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The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) was a UK government agency providing computer and telecoms support to Government departments.

[edit] History

In 1957, the UK Government formed the Technical Support Unit (TSU) of HM Treasury (HMT) to evaluate and advise on computers, initially based around engineers from the telecommunications service.

As this unit evolved, it morphed into the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), which also had responsibilities as a central procurement body.

During the 1990s, its strategic role was eroded by the Cabinet Office's Central IT Unit (CITU), and in 2000 CCTA was fully subsumed into the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). ^[1]

Since then, the non-procurement IT / Telecommunications coordination role has remained in the Cabinet Office, under a number of successive guises:

• The Office of the E-Envoy (OeE)
• The eGovernment Unit (eGU)
• The Transformational Government (TG) Group

[edit] Activities

CCTA was the sponsor of a number of methodologies, including:

• Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM)
• PRojects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE, PRINCE2), which is an evolution of PROMPT, a project management method created by Simpact Systems Ltd in 1975 that was adopted by CCTA in 1979 for Government information system projects
• Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which has largely evolved through BS15000 into the ISO20000 series
• The CCTA Risk Analysis and Management Method (CRAMM)^[2], developed at the request of the Cabinet Office in 1985

It also was involved in technical developments, for instance as the sponsor of Project Spaceman in the mid 1980s. Under Project Spaceman, the ICL Defence Technology Centre (DTC), working closely with technical staff from CCTA and key security-intensive projects in the Ministry of Defence (such as OPCON CCIS) and in other sensitive departments, developed an enhanced security variant of VME.

[edit] References