The NHS Enterprise Agreement: it's a big deal

In the first of a series of columns, Brian Painting outlines some of the thinking behind Microsoft’s new enterprise agreement with the NHS and how this affects the way that NHS IT managers will be able to make use of the new deal.

You may well have read in the press that Microsoft and NHS Connecting for Health have signed a new enterprise agreement for the NHS.

If so, you’ll probably have gathered that the new deal gives NHS organisations access to some of Microsoft’s latest products - such as the Vista operating system and the Office 2007 suite - along with other goodies like training and the Home User Programme. "...the NHS pays less for its licenses than any other Microsoft customer...NHS Connecting for Health has started to deliver new systems and the infrastructure needed to underpin them has grown."

What hasn’t been so well covered is the thinking behind the agreement and how that affects the way it is structured and the way IT managers can access the products it covers. So I’m going to try and do some of that in this column.

The enterprise agreement

The deal we signed this summer is a renewal of the agreement that Microsoft put in place with the NHS six years ago. The previous renewal - in 2004 - was very much focused on price and on getting the best possible deal for the NHS.

It certainly did that - the NHS pays less for its licenses than any other Microsoft customer. But a lot has changed in three years. NHS Connecting for Health has started to deliver new systems and the infrastructure needed to underpin them has grown.

Also, both Microsoft and NHS Connecting for Health have developed their understanding of where trusts are in terms of their infrastructure and what it can effectively support. "One of the advantages of Vista is that you can continue to run some applications in their previous format, so users don’t have to cope with a lot of change all at once. But over time, everybody can be moved onto Vista applications."

So, while this renewal is about price and getting a good deal, it is also about addressing some of these issues; which is why it took ten months of work with NHS CFH to get an agreement this time.

The cookie jar

There are two key elements underpinning the new agreement. The first is the need to standardise the IT environment that NHS administrators and clinicians are using.

At the moment, many trusts have a higgledy-piggledy environment, with lots of different systems and lots of different versions of those systems. Over time, the EA will help people to move away from that.

So, it is true that Windows Vista Business is included in the EA. But it can only be installed on Vista OEM machines - ie ones that are preloaded. If you want to upgrade your existing machines, you will have to buy your own licences (although you can upgrade free to Windows XP under the terms of the previous agreement).

One of the advantages of Vista is that you can continue to run some applications in their previous format, so users don’t have to cope with a lot of change all at once. But over time, everybody can be moved onto Vista applications. "Previous deals were about buying lots of licences for the NHS. This one is about making sure that people use them effectively and don’t just leave the difficult stuff sitting on the shelf."

The more you do, the more sweeties you get

The second thing about the EA is that it really focuses on the importance of infrastructure. We are developing a new infrastructure optimisation tool with NHS CFH that will help trusts assess where they are and where to focus their attention.

So, it is also true that the new agreement includes Office 2007 Professional, which comes with some sophisticated new applications, such as the Groove collaborative workspace. We can’t stop you going out and deploying that. But we would advise that you need some building blocks in place first - such as the ability to identify and validate users.

The experience we have gained from the Common User Interface programme means we now have resources to help you get those in place; and we will be developing those further.

Previous deals were about buying lots of licences for the NHS. This one is about making sure that people use them effectively and don’t just leave the difficult stuff sitting on the shelf. "If you haven’t done so already, I’d urge you to get in touch with your local reseller and find out what is on offer."

Re-seller changes

There have been some changes to re-seller arrangements as part of the new deal. I’ll discuss these in more detail in another column, but the key point is that the five local service provider regions now have designated re-sellers for products covered by the new agreement.

This is to help Microsoft and NHS CFH build up a better picture of trust needs and consumption patterns. However, for server licences and products that fall outside the EA, you can continue to use any re-seller you like.

If you haven’t done so already, I’d urge you to get in touch with your local reseller and find out what is on offer. I’d also urge you to go and look at the existing infrastructure optimisation forms on this site, so you can familiarise yourself with the kind of information they ask for.

An online version of the new tool should be published next month - and I’ll be writing a column about it when it appears. Which is a final point. You’ve obviously found the NHS Resource Centre, but I’d urge you to return regularly and sign up for our newsletter.

The new EA is not the sort of deal that is signed and that’s it for three years; there will be a lot of things happening between now and 2010.

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