CB3b: Community Development - The Highland …€¦ · Web viewWe will deliver one roadshow per quarterly roadshows to raise the awareness of the opportunities in IT, training needs

The Highland Council: Provision of ICT Core ServicesOJEU Reference: 235790-2015 (2015/S 128-235790)ISFS Response1.8.6 CB3b - Community Benefits – Community Development

1 CB3b: Community Development

Wipro has developed the Community Development Plan based on the Authority’s requirements described in Schedule 11. It complements the UK Government (BIS led) initiatives such as STEMNET and promotes modern apprenticeship programme. We are developing our relationship with the University of Highlands and Islands to create a joint programme of learning and training in the ICT area to bring employment as well as develop the employable supply in the Highland Council. The figure below provides an overview of our proposal to the Authority for the development of IT skills in school children, through an active participation with STEMNET programme, Apprenticeships, Summer Internships, Student Exchange Programme and sponsoring a Digital Laboratory for the students to participate in ICT related competitions. We provide quarterly Digital Awareness sessions aimed at the students and local communities, working in partnership with the Councils and Schools.

We will invest (Redacted) over the term in the Council’s Bridge to Employment Programme to promote ICT as a careers and create opportunities. Our proposal for Bridge to Employment is described in our response to CB1a – Workforce Matters.

Figure 1 - Wipro will work closely with University of Highlands and Islands by actively participating in STEMNET Programme to support the development of ICT skills and awareness in Highlands

1.1 Supporting the Authority to reduce Inequalities

Under the new Act, Community Planning Partners (CPP) which includes the Authority must act to reduce inequalities of outcome resulting from socio-economic disadvantage.

Wipro is committed to reduce the in-equalities at the workplace – gender, race and culture. We operate in over 59 countries in the world, employ over 100 nationalities. Our corporate mission

Page 1 of 14

© Copyright 2016 Wipro, Subject to Contract COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE June 2016


statement is to reduce the socio-inequality in the areas we operate. We fund special programmes in India and South Africa in particular to make this happen.

Wipro will comply with the Community Empowerment Act (2015) and confirms that our account delivery team will provide equal opportunities, irrespective of gender, race, culture and social background. We will make allowances for those from Corporate Parenting and Care background to help them to get on the employability ladder through the opportunities available in our service delivery centre in Inverness for the Authority.

Figure 2 - Wipro's commitment to all our customers is to promote equality and avoid any discrimination. We are an organisation of 101 nationalities, operate in over 59 countries in the world

1.2 Wipro’s approach to development of IT Skills for school children

A plan which describes your organisations approach to the development of IT skills for schoolchildren in accordance with 5.5. Your plan should identify a number of locations and time bound target

1.2.1 Active participation in STEMNET ProgrammeWipro will work with the Council, University of Highlands and Islands through STEMNET programme to support the development of IT skills in school children.

STEMNET Ambassadors – 29 STEMNET Ambassadors. Wipro STEMNET Ambassadors will actively work as part of the community to support the Council’s objective to promote ICT in the school children. The ambassadors will provide hands on support and active participation to showcase

o Roles Models - Demonstrate ICT Role Models to students to make them aware of the diverse skillsets employed in the ICT industry. We will participate in the school Role Model projects, where our staff will do the roleplays, showcasing the day in life as an ICT provider. Our role model demonstrations will help the students

Page 2 of 14



to understand the importance of roles such as Project Management, Project Delivery, Service Delivery, Customer Relationship Management, Marketing, Sales, Management, Customer Service are core to the delivery of ICT related services. We will describe the career pathways and the entry criteria for various roles, apprenticeships offered with Wipro (and our sub-contractors). The figure below describes the typical career pathway’s model we will build as part of our commitment for CB1 – Workforce Matters.

