Test Cases - Open Source in Government

 

Birmingham City Council

An implementation of open source software across the library service at Birmingham City Council (BCC) has demonstrated that open source software is a viable alternative to proprietary software.

The library service has piloted, and at the time of writing is in the process of rolling out, a full open source desktop1 on its public IT facilities and the open source productivity package, OpenOffice, on its staff PCs. The project indicates that for most users, OpenOffice is a suitable tool that meets their functionality needs, although power users2 may experience more difficulties with functionality and may need to retain Microsoft Office capacity.

Cambridge City Council

Cambridge City Council implements APLAWS an Open Source CMS.

This case study investigates two related aspects of the use of the APLAWS (Accessible Personalisable Local Authority WebSite) software across the UK and in Cambridge City Council in particular. The user-specific aspect of the study considers the use of APLAWS in Cambridge City Council, a more general aspect is the nature and management of the APLAWS project itself. The software has been developed and disseminated in ways that differ from many Open Source Projects and is considered to be both successful and potentially a model for similar developments. Because local authorities do not compete with each other in any serious commercial manner, they have the potential to collaborate on the production of software to meet their needs and the Open Source approach is one that shows promise for mutual support and cooperation. APLAWS represents a valuable pilot example of that collaborative approach.

Bristol City Council

This report is the first of a number of publications intended to make it easier for Councils to make decisions about whether to migrate to StarOffice/OpenOffice.org.

Written by Bristol City Council for the Open Source Academy, it offers a guide to the critical issues involved in making a business case for office software migration. Throughout the report, Bristol share information on their experiences, so that other Councils can learn from an early adopter.

Open Source in Schools

A large-scale deployment of Open-Source desktops in schools.

Two schools are studied, both using similarly designed systems. The software and hardware deployed is discussed and the management and cost implications arising are analysed. Both illustrate ways in which costs can be reduced whilst retaining compatibility with existing hardware and software investment.

Download the full case study:

http://www.opensourceacademy.gov.uk/solutions/casestudies/open-source-in-schools/file

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU)

The University has more than 24,000 students from all over the world, around 22,500 of whom study in Liverpool and the university has played a vital role in the cultural renaissance of Liverpool. LJMU is a very dynamic and rapidly evolving institution, and this has resulted in a growing demand for data storage and availability that the university's old IT infrastructure could not meet.

Download the full case study:

http://www.opensourceacademy.gov.uk/solutions/casestudies/liverpool-john-moores-university-hp/file

Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland:

the hospital has projected savings of £8 million as a result of using OSS. These were mainly due to an elimination of software licensing costs for an x-ray system and the ability to reuse hardware using GNU/Linux.

Suffolk College

Implementing an Open source email solutions for 18,000 users

The college’s considerable population consists of one thousand academic and seventeen thousand student users.

The staff mailboxes were held on a Microsoft Exchange email system, which was proving unreliable and difficult to maintain. Students had little or no access to email facilities.

The requirement was to provide a system that was (1) scalable, and (2) integrated into the college's existing network with little or no disruption. On the scalability side, it was envisaged that more features would be needed to be added to the college's email system, including secure IMAP access, mailing lists and web access. Both open source and closed source solutions were considered.

Powys County Council, Wales

machines with GNU/Linux servers (a server is a computer that manages network resources), the number of servers has been dramatically reduced. This has led to cost savings on hardware, licensing and support.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) - Defence Academy

OSS was chosen on the basis of functionality (to meet requirements) rather than to reduce costs. However, its use has led to lower licensing costs, lower consultancy rates for developers and faster development times. The software used was security accredited by the MoD.