Going public on the WebIn our final set of shortlists we profile the e-government,
marketing and recruitment & training nominees. on this page, we
bring the public sector into focus as we review the e-government
award
The Government has set its various departments tough Web goals.
The joint tasks of making government more efficient and effective
are driving projects, with the best initiatives realising costs
savings whilst also reaching out more extensively to customers,
that is citizens.
Companies House is the government agency responsible for the
incorporation and registration of companies together with the
dissemination of business information for the various purposes of
business analysis and risk assessment. Companies House Direct is the Web site through
which these activities are being delivered online. The aim is to
provide customers with access to the full public record of
company information straight to their home or office PC.
Companies House Direct is a massive operation by any corporate
or public standards. The image database contains more than 25
million documents, formerly stored on the comparatively
inaccessible medium of microfiche. To date, the online image bank
provides all records submitted on statutory forms since March 1995.
Documents are being added to the direct service at the rate of
20,000 per day.
Success can be measured in a number of ways. Certainly hit rates
are high at 1.4 million per month. However, since launch in
September 1999, the site also generates revenue at over £600,000
per month. It cost about £1.2m to set up.
Future plans will first focus on rendering the microfiche
accessible, but work is being done to identify new user-friendly
features, such as 'document packages' to facilitate the common
searches that users wish to carry out.
Sponsor comment
This solution is a good example of a service that has been
designed more for customer benefits, rather than pure technical
innovation. it uses technology to make day-to-day dealings with the
public sector simple, easy, convenient and more accessible. It
makes "high value" information that was previously difficult to
access available to citizens in an easy to view format. Finally, it
shows that customer service pays in that, by providing a more
efficient, accessible service, a Government department has also
been able to generate a significant revenue stream.
Lord Chancellor's Department
An important goal of the Government's Web-based initiatives is
to open government services up to citizens. The use of Internet
tools to make government information and support more accessible to
formerly disenfranchised community groups has been particular
successful in the work of the Lord Chancellor's Department. The
community legal Web site, Just Ask! focuses on clearing away the
complexities of administering legal advice by providing an
online service that responds simply and directly to the
questions people want to put.
Delivery over multiple Web-enabled devices was important if Just
Ask! was going to reach the citizens it sought. An intuitive
interface operates over a wide range of platforms and channels,
including PCs, games consoles, kiosks and interactive TV. Ethnic
minorities have traditionally been one of the largest groups
excluded from legal services and advice. With its accessibility,
there is mounting evidence that Internet-based technologies are
providing an important bridge to reach these groups.
The site is available in the seven most commonly-spoken
languages in the UK, supporting the claim that it is providing a
truly citizen-facing service, with the added benefit to taxpayers
that comes from the knock-on effect of reducing unnecessary visits
to agencies and the avoidance of some disputes altogether.
To date, Just Ask! is delivering about 1,000 page impressions
per day, though there is still a lot of work to be done in making
its existence known. An early indication of the success of the site
comes from the feedback that the site encourages. At least 50% of
users rate it as 'good' or 'very good'.
Sponsor comment
Just Ask! is a superb site as it makes legal advice universally
available. The site's design and navigation makes information
easier to find and understand. Its multilingual nature ensures
minority groups are not excluded. From a technical standpoint it is
a good early adoption of common standards - the Unicode format is
used to provide the multilingual feature. It is a good example of
an e-government project in that it enables citizens to interact
electronically with government.
Surrey Police
Technology is commonly perceived as taking people out of the
equation. But when imaginatively deployed it can actually work to
make people more visible. This has been the effect of new mobile
services developed by Surrey Police Headquarters. Traditionally,
paper-work and bureaucracy has tended to take bobbies off the beat
because they have had to return to their desks to complete these
necessary tasks. However, with laptops in cars, the police are now
increasingly able to do this work on the move. This has the double
advantage of not only keeping them visible on the streets but also
getting information onto systems more quickly where it can be used
for catching offenders.
Crime intelligence is vital for successful law enforcement. To
this end, Surrey Police has developed Surrey Police Information and
Knowledge Environment (Spike), an online framework that enables
officers to interact with the applications available at their
desktop computers remotely. Spike is based on the Remote Officer
and Vehicle Environment (Rover) concept, an interface that runs
over a secure Orange telecommunications network. In short, the
desktop is represented remotely via Web browsers.
At the time of writing, the concept is proven, having been
piloted since 1997. However, experience of the total policing
environment is only just beginning with the full phase of the
operation, starting September 2000, taking the technology directly
into the communities it will serve. A process reviewing work
practices and culture will then begin to build an understanding of
the way the technology can aid policing across the country.
Sponsor comment
Clearly driven by the desire to meet the demands of the public
to have more police out on patrol, Rover impressed us. It is a
great example of a public sector body developing good internal
e-business against clear business objectives to become a more
efficient organisation. It enables the force to mobilise its
personnel by providing the means to access the corporate network
without the need for specialised equipment. The project is a fine
example of a public sector organisation using technology in order
to facilitate a more efficient organisation, to meet
'customer-driven' objectives.