Figure 3 - Career Pathways along with Role descriptions, entry criteria, training requirements and available training will be available on Wipro's Highland Council Account Portal.

o For Secondary schools, we will work with the career counsellors and teachers to help the students understand the career pathways, the entry criteria and the opportunities and ICT career can bring to an individual.

o Development of ICT Courseware– Our STEMNET Ambassadors will work closely with the teachers in developing the teaching materials as per the ICT course for the year group. Where appropriate and requested, we will contribute in creation of course delivery content.

o Support to setup ICT related Curriculum Topics - We will participate in providing advice and guidance on setting up the curriculum topics by bringing our practical experience of how ICT helps our customers and citizens across the world. Showcase actual Delivery centres and Development Centres – We will showcase the day in life of a delivery centre of operation at our delivery centres, spread around the world through video conferencing capabilities ( where available) or through pre-recorded events, constructed specifically for the students

The figure below describes our recent participation in UHI sponsored Inverness Science Festival, where we sponsored and supported Raspberry Pi awareness and learning event for school children.

Page 3 of 14



Figure 4- Wipro participated and supported the Raspberry Pi awareness and learning project at ISF, Inverness.

1.2.2 Apprenticeships and Internships We will offer 5 positions each year under the schemes employed by Wipro and its Sub-contractors. The positions will be available in the areas of Service delivery based on the scope of services we will deliver under the ICT Re-Provision contract to the Authority. These positions will be available from our Inverness office. In recognition to the Council’s Corporate Parenting Programme, we will reserve 1 position (20%) of the for the candidates from Corporate Parenting background, which will be available to other candidates where suitable candidates are not available.

1.2.3 Secondary School Internship Programme Wipro will offer 5 summer internship / training positions each year for the secondary students to gain hands on experience in ICT Service delivery as part of our contract with the Highland Council. 2 places will be reserved for the interns from Corporate Parenting background. 1 place will be reserved for the Carers.

4 weeks during the summer vacation, in Inverness

A defined project, which creates real value for Wipro and a valuable learning experience for the students

A stipend, or some assistance with travel or accommodation for those wih economically deprived background

Payment at the national minimal wage or better, if the internship is in the UK, and in the for-profit sector

Interaction with an assigned supervisor or mentor within Wipro’s organisation and departments.

Page 4 of 14



Note: For the Carers, the duration for the internship will be extended to 8 - 10 weeks, based on individual circumstances.

1.2.4 ICT Awareness Sessions We will run one ICT Awareness session each quarter aimed at the schools and citizens. These sessions will be delivered from the libraries, community centres or participating schools, in agreement with the Authority and the venue providers. We will publish annual calendar for these events. The theme of the ICT Awareness Drop in Session will also include:

Develop awareness of Wipro’s Apprenticeship and Training Programme

Develop awareness of our Student Exchange and Internship Programme

Roadshows on ICT Roles and demonstration of role models

Live Seminar How to be Safe in the Globally Connected Digital World - Typical topics will be safeguarding the identity while being online, dangers and how to avoid dangers of online chatrooms / gaming sites for senior adults and young children, how to keep your children and senior adults safe in the world of digital, etc. It will complement the SICSA facilitated cyber security lecture by UHI, though aimed at elderly and school children.

Job Roadshows – Job Opportunities available, entry criteria and Career Progressions

1.2.5 Supporting Chromebooks and Locally Managed Device ProgrammeChromebooks and AppStores – Wipro will provide training material and dedicated one stop page for the Authority’s Chromebook Programme to help the LMD administrators with FAQ’s, Self Help and help the Authority and Curriculum in creating a Yammer social community to support the schools. We will participate in those community discussions and bring our technical know-how to help the Curriculum environment. We will provide:

o A dedicated page on the portal/ Authority’s intranet will be developed and maintained throughout the programme lifecycle. The portal will be one-stop destination for any information users may need about the Programme.

o A sample of the Programme Portal Page, demonstrating various options available for the users to choose from the Portal Landing Page is described in the figure below.

Page 5 of 14



Figure 5 - An Example Landing Page for the Chromebook Learning Centre

o Recommended Training section for the Locally Managed Devices Support Staff

Figure 6 - An example training and learning centre for the LMD Support Staff and TA's in school

1.3 Participation in Inverness Science Festival (and similar)

Wipro will work closely with the University of Highlands and Islands to participate in the annual Inverness Science Festival (as well as other organisations to promote equal opportunities for other Highlands areas). We will provide subject matter experts in Automation and Artificial Intelligence as Role Models and coaches to the participating team. Wipro will sponsor the prizes to the winning and runner up team.

