PUBLIC SECTOR PROJECTS CAN WORK

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This is a celebration of success. Government

programmes, both nationallyand locally, are introducing IT

systems that offer citizensefficient, innovative and,above all, useful services.

All too often media stories focus on highprofile IT project failures, especially in thepublic sector. This hides the fact that thereare many stories about fascinating successes to be told.

All the programmes featured in thispublication were finalists or winners in theBCS’s prestigious 2007 ProjectExcellence Awards. These examples aredrawn from the categories covering publicsector organisations of the year, best useof green technology, social contributionprojects and several other areas.

The full list of finalists and winners isavailable at: www.bcs.org/awards

These programmes demonstrate thepassion, commitment and professionalismof those working in government IT. This istheir story. They tell us about thechallenges they had to overcome and thelessons learnt.

So please read on to discover the sheer scale and complexity of today’spublic sector IT programmes. You mayeven be able to pick up some useful tipson the way.

Elizabeth SparrowBCS Vice President, External Relations

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of a joined up, secure broadband network and thedeployment of CRM across 19 different locations),cultural (getting the authorities to work together),and political (was there an appropriate drive forchange and would it be managed effectively).

JUGNETTechnically the WSASP project team created asecure broadband network between authorities –JUGNET. This provides the communications infrastructure. They deployed the Lagan CRM system at a hub and created clients at each of thecentres, some as single user PCs and others as clusters. The team also included an enhanced securitymodule to enable data to be viewed either generallyor only by specified individuals and groups.

Initially the WSASP’s aim was to deliver theproject, but it was then mandated to maintain anddevelop the service and to extend its remit intointegration and business process change. All theauthorities attend monthly board meetings and this

The West Sussex Accessible Service Partnership(WSASP) is unique. It is a federation of the CountyCouncil and all seven of the district and boroughcouncils in West Sussex. It has successfully installeda joined-up client relationship management (CRM)system that enables citizens to report issues orrequest information about any local governmentservice and have them delivered by the relevantbody in the area.

The aim of the project was to provide a seamlessinformation service using a distributed CRM systemdelivered via a network of 19 help points situatedaround the county. These help points provide a face-to-face interface for any of the county’s750,000 citizens to enquire about any aspect oflocal government services. The project was designedto enable any request to be serviced, regardless oflocation, thereby avoiding the issue of being passedfrom one person or department to another.

The critical factors were technical (the creation

Access all areasThe aim was to provide atoolkit thatcould beexploited andadapted asindividual areasexplored CRMcapabilities.This has beenexceeded dramatically.

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group reports to the joint leaders andchief executives in the county. The strengthof leadership of the group and theresponsiveness of the development andsupport team are key factors in thesuccessful culture that has developed.WSASP is seen as an example for thoseauthorities with aspirations for sharingservices. This has helped to ensure thepolitical aspirations and by presenting itswork regularly (for example at an openday last year) the WSASP team is able toshowcase activities in a highly attractivemanner.

The aim was to provide a toolkit thatcould be exploited and adapted asindividual areas explored CRMcapabilities. This has been exceededdramatically. Customer service agentshave taken ownership of the scriptingelement and are adapting the system totheir local needs. The infrastructure hasbeen robust and has been used toimplement a telephone contact centre (notpart of the original plan). This has been sosuccessful that a second one is to beopened about the time of deadline for thissubmission.

The CRM system is so flexible it hasalso been used as a back office databaseand workflow management system forwaste managers. Initially this was donefor a project where two authorities (Adurand Worthing) wanted to work togetherand the success of this initiative was thecatalyst for a third authority (Mid Sussex)to do the same. A fourth (Horsham) isjust starting down the same track.

The coordination of project activityhas been critical to this work and WSASPappointed a coordinator, jointly funded (inequal amounts) by all the participants.This has ensured there is a focus for theon-going development activity. This in turnhas led to the award of a grant fromcentral government for capacity buildingacross all of Sussex.

BenefitsThe first impact of the scheme was in thenumber of enquiries that are now satisfiedat the first point of contact. Help pointstaff are regularly sorting out over 95 percent of issues the public reports; the government target is to achieve 80 percent. They handle about 10,000 suchinteractions each month, growing from justa few hundred in the first month of opening.

The success of the way in whichWSASP is managed and funded (currently£10,000 per year per authority) has

generated significant external interest.Specifically, the partnership has receivednearly £500,000 for the current year todevelop new activities based around theexploitation of CRM. All of this has beendone with no expansion of the humanresources.

Moreover, the first telephony contactcentre using the hardware and softwareinfrastructure is handling 8,000 calls amonth. A second contact centre is aboutto be opened, saving the host authority(Mid Sussex District Council) over£100,000 of capital costs.

The Adur Worthing partnership (AWS)for waste management has been a greatbeneficiary. It uses the CRM system andreports from it to manage its entirecustomer service for waste collection. Thishas helped to improve service responsetimes as well as to assist strategicplanning. A major initiative is now underway to incorporate all ‘street scene’

By installing a secure wide areanetwork (JUGNET – joined up government network) and by usingthis to enable the introduction of aCRM system hosted by the CountyCouncil, but with access to eachauthority, it has been possible tooffer a seamless service where byrequests for service or informationcan be serviced from anywherewithin the area.

J U G N E T

There were huge issues relating tosecurity, notably to the opening of firewalls to enable authorities to communicate fully whilst still maintaining acceptable protection. The use of DNS servers and differentlocal IT policies has been a huge challenge, as has the creation of localinstallation policies.

These have been resolved by theproduction of support and installationguides and the agreement of a servicelevel agreement for the infrastructurethat is acceptable to all authorities.The biggest challenge was thereforeexplaining to end users how securityworks and is enabled and managed.

C H A L L E N G E S F A C E D

It required the training of a centralsupport team to respond to user issuesand also the agreement of individualIT managers to adhere to a structuredbug reporting process.

What was not anticipated was thereluctance to changes in workingpractice apparent in some managers.The most effective way to win heartsand minds was to lead by example. The regular visits by staff from oneauthority to another are used tohighlight good practice. The obviousexample is the lessons learned by Adurand Worthing Services being used asthe model for two other authorities toadopt similar practices.

incidents (graffiti, dog fouling and streetsweeping). By exploitation of WSASPmembership their running andmaintenance costs for CRM have beenreduced by over 200 per cent.

All of the local authorities in WestSussex were involved. This alone is uniquein the UK. A data sharing protocol wasagreed by all the corporate lawyers andthis has been made available to otherauthorities in the country to enable themto better work together.

The partnership maintains a structuredapproach to activities. Monthly boardmeetings are used to report and planmajor activities at a strategic level, with atechnical advisory board controllingdetailed activity.

The concept of the partnership was toenable new ways of working. Spin-offbenefits have been initiatives like thecreation of CENSUS (the Central SussexIT service now offering a single supportteam for three authorities).

The key factor in maintaining thequality of relationships is the articulationof goals so everyone can see where theyare developing, set against the context ofchallenges that local government has toface. Of similar importance is the abilityto communicate effectively to differentcontributors. This means the projectmanager has to provide detailed technicalexplanations to IT staff and summarisethese issues in an easy to digest form forfront line staff. This is also enabled byoperating occasionally as an agent handlingcustomer enquiries, thereby being a useras well as a developer of the system.

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The project team worked with third parties todevelop innovative features such as search pre-processing which inverted the stemmingalgorithm to cater for Welsh language mutationrules in the search engine, and an interactivecalendar which dynamically locates documentsrelating to business meetings, offering a one-stopservice for users and saving publishers time.

