Drip / droop / drupal - what's the difference?

One Barnet is suffering a bit of droop that is for sure. What is Mr Mustard on about? The new website, such as it is, that's what. Tonight Mr Mustard defended the website saying that just because £640,000 has been spent you can't expect it to be fully functional from the off, or can you? When we say website we are talking about the CMS / Content Management System.

Let us wind back to the marking for the "new" website. Here it is, courtesy of Mr X.

Website tender Scoring

Drat. It is sideways. Let us have the cost scoring  in a neat little table with the 4 free providers grouped together and the two that have to be paid for to the right.

		Open source = free				Commercial
	Who	Nomensa	Portsurf	Squiz	RR	2e2	JADU
Life cost	Lambert	5	15	15	15	15	15
	Grice	10	15	10	15	15	15
	? #1	10	15	10	17	12	15
	? #2	10	15	10	15	15	15
Schedule	Lambert	10	10	10	10	10	10
	Grice	10	10	12	15	10	15
	? #1	10	10	12	15	10	15
	? #2	10	10	10	10	10	10
Total	Lambert	15	25	25	25	25	25
	Grice	20	25	22	30	25	30
	? #1	20	25	22	32	22	30
	? #2	20	25	20	25	25	25
	Totals	75	100	89	112	97	110

The names of two of the people who scored the project were secret because they are too lowly to allow their details into the public domain. They are however important enough to decide how £600,000+ gets spent. Do you find that strange?

Look, Grice, he of the rapid transfer to BT, and A N Other #2 scored the whole life cost identically for all 6 potential suppliers. Anyone would think they had been sitting together.

Then for the cost schedule we have two pairs of identical scores. The four of them must have been sat around a table with 2 people sat each side. No cribbing thank you.

A very small range of numbers used for this scoring, was there not?

Then what is really weird when scoring for cost is that JADU which cost £600,000+ in total to buy and implement scores only 2 points less than RR ( which is called Reading Room, and is based on Drupal) which is open source software and so costs nothing to buy.

Nomensa is also free software and yet it gets the lowest score. The scoring all looks very odd.

Here is what the scorers said about the various systems.

Scoring Notes

You will already have noticed the glaring error. Scoring for cost has been done based on 30 points and yet the summary says it was out of 40 points. 

Look, Squiz could have delivered in March 2010. That is 2 years ago. We could have had a working website by now for next to no money. Not good enough for the One Barnet consultants who have made a pretty packet out of the current wobbly website.

The FOI request

The above information came from an FOI request. Here is part of the exchange.

Council web site

Please be kind enough to supply details of your software selection studies and reports, regarding the Authority's forthcoming replacement web site.

This should include comparisons, including features, maintenance costs and risks, of the chosen JADU software with rival content management systems, including open source ones.

Please also provide details of resources, including costs, to develop, install and maintain the software, and train users.

Finally, please indicate how access to archived material on the current site will be maintained.

Mr X

The majority of our software selection detail is Commercially Sensitive and therefore cannot be released. The detail which is available is already in the public domain via the DPR authorising the award of the contract. This is available on the council website, but is also attached here for convenience.

Resourcing for the Website Transformation project is included in the attached spreadsheet.

Can you please clarify what you mean by archived material. If this relates to web content we currently only hold and make available current web content and this will be the case with the new website. If this relates to Committee papers, although out of scope for this project a new system is being implemented and that will maintain access to all of the archived material that the system currently holds.

Yours sincerely,

Mohsin Abbasi

Business Support Officer (added by Mr Mustard as this shy individual never puts his title on emails - is he not proud to be a BSO?)

One Barnet Programme Office

Thank you for your email.

What is the answer to my question on open-source software, please? Has it been considered?

By definition, open-source software cannot be commercially sensitive.

Regards,

Mr X

Dear Mr X

The council considered using open source software early on but it didn't meet our full needs and therefore the decision was made to competitively procure a CMS provider.

We do however use some open source software where appropriate and currently run an ideas site in droop le (sic) for instance. The council’s intranet was also developed with open source software.

Yours sincerely,

Mohsin Abbasi

Business Support Officer

One Barnet Programme Office

Thank you for your prompt email in reply.

Your consideration of using open source software "early on" is no doubt fully documented, and is therefore legitimately part of my original FoI request.

Please therefore be kind enough to supply that information.

To be clear: please supply your full analysis of open source (including names of "brands") against commercial software, in terms of functionality, cost, training, migration, maintenance, and whatever other criteria you used.

Mr X

Dear Mr X

I am writing in response to your request under the Freedom of Information Act, as detailed below. Please find attached a summary of the tender comparison documents which have been redacted for commercially sensitive information. I am sorry that this was provided out of time. I am afraid I have only recently taken over as project sponsor for the new website and have hence had to search extensively to find this.

The council was initially keen to use a system like Drupal for the new site. This should explain why not. We have used Drupal for a series of other purposes. The council’s current “Ideas website” is based on this system.

Sent on behalf of Chris Palmer, Assistant Director, Communications

Johnathan Schroder Internal Communications Manager

Conclusions

1. Obtaining information from Barnet Council isn't only a sloppy, inadequate,  drawn out and unsatisfactory experience for Mr Mustard. Everyone who asks something suffers. 

2. This question was not answered at all. "Please also provide details of resources, including costs, to develop, install and maintain the software, and train users." Too difficult perhaps? Barnet Council can expect to hear from Mr X. asking for a review.

