Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1997 > Committee of Public Accounts > Report No. 02 - Value for Money Examinations

APPENDIX 2

14 November, 1996.

Mr. Denis Foley T.D.,

Chairman,

Committee of Public Accounts, Leinster House,

Dublin 2.

Telephone Management in the Civil Service

Dear Deputy Foley,

Further to the Committee of Public Accounts meeting of 28th. March 1996 which examined the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on ‘Management of Telephone Facilities in the Civil Service’, I enclose a report indicating the current position in the Civil Service with regard to telephone usage policies and their effectiveness.

Significant progress has been made in this area throughout the Civil Service and I am satisfied that Departments and Offices are aware of the opportunities for cost savings afforded by the effective management of telephone facilities. This Department will continue actively to monitor the effectiveness of these policies to ensure that telephone costs are minimised to the greatest possible extent.

The report also discusses recent telecommunications developments in the Civil Service with particular regard to the planned use of Virtual Private Networking (VPN) Services from Telecom Éireann.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick H. Mullarkey

Secretary

Report prepared for the Committee of Public Accounts

Management and Control of Telecommunications Costs in the Civil Service

Centre for Management and Organisation Development

Department of Finance

November 1996

1. Introduction

At the Committee of Public Accounts meeting of March 28th 1996, which examined the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on the Management of Telephone Facilities in the Civil Service, the Department of Finance agreed to furnish a report later in the year to the Committee on the policies adopted by Departments and Offices in managing telephone facilities and associated costs. The report would also address general telecommunications developments in the Civil Service, particularly in relation to the use of new and emerging public telephone services.

In preparing this report, twenty-four Departments and Offices were requested to confirm their telecommunications usage policies and to indicate their effectiveness in controlling overall costs.

2. Framework for Telephone Management Policy

The Department of Finance circular 8/96 on ‘Management and Control of Telecommunications Costs in the Civil Service’ put forward the following framework for the development of an effective policy on telephone usage and cost control:

-The establishment of policies setting out accepted usage of telephone facilities and the circumstances under which staff can make various classes of calls;

-Programming of telephone switches to reflect accepted usage and, where economic, to employ least cost routing technology;

-Use of call monitoring systems on telephone switches to ensure that controls are adhered to and that costs are managed more effectively;

-Where Direct Dial Inward (DDI) is used, the re-examination of the need for existing direct lines and the promotion of the use of Voice Mail and Auto-operator facilities.

Section 3 discusses the information supplied by Departments in the context of this framework.

3. Summary of responses from Departments

3.1 Access controls on telephone calls

All Departments and Offices have implemented access controls on telephone facilities which place restrictions on the type of calls which staff may make, i.e. local, inland, international and premium rate calls.

Business needs determine the class(es) of calls with the majority of staff permitted only local calls. Premium rate calls are generally prohibited with the exception of three Departments who allow access for business purposes to a very limited number of staff. It is general policy that essential personal calls are accommodated, but that any significant costs are recouped. The Central Statistics Office have introduced public payphones for personal calls.

In large offices, access controls are effected through the programming of telephone switches and can be defined for an office as a whole (e.g. total bar on premium calls) and/or for each extension position within it. In smaller offices not served by a telephone switch the onus is placed on local management to ensure that facilities are used for business purposes only.

3.2 The Government Telecommunications Network (GTN)

The GTN provides a cheaper path than that available on the public telephone service for a high proportion of inland calls. Reports from Departments show that awareness of the GTN is maintained at a high level through office notices and the distribution of GTN directories to individual staff. A growing number of Departments now provide access at the desktop to electronic copies of the GTN directory.

In addition to encouraging the use of the GTN, a number of Departments have implemented least cost routing facilities to ensure that calls reach their destination using the cheapest available route, usually the GTN. While the universal implementation of least cost routing throughout the Civil Service is not feasible for technical and economic reasons, a number of examples are worth noting:

-The Department of Enterprise and Employment expect an annual saving of £50,000 as a result of arranging for calls to be routed via the GTN even when staff dial the public telephone number of an office or client;

-The Department of the Taoiseach and the Office of the Tánaiste have implemented a system similar to that in Enterprise and Employment;

-Foreign Affairs have exploited new services available to some of their missions abroad to reduce the cost of international calls by almost £25,000 per annum.

3.3 Use of Call Monitoring Systems

Computer based telephone call monitoring systems are in widespread use throughout the Civil Service. These systems provide information on the duration, cost and frequency of calls enabling managers to isolate abuses as well as validating telephone bills received from Telecom Éireann.

Twenty-two Departments/Offices have implemented call monitoring systems. The Departments of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and Justice are planning to introduce call monitoring on the replacement of old telephone systems in the near future.

3.4 Reduction in Direct Lines

Dependency on direct lines serving individual phones continues to reduce across the Civil Service. Rationalisation of telephone facilities and the availability of Direct Dial Inwards (DDI) and Voice Mail facilities have encouraged this process.

Twelve Departments report reductions in direct lines. Some notable examples are: the Department of Social Welfare have cancelled 402 direct lines since 1988; at their Dublin Castle complex, the Revenue Commissioners have ceased using 100 since 1992; Transport Energy and Communications have dropped 277 since 1994; Defence have reduced their complement by 144 this year; Finance have dropped 50 since 1995. These examples account for annual savings on line rental of approximately £100,000.

4. Telecommunications Developments in the Civil Service

4.1 Use of advanced Voice facilities

Since the Committee’s examination of the Comptroller & Auditor General’s report there has been a significant increase in the use of advanced voice facilities. At this stage, eleven Departments provide Direct Dial Inwards (DDI) or Auto-operator facilities, and twelve Departments have implemented Voice Mail facilities. Three Departments are planning to introduce these facilities in the near future.

4.2 Use of new public VPN telephone services

VPN is a service based on the public telephone network which provides organisations with private network facilities. It offers value added telephone services at attractive rates through discount schemes based on the number of calls made. Since 1995, an inter-departmental study group has been examining the feasibility of establishing a VPN for the Civil Service and the Non-commercial Public Sector. A contract is now being drawn up with Telecom Éireann and it is expected that implementation of a Government VPN will begin in January 1997 and be completed in mid-1998.

The availability of VPN services will provide a cost-effective alternative to the GTN. However, despite recent significant increases in TE leased line services, on which the GTN is entirely dependent, the GTN continues to deliver significant savings, particularly for high-volume users. It is planned therefore progressively to merge the GTN with the VPN service as the latter is implemented over the next 18 months.

5. Effectiveness of Telecommunications Policies

The policies laid down by Departments demonstrate a proactive approach to the management of telecommunications facilities and a clear understanding of the opportunities available to improve services and control overall costs. While the full potential of these policies has yet to be realised in the overall civil service context, a number of examples are already available demonstrating what can be achieved:

-Tourism and Trade report a reduction of 43% in telecommunications costs for the period between March and July 1996 and the corresponding period in 1995;

-Defence reduced their telecommunications costs from £3.3m in 1994 to £3.1m in 1995;

-Social Welfare have reduced telephone costs from £ 1.9m in 1991 to £1.5 m in 1995.

These achievements must be seen against the increased charges for local calls, the higher VAT rate of 21% applied since 1994, and a general increase in the use of telephone facilities to improve services to clients.

6. Conclusion

The Department of Finance is satisfied that significant progress is being achieved in the management of telecommunications costs. The Department will continue to monitor developments in telecommunications technology with a view to advising Departments on, and promoting, the effective use of telephone facilities and services. In this regard, the management of facilities and services will be reviewed from time to time.