The main challenge was ensuring that thehistorical documents held on the old website weremigrated to the new site as efficiently as possible.Almost 60,000 documents were held on the old site,and given their legal status, had to be moved over.The problems were numerous, with the majority ofdocuments not fit to be migrated over to the newsite as they were, given the poor quality of databehind them. There were also major concerns thatthese old documents broke accessibility guidelines,which was unacceptable for a brand new site.Having trawled through the data behind thesedocuments, the project team also discovered thatthere was no way to mechanically link the Englishand Welsh versions of the documents – a keyrequirement both for the search engine to functionproperly and from the users’ perspective.

The project team considered all possible optionsbefore presenting the solution to the project board –the documents were to be converted into PDF, thussolving the accessibility issues, but had to bematched manually. This task was undertaken by theproject team and numerous volunteers throughoutthe relevant departments of the National Assemblyfor Wales.

A huge challenge was ensuring that the main

The Assembly Commission serves the electedMembers of the National Assembly for Wales. The National Assembly is the 60 Assembly Members(AMs) elected by the people of Wales. They meet ina debating chamber in Cardiff, the capital city ofWales. The National Assembly oversees most public expenditure in Wales, and has powers to make legislation on a wide range of subjects.

The biggest impact of the website on the performanceof the organisation has been how it presents itself tocustomers and users. The site was launched in May2007 to coincide with a new era heralding enhancedlaw-making powers for the Assembly.

The website is a key tool in meeting thechallenge of explaining the new roles and powers ofthe Assembly to users, and will be one of thevehicles that makes the democratic process in Walesrun as efficiently as possible, aided by the intuitivepublishing mechanisms which result in multiplecontent authors publishing material in a timely,consistent and accessible format. Dynamic featureswithin the site content management system savespublishers time and dramatically cuts tediousmultiple content entry, resulting in more efficientworking practices.

By introducing the key members of the projectteam to each other early on in the process, andholding workshops to agree on the key requirements,the whole team were aware of the project’s goals fromthe start, and all presentations to key stakeholders,such as Assembly Members, were conducted as ajoint effort, which was a key factor in nurturing asense of shared ownership of the final product.

New mouth Wales

The website isa key tool inmeeting thechallenge ofexplaining thenew roles andpowers of theAssembly tousers, and willbe one of thevehicles thatmakes thedemocraticprocess inWales run asefficently aspossible.

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failing of the old site – the search engine –was not only adequately met but addedconsiderable value to the site. One of thekey requirements for the desiredtechnological solution was that it is ableto search data equally well in English andin Welsh and to effortlessly identifylinkages between different documentsregardless of their language. BT selectedAutonomy’s technology after competitiveprocurement owing to its unparalleledlanguage independence. Autonomy’sDynamic Reasoning Engine is based onadvanced pattern-matching technology(non-linear adaptive digital signalprocessing) that exploits high-performanceprobabilistic modelling techniques toextract a document’s digital essence anddetermine the characteristics that give thetext meaning. As this technology is basedon probabilistic modelling, it does not useany form of language dependent parsingor dictionaries. Words are treated asabstract symbols of meaning and theengine derives its understanding throughthe context of their occurrence, ratherthan a rigid definition of the languagegrammar.

Award-winningAutonomy’s award-winning IDOL technology was a particularly apt choicefor the search facility since it uses a uniquecombination of Bayesian probability andinformation theory and can derive meaningfrom unstructured information. IDOL formsa conceptual and contextual understandingof data in any format and language andcan identify links between disparate piecesof information that are not immediatelyobvious. In addition to being language andformat independent IDOL sits above anorganisation’s multiple databases and cansearch content across multiple repositories.

The complexity of the Welsh languagepresented another challenge – how toconstruct dictionaries of Welsh languagesynonyms. The normal approach to this isto construct dictionaries of synonyms andto use a stemming algorithm to detectvariations in words e.g. instances of run,runs, and running would all be returnedfrom a search for run. Unfortunately thisconventional stemming algorithm does notfully cover Welsh where the language alsocontains rules which change the beginningof words (rather than the ending)according to gender and context – alanguage feature known as mutation. For example the Welsh word for Wales is

Cymru, Gymru, or Nghymru, depending oncontext.

The team worked with the Autonomyprofessional services team to developsearch pre-processing which inverted thestemming algorithm to cater for the Welshmutation rules. This meant that searchesof the site using Welsh search terms wouldbe stemmed according to the Welshmutation rules whilst English search terms

would be stemmed according to theconventional stemming algorithm.

This additional bespoke coding isunique to this project and ensures thatsearches in Welsh and English return fullyequivalent results. By doing this,Autonomy’s technology has taken theconcept of treating the Welsh and English languages with total equivalenceto a new level.

The critical success factors can besummarised by the aims of the project:to provide the National Assembly forWales with an excellent bilingual website, whose main purpose was to:

encourage engagement between thepeople of Wales and stakeholders of the National Assembly for Waleswith the organisation; facilitate the democratic process by enhancing communication between voters and their elected representatives;present the work of the National Assembly for Wales in the most accessible, timely and efficient way.

To achieve the purpose of the project,the product had to meet all of the

following needs if it was to be seen asa success:

develop a website that offers first-class interactivity with users, including advanced features such asthe ability for users to identify theirconstituency and assembly memberswith minimum fuss; include outstanding content that is also of quality, has usability, is accessible and well designed;the site should have effective mechanisms for the control and coordination of publishing content to the internet within the organisation;the site should be hosted securely and independently of the Assembly’s network.

P R O J E C T O U T L I N E

The main parties involved were theNational Assembly for Wales and aconsortium of companies led by BT.

The parties worked exceptionallywell together at all levels. In terms ofstructured meetings, the seniorresponsible officer on behalf of theAssembly and the client operationsdirector on behalf of BT met monthlyto discuss how the project wasprogressing. Regular project meetingswere held, chaired by the seniorresponsible officer and with projectmanagers and key staff in attendance.The project managers for the Assemblyand BT held weekly checkpoint calls tosummarise the main issues of theweek, and the development team metfrequently with the project team toprogress the day-to-day issues.

The development work on the initial

W O R K I N G R E L A T I O N S H I P S

requirements was conducted jointly,which added to the sense of ownershipof the product between the parties.Having a dedicated and stable team onthe project for its duration alsocontributed significantly to the sense ofjoint ownership.

A factor that contributed tomaintaining a good quality relationshipbetween the parties was that a seniorbusiness analyst from BT was postedto work with Assembly staffthroughout the project. The businessanalyst was the main customerrelationship conduit who acted onbehalf of both Assembly and BT.Added to this, social events were alsoarranged where the teams would gettogether outside of work whichcontributed to team building andbonding.

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different ways of working were key to bringingabout the improvements in performance the councilwanted to achieve. The vision, ambition andcommitment were there, but like all localauthorities, it faced considerable financial restraints.A radical solution was needed and a bold andpioneering decision was taken.

The council joined forces with the private sectorand set up RBT (Connect) – a joint venturecompany between the council and BT. Thepartnership was launched in 2003 and over the last12 months many ground-breaking projects havecome to fruition. During the 12-year life of thepartnership, BT is investing £30 million in world-class,leading-edge technology, new business practices,training and better ways of working. The councilbenefits from £50 million of efficiency savings toplough back into the provision of ever higher qualityservices for Rotherham citizens.

RBT (Connect) took over responsibility for fiveareas of work on behalf of the council – ICT,revenues and benefits, HR and payroll, procurement,and Rotherham Connect (a telephone contact centre).

The council is now at the forefront of customerservice in the UK. Investment in new technologycombined with innovative ways of using it hastransformed the way it works and delivers services.