Wipro participlated in ISF 2016 through sponsorship and active partnership in Robot competition (http://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/9443/alness_portree_and_kingussie_pupils_commended_in_robot_competition)

Page 6 of 14


http://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/9443/alness_portree_and_kingussie_pupils_commended_in_robot_competition

http://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/9443/alness_portree_and_kingussie_pupils_commended_in_robot_competition


Active participation and prizes in Raspberry PI event to bring the awareness of ICT and particularlly Raspberry PI, UK Government initiative for schools. Wipro prvided 3 voluteers through out the session to work with secondary school students and families over the event to also bring the awareness of ICT role models and ICT as a career choice.

Family fun day where we sponsored F1 event, where we sponsored 3 F1 simulators for the enjoyment of the local communities and promote ISF on the Family day.

Figure 7 - Wipro participated and sponsored individual winner and runner up prizes to encourage students in the Robots competition. Wipro's Account Delivery Head, Brenda Pound attended the judging and the event over the 10 days duration

of ISF festival.

1.3.1 Supporting the Council in High Unemployment Area Wipro recognises the need to promote the training and apprenticeship opportunities in the areas of high un-employment. We will ensure the job opportunities as well as the training and internship are promoted in those areas of high un-employment. We will deliver one roadshow per quarterly roadshows to raise the awareness of the opportunities in IT, training needs and the type of training that is available through Government, through the Council’s Bridge to Employment programme. Wipro will provide desktops and laptops for those interested from the refreshed pool of devices.

1.3.2 Classroom Assistant Training ProgrammeWe believe teaching is crucial for the development of the next generations. We support the development and training programmes for teachers through our activities in the education sector in India, South Africa and America via Wipro Cares.

We recognise the role that classroom assistants play in the learning experience and the difficulty in training and maintaining ongoing professional development for such support roles in the remote areas of the Highlands.

Wipro will partner with the Teaching Assistant College to offer a resource pack based self-learning and training solution for schools in the Highland Council area. Ongoing professional development

Page 7 of 14



has a high impact on teaching and learning. The training resource packs will provide classroom assistants with the tools they need to provide exceptional support every day. This material is provided on the perpetual basis, which means the schools are entitled to keep the material and also qualify for material refresh / upgrades.

We will identify the candidate schools by working closely with the Council’s Care and Learning team, each year.

The classroom assistant training resource files have been written to enable schools to deliver valuable training without spending hours developing their own materials. Each file contains all the materials needed to deliver informative and interactive training including guidance notes, PowerPoints on CD Rom, handouts, group activities, case studies & thought provoking reflection for delivery of over 50 hours of great training by any of your teachers, senior manager or a Lead TA or Early Years Practitioner.

Two types of resource packs are available targeted to primary or secondary schools:

Early Years Training Resource File

Effective Classroom Assistant Training File

The packs are most applicable to schools with 5 or more classroom assistants due to the group nature of the learning process. Once a school is licensed for a resource pack it is available for use by all current and future classroom assistants in that school.

Wipro will fund the resource packs for 5 schools per year in the Highlands Council area over 3 years, meaning 15 schools in the deprived areas will benefit from this development. The schools will be selected through a fair selection procedure, in agreement with the Council.

1.4 Our approach toward specific support for ICT capability development in curriculum environment

A plan which sets out your approach toward specific support for ICT capability development within the Authority’s curriculum environment in accordance with 5.5.4.

Wipro will work with the Council, University of Highlands and Islands to support the development of IT skills in the curriculum environment. Our proposal to deliver specific support for ICT capability development within the Authority’s curriculum environment in accordance with 5.5.4 will be done in following ways:

Offer ICT Training and Learning Opportunities

Participate in coimmunity events to bring ICT specific learning for various age groupsgroups

Organise ICT related specific events to develop competitiveness from within the Highlands

Support development of ICT related curicullum targetted towards job readiness

Page 8 of 14



1.4.1 Offer ICT Training and Learning OpportunitiesWipro will offer internship as part of our internship programme for 2 graduates from the Highland Council area. Although every internship is unique, we try to ensure that they provide the following common elements:

3 months full-time, including international work assignment

Opportunity to undergo A defined project, which creates real value for Wipro and a valuable learning experience for the graduate

A stipend, or some assistance with travel or accommodation

Payment at the national minimal wage or better, if the internship is in the UK, and in the for-profit sector

Interaction with an assigned supervisor or mentor within Wipro’s organisation and departments. We will design the Internship Programme will through discussions with the Council and the University of Highlands and Islands to ensure it is caters to the needs of the students.