3. Mohsin Abbasi is content to write "droop le" which is obviously complete nonsense. You have a computer on your desk. If someone gives you a word or phrase you have not heard of then go and look it up rather than parroting rubbish. "Drupal" was the word that you wanted. In case you are interested Mr Abbasi, and why does Mr Mustard doubt it, Portsurf and Reading Room are Drupal based systems. 

4. Chris Palmer aka The Tooting Twister but officially the Assistant Director of Communications (but not on the town hall payroll) is in charge of this project. Is he a secret computer expert? The job description that he has does not mention any expertise being required in web development so, and based upon the results so far, it doesn't look like he is. Only a sad little Johnny no-mates would be an expert in computer coding eh Chris?

5. Drupal - "It didn't meet our full needs". Really? and yet it meets the needs of Sony, data.gov, symantec connect, Proctor & Gamble, Virgin Radio, Le Figaro, london.gov.uk and on and on (just search for drupal sites on google). As usual the council have issued a statement that takes time to pick apart as you have to find out exactly what their full needs where but which appears, on the face of it, to be absolute bunkum. A better reply would have set out the specifications X,Y & Z which the council felt were not met by using Drupal but as usual they were in a terrible hurry to get the FOI question off their desk with a half-hearted reply.

live link to drupal.org

If this posting is not up to scratch then my visit to the Strangers' Bar at the House of Commons yesterday evening must be to blame (self-inflicted and many thanks to my host for the experience and the beer). I managed not to thump any MPs (google Eric Joyce MP if you don't know what I am on about) and I was in a small group with Mrs Angry that bumped into Mike Freer MP (he was pre-occupied with sorting out the finances of the country so appearing to be less than over-joyed to see one of his constituents can be forgiven). Mr Mustard also had the great pleasure to speak to David Hencke in person, a real life Westminster journalist.

Time to do some work which will keep Mr Mustard in beer money.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Optimistic in the extreme

the original www logo

Barnet Council is updating its horrible websites. Here is a Delegated Powers Report from January 2011

DPR 1235 Barnet Council Web content management system purchase

So this DPR records the decision to spend up to £130,000 on a content management system. Mr Mustard will forgive you if you wander off to this link for a read-up on the subject of CMS and then come back. OK, now you are an expert on CMS. Note that the web manager named on the cover sheet has moved on to pastures new - that cannot have helped with development.

Para 5.1 contains possibly the most hideously optimistic sentence ever seen. Not the sentence which says that this new contract, which most people will probably & wrongly equate to the cost of a new website, is expected to cost £130,000. No, the one that goes "The work is expected to be completed by April 2011".

Now what has been spent on the new website? ( it had better be awesome after this spend ). Mr Mustard will set out for you the major and/or interesting items. Amounts are not yet all spent; some are budgeted figures but as Mr Mustard only wanted you to get a feel for the cost, that isn't a problem.

Supplier	Amount £	Item	Note
JADU	48,420	Hosting & Support
JADU	39,999	Licences
JADU	1,200	Implementation
JADU	1,200	Implementation
JADU	1,800	Training	1
JADU	11,200	ePay
Google	6,200	mini search apps	2
LBB	123,600	staff costs	3
Agilisys	78,700	Requirements gathering	4
		Technical Specification
Agilisys	117,675	CMS config & development	5
Agilisys	50,450	Website design	6
Agilisys	48,350	Form review, design	7
		& implementation
Agilisys	127,750	Project management	8
		testing support
CDT	15,000	Graphic designs
Total	671,544		9

Notes

1. The training was paid for in October 11 so 6 months after the supposed go live date.

2. You can read about these here. This should offer a vast improvement over the current search facility at the price of google knowing what you did today.

3. That is just the staff who are dedicated to the project. It must be taking up the time of loads of other staff.

4. Barnet Council needed a consultant to tell them what they needed.

5. If you read about CMS earlier it is meant to be a piece of cake. Why all the time spent on configuration?

6. Design. It had better be pretty & easy to use.

7. We don't want to be straitjacketed by webforms. They are wretched. Here is an example from Camden Council. You cannot simply send them an email so that you have a copy yourself that you can file in your own email system and so you can use a pre-prepared signature to save your own time.

Webforms are about convenience for the council. Councils work for us, not the other way around. Mr Mustard is in correspondence with the Assistant Chief Executive Julie Taylor about this. If you also sent her an email ( link above ) saying that there must always be an email alternative to a webform that would help the cause. Mr Mustard will not use webforms. He will go back to letters if the council start to hide email addresses. 

Has there been any consultation on webforms? None seen by Mr Mustard.

8. Charging to project manage at the same time as doing most of the work. Crafty.

Bloggers would have tested for free, as would other regular users.

9. That seems like a lot especially as over 60% of it has been given to consultants.

Barnet Council are going for the big bang approach to the new website, on 30 March 2012 ( a Friday which is a quiet day and gives them the weekend to troubleshoot ). The alternative would have been to move one department at a time from the old site to the new one. Time will tell if the correct approach has been taken.

All the time that this website is under development and the invitation to quote kicked off in August 2010 ( It doesn't look like Agilisys had to quote specifically for this work ) and JADU got the job, the old website has still had to be hosted with Keltec and that has meant that 2 website hosting contracts are in place at once which means double bills.

DPR1476 - Barnet Council Keltec Contract Variation

So that is an extra £31,000 to Keltec due to the one year delay in implementing the new website.

Mr Mustard is off to put 30 March 2012 in his diary.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard