Councils to share IT know-how

Local authority IT managers club together to share advice on services, discuss issues

Local authority IT managers are clubbing together to share services and address back-office integration issues.

The National Computing Centre (NCC), Microsoft and Dell have announced plans for an IT Proof-of-Concept laboratory at the NCC’s Manchester offices. The lab will be run by the NCC for UK local authorities to test systems and share best practices.

Three systems are available initially. These are an information-sharing application used by Telford and Wrekin Council; an e-benefits system at Rotherham Council; and a local government customer relationship management (CRM) system in use at Doncaster, Derby and other authorities.

Authorities including Cheshire County Council have expressed interest, according to the NCC. “We all hear about more and more new technologies, but what transforms our perceptions of the possibilities is hands-on experience,” said Andy Hopkirk, the NCC’s head of programmes and projects.

Nigel Bates, head of local and regional government, said local authorities could save up to 90 percent of their current IT management costs through better utilisation of resources.

In a related move, the newly formed Active Windows Integrator (AWI) User Group will meet in May to discuss the sharing of scripts and knowledge. The plan is to avoid reliance on vendors’ integration software and APIs, by using connectivity software firm NDL’s AWI software, which extracts data from Windows client programs.

“One of the facets of [the Transformational Government project] is joining up services and encouraging authorities to share information and co-operate more,” said Martin Fuggles, chairman of the new group. “Authorities are all doing similar things but in slightly different ways. This provides a toolkit for users to produce an alternative way to integrate systems.”

Chris Rymer, Harrogate Borough Council business and systems manager, said that AWI offers an alternative to more expensive integration offerings from back-office software providers.