Herefordshire overhauls IT to improve services

Herefordshire County Council has overhauled its IT system to help reform its business practices.

The council has implemented mySAP business software, configured by IT services firm LogicaCMG.

The application has been designed to help consolidate Herefordshire’s work processes and make managing its IT assets easier.

Julie Holmes, Herefordshire County Council’s head of IT and customer services, says people living in the county will see the council’s services become much smoother and cheaper.

‘The resources we save will be re-deployed into the front line, where we interact with the public,’ she said.

Before the revamp, the council had been using a mixture of paper filing, spreadsheets and active databases to run its processes.

‘We have consolidated 23 previous systems down to one SAP environment. We expect to save money on the costs of providing that IT structure and reduced process time, and by having integrated, managed information that allows us to make decisions faster,’ said Holmes.

‘Also, having all of our assets held in one place so that we know what we have for data repair, and being able to pro-actively manage that asset, will be a big advantage.’

The effects of the new system will be most noticeable in the council’s purchasing processes.

‘Before the SAP system was brought in, the council carried out all its procurement by old-fashioned book methods, with three forms needing to be filled out in triplicate. The new software does away with all of that,’ said Holmes.

Herefordshire County Council is planning to introduce further innovations based on the mySAP system.

‘For the second phase of the project we expect to roll out the procurement system to schools, for which the authority does a lot of IT procurement. In the next six months we will extend the scheme to that community,’ said Holmes.

‘Also, we are aiming for our IT engineers to have mobile handheld computers, so they have instant access to information and job cards in their daily work.’