IT Professional Services - Social Service Agencies

Determine Your Eligibility
Unsure if your organisation is an NCSS member? Check your NCSS membership status in the 'Directory of NCSS Members'.

• NCSS will fund up to 80%, capped at $50,000 per IT Professional Services (ITPS) project.
• Funding is capped at $50,000 per project.
• SSAs can apply for multiple projects if the scope has not been previously funded within a 3-year period.
• The estimated costs of ITPS pre-scoped packages have indicative range as follows and a detailed quotation will be provided after a clinic session to assess your suitable package:

• Upon completion of the IT professional service, the Service Provider will provide proof of deliverables and obtain your SSAs concurrence of completion.
• Disbursement: 
  • 50% upon approval (upfront upon signing of the funding agreement)
  • 50% upon completion, and submission of:
    • Evaluation report
    • All invoices

Two Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to Achieve:

1. A 70% satisfaction rate with consultancy service.
2. A 100% adherence to project timeline.

For details on measuring the KPIs, refer to our information page.

Application
Lithan Academy has been appointed by NCSS to facilitate the provision of IT Professional Services (ITPS) packages to SSAs. Follow these 2 steps:

• Applicable to: All pre-scoped services outlined above
• Session: Clinic session is dedicated to discussing required scope
• Application Closing Date: 31 January 2025

Step 2: Apply via OurSG Grants Portal
Apply for the relevant ITPS on the OurSG Grants portal if the Scope of Works (SOW), drafted by the service provider after the clinic, is acceptable to your agency.

• Complete: TNG Consultancy & IT Professional Services Project Proposal.
• Select: "Project Category = Tech-and-GO!" on the OurSG Grant (OSG) portal.
• Complete: OHFSS Self-Assessment if your agency has not done so.
  • Register your agency's participants for the survey.
  • Complete the OHFSS Assessment.
    • As FormSG is unable to save your progress for the assessment as drafts, we strongly recommend for participants to run through the questions on the Assessment Toolkit before completing the online form.
  • Find out more info on the steps to complete the OHFSS assessment.

• Submit: One form per service if applying for multiple services.
• Project Timeline: Ensure Project Start Date is at least 4 to 6 weeks from submission. Project End Date is dependent on the length of the consultancy.
• Application Closing Date: 31 January 2025.
• Expect: An application outcome in 4-6 weeks.
  (A funding agreement will be sent to your agency)
• Approval: Once approved, the Service Provider will contact you to start the service.

• Explore: IT Professional Services Pre-Scoped Packages
• Flexibility to select: SSA may choose any package and have the flexibility to add additional requirements, or remove scope that is not required upon consultation and discussion with the Service Provider.
• Determine: Project cost and duration is based on the scope & complexity.
• Select: Multiple packages allowed if your agency has sufficient resources to run multiple projects.

• Require a review of current IT infrastructure in areas such as hardware management, network management, cloud management, data management, security management, application management, monitoring, and performance management.
• Require an updated infrastructure design to meet current and future business requirements.

• Existing IT infrastructure is unable to meet current or future business needs.
• IT infrastructure is aged and requires a refresh.

• Infrastructure health check report (current state)
• Infrastructure design report (recommendations)

• Perform health check for existing Infrastructure network
• Gap analysis to identify any areas of current IT infra short falls, eg, outdated hardware, insufficient storage capacity, or security vulnerabilities.
• Design to address current issues, which may involve new hardware & software, upgrading existing systems, or implementing additional security measures.

• Plan to upgrade existing network devices or implement a new setup.
• In need of a review of current network security policies to assess gaps and receive compliance recommendations.
• Require professional expertise to manage and resolve infrastructure and network-related incidents and events.

• Existing network devices and components may not meet current or future business needs.
• Current network security policy may not comply with requirements.

• Network implementation report
• Network security review and recommendation report
• Incident management report

• Current network assessment
• Configuration and implementation of network devices and components, such as Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), internet, wireless and remote access services.
• Review and enhance network security policies to ensure compliance
• Resolve infrastructure-related incidents and manage upgrades
• Monitor network related events and and troubleshoot issues:
  • Conducts wireless heatermap survey
  • Review network service uptime, utilisation and throughput
  • Develop network analysis reports on performance and reliability and improvement plans

• Plan to move from an on-premise to a cloud environment
• Require professional expertise to help design, implement and maintain efficient, reliable and secure cloud and server computing environments

• Was the migration to a cloud platform complex and time-consuming, causing disruptions to your operational activities?
• Is your current server environment in need of an upgrade or refresh for better cost-effectiveness, performance, and security?

• Documentation: The new cloud infrastructure is documented to provide a record of the design, configuration, and testing processes.

