Version 1 Delivers Successful Cloud Migration and Ongoing Managed Service for Cafcass

Cafcass (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) is a non-departmental public body in England set up to promote the welfare of children and families involved in family court.

It was formed in April 2001 under the provisions of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 and is accountable to Parliament through the Ministry of Justice. Cafcass is independent of the courts, social services, education, health authorities and all similar agencies.

Customer Relationship

Cafcass awarded Version 1 a ‘Case Management Application Managed Service’ contract in March 2017 to enhance its core business systems. Version 1 was awarded the contract based on a very close alignment to the customer’s requirements in terms of key skills, experience and willingness to deliver results as part of a robust KPI regime. From the beginning of the contract to current date, Version 1 and Cafcass have had a very strong customer relationship based on successful delivery as per the robust KPI regime, effective communication, shared values and Version 1’s empathy towards the customer’s needs and priorities.

Case Management Application Managed Service

The Cafcass case management system is utilised by 2,000 staff across 35 sites in England to undertake the activities of the organisation that promotes the welfare of children and families involved in family court proceedings. Version 1 is responsible for support of the applications, databases and underlying infrastructure and provides ongoing development and enhancement of the system.

Data Centre Migration to Microsoft Azure

As part of the contract, Version 1 migrated the case management system (based on Microsoft SharePoint 2010) from the datacentre of the existing support provider to Microsoft Azure.

Azure provided the best-fit Cloud solution to meet the specific demands of Cafcass for availability, performance, security, and functionality, allowing them to leverage both Platform and Infrastructure-as-a-Service capabilities.

Maintaining the availability and correct functioning of the case management system through this transition was essential for the everyday running of the Cafcass statutory function, which is set up to assist children and young people who are going through care or adoption proceedings, or whose parents have separated and are unable to agree about future arrangements for their children.

Real Differences Delivered

True Partnership

As part of the ongoing contract with Cafcass, Version 1 has successfully migrated the on-premise case management system based on Microsoft SharePoint 2010 from the datacentre of the existing support provider to Microsoft Azure. This realised the following real business benefits for Cafcass:

• Adoption of the new cloud-based systems running on Microsoft Azure
• Financial savings of approximately 40% in running costs for Cafcass, re-routing budget for such a critical service to other areas of the budget – meaning more finances for services at the front-line
• Savings of two full-time-equivalents (2 FTE) was a recent output of only one modification – meaning these employees can focus on more important areas of the Cafcass business objectives
• Successfully moved off-premise and to the cloud before the cut-off date, which ensured the customer’s organisation was compliant with legislative deadlines
• Gained a true understanding of the customer’s business and IT challenges in order to solve them quickly, accurately and efficiently, enabling Cafcass stakeholders to focus on higher-priority business objectives