An international experience or access to an internship placement in the UK that is not readily available through alternative internship programmes.

The figure below describes Wipro’s Organisation structure to showcase the width of opportunities available through the Internship Programme to the graduates in the Highlands Council.

Figure 8 – Wipro employs 175,000 people across seven Strategic Business Units (SBU) are aligned with technology needs of our global customers through eight Service Lines (SL), seven central service functions and six growth markets.

This enables us to offer a huge range of Internship Programme to the students

Page 9 of 14



1.4.2 Annual HackathonWe will host an annual Digital Hackathon at the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) in collaboration with our wider hackathon events. A hackathon (aka hack day, hackfest or code fest) is an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers and project managers collaborate intensively on software projects. It will be a coding event, open to members of the developer community, students of programming and experienced coders – all those who aspire to design technology. We will provide mentoring and support from our senior technical leaders to support the schools participating in this event.

Hackathon aims to encourage developers to create innovative applications that can be integrated with digital solutions that are being currently used in industry sectors such as e-commerce, healthcare, transportation, logistics and others. The objective of the hackathon is to develop creative and innovative web and mobile applications that are futuristic and which will enhance or offer a superior customer or user experience.

The first three winning teams will be rewarded with exciting prizes that include tablets, mobile phones/Kindles and quadcopters. Wipro will use the platform to spot talent and evaluate their potential and fitment for future hiring and apprenticeships / internships programme.

1.4.3 Working in Partnership with University of Highlands and IslandsWe are currently working on a memorandum of understanding with the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI). Digital Architect Academy is an area that Wipro is exploring with UHI as a potential course and job creation opportunity to bring the opportunities to the Highlands to drive employment in ICT and Digital subject areas.

The figure below demonstrates our commitment to the UHI relationship where we sponsored a number of events.

Figure 9 - Wipro sponsored a number of events at the Inverness Science Festival 2016

The MoU will cover the following key areas:

Development of Digital Course as part of UHI Graduate Programme. Wipro will support UHI in developing the course as well as provide visiting faculty from team of our experienced Digital staff. During the visiting period, the staff will conduct week long workshops with the students and our experts in the field on live opportunities. These will help the students learn on job and get exposure to real working environment, team working, project delivery and opportunity to shadow experts in customer discussions.

Internship Programme – The internship programme will enable 2 UHI Digital graduates each year be part of Wipro and work on live projects as a team member. They will get the stipend based on the location of work and in compliance with the Scottish Government Fair Wages Scheme.

Page 10 of 14



Computing Lab – Wipro will provide a computing lab for the Digital in the form of Platform as a Service to the students of UHI. The lab environment will be accessible for specialised project work. UHI will also get access to Wipro IT experts in the field of Automation, Artificial Intelligence, High Performance Computing and Wipro’s Innovation Lab. UHI and Wipro will collaborate on Innovation Projects and seek the opportunities to develop joint IP that can be commercialised. Wipro will provide its marketing channel to promote the Joint IP.

Wipro recognises the problems in delivering level 7 courses within Schools in Highland region due to restrictions in place on the existing IT infrastructure and machines. We will develop an approach to resolve these problems to allow school pupils the widest curriculum opportunities (including access to UHI courses) despite the challenges of the geography of the Highland region.

Wipro will promote Global 100 Programme at UHI. While we can-not assure minimum number of candidates from this region, Wipro Executive are committed to resource 50% of apprentices from abroad for this programme. The programme ensures equal opportunities for all race and gender. Global 100 is a 18 month apprenticeship programme and provides opportunities to undergo training and learning in all areas of ICT Services – Sales, Account Management, Service Management, Customer Interaction, Project Delivery, Finance, Account, Commercial and HR etc. Once the training is completed these employees are offered permanent roles based on the assessment during the course of training and their individual preferences.

2 Delivering our Commitments and Formal Governance Process

Section Area of Commitment

Wipro’s Proposed Commitment

5.4 Promote Equality

Wipro is committed to reduce in-equality in workplace. We are an equal opportunities employer and will comply and support the Authority in implementing Community Planning Partners (CPP) for all roles our service delivery to the Authority.

