Electronic Signing Tool Information and Software

15262

25/05/2021

FOI

I'd like to request the following information please: 1. Do you currently use any form of electronic signing tool?
2. If yes, who is your current provider? When does the contract expire? How much does it cost per year? How many licences (users or transactions) do you have?

3. How many documents do you send for signature / approval annually? What % are printed?

4. Are your signing processes primarily paper-based?

5. What is your current annual spend on paper, postage and document storage?

6. Do you currently have any active projects or initiatives aimed at reducing the amount of paper-based processes?

7. If so, who is leading it?

8. How much employee time is it taking to create, send, chase and store documents that require signature?

9. How many employees do you have?

10. What percentage of employees work remotely?

11. Do you currently use any of the following Microsoft applications?
1. O365
2. SharePoint
3. Teams
4. Dynamics
5. Power Automate

12. Do you use any Adobe products? If yes, which ones?

13. What primary software systems do you use? (Deployed Systems, Product Name, Vendor, Version, Contract end date and Number of licenses)
1. Human Resources
2. Patient related
3. Legal Services
4. Email and Collaboration

1. No

2. N/A

3. This information is not recorded therefore Scottish Borders Council does not hold the information you have requested. Therefore we give notice under s17 of FOI(S)A 2002 and declare that the information is not held.

4. Yes if a signature is required.

5. I can confirm that we incurred the undernoted costs in 2020/21…….
*         Postage - £354,400.41
*         Document storage (paper files etc.) - £15,378.49
*         paper is approximately £80,750 per annum

6. Scottish Borders Council (SBC) seek to promote 'Paperless' approaches as part of its Transformation Programme – these are led in their entirety by SBC's Fit for 2024 Transformation Programme Board in conjunction with our strategic IT provider, CGI. The Digital Document Centre project, focuses on digitising all incoming mail. The Print to Post project focusses on digitising outgoing mail. All internal processes are being reviewed to eliminate unnecessary paper. SBC's Printer project seeks to eliminate unnecessary paper waste by requiring a swipe card to obtain any print, eliminating the possibility of unused printing or printing made in error. The Digitisation of records project is being piloted in one service, with a view to full roll-out across SBC. In general terms, many departments have moved to more digital approaches due to Covid-related remote working. This is being harnessed in conjunction with the transformation objectives.

7. Fit for 2024 Transformation Programme Board

8. Unfortunately Scottish Borders Council do not hold the information you have requested. Therefore we give notice under s17 of FOI(S)A 2002 and declare that the information is not held.

9. total headcount of staff as at 2/6/21 excluding casual staff and elected members = 4997

10. Unfortunately Scottish Borders Council do not hold the information you have requested. Therefore we give notice under s17 of FOI(S)A 2002 and declare that the information is not held.

11.
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. No
5. No

12. Yes, Adobe Acrobat and Creative Cloud

13.

  Deployed Systems Product Name Vendor Version Contract end date Number of licenses
Human Resources ERP ERP Unit 4 Exempt under s.35(1)(a) 30/04/2023 6,550 users
Patient related Mosaic Mosaic Servelec Exempt under s.35(1)(a) 30/06/2023 250 concurrent users
CM2000 CM2000 HAS Technology Exempt under s.35(1)(a) 30/05/2022 25 concurrent users
No information held No information held Strata Exempt under s.35(1)(a) No information held No information held
Legal Services
O365
O365
Microsoft Exempt under s.35(1)(a)
30/04/2024
multiple
Email and Collaboration

With regards to versions, Exempt under s.35(1)(a) see full explanatory notes below prevention or detection of crime – rationale is that by identifying versions this can subsequently be used during hacking reconnaissance activities to identify software vulnerabilities and versions that can be exploited, increasing the risk of targeted cyber-crime and cyber-attacks against SBC networks and systems

Explanatory Notes
Some of the information that was requested is covered by the exemption at section s.35(1)(a) of FOISA

EXPLANATORY ANNEX – Exemptions applied:
Section 35: Law Enforcement
Section 35 (1) (a) exempts information if its disclosure is likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.

Section 35 is a qualified exemption and we are required to conduct a public interest test when applying any qualified exemption. This means that after it has been decided that the exemption is engaged, the public interest in releasing the information must be considered. If the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in withholding it then the exemption does not apply and the information must be released. In FOISA there is a presumption that information should be released unless there are compelling reasons to withhold it.

The public interest has now concluded and the balance of the public interest has found in favour of withholding information covered by the section 35(1) (a) exemption. Considerations in favour of the releasing the information included consideration of public interest in transparency and accountability and disclosure of information about Scottish Borders Council procedures and commercial outsourcing contracts.
However, release of this information would make Scottish Borders Council more vulnerable to crime; namely, a malicious attack on Scottish Borders Council computer systems and potential for targeted email phishing attacks. As such release of this information would be seen to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, by making Scottish Borders Council computer systems more vulnerable to hacking, therefore facilitating the possibility of a criminal offence being carried out. There is an overwhelming public interest in keeping Scottish Borders Council computer systems secure which would be served by non-disclosure. This would outweigh any benefits of information release. It has therefore been decided that the balance of the public interest lies clearly in favour of withholding the information on this occasion. Please note that this decision does not imply that you intend to engage in any criminal or malicious activities. However as the Freedom of Information Scotland Act is an open access regime, this exemption has been applied to protect Scottish Borders Council systems

Electronic Signing Tool Information and Software - Freedom of information requests