Customer Background

Blackpool Council had made an investment into an IT system from the market place that had become embedded across three directorates and multiple service areas over a number of years. The system was predominantly used for enforcement activities but had other modules that were utilized as well. The service areas that used the IT system were:

• Food Control
• Health & Safety Enforcement
• Housing Enforcement / MIPS
• Housing Licensing
• Trading Standards Enforcement
• Trading Standards Advice
• Care & Repair
• Environmental Protection
• Licensing Enforcement

 

Business Needs

There were three main areas where the IT needed to improve; the first was around interfacing to the Council’s main customer system, the second was around mobile working and the third area was IT at the right price. After a number of discussions and a detailed review of the options, the following needs were also identified:

1. Expensive licensing, support arrangements and enhancement options
2. No other integration with other Council systems leading to double-typing
3. Poor quality of data and ability to produce reports when needed
4. No integration with the Council's LLPG or geospatial systems
5. Large overhead of administration managing the work
6. Teams working with separate sets of data with no understanding what other teams were doing
7. Standalone information systems with no workflow and ability to change when needed by the services

“Many services ended up using the same system without analysing the real business need. The options to enhance the existing system were extremely expensive and most services were not benefiting from modern ways of working as the technology was holding them back.” Sue Whalley, ICT Business Senior Manager

 

Solution and Delivery

The first task was to look at the current IT to see if any investment could be made to the current system to meet the business need. Due to the high costs and gaps in the existing system this option was dismissed. Enterprise Service Builder was chosen as full system replacement. ESB provided a single solution covering all areas of the work allowing teams to work together in a way that was not previously possible. All enquiries and inspections are now linked to addresses in the Council's LLPG (Local Land and Property Gazetteer), providing a complete and reliable history of all premises. The new system has also been designed and delivered with the following in mind:

• Sustainability – needs to be flexible and configurable by the service
• Mobile – work needs to be moved in real time to the right person to do the work
• Accessibility – data needed to be presented so easily accessible
• Electronic – all processes to be completely electronic
• Interoperability – capable to interface to other systems

 

Benefits

• Reduced end-to-end times on all work processes
• Customer enquiries flowed straight through to service
• £100k per annum savings in software license, support and upgrade costs
• Real time accurate data that assist management to make better decisions
• Ability to change the ways of working to support mobile working and changes required as services change

 

User Comments

“The Council has saved money whilst improving how IT helps services work better and become more productive. This has been achieved through configuration and not needing to write specific code for the service areas.” Tony Doyle, Head of ICT Services

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