|
Transforming housing provision and application delivery
Date: Monday 30 March 2009
Author: PHILIP ALSOP
 Centralis supports national housing and regeneration agency with merger.
The newly formed Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is providing staff with access to core business applications via a new Citrix environment developed in partnership with IT consultancy Centralis.
Bringing together the functions of English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation and some of the work of Communities and Local Government and the Academy for Sustainable Communities, the agency was launched on December 1, 2008. Recognising the need for a practical and more efficient means of providing access to standard business applications, English Partnerships worked alongside Centralis to develop a solution while the transition to a single entity was made.
A discovery exercise was carried out to establish the business requirements of the Citrix project. In summer 2008 the existing infrastructure was reviewed to determine what would need to be scaled up and what was fit for purpose. Centralis built a solution scalable up to 1,000 users, based on Citrix's XenApp and Netscaler products. Phase one of the project saw 500 users go live with the solution in December 2008.
The next phase of the project will be to migrate the remaining 500 users across to the new solution during 2009. This phase of the project will also see specialist applications used by the former Housing Corporation developed for delivery via a new Citrix Environment.
"We see the flexibility and scalability provided by our Citrix environment as central to our ICT Strategy" said Tina Hughes, ICT Manager at HCA. The project's fixed timescales meant that particularly close collaboration was required between the in-house team and Centralis. Excellent working relationships were established right from the off, and we look forward to continuing to work with Centralis in the future."
"The HCA reflects a new way of doing business and will transform how housing and regeneration is delivered across the UK. The approach it's adopted towards desktop delivery will be integral to its future success," said Ewen Anderson, managing director, Centralis. "We look forward to working with the HCA on the next phase of the project over the next year."
|
