Why?
If you are delivering a technology-based system holding sensitive Government information you will almost certainly be required to ensure the system meets Government Information Assurance (IA) standards with controls to mitigate any information risks. If you don’t address this up-front the project can suffer delays and cost over-runs further down the road, reducing profitability and productivity and potentially damaging reputations too.
What?
Ascentor provides expert IA and CLAS consultants as part of project delivery teams. We have delivered IA services to Government and its suppliers since our inception in 2004.
Our CLAS consultants have a wealth of experience in understanding the risks to Government systems and identifying real world controls to mitigate those risks. We reduce the dreaded project risks of time and cost over-run. Our consultants have strong relationships with MoD Accreditors – we have number of consultants who were previously in this role; this gives us a good understanding of what an Accreditor wants. If your IT systems need to meet government IA standards we can help you achieve this goal first time.
“The Ascentor consultant is exceptionally proactive and always takes the initiative in SWG’s. His turnaround time for documentation is exceptional and without error. I work with many CLAS consultants and he is the first outstanding individual I have had the pleasure to work with.”
Chas Donkin, Accreditor, DSAS
Many people assume that being an IA professional is all about writing documents but that is only part of the job. Ascentor consultants bring a real understanding of information risks and how to mitigate them in the most efficient way. Resources are always in short supply, even more so in the current economic climate and should only be allocated to reduce identified risks, not just because a standard or best practice says so. Security controls cost money so you need to be assured of their necessity and their effectiveness.
How?
Our advisers work at any stage of the project from bid through to design and implementation and, if IA has been overlooked, at project end. Our primary aim is to de-risk delivery from an IA perspective providing you with more certainty in the outcome.
The IA service we provide differs between customer and project but in general we are working as part of your team in the delivery of a solution. Our advisers follow a standard process:
- Identify the scope
- Determine the Business Aims & Business Context
- Gain a thorough understanding of the proposed solution
- Produce the IA work package or plan identifying products, activities and a time frame with milestones
- Identify, agree and document the operational information risks to the proposed system
- Identify, agree and document the operational controls to mitigate the risk
- Work with designers and other stakeholders to implement technical and non-technical controls
- Ensure stakeholder engagement throughout the project – Sponsor, Government Project Manager, End user, In-service management, Accreditor etc
- Manage any assurance testing
- Throughout the process, iteratively document the risk management solution in the RMADS
Next Steps
If you have an IA capability gap in your delivery team and would like to know more about how Ascentor can help you improve certainty in your delivery contact please get in touch.
Contact Dave James for a no obligation, confidential discussion:
Telephone: 01452 881712 or 07787 506889
Email: dave.james@ascentor.