Rotherham residents are feeling the benefitacross a whole range of services including an

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council made acommitment to modernise, become more efficient,and improve the quality of services to the quarter ofa million people it serves. Investment was badlyneeded in new technology, training and better waysof working. A pioneering partnership with BT, calledRBT (Connect), unlocked investment and made possible a radical re-think of the way the counciloperates.

The partnership, launched in 2003, has combined thevery best of the private and public sectors.Innovative use of new technology combined withimaginative process re-engineering has resulted in amajor transformation in the performance of thecouncil.

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is anorganisation with 13,500 employees working on300 sites across the borough, providing a wide rangeof services to a population of a quarter of a millionpeople. There was a recognition that there was alack of a one-council approach to delivering servicesand that it was sometimes out of step and laggingbehind the requirements and expectations of its customers. Its IT infrastructure was also out-of-date,fragile, and in danger of becoming seriously overloaded.

Investment in new technology, training and

Keeping close council

There was arecognisationthat there wasa lack of a one-councilapproach todelivering services andthat it wassometimes outof step and lagging behindthe needs ofthe customers.

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award-winning revenues and benefitsservice; procurement savings of £3 millionthis year; cutting edge technology inRotherham schools, cleaner streetsthrough Rotherham’s award-winningStreetpride initiative; closer working withpartners, including health, which isimproving standards of care for the mostvulnerable members of our community;and better protection in the event of amajor emergency.

At the same time as it pledged toimprove services, the council also pledgedto become a better employer. Staff too arebenefiting from the partnership.Successful initiatives include an award-winning flexible working scheme (madepossible by new technology), and anintranet-based, self-service HR initiativewhich enables staff and managers toaccess and update their details.

BenefitsThe introduction of a far-reaching tailor-made procurement system by thepartnership has transformed the way thecouncil buys in goods and services.Savings of £1 million were made in itsfirst year of operation, almost £3 millionhas been saved this year, and it is oncourse to save £3.5 million next year. Partof these savings have been ploughed backinto front line services for the people ofRotherham, including three brand newcustomer service centres, with anotherthree planned at strategic locations acrossthe borough over the next 18 months.Rotherham is the first local authority tocarry out virtually 100 per cent of its procurement processes electronically. New initiatives developed during the last12 months include electronic request for quotation (eRFQ), eTendering andeEvaluation. Procurement at Rotherhamhas been awarded Beacon Status by thegovernment.

Two purpose built contact centres havebeen established with a total of 100 seats.Branded Rotherham Connect, this hascompletely changed the customerexperience of contacting the council.Customers can get in touch with thecouncil 12 hours a day, five days a week,at a time and in a way convenient to them,whether by traditional routes such astelephone (including minicom) or usingnewer technologies such as the Internet,email, SMS text messaging and Digital TV.

There are also five widely advertiseddedicated golden numbers whichcustomers can ring for key services. One of

these is Streetpride, an award-winningenvironmental initiative which coversevery aspect of the street scene inRotherham. Callers can report issues suchas litter, graffiti, flytipping, a faulty streetlight, or a broken seat. GIS and newtechnology means the location of theproblem can be pinpointed instantly.

One of many satisfied customers said,‘I reported some flytipping last week byphone. The officer who took my call wasfriendly, polite and efficient, and the nextmorning (less than 24 hours after I’dreported it), the site was clear of thedebris. Just thought I’d say well done.’

Three new one-stop customer servicecentres (three more are due to open in thenext 18 months) have transformed the

way residents do business with the council.Old, out-of-date, somewhat unfriendlybuildings have been replaced by bright,modern areas. A queue managementsystem has drastically cut waiting times,and a team of highly trained advisors withthe latest CRM technology at theirfingertips can answer a range of queriesquickly and efficiently. The first to openwas the Civic Building in the town centre.A recent customer exit survey records 100per cent satisfaction for helpfulness, 100per cent satisfaction for the tidiness andcomfort of the waiting areas, and 95 percent satisfaction with the opening hours.A total of 85 per cent of customers had towait less than 15 minutes, and 10 per centless than 30 minutes.

Efficiency savings are being ploughedback into front line services for thepeople of Rotherham, who are alsobenefiting from greater accessibility tothese improved services.

Investment in new technologymeans that residents are benefitingfrom a whole range of initiativesincluding one stop customer servicecentres, a telephone contact centreopen 12 hours a day, five days a week,cleaner streets, an award-winning

revenues and benefits service, cuttingedge technology in schools, and evenbetter protection in the event of anemergency.

IT is being used as a means to anend – and that end is better servicesfor the people of Rotherham. Earlierthis year Rotherham’s efforts toimprove were recognised nationallywhen it was named as most improvedcouncil in the country.

P R O J E C T O U T L I N E

The council’s benefits service has beentransformed from a failing service to afour star service, according to theAudit Commission. Rotherham is oneof the most disadvantages areas in thecountry, and housing benefit and council tax benefit are important contributions to many household budgets. Prevention of benefit fraud,together with quick and efficient payment of benefits to all those entitledto them, helps support communitiesand the local economy.

Customers benefit from quicker andmore accurate processing of claims,shorter waiting times and moreinvolvement in and consultation aboutthe service. Rotherham is leadauthority on the national eBenefitsproject which uses new technology toprovide a joined-up, more accessible

R E A L B E N E F I T

service to claimants across England.Thousands of Rotherham

schoolchildren benefit from RotherhamGrid for Learning. It provides fast,secure and effective broadbandinternet and email for schools.Businesses, libraries, museums, youthclubs and community groups will allsoon be connected.

A high-tech solution has beendeveloped to speed up the flow of vitalinformation to everyone involved inresponding to a major emergency inRotherham. The emergency planningincident management system (EPIMS)is the first of its kind in the country.

With the help of RBT, the country’sfirst masters degree course ineGovernment has also been launchedat Sheffield Hallam University.

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trade; this will therefore have been their first experience of using a large scale IT system. In orderto smooth this transition, full face-to-face trainingwas given to users at the garage in which theyworked and full, written user instructions wereissued. An opinion poll conducted in late 2006 bythe respected MORI organisation found that 75 percent of garages reported that MOT computerisationhas had a positive impact on their business and 95per cent said the system was easy to use.

Beneficial systemVia a PFI initiative with Siemens IT Solutions andServices, a desktop PC, monitor, keyboard, printer,modem, mouse and smart card reader have beeninstalled free of charge into all 19,000 MOT garagesin Great Britain. In addition, all documentation andprinter consumables are provided free of charge asis the support infrastructure, equipment fault resolution and service desk back-up. To ensure thatall users are best placed to derive maximum benefitsfrom the system, on-site training was delivered to all55,000 end users at the point of installation by dedicated trainers; comprehensive manuals detailinghow to use the system are also provided to allgarages, together with computer-based trainingfacilities on their PC.

The principal use of MOT computerisation is torecord the results of MOT tests and issueprofessional, computer-generated MOT testdocuments instead of the previous hand-writtendocumentation. The new style MOT certificatesinclude a reminder sticker which motorists can affix

MOT computerisation has brought about the biggestchange to the MOT scheme since the scheme wasintroduced almost 50 years ago. The project has provided all 19,000 MOT garages in Great Britainwith computer hardware linking them to a central database of MOT results. The purpose is to create anelectronic record of all MOT tests conducted in GB;the database record has replaced the old, paper MOTcertificate as the definitive proof of MOT status. In addition, the project has enabled VOSAand garages to communicate in real time, providedgarages with electronic ordering and paymentmechanisms, allowed motorists to re-license vehicles over the internet and created a websitewhich enables motorists to check MOT status andhistory free of charge.

Instead of receiving hand written MOT documentationas they did for over 40 years, 23 million motoristsper annum now receive more professional computergenerated certificates and other MOT related documents. In addition, they now have the capabilityto use the internet to check the MOT status and history of a vehicle which they may be consideringpurchasing.