• Assessment: The first step is to assess the current IT infrastructure and evaluate its suitability for cloud migration. This includes reviewing the current hardware, software, networks, data, and security systems and evaluating the current costs, performance, and scalability.
• Cloud readiness assessment: Based on the assessment, a cloud readiness assessment is performed to determine the organisation's readiness for cloud migration. This includes evaluating factors such as the organisation's IT strategy, governance, and security policies.
• Cloud platform selection
• Migration planning: Once the cloud platform has been selected, a migration plan is developed. This plan includes identifying the applications, data, and infrastructure components that will be migrated to the cloud and determining the best approach for migration.
• Migration execution: Includes migrating data, applications, and infrastructure components to the cloud platform. This may involve using tools such as AWS Migration Hub or Azure Site Recovery.
• Testing and validation: Once the migration is complete, the new cloud infrastructure is thoroughly tested to ensure that it meets the organisation's requirements. This includes testing for performance, security, and data integrity.

Recommended for:
Social Service Agencies (SSAs) that require professional expertise to help migrate data from one system or server to another in a secured and effective manner. Data could include email, files, drives, databases, or data-related applications or software.

• Existing legacy systems have data that are outdated and difficult to migrate.
• Migration to a new platform is complex and time-consuming and disrupts operation activities.

• Documentation: The data migration process is documented to provide a record of the design, configuration, and testing processes.

• Data assessment: Assess existing data to identify any issues or areas of improvement, reviewing data quality, consistency and accuracy, and evaluating how well it meets the organisation's needs.
• Data mapping: To identify the source and target systems, fields, data types, and data relationships.
• Data cleansing: To ensure that the data is consistent and accurate, which may involve removing duplicate records, correcting data errors, or standardising data formats.
• Develop: A data migration plan, methods and schedule timeline.
• Data migration: Data migration execution, migrating of data from source to target system.
• Data validation: Once migration is completed, the new data is tested to ensure accuracy, consistency and completeness, and that it meets the organisation's requirements.

• Require a data dashboard for ops reporting and insights.
• Need professional expertise to help analyse and interpret available data for improving business performance.

• Have you captured a lot of data but have not utilised it optimally to improve business operations and service delivery, resulting in missed opportunities and inefficient decision-making?
• Are you encountering data quality issues, such as data entry errors, missing data, or outdated information?
• Is your data stored in multiple systems that do not communicate with each other, making it difficult to gain a holistic view of the organisation's data, leading to inconsistent reporting?
• Are you experiencing a lack of scalability as your organisation grows, with data volumes increasing thus making it difficult to manage and analyse the data effectively?

• Data assessment: assess existing data to identify any issues or areas of improvement, reviewing data quality, consistency and accuracy, and evaluating how well it meets the organisation's needs.

• Documentation: The data analytics process is documented to provide a record of the data sources, analysis techniques, and insights generated.

• Data collection: Collect data from various sources, such as databases, files of APIs, involve extracting data from structured and unstructured sources, or combining data from different sources to a specified repository.
• Data preparation: Cleansing and transforming the data to ensure consistency and accuracy.
• Data visualisation: Data migration execution, migrating of data from source to target system.
• Data validation: Development of dashboard to analyse the data, and to provide insights and trends using data analytics tools such as Power BI, Tableau, Python.

• Seek to implement a suite of collaboration tools that facilitate efficient communication, collaboration, and teamwork in a secured environment.
• Require configuration of Microsoft Suite or similar applications, like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Yammer, Zoom, and Google Workspace.
• Require services to enhance and optimize existing systems based on solution design, including wireframes, prototypes, and architectural diagrams.

• Have you been struggling to manage tasks and projects due to the absence of a common platform?
• Are you experiencing difficulties in sharing files and documents effectively, resulting in team members not having access to the information they need for effective job performance?
• Do you lack a secure platform for file sharing and communication, which puts your organisation at risk of data breaches and other security threats, potentially leading to the loss of sensitive data and damage to your organisation's reputation?
• Are you facing navigation and accessibility issues within your internal systems, resulting in staff underproductivity and inefficiency?

• Project documentation including performance report.
• User manual/guide

• Needs assessment: Assess the organisation's needs, gathering input from key stakeholders, identifying pain points and areas for improvement, and defining the goals and objectives for the new tool.
• Tool selection: Select the software that meets the needs. This may involve evaluating different software based on their features, cost, ease of use, and other factors.
• Implementation planning: Develop a detailed implementation plan that includes timeline, milestones, and responsibilities for each phase of the implementation process.
• Configuration & customization: Configure and customize the software to meet the organisation's specific needs. Tasks involve setting up user accounts, configuring security settings, and customizing workflows and templates. Tasks may also include coding and testing of the existing system to ensure usability and seamless compatibility with adjacent systems.
• Data migration: If the organisation is migrating from an existing collaboration tool or system, data migration will be required. This may involve exporting data from the old system, cleaning and formatting the data, and importing it into the new system.
• User Experience Improvement: Enhance the user interface and user experience of the software system. Improve navigation, accessibility, and responsiveness to ensure a user-friendly and intuitive interface.
• Testing and validation: Before the software is rolled out to the entire organisation, it should be tested and validated to ensure that it is working as expected. Tasks involve conducting user acceptance testing (UAT) and making any necessary adjustments based on feedback.
• Implementation and roll out: Upon testing and validation, the software will be rolled out to the entire organisation.
• End User Training and support and adoption: Users will need to be trained on how to use it effectively. This may involve communicating the benefits of the new software, providing ongoing support, and encouraging adoption among team members.

