With DECS as the backbone, MOD launched IASS (Internet Access to Shared Services) in October 2008 to enable employees, not directly connected to their secure LAN, access to MOD corporate systems.
There are at least 10,000 of these “orphan” employees – many working abroad, some seconded to other government departments, some in non core-MOD sites and others simply “mobile workers” – who had no way of gaining secure access to internal MOD systems. Such users could not take advantage recent MOD “electronic self-service” enhancements that improved the efficiency of its HR processes such as claiming expenses or putting in holiday requests online. The “orphan” employees had to continue to submit paper claims – laborious and time consuming for them and for the MOD HR functions that had to process them.
IASS offers users a high level of security without a costly re-write of back office services. It give users unsecured device access to services usually only available from a secure location inside the MOD’s electronic boundary.
IASS provides identity and access management solutions, assuring secure authentication of employees who access internal applications, from anywhere and at any time. It offers “Defence in Depth” to protect MOD networks while at the same time facilitating access to essential information.
The use of the Department of Work and Pensions’ Government Gateway in the authentication process demonstrates MOD’s commitment to “joined up government” to create opportunities to share services within Government wherever possible.
The IASS capability extension to the self-service HR systems will save taxpayers millions of pounds over the next decade.
At the UKCeB Good Practice Market Place event in October 2009, IASS won the Excellence Award for Secure Information Sharing
