The National Computing Centre this month brought together
its IT management and decision making activities under a service
called Principia.
The membership service links the current NCC activities with those
offered by its acquisitions over the past year - user groups Certus
and CIO-Connect.
"The name Principia is very apt, as the service will provide the
foundation stones of best practice guidance that underpin effective
IT service delivery," the NCC said.
The service includes a new web interface, an online discussion
forum, and sector-specific research options.
The revamp is part of NCC chief executive Michael Gough's vision of
helping IT users take control of their own business destiny, which
he articulated at the Economist CIO Summit in London earlier this
month.
At the CIO Summit, Gough said IT users were losing control by
allowing application development to be outsourced and argued for
much outsourced work to be brought back in house.
Gough also said proprietary software standards stifle innovation
and users should embrace open standards.
lLast month, the Office of the E-Envoy awarded the NCC the contract
to establish and operate the e-Gif Accreditation Authority
Programme, which certifies IT professionals who use the
E-Government Interoperability Framework. The mandatory framework
sits at the heart of all major government e-programmes.
lThis month the NCC announced it is to partner with Ashridge
Business School to provide executive development courses for IT
professionals. The joint IT Executive Programme, which will run in
2005, is aimed at helping IT staff gain business and leadership
skills, as well as helping business managers.
www.ncc.co.uk