Table of Contents
Why outsourced database management makes good business sense
The Issue
Despite having huge social and economic responsibilities, most Councils are left to face budget challenges and significant decreases in government funding, and Rushmoor Borough Council is no different.
As a result, the Council has embarked on an ambitious modernisation programme, entitled Rushmoor 2020. Rushmoor Borough Council was in need of a way to effectively maintain and manage its:
- Oracle databases, including an annual Oracle health check
- Revenue and Benefits software; iWorld application support
These services and applications are critical for the Council to be able to effectively manage its revenue and provide the level of care required by the community.
Yet, without internal database management expertise, and in consideration of the high cost of employing and training new members of staff, the Council needed to find a trusted, external partner.
Not only that, but the partner needed to be able provide a superior database and application consultancy services at an affordable price.
That’s when WellData came into the picture.
The Solution
Introduced by a neighbouring Council, WellData presented Rushmoor Borough Council with a comprehensive outsourced database management solution that:
“has made the day to day running of the system and major upgrades faster, and less disruptive to the service and provides the in-house team both IT and Revenue with expert advice and peace of mind” (Systems administrator for the system, Sarah Giles)
Addressing the Council’s needs, WellData offered an Oracle database managed service package that included regular monitoring, incident detection, correction and tuning of the systems to provide an efficient and reliable service, both on-site and remotely.
WellData also proposed an Application support service, including patching and management of the iWorld revenues and benefits application used by the council.
The outsourced database management service offered by WellData includes an ‘all risk’ policy in a comprehensive managed service – including all necessary work, testing of off-site Disaster Recovery Plans, and more.
The Results
Whilst the Council’s IT team provides effective first and second line response it recognised the need for third line support to be delivered in a financially sustainable way.
WellData’s outsourced database management, administration and support service has proven “extremely successful especially around patching, release management, and incident management”.
According to the Council, their process prior to the relationship with WellData was unreliable, while now the IT, Digital and FM services enjoy 24/7 support provided on a critical system, that is in their own words “cost-effective, flexible and very responsive”.
The Feedback
“The Council plans to continue with the partnership and is exploring ideas around bespoke development support and has no hesitation in recommending WellData to other clients.”
Nick Harding Head of IT and FM services
Outsourced Database Management Services at WellData
WellData’s outsourced database management service uses a proactive support model, rather than the conventional Break/Fix method used by many support companies.
We use a proactive approach to pre-empt avoidable failures before they occur.
Substantial effort is put into comprehensive monitoring to ensure that developing problems are identified before they become issues.
Our monitoring goes far beyond simple availability checks and into areas of general performance like: memory use, locking, growth, throughput, equipment failures, and more.
The list is comprehensive.
All WellData employees are employed, based in and work from the UK.
All of our database management services staff are security screened to BS level on appointment and every three years thereafter.
WellData’s team of engineers bring a wealth of expertise and experience and often stay with WellData for an extended period providing our clients with longevity, continuity and consistency of support.
In many areas of WellData’s database management services we have over 100 of years of accumulated experience, more than enough to deal with the problems we encounter on a daily basis.
Over and above the support that WellData provides, the team’s many years of experience allows us also to provide considered advice in many areas. This experience is available to all our Outsourced Database Management Service clients as part of the service offering.
