Staffordshire - UK - 18th March 2006 - Collaborative approach to e-Government generates significant cost and time savings for members of the Staffordshire Connects Partnership...
Collaboration between local authorities is becoming a key factor in the successful and cost effective implementation of e-enabled services.
Three Staffordshire authorities, Cannock Chase, Lichfield and Staffordshire Moorlands are the most recent to benefit from a collaborative approach to eGovernment development having recently joined the rapidly expanding Jadu eGov partnership.
As members of the Staffordshire Connects partnership, authorities can select and procure new technology on a group wide basis with freedom if required to purchase on an individual basis.
Driven by a vision of seamless delivery of joined up services, Staffordshire Connects selected Oracle CRM to provide the main customer interface. However, to become truly 'customer centric', the further challenge was to ensure that content could be made available at the point of customer contact. This required a robust Content Management System (CMS).
A
number of CMS solutions providers were technically evaluated and
approaches made to existing users. The key criteria used in the
selection included the need for:
- A cost effective solution that could be rapidly implemented to fulfil Priority Service Outcomes (PSOs)
- Proven integration capabilities with Oracle CRM
- A technology partner with the capability to manage the multiple integration projects.
By implementing AtoZ on the Jadu systems, each council can now provide content feeds directly into the Oracle LG45 CRM system providing a single view of service content for customer service operators.
The Jadu eGov partnership had already developed content, A-Z services, links and eForms through its work with four East Lancashire authorities. This provided a head start for Cannock Chase, Lichfield and Staffordshire Moorlands.
"Staffordshire authorities are leveraging the Jadu eGov partnership to its full potential. Collaborative developments are shared so that when one partner develops an enhancement all partners benefit through upgrades'" says Suraj Kika, CEO of Jadu.
Facilitated by a joint project between Jadu, Northampton Borough Council and Lichfield District Council, each authority can now fulfil the requirements of LocalDirectGov, by providing its AtoZ in a simple exportable and fully PID (Process Identifier) compliant format.
A PID is a reference number used to identify every process element of each local government service. The solution will soon enable partners to feed services directly into the esd-toolkit using XML.
By merging integration projects and using standard eGov functionality to deliver high end content directly into CRM, each authority has also eliminated duplication and significantly reduced development costs.
"In addition to the obvious cost benefits, we have had great benefit from knowledge sharing says Ros Bocock, ICT Services Manager, Cannock Chase District Council.
"We all had similar requirements" says Iain Badger, Business Improvement Manager at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council. "We saved a lot of time through sharing knowledge with our partners authorities"
The Staffordshire Jadu eGov partners are now working with Jadu to develop solutions to a number of further common requirements including:
- Help text for customer service operatives
- A joint integration project on eBalances using Jadu's ePay software
"Jadu has provided excellent support and concise usable information at every step of the way. They are committed to providing solutions not just for our individual authority needs but for all Jadu customers within the Staffordshire Connects partnership" says Rita Wilson, Strategic Director at Lichfield District Council.
--Further Information on the Web:
egovmonitor.com