Also, the same group can now purchase theirroad tax online rather than make time consumingtrips with paper documents to the Post Office. Thiswill have brought significant, tangible IT relatedbenefits into the lives of the vast majority ofmotorists in Great Britain.

Similarly, the majority of the 55,000 regularusers of MOT computerisation are mechanics by

Keeping motors runningThe principaluse of MOTcomputerisationis to record theresults of MOTtests and issueprofessional,computer generated MOTdocumentsinstead of theprevious hand-writtenones.

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to their vehicle. The PCs connect to thecentral database in real time via thestandard public telephone system, torecord the definitive result of all MOTtests. MOT computerisation is also a toolfor VOSA to administer the MOT schemeso internal VOSA area office staff canalso access the central database using webbrowsers from their normal office desktopenvironment. There are permanentconnections to the central database forDVLA, so that the DVLA vehicle recordssystem can be updated with MOT Testresults, thus enabling DVLA’s electronicvehicle licensing service and making MOTtest information available to enforcementagencies such as the police.

As detailed below, MOTcomputerisation is already delivering asignificant range of benefits for MOTgarages, DVLA, police, VOSA and 23million motorists. The potential use ofMOT computerisation and how furtherbenefits may be realised in the future iscurrently being explored; these couldinclude:

A service to provide MOT test information to vehicle fleet operators electronically so that they can ensure the vehicles belonging to them are roadworthy; this pilot is currently in joint evaluation with a major vehicle leasing company. Provided that the pilot proves to be successful, this will be implemented during 2008 as an internet-based service.A handheld testing device into which MOT testers will record MOT test results as they conduct the physical inspection of the vehicle. This will then be docked and the results automatically uploaded into MOT computerisation. This will save testers time and effort, thereby shortening the duration of the MOT test. Good news for motorists as well. Increased availability of MOT test history information to those involved invehicle checking, for instance HPI. Thisshould enable more robust checks on avehicle at the point of sale, leading to improved protection for consumers anda reduction in vehicle crime. The MOT transformation project in which VOSA is using the management information provided by MOT computerisation to police the MOT scheme more effectively. During 2007/8, VOSA began moving to a risk-based approach to MOT

enforcement which will better target our finite resources towards the non-compliant whilst reducing the burden on compliant garages. A direct link between MOT computerisation and automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) cameras. This would enable police to be informed, in real time, whether a vehicle passing an ANPR camera has acurrent, valid MOT certificate. This would enable police to target manpoweragainst the minority of non-compliant motorists without having to spend timeand resource in stopping innocent, compliant motorists.

MOT computerisation is an award winningproject in recognition of three significantachievements:

The scale of the project. A new computersystem was installed into 18,300 separate, private businesses together with on-site training in less than 12months. During the past three years, 20,300 different garages have used thesystem; they have recorded the results of over 84 million MOT tests and issuedover 60 million MOT certificates Making a difference. MOT Computerisation has made a real,

tangible difference to the owners of 23million vehicles, the vast majority of motorists within GB. They can now check the MOT status and history of a vehicle and thanks to the link with the DVLA EVL Project, re-license their vehicle at home easily and quickly without having to take pieces of paper to the Post Office. 55,000 MOT testers, a large number of whom were unfamiliar with IT, now use MOT computerisation on a daily basis. Reliability, integrity and repute. On busy days, over 150,000 MOT tests areconducted in the UK. It is therefore essential that garages have a reliable system which enables them to test vehicles whenever they need to do so. MOT computerisation is available to garages 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. The service desk also provides back up from 6am to 10pm 365 days a year.

The garage hardware is also proving to be reliable; 99.9 per cent of tests were conducted in normal runningwithout recourse to the business continuity procedures. More garages have joined the MOT scheme since the system was introduced; this is in directcontrast to the expectations of the garage trade.

MOT computerisation uses bespokesoftware developed specifically forVOSA by Siemens IT Solutions andServices. The dedicated MOT softwareinterfaces with a separately maintainedtechnical database which provides vehicle testers with up-to-date, nuts-and-bolts, information specific to theactual make and model of vehicleundergoing test. This information

includes details such as how to conductbrake tests, how to adjust headlampsand diagrams of seat belt locationsand jacking points. When testers inputMOT test results into the system, itautomatically calculates brake performance, something they previouslyhad to do manually, thus ensuringaccuracy and consistency of testingthroughout GB.

P R O J E C T O U T L I N E

MOT garages – electronic orderingand payment; access to management information reports;DVLA – improved vehicle records; greater take-up of electronic vehiclelicensing. Police – record of a vehicle’s MOT status can now be made available

R E A L B E N E F I T

on police national computer;VOSA – improved efficiency in administering the MOT scheme; better targeting of resources;Motorists – improved consumer protection and greater consistency in MOT testing standards.

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in the use of vehicle tracking and has now moved onto the comprehensive re-development of back officesystems and re-engineering of business processes tosupport remote job despatch and completion viahandheld PDA devices. All this has been achieved inpartnership with APD Communications, a companyspecialising in mobile information systems.

In June 2003 Newcastle City Council began itsmobile working programme by tendering for acontract to deliver vehicle tracking. APDCommunications was successful and the council nowhas tracking installed in over 450 vehicles on itsway to tracking the entire fleet.

A project to deliver remote job despatch andcompletion in the housing repairs and maintenanceservice has also been completed in partnership withAPD Communications. It began in June 2006, waspiloted in December 2006 and has been fullyoperational since April 2007, with 128 operativesnow using PDA devices.

A pilot will be shortly underway inenvironmental services – covering groundsmaintenance, cleansing and pest control services -which will support at least 58 users by July 2008.

Utilising a GPRS framework, the technicalsolution is built around a simple messaging facilitywhereby jobs are delivered to and from mobiledevices as and when requested. In addition to this,actions which take place on the device trigger statusmessages which are sent back for viewing bymanagers. In this way it is possible to track thestatus of jobs and the movement and availability ofresources, which in turn allows for a more efficient

Mobile Working is driven by business need. It isabout transforming the way services are deliveredand maximising investment in best of breed technology. Newcastle City Council’s MobileWorking Programme has delivered a convergent andsustainable business-focused mobile working solution, which is now being extended across theCouncil. Newcastle, with its partner APDCommunications and supported by the North EastCentre of Excellence, has now firmly established itsposition nationally as a leading local authority.

Some benefits are direct, tangible and already delivered – others have not yet been fully realisedbut are recognised and are being tracked. However,what is clear from the financial benefits alone isthat in Newcastle’s repairs and maintenance servicethe return within a year of mobilisation has alreadybeen almost double the original investment made.Newcastle’s is a model from which other localauthorities can gain knowledge and experience, andhas the potential to host mobile solutions for otherlocal authorities in the North East region.

BackgroundOver the recent few years Newcastle City Council has recognised the potential benefits of mobile technology,led by robust business and project management, as ameans of gaining efficiencies and delivering serviceimprovement.

Within Newcastle attention has been principallyfocused on the neighbourhood services directorate.It has evolved from, in the first instance, investment

Upwardly mobile

business

Over therecent fewyears,Newcastle CityCouncil hasrecognised thebenefits ofusing mobile technology, ledby robust business andproject management,as a means ofincreasing efficiency anddelivering realserviceimprovement.

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use of resources as jobs – and inparticular emergency jobs – can bedelivered to the nearest available andskilled operative.

Mobile working is part of a larger andvery ambitious IT transformationprogramme within Newcastle City Council.It is managed using the council’s ownmanagement frameworks which are basedon industry standard best practice – MSP,PRINCE2 and ITIL.

