needs at a local level
- Designed for the modern business driven Building Control Service
- Spatially enabled
- ISO27001 environment with configurable security. UK and European data centres.
- Open APIs enabling easy integration to other solutions
- A single source of data
- Complete site, case and contact history across the platform
Benefits
- Cloud system - accessed via a browser user interface
- Accept electronic submissions from a host of channels and portals
- Ability to record and process a wide range of applications
- Flexible definable pages contents providing a familiar comfortable user interface
- Benefiting from underlying Salesforce functionality
- A range of scalable mapping platforms
- ISO27001 environment with configurable security. UK and European data centres.
- Integration to a range of solutions through the AppExchange
- Access to key data across all levels of the business
- Mobile-by-default with offline tolerant app included
Pricing
£95 a licence a month
Service documents
Request an accessible format
Framework
G-Cloud 11
Service ID
7 2 3 7 3 9 8 1 7 9 3 6 3 0 5
Contact
Arcus Global Limited
Karen Humphreys
Telephone: +44 (0)1223 911841
Email: gcloud@arcusglobal.com
Service scope
- Software add-on or extension
- Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
- What software services is the service an extension to
- Arcus Building Control is part of the Arcus platform, including but not limited to CRM, Gazetteer, Housing, Regulatory Services and Built Environment, FOI and Waste Management. Further expansion of customer-facing functionality such as self-service, customer accounts and public registers is available through the Arcus Digital Services Hub
- Cloud deployment model
- Public cloud
- Service constraints
-
Salesforce.com implements a release schedule of 3 major versions per-year; done outside of business hours and with minimal five-minute disruption to Salesforce.com instances.
Significant new features are implemented on a continuous cycle of improvement along with scheduled maintenance of service and underlying systems. Maintenance events usually scheduled to occur outside normal hours-of-business (assumed 08:30-17:30). Details of Arcus release schedules available as part of the onboarding process.
Significant customisation possible subject to a separate quotation. Customer-specific branding of software is included with a 12-month contract. Additional customisation features can be configured by the customer – Arcus Global will then provide guidance. - System requirements
-
- Arcus software just requires an computer with an internet connection
- Arcus software is supported by a range of internet browsers
- For all browsers, enable JavaScript, cookies, and TLS 1.2
- If TLS 1.2 isn’t available, enable TLS 1.1
User support
- Email or online ticketing support
- Email or online ticketing
- Support response times
- Response times depend on how critical the issue/question is: Critical <4 hrs, High <8 hrs, Medium <16 hrs, Low <40 hrs. These are intended for the purpose of guarantees related to Service Credits. The actual response time will generally be much faster.
- User can manage status and priority of support tickets
- Yes
- Online ticketing support accessibility
- None or don’t know
- Phone support
- Yes
- Phone support availability
- 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
- Web chat support
- No
- Onsite support
- Yes, at extra cost
- Support levels
-
Following on from the customers 1st line trained support team, Arcus Global aims to seamlessly work with our customers to seamlessly assist in those areas which require more expertise through second and third line support. Second line support includes: Assistance in the triaging of new incidents, Telephone Support, Email/Ticket Support (24 / 7 web based support call logging), Remote Access Support and On-site Support, perpetual bug-fixes, Software updates to support all legislative changes, assistance with customisation and reporting.
Enhanced Second line support option: Should a customer need added support to bolster their own internal team with 1st line internal triage or even to outsource the whole 1st line triage function, Arcus Global can help you with this. Please discuss your requirements and outline the needs of your Business Unit with regard to added/enhanced support with your Account Manager who will be able to ascertain from your level of requirement the cost of this enhanced support offering.
Third line engineers pick up issues that cannot be addressed by the second line team. It includes investigation and issue resolution from our most experienced Salesforce/AWS and web technology engineers. - Support available to third parties
- Yes
Onboarding and offboarding
- Getting started
-
Arcus project delivery approach is to adopt Agile principles for both straightforward app deliveries and ground-up development work. Most of our projects involve a blend of the two with the balance depending on how closely a client’s requirements match our standard products.
Any component parts of a project that uses standard Arcus product configuration will be delivered using DSDM (dynamic systems development method) Agile project management principles.
This methodology uses a structured framework, designed to be more familiar to organisations that use traditional waterfall models, combined with an iterative approach to identifying and delivering the functionality required by the stated business need.
At the mobilisation of the project, we will meet with the client project team to discuss our project approach. This would provide them with an understanding of resources needed, high-level timeline, Roles and responsibilities, and the next steps. - Service documentation
- Yes
- Documentation formats
-
- Other
- Other documentation formats
- Via a customer portal providing product knowledge articles and FAQ's
- End-of-contract data extraction
- Data can be extracted by the user or Arcus. If Arcus is commissioned to extract and deliver data, the project must clearly specify how and where data should be extracted, format required, and where it should be delivered. Arcus offers clients a fixed cost solution using published SFIA day rates.
