irish cervical screening programme

Irish Cervical Screening Programme (ICSP) protects business-critical systems with escrow solution from NCC Group

About

The Irish Cervical Screening Programme (ICSP), run by the Mid-Western Health Board, is one of the eight health boards in the Republic of Ireland responsible for the provision of health services to citizens in its region.

The ICSP offers free cervical screening to women aged 25-60 and aims to ensure that all women who register will be invited by letter over a five year screening period to attend for a free cervical smear test.

Challenge

In order to effectively and efficiently manage a health programme of this size and complexity, the ICSP commissioned a database management system - CSR - from Client Solutions Ltd, a professional software services company that provides bespoke application development and data warehouse design services.

The CSR system maintains the ICSP database which lists all registered women in the Mid-Western Health Board region falling within the Programme's target age range and includes records of any known cytology, colposcopy and histology history. The system enables the searching and updating of client data by health professionals undertaking testing remotely, and automates the calling and recalling of clients for appointments in line with ICSP policy.

This system is business-critical for the ICSP, as a serious failure could prevent clients from being called or recalled for screening appointments at the correct time, or health professionals from being able to view a client's history or update her records automatically, potentially resulting in the early warning signs of cervical cancer remaining undetected, or an incomplete diagnosis.

Solution

In order to mitigate this risk, the ICSP discussed its options with NCC Group the world’s largest software escrow provider.

NCC Group’s escrow solutions provide a smart, simple way of protecting both supplier and end-user, by covering every business critical application or third party supplied software-as-a-service with a software escrow solution.

Under the terms of its straightforward software escrow agreements, NCC Group holds a copy of the application source code which ICSP depends upon but does not own. The source code is deposited along with all the information, scripts and codes needed to use and maintain the software, by the supplier.

If a ‘trigger event’ should occur that would render a supplier incapable of fulfilling its contractual obligations. This would then enable ICSP to maintain and support the application in-house or appoint a qualified contractor to do so.

ICSP decided an Escrow Solution including Full Verification testing was the most appropriate way of facilitating secure off-site storage of the source code and ensuring peace of mind that the CSR system could be re-built if necessary.

Full Verification testing is a process where the source code is actually re-built into the user's software application and requires the full co-operation of the supplier to ensure all relevant components, scripts and source code are present.

The entire build process is audited and recorded within the resulting Full Verification report which would be used by ICSP to build and maintain the application should it ever become necessary for the source code to be released under the terms of the Escrow agreement.

Results

Whilst standard Escrow solutions do provide a basic level of cover, only by undertaking comprehensive testing such as the testing undertaken as part of NCC Group's Full Verification Service, can a client be absolutely sure that the protected source code is correct and complete and can be re-built into their application. Client Solutions Ltd understood the importance of Escrow protection for the ICSP and was happy to co-operate fully throughout the process.

Brian O'Carroll, Senior Systems Analyst, ICSP commented: "I wish to take this opportunity to thank all at NCC Group for their assistance throughout the Verification testing process. It is a great source of comfort to have come through a relatively painless re-build of the system under the excellent guidance of the verification consultant. His cool head and experience helped to direct the project and keep it on track. We are now much more comfortable that we have a viable business recovery procedure to get the system back on track in the event of it having to be re-built.

I look forward to our future dealings with NCC Group to enable us to benefit from its experience and expertise and am a definite convert to the entire Escrow process."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NCC Group is a leading global provider of independent IT assurance, security and consultancy services. As a trusted advisor, we help over 15,000 public, private and not for profit sector organisations, including 92 of the FTSE 100, to make the most efficient use of information and technology and to manage the associated risks.

Quote

"I wish to take this opportunity to thank all at NCC Group for their assistance throughout the Verification testing process. It is a great source of comfort to have come through a relatively painless re-build of the system under the excellent guidance of the verification consultant.”

Brian O'Carroll, Senior Systems Analyst, ICSP  

Challenge

The CSR system is business-critical for the Irish Cervical Screening Programme (ICSP), as a serious failure could prevent clients from being called or recalled for screening appointments at the correct time, or health professionals from being able to view a client's history or update her records automatically,

The ICSP needed to provide assurance that the system would not be affected should a supplier become unable to provide support or maintenance in the future

Solution

In order to mitigate this risk ICSP partnered with the world’s largest software escrow provider, NCC Group for a protection solution

Results

Through its escrow agreement, ICSP has peace of mind that the CSR system could be re-built if necessary and its service would not be affected if a supplier was unable to meet its contractual obligations