ProRail and Conclusion: from an SLA to an XLA-driven partnership

ProRail is also pursuing objectives in the field of increased sustainability. And finally, the organization needs to make sure it is on the right track towards a future that harbours several unknowns. It is in this context, with a clear focus on long-term challenges, that ProRail's IT organization operates. So it should come as no surprise that when outsourcing its IT services, as it did for its workplace and generic infrastructure services (WGIS), the company preferred a long-term partnership. 

Arjan Drop is responsible for this element of ProRail's IT services, including anything running on Microsoft platforms, as well as telephony. Together with his team of 28 people, he deals with direct end clients or end users inside and outside of ProRail. And that includes the partnership with IT service provider Conclusion in the aforementioned fields. 

Eighteen months ago, ProRail put its IT services out to tender. Having already worked together for the previous eight years, the contract was once again awarded to Conclusion, albeit with a different objective in mind. 'In this new contract, user experience is key, and we're shifting the focus from SLA to XLA. On top of that, the new tender included a conscious contracting element, and we are moving away from our traditional client/supplier relationship. As a highly specialized organization, ProRail is also taking steps towards standardization. That's an objective for the long term, of course, meaning it requires a different type of relationship with our partners — one that is based on openness and trust, so that we can build a relationship that lasts.' 

To be able to work together successfully and in a structured manner in the long term, ProRail sat down with Conclusion to define the scope for the transformation of its WGIS element. In doing so, the partners decided to adopt the Agile/SAFe light working method, so that projects could be implemented by several different teams (streams) composed of both Conclusion and ProRail employees. 'This approach wasn't exactly common practice all over ProRail,' Drop comments, 'but fortunately, Conclusion has clearly demonstrated that SAFe not only has practical uses in the application domain, but in infrastructure too, for example — especially when it comes to development and innovation.'

One major stream is the workplace, in which Conclusion — aside from the further optimization of location-independent working — will be rolling up its sleeves to ensure future-proof device management, modern security solutions in line with the Zero Trust principle, and persona-specific services, among other things. Drop provides more detail: 'At ProRail, we have employees who work in continuous shift patterns. These people need 24/7 support. But we also have employees working on the tracks in all kinds of weather, carrying out inspections or responding to incidents, for example. These people need rugged laptops or tablets. By adopting persona-specific services, we're aiming to better meet the needs of these different groups of users and improve their user experience.' 

The security stream is closely linked to the workplace stream. The teams working in this stream are focusing on the implementation of MFA, ransomware prevention, and recovery. 'Given the rise in cybercrime, the security stream required extra attention and priority — something we were easily able to achieve using our agile working methods.' 

The new direction taken by the partners also extends to the collaboration and customer experience streams. When asked about these, Drop comments: 'In the past, we had a clearly defined client/supplier relationship with Conclusion, in which we were often quite prescriptive as a client. To ensure we can build a lasting relationship, this needed to change. We want to keep our hands on the wheel, of course, but we will be focusing less and less on the detail. For more generic IT services, we're already doing pretty well in that regard, but in ProRail-specific areas, we're still doing quite a lot ourselves. Even so, those areas are developing at an increasingly rapid pace, too, and it's becoming ever clearer that we will have no option but to bring onboard outside partners.' 

To ensure proper alignment between the differing requirements in this area within ProRail as an organization, both organizations are using 'linking pins' to enhance the role of Competence Centres, and to improve insight on both sides when it comes to mutual dependence. The implementation of 'conscious contracting' forms one aspect of that. Drop provides an example: 'Issues where ProRail and Conclusion have differing interests are providing a great testing ground. Take the Hyper-V functionality that comes included with Microsoft licences, for example. Making the most of this worked in ProRail's favour — no extra costs for separate Hypervisor licences — but presented an obstacle to Conclusion, which had to amend processes and was faced with a higher management workload as a result. How exactly do you approach that as partners? These are the kinds of issues you need to keep setting aside the necessary time for. But when the pressure rises and time comes at a premium, the focus tends to shift away from the partnership itself, even though investing in that partnership — think joint exercises using simulations, followed by an informal aspect — will pay back generously over time.' In other words: you get out what you put in, including when it comes to the social aspect. 

The timetable for the workplace and generic infrastructure stream is split into three phases. During the initial phase, the partners will focus on completing the IT transformation. The ProRail Roadmap, aimed at the further development and innovation of services, will then serve as the core of the next phase. The transitions from one phase to the next will be gradual, a fact that is also reflected in the process of migration to the cloud. Drop explains why: 'Data analytics will play an ever more important role at ProRail, for example, and given the workloads involved, the public cloud is the perfect place to gather and analyse the necessary data. Office365 has been broadly adopted within our organization, and together with Conclusion, we are also working towards cloud-based device management. But so far, not everyone at ProRail is convinced Azure is a good idea. The process of integrating the public cloud with our own infrastructure is still throwing certain challenges our way, for example.' 

As such, 'cloud only' remains a future prospect for the time being. For that exact reason, the infrastructure stream is working towards the design and creation of a future-proof Azure landing zone. That way, the migration to the cloud can be implemented gradually, without compromising on the option of developing new innovative services in the field of sensors and data today. 

The new contract between ProRail and Conclusion consists of one three-year term with six consecutive options to extend the term by two years, amounting to a total term of fifteen years. 'When it comes to technology, it's nigh impossible to look further ahead than the next three to five years. On the other hand, as a public service provider, ProRail has no option but to cast its gaze significantly further into the future. As part of your task as a railway infrastructure manager, the government expects to see a budget for the next fifteen years, for example. And that's perfectly possible for railway infrastructure itself, but in terms of technology, all we know is that you're likely to get much more for your money by that time.' 

The long-term nature of the partnership will also have an impact on the work to be done by Conclusion. More standardization is bound to have an impact on services and prices. On the other hand, more standardization also means that Conclusion will be able to scale back its client teams and shift its focus to service delivery — something its Agile approach easily allows.