The UK Government has defined a policy to transform Public Services. Government has placed ICT at the heart of this policy, in order to increase efficiency and improve the range and quality of Public Services. One of the key elements of the Government's programme is the delivery of joined-up services at a community level, which is where Cisco can help.

We have worked closely with many Local Authorities where community transformation can be promoted through information sharing, communications and ICT technologies. A connected approach can help develop the vision, strategy and plans for all aspects of community life.

The 'Framework for Communities and Local Government' includes:

1. The 'Connected Council Blueprint'. The purpose of this blueprint is to explore how technology can support a council's own business and facilitate community service delivery. The technical blueprints include conceptual, logical and physical architectural templates that can expedite risk-free technology installations.
2. The 'Connected Community Blueprint' details how the connected approach can benefit all aspects of community life; including housing, business, transport, city centres, policing, healthcare and education. It provides real examples of where technology can be used to benefit the community. The overall framework explains how technology can support a council's wider business and service transformation goals.

What is the Connected Council Blueprint?
It explains how technology can be used to drive cost savings, efficiency and improved services for a council through the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Who is it for?
The Blueprint is aimed at senior business and technical management stakeholders within councils; typically those who are responsible for the financial and operational health of their businesses, and for directorates such as HR, estates, ICT and customer services. In fact everyone who works together on key aspects of council transformation and the delivery of new and innovative citizen services.

What can it do?
There are three key areas of a Connected Council's business operations that can benefit from transformation through technology:

• Workstyle - using communications and mobility technologies to create new ways of working for a Connected Workforce;
• Workplace - using technology to radically change how office and other work locations are managed to create Connected Workplaces;
• Citizen Services - the creation of the Connected Citizen who has a range of personalised options for dialogue with a council and its services.

What do you need?
The above business developments depend on fully supported ICT services. This requirement places a particular focus on ICT infrastructure and the operational practices that support it. The Blueprint recommends that councils invest in an 'ICT Service Delivery Platform' that utilises the latest developments in data centres, networks, and information and service security. Such investments will enable councils to rely on ICT infrastructure with the very best reliability, availability, serviceability and security characteristics. An ICT Service Delivery Platform can fully exploit new technologies such as virtualisation and power management, which will significantly reduce the ICT carbon footprint of a council.

The Connected Council Blueprint advocates an architectural approach to the planning and delivery of ICT infrastructure and services. This architectural approach to ICT has been endorsed by Government for several very practical reasons:

• An architecture provides a clear statement of industry or vendor best practice that may be adopted by organisations.
• An architecture shows system components and their links in a graphical way and provides a clear indication of what work needs to be carried out over a given period.
• An architectural approach offers real risk management for projects; through the introduction of best practice, through the ability to document current and projected environments, and through the ability of an architecture to inform and educate large numbers of stakeholders.

Cisco uses technical architectures to underpin its own deployment of ICT infrastructure and services. Cisco adopted The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), as mandated by the Government CIO Council, and is able to offer an insight into the above benefits based on our own experiences.

The Connected Council Blueprint includes conceptual, logical and physical architectures and a technical template that stakeholders can use directly with their teams to aid technology planning and migration. The logical architectures include those for data centre; LAN, WAN and MAN networks; wireless, security and home office.