Centralis Case Study R.N.L.I.

Summary

Working with Centralis, the RNLI will deliver fundraising, marketing, membership administration and lifeboat logistics to remote locations - just some of the critical components that support this life-saving service.

About the Customer

RNLI volunteer crews, reliant upon voluntary donations, provide a 24-hour service around the coast of the UK and Republic of Ireland

 every day of the year. The cost of maintaining the nations’ maritime rescue service is over £300,000 per day – none of which comes from the UK central government.

The charity, based in Poole, Dorset, has over 1,000 paid employees and rescued just over 8,000 people in the last year.

The Challenge

The RNLI undertook a review examining the IS/IT service provision and technology deployed across 250 of their locations in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The review showed that while the HQ in Poole had full systems access and resilient data storage, backup, file and print services, this was not available to the same degree in the remote offices and lifeboat stations. The RNLI commissioned an extensive feasibility study to look at how this could be resolved.

Richard Miles, Head of Information Systems at the RNLI, said, "There were some understandable frustrations within the organisation regarding our ability to share information, look after our systems and data and ensure a high quality of service to our colleagues in remote locations. I had thought for a long time that Citrix software could provide us with a solution to this, and was delighted when the feasibility study proved that this was the case."

The Centralis Solution

The RNLI will use Citrix software to deliver a suite of business and office applications, initially to each of its 17 regional offices and divisional bases. The applications will include Microsoft Office and Novell GroupWise, together with their Oracle-based Charisma fundraising, marketing and membership application and SAP R/3 Enterprise which covers areas such as management reporting,

fundraising stock control, lifeboat logistics and lifeboat upkeep and maintenance. The roll-out has begun with a highly successful pilot deployment at its regional office in Greater London.

The subsequent implementation will allow each of the RNLI remote offices to standardise their use of these applications, helping improve the efficiency of the technology infrastructure within the cost-conscious RNLI. The project also involves server and data consolidation, with the servers and data currently needed at each regional office being relocated to the HQ and added to the central solution.

"However, we were in real need of a ‘hand-holding’ approach to implementation and roll-out," continued Miles. "Centralis and Citrix together have provided us with this, giving me every confidence that the success we have seen in the initial test phase in London will result in a successful organisation-wide deployment."

Centralis have also deployed Web Interface and Secure Gateway components to provide secure web-access. This provides additional flexibility which, in time, can be used to underpin an entire mobility strategy for the RNLI, permitting anytime, anywhere, and any-device access to corporate resources, information and applications.

The Benefits to the Customer

Ewen Anderson, Managing Director at Centralis, added "When deploying complex technology it’s important to minimise any associated risks, and carefully plan for all stages - especially when dealing with systems which are essential to our customers operations. Centralis used the Citrix Consulting methodologies to ensure that the RNLI solution design is scalable, resilient and up to best practice standards. That investment ensures that the resulting installation is as smooth, problem-free and immediately productive as possible."

The last word goes to the customer "This Citrix solution is a ground-breaking project for the RNLI which will allow us to provide our colleagues in remote offices with the same facilities as enjoyed at HQ. Amongst many other good things, it will provide the basis for remote office disaster recovery and open up access to all RNLI systems wherever staff are located. Much credit must go to the team at Centralis who rose splendidly to the challenge of delivering a quality solution in such tight timescales, and were willing to go that extra mile on the RNLI's behalf, exceeding what was required of them contractually on a number of occasions."

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