The rationale for mobile working is todeliver change for the better, which hasrequired winning hearts and minds acrossthe organisation. Extensive and intensivework has been completed to review andre-engineer business processes, challengeand change long established ways ofworking, re-draw responsibilities and re-define operating procedures and servicestandards.

At a practical level organisationalchange has been facilitated by involvingstaff at the outset, being honest with themand explaining the potential benefits tothem in their work, such as:

less paperwork;less supervision and more responsibility;less down-time;less travel;ability to work from home;lone worker protection;improved skills;making effective use of a communication plan with key roles andclear responsibilities;understanding staff IT skills and tailoring training to individual needs;ensuring that open and easy feedback mechanisms are available and used;engaging positively with the trade unions, gaining and maintaining their support including partnership work with the trade unions’ learning and skills for life teams.

The total project costs to date have beensupported by a combination of councilmainstream and transformation funding,and funding from the North East Centreof Excellence.

Critical success factorsA number of factors have been, and continue to be, critical to the successfuldelivery of the mobile working programmein Newcastle City Council.

Senior management leadership andcommitment is essential to provide thevision, drive and determination to succeed,

and the necessary resources to support theproject. Robust management is required toorganise the delivery of the project and tomanage the engagement of allstakeholders, especially the operatives andtrade unions. Crucially, this needs toensure that the business embraces andembeds the required changes, includingnew IT solutions.

A multi-skilled team is necessary tolead the project on a day-to-day basis,providing the acumen and specialist know-how to understand the business andto work through solutions. One sizedoesn’t fit all and a flexible approach isrequired which recognises differingindividual needs.

Business benefits need to be identifiedat the outset, with clear metrics andsystematic methods of measurement toensure that they are realised. Lessonslearned along the way need to berecognised, shared and implemented ifthey will improve the project.

Newcastle City Council and APDCommunications’ work is beginning to be

noticed, and not just by other localauthorities. Newcastle’s experience is alsoa Project Nomad Case Study and thecouncil is a member of the MobileComputers User Group.

Best practiceThere are huge opportunities for others tobenefit from Newcastle’s experience andinvestment, to which the council is alwaysopen. Some other local authorities in theregion have already approached Newcastleand others could also be helped through:

reducing risk and effort;enabling quicker procurement, roll-out and return on investment;reducing costs through shared infrastructure, hardware and software (Berwick, for example, now has vehicletracking running on Newcastle’s IT infrastructure);optimising or sharing resources;providing project and technical advice.Newcastle has already provided advice to a number of authorities.

There are ambitious plans to extendmobile working into other serviceareas across the Newcastle CityCouncil as part of service transformation. This programme covers:

environmental services pilot and roll-out;gas servicing and capital works;inspection services;play areas, engineering services, trees, cemeteries;public health;planning and building control;

grounds maintenance and grass cutting;engineering services;gritting vehicles;buildings management and cleaning;leisure and sports development.

Deeper business and technical integration is also planned, covering:

stores and stock management;call centre operations;maps in the field.

F U T U R E S T E P S

Outcomes and benefitsAt the outset of the mobile workingprogramme there were broad aspirationsof how the business could be improved.Prior to starting the projects to deliverremote job despatch and completion inthe repairs and maintenance serviceand environmental services, these aspirations were refined into a clearset of benefits and metrics which hasenabled their delivery to be tracked,

B U S I N E S S E V A L U A T I O N

monitored and demonstrated. The investment in mobilising the

repairs and maintenance service hasalready been returned, almost twiceover, as the cashable value of themeasured benefits to date is over£500,000. The most significant savingshave been made from reduced staffingand accommodation as well asincreased revenue from improvedcustomer satisfaction.

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ensure its workforce has adequate computer user(CU) skills, which the DfES has also recognised as thethird basic skill alongside literacy and numeracy. Thedefence training review recommended that all indefence should develop information age skills and becompetent to an appropriate level in CU skillsrequired for their job, career and personaldevelopment. This is a key enabler for the full benefitsrealisation of the defence-wide information and HRsystems currently being introduced and theincreasingly digital nature of the defence business.

Necessary skillsThe core MOD qualification for gaining and testingcomputer user (CU) skills is the European ComputerDriving Licence (ECDL). This qualification hasinternational recognition, and it has recently beenchanged to International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL). The ECDL has been mapped onto the NQF and fullymeets the requirements of the NationalOccupational Standards framework; this supportsthe MOD aim of offering accreditation opportunitiesfor defence training.

The MOD’s computer user policy was published in2006 and the latest policy now stipulates the exactrequirements and performance targets for all of the MOD.

This policy is to be fully implemented for newentrants by September 2008 and for all otherscurrently employed in Defence by 1 April 2012. Singleservices are to report once per year at the end of Q4with the first report due at the end of financial year2007 - 2008.

Defence Business Learning (dblearning) providesbusiness related courses for all Ministry of Defence(MOD) personnel, whether they are civilian or military personnel of which there are in the regionof 300,000 in total. Its mission is to provide opportunities to help people in defence learn morequickly the skills they need to perform businesstasks effectively, both immediately and in the future.

The MOD ECDL Management Centre is a sectionwithin dblearning which has the remit to deliversuitable training and assessment in order that theMOD can ensure its employees are provided withadequate IT skills to enable them to carry out theirroles within the MOD efficiently and confidently.

The achievement of military effect and businesssuccess will, in future, be significantly enhancedthrough the networking of existing and futurecapabilities. The potential and power of networkingspans the whole of defence in both the operational andnon-operational environments. We have an ever-increasing ability to generate information, move itaround more quickly and make it available to morepeople – often simultaneously. One of the MOD’shighest priorities is to manage the increasing use ofinformation and communication technology (ICT) inthe battle-space. In addition, the business-space andour administrative processes are increasinglysupported by ICT.

One government aim has been to make allgovernment services available electronically. Allpersonnel working in defence need to be able toexploit these opportunities. Therefore, the MOD must

One aim hasbeen to makeall governmentservices available electronically.All personnelworking indefence needto be able toexploit these opportunities.Therefore theMOD mustensure itsworkforce hasadequate computerskills.

Driving the defence business

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All of this further supports the effortsalready made to improve the computerskills of MOD employees, in an organisationwhich promotes personal development at alllevels. The success of the scheme todaycannot, and should not, be measured bynumbers alone as improved performance,better skilled employees and accessibletraining and testing cannot be quantifiedsimply by analysing data.

Customer service is high priority fordblearning and this feeds through from theheart of the MEMC scheme (the MEMCteam) through to all parties involved andback again. The success is not measurablebut is certainly felt by students and testcentres alike by the way problems areresolved efficiently and courteously.

Given the candidates have three years tocomplete ECDL and that many candidatesmay not intend achieving any more than aLevel 1 qualification, having 30 per cent ofstudents completing all modules isremarkable given the transient nature of theMODs employees. These figures do notinclude statistics from off-line centres.

Since January 2003, 135,623 successfultests have been completed online, again thisdoes not include tests taken at off-linecentres.

Costs have been minimised by havingone test centre with over 100 satellitecentres (currently 92 online centres and 11offline testing facilities) although thisnumber changes every month as morecentres join the scheme.

Electronic logbooks are used to save onadministration costs and to avoid loss of thelogbook with personnel continually being onthe move. As a result of the high throughputof the testing competitive test fees, royaltiesand registration fees have been negotiated.

MEMC provides the in-house expertiseand carries out all the liaison,administration and coordination betweensatellite centres, students and other parties,including authorising new test centres andarranging installations and training ofverifiers.