5.5.1 Development of IT skills in schoolchildren

Wipro will actively participate in STEMNET programme. We will provide 29 STEMNET volunteers, who will work with the UHI and schools.

We will offer 5 apprenticeships and internships positions each year

We will offer 5 summer internship positions to secondary school students and financial support for travel for those who are from the economically deprived background.

ICT Awareness Sessions per quarter in partnership with schools and the Authority. Wipro will plan and publish annual calendar of these sessions each year.

Page 11 of 14





We will provide a landing page and knowledgebase / FAQ’s for the Authority’s Chromebook programme through creating a social community (such as Yammer) for the LMD and School IT teams. We will participate in those discussions where appropriate.

5.5.2Subcontracting Opportunities for Voluntary sector

Wipro’s Supply chain to deliver services includes Scottish SME’s for data centre and other SME’s such as Stone Computers for recycling.

We will conduct an annual trade fair for the Scottish SME’s and Highlands business to work with us as part of our global Supply Chain.

We recognise the Authority’s commitments to Care Givers and Care Leavers as well as individuals from Corporate Parenting background and the charities that support these individuals. Wipro’s Community Development initiatives will support working with these individuals and explore the opportunities to work with Charities and voluntary organisations.

Following the completion of Transformation, which implements a simple to support infrastructure environment, we will reach out to the voluntary organisations to assess their capabilities and ability to support the Authority’s ICT environment. We will produce a formal report on annual basis demonstrating the involvement of 3rd sectors in the delivery of our services to the Authority, as well as explore the possibility to incorporate them as part of our supply chain for our other customers in Scotland.

These are described in more detail in our response CB2b – Economic Benefits as per Authority requirement.

5.5.3

Promoting Scotland to do business in Europe

Wipro will setup a delivery centre in Inverness. We are currently in discussions with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to identify a suitable location for our staff in Inverness. River House, Young Street is one of the potential buildings we will get a long term lease to deliver our services to the Authority. The building has a capability to support over 100 seats on the top floor, which will allow us to expand our services and bring more jobs to the Highlands.

Highlands Council will be key account in Scotland, which will attract Wipro executive sponsorship and promotion as a study to demonstrate our community benefits programme and commitments to the citizens of Scotland.

Page 12 of 14





5.5.4Support for ICT capability development

In addition to STEMNET and active participation in learning related events in the Highlands, Wipro will support 5 schools each year with Teaching Assistantship Programme through training course material. This material is provided on the perpetual basis, which means the schools are entitled to keep the material and also qualify for material refresh / upgrades. We will identify the candidate schools by working closely with the Council’s Care and Learning team, each year.

Wipro will also sponsor annual Hackathons and work in partnership with the UHI to develop and deliver Digital courses to promote ICT as a career for the Highlands.

Wipro’s Community Benefits Officer will be responsible for implementation of our Community Benefits Plan. We aim to fulfil this role through secondment of a suitable Council staff for 1st year of the contract. At the end of 9 months, the role will transition to a suitable individual, preferably chosen from the candidates within the Corporate Parenting Programme. This approach will help us develop a strong link between the Highland communities, Wipro and Wipro Care, our CSR organisation.

In order to effectively manage the reporting and monitoring of progress regarding the delivery of our Economic Benefits commitments we will report the achievements and progress on quarterly basis through the formal Community Benefits Board as part of the Authority’s Schedule 8.1 – Governance. The figure below describes the alignment of our service delivery with the Authority’s Governance Boards as described in Schedule 8.1.

Page 13 of 14



Figure 10 - Wipro will report the Community Plan to ICT Contract Board and Service Management Board through the Authority's Community Benefits Board

We will produce an annual report to report the progress against our commitments on the Community Benefits. The figure below describes our organisation structure and responsibilities and attendance to various Governance Boards.

Figure 11 - Wipro's organisation structure maps with the Authority's Governance Model

Page 14 of 14


Documents

CB3b: Community Development - The Highland …€¦ · Web viewWe will deliver one roadshow per quarterly roadshows to raise the awareness of the opportunities in IT, training needs