Harra Lives In The Clouds

Jim Harra has published his assessment summary of HMRC's "Securing Our Technical Future" programme, backing up an earlier conclusion by the department’s former accounting office Sir Jonathan Thompson that the programme will provide value for money and is deliverable.

The programme involves migrating from existing data centres to cloud based hosting or the Crown Hosting service, along with a review of any vulnerabilities in the legacy IT estate of more than 600 services.

Harra says this is costly to run and lacks agility, and that the new programme will enable HMRC to generate more cost-effective arrangements with suppliers and give itself a more resilient and flexible infrastructure.

He added that there is no requirement for any legislative or regulatory change to make it happen, and that the programme takes in effective controls to protect data from customers and other government departments.

The assessment acknowledges that there will be challenges but says the programme has already passed several milestones successfully, including an independent assurance review and HM Treasury approval of the business case. Further Treasury approvals are planned as the programme progresses.

Harra also says that if any of the main factors change he will produce a revised summary.

Sorted!

Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC's Head In The Cloud

A year ago HMRC was reconsidering its cloud migration project.

One year on and HMRC is now pressing ahead with a major move towards the use of cloud services and has agreed a deal to work with a migration expert. HMRC has tasked Belfast-based digital transformation firm Kainos with providing “specialist migration services”. The two parties have signed a year-long contract that took effect this week.

The deal relates to the department’s Securing Our Technical Future project, which is a “three-year programme to migrate HMRC services from Fujitsu datacentres to the public cloud and private crown environments”.

Kainos has been asked to help “define HMRC’s approach and strategy… for [the] move to cloud [and] to build and seed a testing plan strategy”.

Services provided by the firm will include “specialist migration testing of the application estate” of the department to ensure it is ready to move from HMRC’s premises to a cloud environment of Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.

The initial stages of work are due to be conducted across seven sprints, beginning with an exercise to “agree backlog and plan” and concluding the development of a “test execution service and governance model”.

The Kainos contract runs until 31 July 2020, with an option to extend the deal by a further 12 months. If more support is required beyond summer 2021, “the parties will work together to facilitate this”.

HMRC plans to complete cloud migration by June 2022.

All this and Brexit too!

Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC Has Its Head In The Clouds

In September 2015 I wrote that HMRC was seeking to recruit a "cloud transformation director":

"HMRC is looking for a cloud transformation director, and will pay up to £162,500 for the right person.

According to HMRC's advert, HMRC had a "vision" (how very messianic of it) for the provision of online, real-time services to be accessible from any device, any time using the latest cloud technology.

Hence HMRC is looking for an IT leader who is "up for the challenge of delivering transformation on a massive scale". 

Here we are in July 2016 (older but probably not any wiser) and, "oddly" enough, it seems that HMRC are now seeking a "deputy IT director for cloud services".

Isn't this overkill I hear you cry?

Errrm..... no it's not, for you see dear readers, the more senior role was never filled!

The new position is paying a "mere" £100,000 and the recruit will be responsible for migration onto the HMRC cloud platforms.

I wonder why HMRC thinks that cutting the salary by £63K will somehow ensure that a previously unfilled role will now be filled?

Anyhoo, the successful candidate (if one ever emerges) will report to the director of development, testing and operations and will line manage a team of around 50 staff.

The closing date for the HMRC role is 11 July, further details here.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"