The Digital Services Committee was scheduled to meet to discuss a number of reports and updates, including the Public Switched Telephone Network replacement, the Chamberlain's business plan, Programme Sapphire, and a Digital Information Technology Service portfolio update. The committee was also scheduled to discuss a device refresh and Windows 11 upgrade, and the Digital Information Technology Service delivery summary.

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Replacement

The committee was scheduled to consider a report regarding the replacement of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) ¹ and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) ² before they are switched off nationally by 31 January 2027. The report noted that the Digital Services Committee approved the Gateway 1-2 for completion of the PSTN connection audit in July 2024, with a budget forecast of £2.5 million, and that an Issues Report was approved in January 2025 for an additional drawdown of £350k to fund the PSTN replacement of some high-risk areas ahead of the main audit.

The report stated that a procurement exercise for the PSTN audits identified 706 live lines across the City Corporation's PSTN estate, and that 300 of these lines have been ceased, equating to £55k in annual line rental costs. It also noted that the migration of the remaining priority lift auto dialler lines is progressing, managed by City Surveyors and the Barbican Estate respectively, and that the project budget forecast has been revised from £2.5 million to £1.15 million, excluding CRP, due to the audit identifying fewer lines than initially expected as well as 300 lines being ceased.

The committee was to consider approving Option 1 for the drawdown of an additional £600,000 for the migration of all remaining analogue lines and devices, noting the reduced overall project budget of £1.15m (excluding risk) from an initial estimate of £2.5m, and approving a Costed Risk Provision of £160k.

Programme Sapphire Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on Programme Sapphire, the City of London Corporation's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) ³ programme to replace its current legacy systems for HR & Payroll and finance. The report noted challenges on the Finance (Wave 3) workstream regarding closure of the Playback phase and entry to the Testing Phases, and that issues were escalated to the system integrator (HCL) to fill key resource gaps and bring the programme back to plan. It also noted that the Wave 2 (HR) modules have completed System Integration Testing (SIT) and moved into User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and are on track for delivery in December 2025 as planned, and that the Programme continues to align with Ambition 2025 regards the required solution changes to Sapphire (across HR and Payroll).

The report stated that the change and comms engagement has begun to accelerate in line with the programme delivery schedule with the focus on how the transformation will support the organisation and effect teams.

The committee was asked to note the report.

Chamberlain's Business Plan Quarter 1 2025/26 Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the progress of the Chamberlain's Department against its business plan during quarter one of 2025/26.

The report noted that the Chamberlain's Department has made significant progress on its business plan, with key programmes advancing well, and highlighted excellent progress on the PSTN Switch Off Programme, with early indicators being marked as 100% completed, and good progress in the Chamberlain's Learning and Development group.

The report stated that the implementation of the DDaT Strategy continues, but parts are slower than expected, and that the team are utilising existing resources and have repurposed savings from the Corporate mobile phone contract to hire additional resource, with discussions around accelerating delivery through use of transformation funding also underway.

The committee was asked to note the report.

DITS Portfolio Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an overview of the Digital, Information and Technology Service (DITS) Portfolio Management Office (PMO) programmes that are currently in-flight, progress updates on a selection of projects, and an overview of the types of projects being overseen and managed within the DITS PMO.

The report noted that the DITS PMO team oversees all projects and programmes being delivered within DITS, and provides a holistic and structured approach to project delivery, and that the team has been working closely with the new Enterprise Portfolio Management Office (EPMO) which has been introduced to support the implementation of Portfolio Management across the organisation.

The report stated that the DITS PMO has recently undertaken a PMO Maturity Assessment and has now moved up to Level 3 – Precision, which is defined as 'Processes are well defined and consistently applied across all projects, and the PMO adheres to industry standards and best practice'.

The report also provided updates on the Managed Print Services project, the XN Leisure project, the Cemetery Booking System replacement, and the COLP Desktop Replacement project.

The committee was asked to note the report.

Device Refresh and Windows 11

The committee was scheduled to receive an overview and progress report of the Digital, Information and Technology Service's project to refresh a proportion of City of London devices and to upgrade all devices to Windows 11.

The report noted that DITS are upgrading all the laptops and desktops to Windows 11 prior to the end of support by Microsoft on 14th October 2025, and that to move to Windows 11 there is a requirement of 40GB of available storage on a device, and it is therefore necessary to refresh some of the laptop and desktop estate to minimise any disruption to the user community by 30th September 2025.

The report stated that 2,550 devices have been upgraded to Windows 11, with 737 laptops replaced and 214 desktops have been upgraded to Windows 11 and 30 have been replaced, and that DITS are currently on target to achieve all devices upgraded by 30th September though there is mitigation in place for those devices that may not be able to be upgraded due to software incompatibility, in which case DITS would need to look to purchase Microsoft extended Windows 10 support at a cost of approximately £53 per device for the first year.

The committee was asked to note the report.

Digital Information Technology Service (DITS) – Service Delivery Summary

The committee was scheduled to receive an overview of the current service provision as managed by DITS.

The report noted that general performance across all CoL/CoLP Incident Response and Resolution KPIs remains consistent with previous months, and that there were no P1 Incidents reported for CoL during this reporting period which were within the responsibility of DITS Resolver groups, but there was 1 P1 incident reported for CoLP during this reporting period which was within the responsibility of DITS, related to the unavailability of Office 365 Apps and was caused by an approved change.

The report also highlighted the re-launch of a Continual Service Improvement (CSI) Process within DITS, work continuing to review and refine the current Secure Cities Programme (SCP) support model, and Service Management engagement with both the Future Network Programme (FNP) and the new Print Services contract.