Service deskUltimately the MOD ECDL ManagementCentre is the first port of call for any problems which may arise within thescheme and also provides the central pointfor certificate issuing direct to studentswhich minimises all administration work atthe satellite centres.

The DELC service desk provides thesinge point of call for technical faults andqueries. This enables calls to be logged,

tracked and monitored to ensure issues arenoted and resolved. A significant benefit ofthe systems adopted by the MOD is thatwhen other qualifications are adopted, e.g. e-Citizen, e-Type and so on, theinfrastructure and distribution of the systemwill allow for an easy roll-out and it willalso enable in-house assessments to be

developed if necessary. Customer service is a high priority for all

involved with the MEMC scheme with thisethos being shared by everyone involved.Without this it is certain that the systemwould not run as effectively as it does today.

Figures provided as of July 2007.

Following a pilot study in 2000 theEuropean Computer DrivingQualification (ECDL) was adopted asthe standard for MOD employees toachieve. In 2003 a defence wideinstruction was published advising allMOD personnel of the standardrequired promoting the means, throughthe MOD ECDL Management Centre,through which satellite ECDL Centrescould be created and in turn MODemployees could enrol, train andundertake ECDL tests.

The pilot scheme was initially selffunding whereby students paid for thequalification at a cost price, but it isnow centrally funded by dblearning tofurther encourage and promote theneed for good IT skills within the MOD.

Since December 2003, when thefirst test centres came online(previously run as standalone centres),over 36,000 people have registered forECDL, with an excess of 11,000

people having completed ECDL and amuch greater number having achievedthe Level 1 qualification. This mayseem to be a small proportion of theMOD population but bearing in mindthe transient nature of its employeesthis is indeed a growing success.

The ECDL scheme has been run inconjunction with Activ Training whichprovides the courseware and testingincluding the test centre and verifiersupport and LogicaCMG which hoststhe training and testing within thedefence electronic learning centre(DELC) infrastructure and providesfirst line service desk support.

The scheme is designed to beadaptable and flexible so that ECDLtesting and training can take placeanywhere in the world, wherever MODpersonnel are at work. This means thatwe are able to provide a service toeach of the armed forces in whatevertheatre they find themselves.

P R O J E C T O U T L I N E

One of the biggest lessons learnt washow to work closely with a softwaredeveloper, a hosting company and avariety of IT/IS organisations to meeteven the most demanding and some-times seemingly impossible objectives.This experience will influence otherprojects in which dblearning, MEMCand individual staff are involved.

After the most recent major newsoftware rollout a full report wasproduced and a wash-up meeting withall parties present resulted in anaction plan being produced to ensurefull project completion. It is throughsuch reports, meetings and actionplans that lessons learned are capturedand disseminated.

The process of updating software is

L E S S O N S L E A R N T

many times more complex whendealing with multiple differentscenarios and therefore needs to betreated as a major project with aproject team nominated and asophisticated upgrade plan templatefollowed. The development of such atemplate is clear evidence of the lessonlearned being captured to ensure theyare applied to future situations.

We have experienced momentswhen the performance of the totalsolution after major upgrading has notimmediately met expectation. In suchsituations it has been important not toreact in a knee jerk fashion but towork patiently and ever more closelywith the main contractors to exploreshort and long term options.

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People can find out if they are eligible to receiveFWD updates by calling the Environment Agency’sfree 24-7 flood helpline Floodline on 0845 9881188. Customers and professional partners will alsobe able to register or amend their contact detailsfor FWD using an online registration service, whichis due to be launched at the end of 2008.

At present 290,000 people are on the FWDregister – but the Environment Agency is continuallystriving to get more people at risk of flooding tosign up.

FWD became operational in England and Walesin January 2006. Underpinning the system is anOracle database. This holds a range of dataincluding customer contact details, informationabout properties at risk of flooding - based onOrdnance Survey Address Point Data - message setsplus variant and target areas. The spatial extensionsto Oracle are used to store details of the polygonsthat define a target area to send warnings to. Targetareas are maintained and viewed in the context ofOS raster maps with two layers defining polygonsindicating the flood risk areas.

Linked to the database is the web-logic layerthat is the platform for the FWD application. Theapplication is implemented using J2EE technologystructured around specific J2EE design patterns.The application presents browser interfaces tocontrol all aspects of the system. This is accessiblefrom the Environment Agency network and alsoavailable to Floodline staff. The J2EE application

Every second counts when floodwaters are rising.That’s why the Environment Agency operates aflood warning service – Floodline Warnings Direct(FWD) - in those parts of England and Wales that areat risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.

Using the latest available technology, EnvironmentAgency staff monitor rainfall, river levels and seaconditions 24 hours a day and use this informationto forecast the possibility of flooding. If flooding isforecast, technology converts text-typed warningsfrom Environment Agency officers into speech.FWD can then issue these warnings to registeredhouseholds and businesses via a range of media,including phone, fax, email, SMS text messaging andpager links. The system also serves a range of professional organisations, including the emergencyservices and local authorities.

Warnings are issued using a set of easilyrecognisable codes that indicate the level of danger.A flood watch means flooding of low-lying land isexpected, so be prepared; A flood warning meansflooding of homes and businesses is expected, so actnow! A severe flood warning means act now! Severe flooding is expected with extreme danger tolife and property. Finally, an All Clear means nofurther flooding is expected and that water levelswill start to go down. The codes are not always usedin sequence. In the case of a flash flood, for example,a severe flood warning may be issued immediatelywith no other warning code preceding it.

Flood control

If flooding isforecast, technologyconverts text-typewarnings fromEnvironmentAgency officersinto speech.FWD can thenissue thesewarnings toregisteredhouseholdsand businessesvia a range ofmedia.

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integrates with several standardcomponents to implement specific areas offunctionality.

QAS software provides thefunctionality to take postcodes and housenumber details and look up correspondingfull addresses and map coordinates –referred to as geo-coding and specified asnorthings and eastings (i.e. X Ycoordinates). QAS also provides agazetteer function so that town and citynames can be entered and thecorresponding map area found. QASprovides a locator functionality thatreturns all addresses within a defined areatoo. This is used for promotional purposesso, for example, when a new target area isdefined all potential customers can becontacted.

A text-to-speech component provides amechanism to convert textual warningmessages into voice clips. This enables aflood warning officer to construct theappropriate warning message using textand substitute data values, such as thedate, and then preview the output voicemessage before it is issued.

The ESRI Arc suite of productsprovide interfaces into the Oracle Spatialdatabase, desktop tools to view, modifyand save polygons and tools to convert theraster and overlay layers into a format forviewing through a standard web browser.Also an ESRI red lining tool is used toallow simple polygon manipulation via astandard browser for emergency situations

Edify provides handling of theoutbound messaging functionality. Oncethe J2EE application has handled allfunctionality, to derive a list of people tocontact, the contact method and themessage content, Edify performs theactual contact. The interface between theJ2EE application and Edify is a queue ofmessage items where each item containsall information required to issue thewarning.

For each of the supported channels -phone, fax, pager, SMS, XML - Edifyestablishes the link (e.g. dials the phonenumber and waits for it to be answered),sends the message content (e.g. plays thevoice message) and waits for aconfirmation. Edify records and stores allthe details about each contact attempt(failures as well as successes) and storesthem in the database.

Measuring successTo ensure FWD would be able to copeduring major flood events, the

Environment Agency worked in partnershipwith Fujitsu to develop a system capableof handling extreme volumes of traffic.

TestedThis ability to function under pressure was tested to the full during last summer’s floods when many parts of theUK experienced unprecedented levels of flooding.

During this exceptional period, thesystem issued almost 2,500 warnings andmade 380,000 contacts with householdersand professional partners. At the height ofthe floods – on one day in June - FWDwas making an average 1800 calls everyhour.

