> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://experience-digital-transform.gitbook.io/experience-digital-transformation/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://experience-digital-transform.gitbook.io/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1.md).

# Chapter 1: Cloud computing for public services: choosing an operating model

Cloud technology is offering several advantages for a DPI environment but entail also challenges for the IT team and the organization using cloud. This chapter introduces cloud technology and highlights the advantages for governments, DPI, and education. But addresses the challenges and responsibilities as well to provide a foundation for educated decisions for a sustainable environment for citizen and educational services. Starting point are the challenges a government faces using and providing digital services.

A permit service may have worked for years on a small application and a familiar server. Then the supplier announces the end of support. The annual application deadline brings a traffic peak that staff have learned to fear. Restoring the service depends on an old backup procedure and the one colleague who has performed it before. At the same time, other departments want to reuse identity and notification functions rather than buy or develop their own.

None of this begins as a debate about cloud brands or architecture diagrams. The institution has a service it must keep running for residents, businesses, and staff. It must decide how to sustain it, recover it, change it, and account for it when something goes wrong. A hosting discussion follows because the existing arrangement no longer gives a defensible answer to one of those ordinary operating problems.

The consequences within the public sector make this different from a private technical preference. A delayed permit can hold up a building project; an inaccessible benefit service can leave someone without a route to support; a missing record can affect a decision that the institution must explain. Public bodies also have duties around lawful processing, records, accessibility, procurement, security, continuity, and financial stewardship. Those duties do not tell every institution which technology to choose. They do mean that a decision must be tied to particular services and their obligations.

A sensible discussion begins with the condition that triggered it. Support may be ending. Recovery may rely on a fragile arrangement. Demand may peak beyond present capacity. Several services may need a common capability. A wider change programme may have exposed a system that no longer fits the service. The next question is what must remain dependable while the institution decides how to change it.

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**Companion material:** [HTML](https://git.vanillacore.net/giga/content/raw/branch/main/chapter-1/release/cloud-computing-public-services-decision-document-accessible.html) · [PDF](https://git.vanillacore.net/giga/content/raw/branch/main/chapter-1/release/cloud-computing-public-services-decision-document-review.pdf) · [DOCX](https://git.vanillacore.net/giga/content/raw/branch/main/chapter-1/release/cloud-computing-public-services-decision-document-review.docx) · [Source](https://git.vanillacore.net/giga/content/src/branch/main/chapter-1/chapter-1.md)
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="success" %}
**Agent skills for this chapter:** [GIGA Cloud Learning Guide](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/agent-skills/learning-system/giga-cloud-learning-guide.md) · [Workload Cloud-Fit Assessment](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/agent-skills/learning-system/workload-cloud-fit-assessment.md) · [Cloud Delivery Model Advisor](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/agent-skills/learning-system/cloud-delivery-model-advisor.md) · [Cloud Interoperability Explainer](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/agent-skills/learning-system/cloud-interoperability-explainer.md) · [Cloud Decision Gap Discovery](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/agent-skills/learning-system/cloud-decision-gap-discovery.md) · [Cloud Decision Matrix Steward](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/agent-skills/learning-system/cloud-decision-matrix-steward.md)
{% endhint %}

## In this chapter

* [Optional tooling for the assessment](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/optional-tooling-for-the-assessment.md)
* [Shared public building blocks raise the stakes](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/shared-public-building-blocks-raise-the-stakes.md)
* [Cloud as one way to run a service](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/cloud-as-one-way-to-run-a-service.md)
* [Describe the workload before comparing models](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/describe-the-workload-before-comparing-models.md)
* [Separate the three decisions](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/separate-the-three-decisions.md)
* [Use a route, not a label](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/use-a-route-not-a-label.md)
* [Accountability stays with the public authority](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/accountability-stays-with-the-public-authority.md)
* [Interfaces, dependencies, and open technologies](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/interfaces-dependencies-and-open-technologies.md)
* [Operate, review, and prepare an exit route](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/operate-review-and-prepare-an-exit-route.md)
* [Build a decision record that can be reviewed](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/build-a-decision-record-that-can-be-reviewed.md)
* [Cloud for Education?](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-1/cloud-for-education.md)


---

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