• Have multiple systems that are working in silo.
• Plan to integrate existing systems to enable seamless flow of data to minimize manual effort in consolidating information.

• Are you dealing with legacy or multiple systems that don't communicate with each other?
• Do you find yourself manually retrieving information and data from multiple sources?

• Documentation: The software integration process is documented to provide a record of the design, configuration, and testing processes.

• Requirements gathering: gather the requirements for the software to be assessed and integrated, such as identifying the functionalities needed, user requirements, performance and expectation, and integration points with other software.
• Software assessment: assess the existing software to identify any issues or areas of improvement. This includes reviewing the software code, architecture, documentation, and testing practices. The assessment may also include evaluating the software's security, scalability, and maintainability.
• Software selection: a software selection is performed to identify the best software solution to meet the organisation's needs. This may involve evaluating different software options and weighing the pros and cons of each.
• Software integration planning: Once the software is selected, an integration plan is developed. This plan includes identifying the integration points between the new software and existing systems, as well as defining the data flow and communication protocols.
• Software integration execution: includes integrating the new software with the existing systems. This may involve using APIs, middleware, or custom integration solutions. The integration is thoroughly tested to ensure that the data is accurately exchanged between the systems.
• Software testing: Once the integration is complete, the software is tested to ensure that it meets the organisation's requirements. This includes testing for functionality, performance, security, and usability.
• Software deployment: Once the software is tested and approved, it is deployed to the production environment. This may involve configuring the software for the specific environment, and training end-users on how to use the new software.

• Want to enhance the user experience and user interface of web services.
• Seek to improve the effectiveness of digital products by making them intuitive, engaging, and user-friendly.

• Is your digital product (whether a website assessed by external users or internal systems used by staff) experiencing low adoption rates, rendering it ineffective?
• Is your existing digital product showing signs of age and in need of a refresh?

• Wireframes & prototype
• Documentation: The UI/UX design process is documented to provide a record of the research, design, and testing processes.

• Research: Conduct user research to understand needs, preferences, and behavior of users through user surveys, interviews, user groups to gather feedback.
• User persona development: User personas are developed to represent the target audience, identifying goals, preferences, and pain points.
• Information architecture: Organising content and functionality.
• Wireframing: Create wireframes and prototypes to illustrate the layout and functionality of the design, which may involve sketches, mockups, or clickable prototypes.
• Usability test: The design is tested with real users to identify any usability issues or areas for improvement. This may involve conducting user tests, surveys, or other forms of feedback.
• Refinement: Design is redefined and iterated to ensure it meets the organisational requirements and preferences.

Recommended for:
Social Service Agencies (SSAs) that seek to improve staff productivity, business efficiency, and reduce errors through better usability of internal systems.

• Is your internal system functional but lacking in user-friendliness?
• Are your staff struggling with suboptimal user experiences, leading to reduced efficiency?

• Documentation: Updated process flow is documented, including all steps, inputs, outputs, and stakeholder roles.

• Identification of process area: Identify the workflow process within the organisation which is experiencing challenges or pain points e.g., HR, finance, front-end operations.
• Process mapping: Conduct process mapping, including inputs, outputs to determine pain points.
• Process evaluation: The process is evaluated to identify areas of improvement, which may include bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or areas where automation can replace manual intervention.
• Optimisation: Recommendations are made for process redesign or optimization, which may include changes to process flow, automation of manual tasks, improvement to the tools and technologies, development of IT service request SOP.

• Plan to embark on smaller scale IT projects.
• Require in-house professional expertise to manage the implementation of IT solutions to ensure successful project outcomes.

• Do you have inadequate capacity to support IT projects?
• Are you lacking in-house professional expertise to manage IT projects, vendors, and consultants?

• Project implementation plan
• Project completion report
• Project documentation

• Project planning: The PM works with stakeholders to define project goals, scope and requirements. A detailed project plan that outlines the timeline, budget and resources required to complete the project.
• Project execution: The PM oversees the execution of the project plan, ensuring tasks are completed on time and within budget. They communicate with stakeholders, manage project risks and make adjustments to the plan as needed.
• Resource management: The PM is responsible for managing project resources, including people, tools and equipment and ensuring that these resources are allocated effectively and efficiently to meet project goals.
• Quality assurance: The PM is responsible for ensuring that project deliverables meet the required quality standards, they develop quality control processes, monitor project progress, perform quality inspections to ensure deliverables meet the stakeholders' expectations.
• Communication: The PM serves as the main point of contact for all project stakeholders, including project team, senior management and external vendors. They communicate project progress, risk and issues to stakeholders in a clear and concise manner.
• UAT: The PM is responsible for conducting UAT, to ensure that the deliverables meet the requirements of end-users and are ready for production deployment.
• Documentation: Documenting all aspects of the project, including the project plan, budget, and resource allocation. Maintain project documentation throughout the project lifecycle to ensure that it is up-to-date and accurate.
• Project closure: The PM is responsible for closing out the project, including performing final quality inspections, and obtaining stakeholder sign-off.