- End-of-contract process
-
Upon receiving notification of termination of contract your account will be closed based on either the requested termination date or upon expiration of your G-Cloud contract. If there is no subsequent extension or new contract formed then the customer will be entitled to extract all of their data from the cloud environment using a standard set of tools provided within the Salesforce platform that underpins the Arcus product range.
Your Arcus data will be available for 30 days from the date of termination and can be exported from the Arcus system in standard CSV files by the customer using standard data management tools including the SalesForce Dataloader application. The data can be securely downloaded and, if necessary, Arcus can perform intermediary services to extract the data in a specific CSV format at an additional cost (which will vary according to the volume and complexity of the data itself).
Using the service
- Web browser interface
- Yes
- Supported browsers
-
- Internet Explorer 11
- Firefox
- Chrome
- Safari 9+
- Opera
- Application to install
- No
- Designed for use on mobile devices
- Yes
- Differences between the mobile and desktop service
- The Arcus solution can be accessed via a web browser on both a desktop and mobile device; however, the Salesforce Mobile app allows for users to access the platform from any mobile device enabling agile working practices to be achieved. The app is downloadable for free from various app stores. Limited offline capabilities are present allowing for data to be cached.
- Service interface
- Yes
- Description of service interface
- Arcus’s Software is built on the Salesforce Platform who are committed to accessible solutions to all individuals. This includes working with assistive technology like speech recognition software and screen readers. Salesforce follows the recognized best practices of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA.
- Accessibility standards
- WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
- Accessibility testing
- Third party vendors have completed an accessibility assessment of salesforce core products and have documented their accessibility status using these VPATs. Further details can be found on salesforce.com
- API
- Yes
- What users can and can't do using the API
- The platform is provided with an open API allowing for functionality including change, read, update and delete functions. Existing integration is available to many products from the Salesforce AppExchange reducing development costs.
- API documentation
- Yes
- API documentation formats
-
- HTML
- API sandbox or test environment
- Yes
- Customisation available
- Yes
- Description of customisation
- The Arcus solution enables virtually any kind of data rule to be defined and is customised through the system setup by various tools through the workflow functionality, and via formula fields.
Scaling
- Independence of resources
- The Arcus solution is built on the Salesforce platform which works to a target time for platform availability of 99.999%, measured 24/7/365. The number of users on this service does not affect its availability or quality.
Analytics
- Service usage metrics
- Yes
- Metrics types
- Arcus Software is built on the Salesforce platform and can take advantage of its standard reporting and dashboard functionality. This allows users to build their own individual reports that allow reports of different types to be built. Ranging from real-time snapshots through to yearly summaries. Reports can be built with minimal training using a simple drag and drop builder and then be converted again with simple drag and drop tools converting it into clear visual dashboards. These can be created and deployed on an individual, to specific roles or globally to all users.
- Reporting types
-
- API access
- Real-time dashboards
- Regular reports
- Reports on request
Resellers
- Supplier type
- Not a reseller
Staff security
- Staff security clearance
- Conforms to BS7858:2012
- Government security clearance
- Up to Developed Vetting (DV)
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
- Yes
- Datacentre security standards
- Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
- Penetration testing frequency
- At least every 6 months
- Penetration testing approach
- Another external penetration testing organisation
- Protecting data at rest
-
- Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Other
- Other data at rest protection approach
- Salesforce are compliant with a number of standards which require protection of data at rest (ISO 27001/27018, SSAE 16/ISAE 3402 SOC-1, SOC 2, SOC 3, PCI-DSS, TRUSTe Certified Privacy Seal, CSA STAR)
- Data sanitisation process
- Yes
- Data sanitisation type
- Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
- Equipment disposal approach
- Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001
Data importing and exporting
- Data export approach
-
Salesforce has a number of propriety tools that allow users or Arcus Global to extract data from the systems. These tools have wizards designed to allow the easy extraction of data from any database object. When data is exported, users can choose to include or exclude soft-deleted records.
Data may be routinely exported in a CSV format. Alternatively using free to download tools from the appexchange data may be downloaded to extract data in a range of formats - Data export formats
-
- CSV
- Other
- Other data export formats
- Download tools from appexchange/extract data in range of formats
- Data import formats
-
- CSV
- Other
- Other data import formats
- Variety of other formats: SQL using our ETL/migration tooling
Data-in-transit protection
- Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
-
- TLS (version 1.2 or above)
- Other
- Other protection between networks
- Standard HTTPS TLS/SSL encryption is used for data in transit protection.