The Environment Agency’s FloodlineWarnings Direct Manager Phil Armstrongsaid: ‘FWD has enabled more effectivetargeting of flood warnings to those atgreatest risk as well as reaching a wideraudience. The system also provides greaterchoice to our customers about how theywant to receive flooding updates.

‘FWD demonstrates the EnvironmentAgency’s commitment to improving floodrisk management through the use ofinnovative technology. However, as ourweather becomes more volatile as climatechange bites, the risk of flooding willincrease and we are constantly working todevelop and improve our flood warningmethods.’

For more information about theEnvironment Agency’s flood-related work,please visit: www.environment-agency.gov.uk/flood

Know your codes

1. Flood watch

What it means: Flooding of low lyingland and roads is expected.What to do:

Monitor local news and weather forecasts. Be aware of water levels near you. Be prepared to act on your flood plan. Check on the safety of pets and livestock.Charge your mobile phone.

2. Flood warning

What it means: Flooding of homes andbusinesses is expected. Act now!What to do:

Move cars, pets, food, valuables and important documents to safety. Get flood protection equipment in place. Turn off gas, electricity and water supplies if safe to do so. Be prepared to evacuate your home. Protect yourself, your family and help others. Act on your flood plan.

3. Severe flood warning

What it means: Act now! Severe floodingis expected with extreme danger to lifeand property.What to do:

Collect things you need for evacuation. Turn off gas, electricity and water supplies if safe to do so. Stay in a high place with a means of escape. Avoid electricity sources. Avoid walking or driving through flood water. If in danger call 999 immediately. Listen to emergency services. Act on your flood plan.

4. All clear

What it means: No further flooding isexpected. Water levels will start to go down.What to do:

Keep listening to weather reports. Only return to evacuated buildings if you are told it is safe. Beware of sharp objects and pollution in flood water. If your property or belongings are damaged, contact your insurance company. Ask their advice before starting to clean up.

FWD uses a multi-media approach, issuing warnings via phone, fax, email, SMS text messaging and pager links;Customers can chose how they receive warnings and alter those arrangements throughout the day or week to fit in with their home and working requirements.

K E Y F A C T S

1 Improved resilience.2 Increased availability.3 Increased take up.

F U T U R E A I M S

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The partnership provided the 24x7 101 servicethrough a web-based system, joining three partners’contact centres and 14 service deliverers together torespond to calls from customers within a distributedcontact centre model.

Some partners took calls and delivered services;others just delivered services. All users had apersonalised dashboard. Calls were taken by highly-trained advisers who recorded all the relevantdetails. The system highlighted all the necessaryinformation about a particular service on offer inresponse to the customer’s issue. The customer wasgiven the following information so that they couldtrack the progress of their request:

a unique case-tracking number;the organisation(s) responsible for dealing with their issue;the time scale for completion.

The service request was then transferred, usingsecure XML messaging technology, to the relevantpartner organisation(s), where service deliveryadvisers organise jobs to be dealt with, within anagreed timescale and in confidence, and providefeedback on the appropriate actions.

ScopeThe size and diversity of the partnership area’s communities alone meant development of a singleelectronic service catalogue was a substantial task.Further, the diversity of technology across the partnership meant the 101 system had to be flexible

The Northumbria 101 Partnership was a collaborativeapproach between Northumbria Police,Northumbria Police Authority and the 12 local councils across Northumberland and Tyne and Wearto deliver citizens convenient access to a range ofnon-emergency services via an easy-to-rememberthree digit number (101). The innovative 24 hour/seven-day-week multilingual service linked usersdirect to action and information, serving around 1.4million people over 2,200 square miles.

The Labour government made a commitment in its2005 election manifesto to introduce a single non-emergency number to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) and other community safety issuesin England and Wales. In July 2006, theNorthumbria Partnership launched 101 to citizensacross Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. Thepartnership was made up of Northumbria Police,Northumbria Police Authority and all twelve localcouncils across Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.

Through 101, the Northumbria Partnershipprovided welcome and effective service tocustomers, offering a single point of contact toreport specific non-emergency events, where theycould get information and action. At the same time,the 101 system gave each partner organisationrelevant intelligence about ASB and communitysafety issues in their geographical areas.

From being awarded funding of £4.281 million,the service was live in little over six months due tostringent project management and closepublic/private partnership working.

101 partnershipsThe overall aimof the systemwas to raiseconfidence in,and improveaccess to, public services,with moreservicerequests beingfulfilled, or firststeps takentowards fulfillment onfirst contact.

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enough to over arch all the systems. Once achieved, the system and the service catalogue were easy to update, amend andedit.

Combining police and local authorityprocess to provide one single, shared servicemeant a robust project managementapproach was vital to hit go-live and otherkey milestones. Although already workingtogether in many aspects of customerservice, actual day to day activity neededclear, process-driven structure.

IntegrityEarly production of a working prototypeensured that the 101 service businessprocesses and requirements could be quicklytested by users as the system was designed.

During the design phase, requirementswere captured from all involved parties.These were brought together into adetailed system design by the project team,which comprised representatives fromNorthumbria Partnership, Sopra Groupand IIZUKA Software Technologies.

Multiple work-streams were tightlycoordinated across multiple locations toensure that the project was delivered ontime and to budget. A very focussed anddedicated project team worked together todeliver a high quality solution in the formof the Northumbria 101 system. The entireproject was managed under Prince 2principles.

Benefits realised20 months on from an on target, on budget go live, 101 enjoyed an 87 per centcustomer satisfaction rating, acceptedaround 470 calls a day, on average, andhad received over 285,000 calls, havingovercome the initial barriers to success.

The 101 information system enabledmore joined up, co-ordinated servicedelivery between police and local councils.A single incident, which may require theattention of several of the service deliverypartners, could be easily shared andcentrally updated, preventing duplicationof effort and facilitating true partnershipworking.

Service requests were more quicklyprocessed and allocated using the newsystem. A key objective of the project wasto reduce the effort involved in gettingincidents logged; in order to give servicedelivery partners a higher percentage oftheir target timeframe to respond to aservice request. Using the 101 messagingsystem, service requests could now beexchanged between systems in ‘real-time’.

The fact that the system is locationindependent (available over the internet)and conforms to Home Office DataStandards, has opened up new possibilitiesfor mobile working and instant dataaccess / feedback live from an incident.

The Northumbria Partnership alsoimplemented a programme of systemimprovements including:

facilities to allow service providers in the field to view enquiry details on their mobile devices and directly inform the adviser of progress;additional partners – AVAIL vehicle recovery scheme has joined as a servicedelivery partner;improved / expanded 999 escalations to fire, coastguard and ambulance services.

BenefitsThe overall aim of the Northumbria 101system was to raise confidence in, andimprove access to, public services, withmore service requests being fulfilled, orfirst steps taken towards fulfilment, onfirst contact.

The 101 initiative offered multiplebenefits to the Northumbria Partnership’s

The scope of the 101 service wasdeveloped through research withthe general public, and in consultation with a wide group ofservice stakeholders, to efficientlycombat the most common antisocial behaviour (ASB) and community safety issues, for example, vandalism and graffiti;noise nuisance; abandoned vehicles,rubbish and litter; drunk and rowdybehaviour, and drug related ASB.

1 0 1 S E R V I C E

The Northumbria 101 single non-emergency line went live in 2006 butin November last year the Governmentannounced that funding would stop andthe Northumbria Partnership came toan end on the 31st March 2008.

