Damien English
Question:459 Deputy Damien English asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of staff in his Department that are provided with a blackberry device or similar mobile e-mail equipment. [34221/07]
View answerTuesday, 11 December 2007
Questions (417, 418, 419)
Written answers
There are 89 staff in my Department who are provided with a BlackBerry device. A further 88 laptops have been assigned to staff which provide them with remote access to Departmental systems, including e-mail.
Damien English
Question:460 Deputy Damien English asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of databases used by his Department; and the number of these that are wholly and partly operated by external organisations or individuals and operated solely within his Department. [34236/07]
View answerThere are over 200 electronic databases in use throughout my Department. They support a variety of functions which range from small and uncomplicated databases (e.g. internal telephone directory) to large and complex corporate data repositories that support high volume processing (e.g. Patents Office Administration System).
About ten electronic databases contain personal client information such as PPS numbers, date-of-birth, names addresses, etc. With the exception of one database which is operated on our behalf by the Centre for Management and Organisation Development (CMOD) within the Department of Finance, none of these databases are wholly or even partly operated by external organisations or individuals. Instead, all are hosted and operated solely within the secure confines of this Department. In terms of security, it is the Department's policy that such databases continue to be managed internally unless an externally managed service can match or even surpass the Department's security controls.
In common with many organisations, my Department's IT Unit uses highly reputable 3rd party contractors to provide specialist, technical support services. From time to time it is necessary to provide access to these 3rd party contractors in order for them to carry out technical repairs or modifications to databases, but such access is given in a controlled manner and in line with agreed procedures and restrictions.
Damien English
Question:461 Deputy Damien English asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of information technology projects undertaken by or for his Department since 2004 that have been delivered over budget, after their original deadline, on budget, under budget, on their original deadline and ahead of their original deadline; and if he will present the information in tabular readable form. [34251/07]
View answerUnder the Department of Finance's circular 16/97, my Department is obliged to report to the IT Vote Control Section of the Department of Finance on all significant ICT Projects it undertakes. This reporting requirement includes the provision of information regarding the projected cost, timescale and identifiable benefits to be achieved as a result of the implementation of any such project. Also, to ensure proper governance, control and prioritisation, where the anticipated budget for any ICT project exceeds €25,000, a formal Project Proposal must be put before my own Department's ICT Steering Group for approval. According to my Department's records, the details of such projects undertaken in my Department since 1st January 2004, are set out in the table below.
|
Project Name / Description |
Start Date |
Estimated Cost |
Estimated End Date |
Actual Cost |
Actual End Date |
Comments |
|
€ |
€ |
|||||
|
Patents Office Redesign of Website |
Feb 2006 |
* 99,000 |
Dec 2007 |
* 99,000 |
Dec 2007 |
* There were a number of elements to this project — all of which were contracted for individually on a single figure cost basis. The final cost is in line with all work contracted for. |
|
Patents Office. NET |
June 06 |
184,701 |
Dec 06 |
* 184,701 |
Est Q2 2008 |
* This is a single price contract and as such the final cost will be the original estimated cost. This project is currently undergoing User Acceptance Testing and is expected to go live in Q2 2008. The delay is a result of additional development work, which was carried out by the developers at no cost to the Department, in order to enhance the quality of the system. |
|
Patents Office Online Journal |
May 06 |
42,649 |
July 06 |
42,649 |
Oct 06 |
The delay was due to additional time required by the external developers to develop the system. |
|
Introduction of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in new decentralised office in Carlow. |
11/05/07 |
149,847 |
02/07/07 |
149,847 |
30/07/07 |
Construction delays resulted in a revised project completion date |
|
Peoplesoft |
May 2003 |
330,000 |
May 2004 |
380,289 |
May 04 |
Original Peoplesoft was implemented on the Department’s own infrastructure. It is now centrally hosted by CMOD and DETE pays an annual licensing and support fee. |
|
Redundancy Payments System |
2003 |
1,000,000 |
Q1 2005 |
910,879 |
May 05 |
Includes online claims facility. |
|
E-Mail Archiving System |
March 2004 |
81,520 |
June 2004 |
81,523 |
June 2004 |
|
|
Correspondence Tracking System |
May 2005 |
30,000 |
Dec 2005 |
19,245 |
Est Mar 2008 |
Application to be deployed through the Department’s re-designed Intranet |
|
Project Name / Description |
Start Date |
Estimated Cost |
Estimated End Date |
Actual Cost |
Actual End Date |
Comments |
|
€ |
€ |
|||||
|
WEB Services — Import Licensing Application (transferring licence information to Brussels) |
Dec 2006 |
17,134 |
June 2007 |
23,917 |
Sept 2007 |
Project scope changed by Brussels |
|
Intranet Application |
July 2007 |
238,000 |
Mar 2008 |
Est.240,776 |
Est Mar 2008 |
|
|
Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement — Website Redesign |
March 2005 |
25,000 |
July 2005 |
44,700 |
January 2007 |
Actual time taken was a result of lack of resources in-house (to perform testing, etc.). Costs rose as the developer took on additional tasks arising from lack of in-house resources. |
|
Companies Registration Office — Electronic companies annual return |
1/4/2005 |
200,000 |
30/3/2006 |
190,926 |
1/7/2006 |
|
|
Companies Registration Office — Registration Services System Version 6 |
1/4/2004 |
1,100,000 |
30/3/2007 |
1,132,956 |
ongoing |
Contract extended due to additional development needed for partial decentralisation |
|
Companies Registration Office — Online services |
1/4/2004 |
1,295,000 |
30/3/2007 |
1,431,448 |
ongoing |
Contract extended due to additional development needed for partial decentralisation |
|
Labour Relation Commission — Case Management System |
March 2004 |
410,000 |
Nov 2004 |
263,000 |
Nov 2004 |
Less development work required. |
|
Labour Relation Commission — Website Development |
July 2005 |
32,600 |
Dec 2005 |
32,600 |
Dec 2005 |
|
|
Employment Appeals Website Development Phase I |
Nov 2005 |
48,000 |
March 2006 |
48,000 |
April 2006 |
|
|
Employment Appeals Website Development Phase II |
Mar 2006 |
40,000 |
Sept 2006 |
46,750 |
Dec 2007 |
Additional functionality developed |
|
Upgrade to Wide Area Network |
Nov 2006 |
243,000 |
Nov 2009 |
243,000 |
N/A |
|
|
ICT Security review |
Dec 2006 |
122,000 |
N/A |
122,000 |
Sept 2007 |
Fixed price contract based on an agreed number of days consulting and associated deliverables. |
All costs are inclusive of VAT.