- Data protection within supplier network
-
- TLS (version 1.2 or above)
- Other
- Other protection within supplier network
- Agreements in place for data security/handling that ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act. All staff will have Government SC status or be supervised by people who do. All staff involved will be DBS checked. Arcus has ISO27001 certification ensuring the internal environment is secure and appropriately controlled.
Availability and resilience
- Guaranteed availability
- Arcus solution is built upon Salesforce technology. Response times are published: https://trust.salesforce.com/trust/ there is guaranteed availability of 99.999% 24/7/365. Historically, Salesforce has had an excellent record of very high uptime. Salesforce has configured all networking components, SSL accelerators, load balancers, Web servers and application servers in a redundant configuration.
- Approach to resilience
- Efficient RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective) times. Salesforce.com runs products from tier-4 data centres. Hosting structure: shared multi-tenant architecture, subdivided into nine hardware clusters called pods; made up of 35 multiprocessor Unix and Linux servers running the Oracle database. Pods are mirrored for high-availability and failover.
- Outage reporting
- Arcus Solution is built on Salesforce platform. Salesforce provides current and historical (the preceding month) data on service availability for each of their instances at https://status.salesforce.com. In the event of an extended outage, periodic updates are provided in near real time to customers via the trust.salesforce.com dashboard site and in addition, service notifications are provided to nominated contacts via various channels such as email.
Identity and authentication
- User authentication needed
- Yes
- User authentication
-
- 2-factor authentication
- Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
- Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
- Dedicated link (for example VPN)
- Username or password
- Other
- Other user authentication
- A valid email is required which becomes the unique username, and a password reset email is sent to this address. This ensures that the email address is valid. User is then required to set a new password with a definable structure complexity - for example, uppercase/lowercase plus a number.
- Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
- Roles may be defined against individual users allowing them access to functions and data held within the platform. The user’s profile will restrict access to data which is provided as part of a report removing any backdoor access to restricted data.
- Access restriction testing frequency
- At least once a year
- Management access authentication
-
- 2-factor authentication
- Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
- Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
- Dedicated link (for example VPN)
- Username or password
- Other
- Description of management access authentication
- All users are required to have a username and password to access the system with the option of adding 2 factor (token based) authentication as required. Password complexity and expiry can be configured by the customer to ensure appropriate controls are in place.
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
- User-defined
- 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
- At least 12 months
Standards and certifications
- ISO/IEC 27001 certification
- Yes
- Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
- Socotec
- ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
- 24/09/2018
- What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
- N/A
- ISO 28000:2007 certification
- No
- CSA STAR certification
- No
- PCI certification
- No
- Other security certifications
- Yes
- Any other security certifications
-
- Cyber Essentials
- ISO 9001
Security governance
- Named board-level person responsible for service security
- Yes
- Security governance certified
- Yes
- Security governance standards
- ISO/IEC 27001
- Information security policies and processes
- Arcus are ISO27001 accredited and have internal processes that are adhered to. Arcus implement an ITILv3 approach to support delivery that integrates with our security processes. Salesforce's Information Security Management System and information security policies are based on ISO27002 best practices and ISO27001 certified. Salesforce maintain details of security processes at https://trust.salesforce.com/en/security/
Operational security
- Configuration and change management standard
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Configuration and change management approach
- The way the platform has been architected means that the solution stays robust and doesn't break each time a change is made. Our upgrades won’t break your customisations for example user defined fields. Salesforce has solved a very challenging problem: providing seamless upgrades, where all customisations keep working, changes to the user experience are based on when user’s opt-in to new capabilities, and even custom code keeps working, whether it’s written by the customer or by third parties. This also includes, real-time upgrades. All users are always on the latest version of our platform because everyone gets instant upgrades.
- Vulnerability management type
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Vulnerability management approach
- Multiple tiers of vulnerability management. The Product Security team ensures the security of the system, consults with R&D teams and partners, and protects customer data. Cloud Security experts specialise in security research and innovative tool development. A ‘Rapid response’ team reacts to emerging threats as the last line of defence.
- Protective monitoring type
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Protective monitoring approach
- Records all login attempts: originating IP address, time and success/fail against each user account. Information can be extracted for analysis against organisational policies. Configurable settings: enforce logins from an approved IP range and/or at certain times of day, maximum session length and automatic account locking after x failed login attempts.
- Incident management type
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Incident management approach
- Standard incident management ensures that all recorded incidents are triaged and routed to the appropriate resolver groups and, where necessary, escalated. In specific cases it may be necessary to escalate incidents directly to the provider. We have a standard hand off process to ensure that end-to-end communication is maintained.
Secure development
- Approach to secure software development best practice
- Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)
Public sector networks
- Connection to public sector networks
- No
Pricing
- Price
- £95 a licence a month
- Discount for educational organisations
- No
- Free trial available
- No