Sunderland and Newcastle citycouncils, have now decided to take overits infrastructure and turn it into a

2 4 / 7 H O T L I N E

council hot-line for residents in bothcities. It will be still be a 24 hour lineand is planned to go live at thebeginning of April. The service, whichhas still to officially get a new name ornumber, will be for problems and issuesthat need a local authority and not apolice response.

citizens and service providers: Through 101, the Northumbria

Partnership gave local people:

An easy to remember number, available24/7 with multilingual capability, thereby reducing inappropriate contacts and similar confusion surrounding previous multiple access channels.101 was more effective and efficient and offered one-call resolution,in most cases, the call takers could immediately direct requests for service to the most appropriate organisation(s).The allocation of a unique customer reference to each caller, meant that every event was tracked to resolution increasing customer satisfaction.People knew what to expect from 101,the police and their council, as every caller was provided with an approximatetimescale for resolution, and informed as to which organisation would deal with their request. Northumbria 101 has introduced clarity,structure and transparency to the reporting and resolution of ASB and community safety issues. As a result, more incidents were reported and effectively resolved, resulting in a cleaner, greener environment.

Through 101, the NorthumbriaPartnership:

helped partners make further improvements to service delivery, through enhanced service tracking and performance management;provided opportunities to share services across the partnership;opportunities to invite other service industries to support existing partners or provide services direct to citizens.

Figures provided as of July 2007.

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Share and share alikeallow matches with any other registered EA memberand a further opportunity to search the entireliftshare community.

Users can register a journey by using streetnames, towns, organisations and post codes. Thesystem will match waypoints within a journey inaddition to matching the whole journey. The systemwill notify members of matches to their specifiedjourneys via email (a telephone option is available).Matches are made using a complex system ofmathematical algorithms that take into accountlatitude and longitude, post code data and data suchas street names.

The details of members within the EnvironmentAgency group are not visible to those on the nationaldatabase unless individual members choose to allowtheir journey information to be shown publicly.

158 tonnesThough it has only been running since 2 April 2007www.eacarshare.com has already saved almost517,462 miles, 158 tonnes of CO2 (a minimum of 3 tonnes of CO2 have been saved through businessshares). As more people sign up and the chances offinding matches increases these savings look set torise dramatically.

Technical overviewEA carshare is an internet based system hosted andmanaged by a third party www.liftshare.comusing a dedicated server machine running WindowsServer 2003. This allows all users with internetaccess to be able to use the scheme and the

The Environment Agency carshare scheme, fundedby the internal carbon reduction programme, hasbeen developed as part of the liftshare network. EA carshare is unique as it is the first scheme of thiskind in the UK whose primary purpose is to cater forbusiness travel.

As a large public body with over 12,000 staff located across England and Wales this is the firsttime a car share scheme has been introduced on thisscale and for this purpose.

It is structured to enable regional and officespecific monitoring and reporting and enables usersto dynamically view their carbon dioxide (CO2)savings while also allowing managers to view this byarea, region and overall.

Incredibly easyUsing the system is incredibly easy. EA staff simplyvisit www.eacarshare.com, select which region theywork in, select which area they are based in andthen fill out the simple registration form.Registration only takes around five minutes and onlyasks for basic contact details and details of anyrecurring journeys they make. Once details havebeen entered each member is sent an activationemail to confirm the details they have provided arecorrect.

The search functions are unique to the liftsharenetwork. The system lists the matches in order oftheir relevance, with the most appropriate first. Aswell as individuals being able to search within theirwork groups, there is an advanced search option to

Using the system is veryeasy. EA staffsimply visit thecar share website, selectwhich regionthey work in,select whicharea they arebased in andthen fill outthe simpleform in orderto register.

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information hosted on the site:

Specification: two dual-core Intel Xeon3.4 GHz, 8GB RAM, 400GB Raid 5 (4 x 15,000 RPM SAS).Web content served by Microsoft IIS 6.0with dynamic content support from SQL Server 2005, both running locally.Browser support is available for all known platforms and the site is built tomeet high level web standards.The database and search facility is a bespoke system designed and built by liftshare. Access to user accounts and specific group member details is limited to functions via the liftshare administrator’s web pages.Stored procedures are used to query the user database in order to locate potential matches.To establish contact a member must begiven access to the URL, issued by liftshare, using a standard browser.The site is built to meet the web accessibility of AA standard.

Using the generic system offered by liftshare, additional software developmentwork was undertaken to allow a distinctionto be made between savings being made forbusiness journeys and the existing benefitof matching commuting journeys. Thedirectory pages were set up to enableoffice/regional specific monitoring.

The EA scheme is operated by liftshare, aUK-based company that was set up AliClabburn. He initially had the idea aftertravelling around Germany in his gap yearusing a similar scheme. When he returnedto the UK he tried to find something akinto the German scheme, in order to savemoney when travelling to and from university, but found that no such idea was in place.

Fresher's fairWith the help of some fellow students hethen set about creating the company thatbecame liftshare. He started by promotingthe idea to his fellow students at fresher'sfairs, but they were reluctant to pay the£10 joining instructions. He eventuallydropped the joining fee and the schemetook off. However, although his idea wasnow a reality he had no way of generatingincome from it.

The Glastonbury effectThen in 1999 Ali was contacted by theorganisers of the Glastonbury Festival.

They asked if liftshare could set up abranded scheme for festival goers to sharecars in order to attend the event. The ideawas not only to reduce the number ofjourneys being made from all over thecountry but also to reduce the amount ofcars passing through the Somerset town.

The scheme was a success and setliftshare on to the model it uses today.Registration is free to anyone who wantsto use it. The company then providesbespoke services to paying companies -such as the Environment Agency.

After this initial success the companycontinued to attract further interest and in2000 it secured its biggest client -providing a scheme for a group ofbusinesses in South Gloucestershire.Liftshare now works with over 600different clients around the UK.

Car sharing is also good for theenvironment. It is estimated that theliftshare schemes have saved around 21million car miles per annum, reducing CO2emissions by 4,000 tons a year.www.liftshare.com

This project was set up as part ofan initiative to identify key projectsthat could help the agency to reduceits carbon ‘footprint’.

The aim was to establish a systemthat would allow us to make carsharing easy – where it was necessaryto use a car to travel to/from 100sites and meeting venues.

Various local schemes existedbut were focussed on commutingrather than business travel. Havinga standard system across theorganisation gives all staff theopportunity to car share regardlessof their office location or whichdepartment they are in. The newscheme monitors shared businessmiles and provides local data onperformance for managers to monitorhow well the organisation is doingagainst its stringent mileage targets.

O U T L I N E

In 2005/06 the Environment Agency’sannual business mileage was 35 millionmiles. This produced 8832 tonnes ofcarbon dioxide, of which 82 per centwas from single occupancy journeys.The cost of these miles to the organisation in terms of expensesclaims alone was around £6 million.

The EA realised that it could savearound £400,000 a year if it couldmake just 10 per cent of the single-occupancy journeys shared journeys.This would go up to £1 million if itmade 22 per cent shared journeys.

Clearly there were massive financialand environmental incentives to makethis work, as well as ensuring that it

B E N E F I T S

was managing its reputation as anenvironmental body in doing everythingit could to reduce its carbon footprintand to show other organisations that itcan work.

This project is a real life exampleof how on-line technology can enhancepeople’s lives and help the environment.This project also demonstrates thepower of the internet as a communicationand matching tool.

Its function is matching individualtravel plans to facilitate actual carsharing, saving the organisation money,reducing congestion and CO2emissions, and facilitates social andbusiness networking.

B R E A K D O W N O F S A V I N G S

Journey purpose Tonnes of CO2 Money saved Miles saved

Commuting 172 £56,091 560,912 School run 0 £12 115 Business trip 5 £1567 15,669Event travel 0 £28 277Leisure 1 £205 2,047Not specified 0 £0 0

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